Preston boss Darren Ferguson has warned the club must be far more prudent in future when handing out contracts to players. Ferguson has so far been limited to the arrival last month of Paul Hayes on a Bosman from Scunthorpe before the club were served with a winding-up order by HM Revenue and Customs.

However, he told the Lancashire Evening Post: "It's not necessarily a case of having to get people out of the club before we bring players in, we'll wait and see.

"What has to change here is the size of the wage bill, as it's too high.

"Some of the contracts are outrageous if that is not too strong a word. We have to cut our cloth accordingly when it comes to the squad."