TAX bosses have ditched their challenge to a deal to save Exeter City FC from £4.5m of debt thanks to the efforts of a Southampton solicitor.

The head of law firm Clarke Wilmott's Southampton-based sports team, Trevor Watkins, was key to fending off a series of threats to the survival of the club, which celebrated its centenary at the weekend.

The Inland Revenue objected to a deal that would see Exeter pay just ten per cent of its £400,000 tax debt in order to remain in existence.

This was the revenue's first challenge to the Enterprise Act; new laws which remove its status as a preferential creditor.

A former chairman of Bournemouth AFC, Mr Watkins says his football experience was "fundamental" to the success of negotiations.

Clarke Wilmott, which represents Plymouth Argyle and QPR FC, as well as Gloucester and Wasps rugby clubs, argued the revenue was being overly strict in its reading of insolvency law, persuading it to drop the challenge.

The tax man was only the third in a series of challenges to the club's survival, after the league threatened to dock them 12 points for going into insolvency and a season-ending 36 points for fielding an alleged ineligible player.

"We got the 12-point sanction dropped and the ineligible player sanction dropped after another challenge, so this was the last one," said Mr Watkins.

"This gives Exeter a clean slate and allows them to build for the future. If the revenue had won then Exeter would have been right at death's door."