Ryan Duckett says the money raised through the ‘Quest for Survival’ campaign has allowed the Bulls to make several vital payments and revealed that efforts to attract investment are gathering pace.

The club announced earlier this week that they had successfully reached the halfway stage in their bid to raise the £1million that is needed to secure the future of the club.

That has allowed the most pressing liabilities to be met, significantly the wages of players and staff along with a tax bill relating to PAYE.

The salaries of players and staff have been processed ahead of today’s due payment date but it is understood that some payments will be staggered into next week.

The club have spent the past few days cashing in pledges, pouring vital funds into their coffers and buying them time before the next £500,000 needs to be found next month.

Bulls chief executive Duckett told the T&A: “There has been a brilliant response from the fans. As soon as we announced that we had reached the £500,000 mark, people were queuing at the door to pay their pledges and staff have been working around the clock to get them all processed.

“We literally had no cash before the campaign started and this money that has come in has allowed us to address a tax bill and make sure that we can pay the salaries of players and staff, along with paying several of our suppliers.”

Duckett said that the club was in talks with two specific parties as they look to bring in the next £500,000 in the next month.

He added: “We have an upcoming VAT payment, along with one or two other liabilities as well as the usual wages of players and staff, to meet in the next four weeks.

“Talks with two individuals about potential investment have progressed very well since we called in the pledge.

“It’s just a case of trying to move forward with these individuals and a number of commercial conversations are also progressing well on the back of the pledge hitting the £500,000 mark and the profile that it has been given.

“Getting across the line with these discussions is our focus over the next week.”

Duckett said around 3,000 individual pledges had been made since the campaign began.

He stopped short of appealing for fans to help raise the second £500,000 that is needed but urged any supporters who had not already pledged to do so.

Duckett added: “When we sent the pledge letter out, we said that we needed £1million and the first half of that by mid-April.

“The club is trying to explore lots of other opportunities to bring in the other £500,000, but there are clearly a number of members who haven’t pledged. If they are able to do so, the opportunity is still there, and a number of new donations have been received this week.”

Meanwhile, an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders is likely to be convened by Bulls chairman Peter Hood within the next fortnight.

Chris Caisley, the club’s single largest shareholder with around 25 per cent, last week wrote to Hood requesting the meeting and said he had the backing of another 25 per cent of shareholders.