Sheffield United have introduced a series of extraordinary cost-cutting measures to avoid entering administration as soon as next week.
Sportsmail can reveal the full extent of the financial crisis gripping the Championship club, who have failed to pay suppliers and turned off the undersoil heating at the training ground in a desperate attempt to ensure they can afford to pay their players this month.
Under EFL rules any club entering administration before next Thursday is automatically docked 12 points this season, which would be a hammer blow to United’s prospects of winning promotion to the Premier League.