Geoffrey Richmond today revealed details of the huge debts which drove Bradford City to the brink of extinction this summer.

The City chairman said the crippling £21 million liabilities include more than £7 million due to a finance firm which owned six of City's first team squad and a £6.7 million mortgage on the Sunwin stand redevelopment.

And he said the collapse of Benito Carbone's proposed transfer to Middlesbrough and the demise of ITV Digital would have cost the club another £10 million over the next two years.

Today the debts were eased a little with the sale of a £750,000 luxury Leeds home that City bought the Italian striker in addition to paying him £40,000 a week in wages. The detached home on a private estate in Alwoodley has five bedrooms - four en-suite - and a separate annex. It also has three garages and even its own electric gate system to keep unwanted guests out.

Mr Richmond today urged those fans and creditors owed cash by City to back the rescue package he has drawn up with fellow directors David and Julian Rhodes.

He said the deal must be accepted at a meeting of creditors on August 1 - or the club will almost certainly face liquidation.

And Mr Richmond, who previously admitted he was to blame for taking the club to the very edge of extinction, vowed: "Never again during my period of chairmanship will the club get itself into a financial hole and put its very future at risk."

Under the deal, more than 250 creditors will be asked to write off up to 90 per cent of the money they are owed - a total of about £8million of unpaid debts.

They range from one company's £4.60 debt for emptying bins to £7.3 million owed to one of the world's largest financial firms, Gerling UK Ltd, which is collecting the money for Registered European Football Finance Ltd. REFFs owned six players - believed to include Carbone and club captain David Wetherall - which it leased back to the club.

Today, the club's administrators Kroll Buchler Phillips have urged fans to back the proposed deal.

If it is not accepted the club faces expulsion from the Football League and liquidation and none of the small creditors are expected to receive any money at all.

Today Mr Richmond said initial talks with creditors had been "favourable", and claimed several major sponsors had reiterated their support for the club.

"There is a general feeling of relief that there is light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "I am confident the proposal will be accepted by the creditors and it is critical that it is because the alternative is unthinkable. It would mean the almost certain demise of Bradford City Football Club.

"If Bradford City doesn't survive, the city of Bradford would suffer a loss which would be devastating to large sections of the community and do irreparable damage to civic pride."

Mr Richmond admitted he had a "lot of work to do" to regain the trust of some fans who believe the club entered administration in a bid to wipe out its debts and sack high-earning players.

And the chairman said he thought he had the solid support of just ten per cent of supporters - with 80 per cent still to be convinced he is the right man for the job.

"The day we got into the Premiership I had 90 per cent support. Now there's a lot of work to be done to get back to those levels," he said. "I think there is a certain amount of cynicism that the same owners that put the club into administration would still be owning the club.

"But the fact remains that we had no alternative at the time but to put the club into administration and the administrators' attempts to attract interest despite widespread publicity didn't result in any offer whatsoever from anybody except the original directors.

"Bradford City is not seen nationally as a glamour club in a glamour city and therefore the marketplace for a potential buyer was strictly a local one. There are very few high worth individuals locally and none of those expressed any interest in purchasing the club."

Mr Richmond urged season ticket holders to turn out in force at the meeting of creditors at 10am on August 1 at Valley Parade.

The consortium will need the backing of creditors holding 75 per cent of the value of the total debt to vote in favour for it to be passed.

"There are bridges that are going to have to be built," said Mr Richmond. "Trust is going to have to be earned. But, at the end of the day, the survival of this club and its prosperity has untold benefits for everybody that lives in this city, works in this city, or loves this city."