Portsmouth are facing another setback with HM Revenue and Customs set to reject the club's repayment offer to creditors. A vote on the 20p in the pound offer will be taken at a creditors meeting on June 17 and HMRC - who claim they are owed £35million - will seek a better offer.

A statement from HMRC said: "HMRC is determined to achieve a fair deal for the taxpayer."

The opposition from HMRC would seriously threaten Portsmouth's chances of securing a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which would enable them to come out of administration and avoid any further points deductions next season.

The club needs 75% of creditors to vote in favour of the 20p deal and Portsmouth's administrator Andrew Andronikou claims that HMRC only hold 21% of the vote.

Andronikou said: "I have heard nothing formal about HMRC's voting intentions.

"According to my calculations they would not be able to block the deal - we are working with all the creditors to achieve the best result for everybody." HMRC have not completely ruled out voting in favour of the deal - but they would need to be convinced that it remains the only possible option to recoup some funds for the taxpayer.