TROUBLED FOOTBALL BUSINESS GRETNA FC Ltd could be less than a week from extinction with the loss of 40 jobs, following a stormy creditors' meeting last Thursday.

Administrator David Elliot, of insolvency practitioner Wilson Field, described the club as being in "dire straits", adding: "We have funds advance payment of Scottish Premier League TV money until May 17, and at that point, to be quite frank, we stop."

Such is the stark reality facing the club which had risen through the leagues in just five years, reaching its zenith when losing on penalties to Hearts in the 2006 Scottish Cup final, achieving promotion to the Scottish Premier League SPL a year ago.

Four expressions of interest from potential purchasers have been noted for the club, left reeling with debts of almost £4 million after benefactor Brooks Mileson walked away in February without explaining his reasons for ceasing to bankroll the club. Gretna were effectively relegated from the Scottish Premier League in March after being docked the mandatory 10 points for falling into administration.

Prospects of finding a buyer, who would not inherit the debt, were thrown into serious doubt with revelations from administrator Elliot that there is a dispute over the ownership of the club's sole significant asset, its Raydale Park ground, valued at a substantial six-figure sum, with claims by local residents that they and not Gretna FC Ltd hold title to the stadium and its environs.

"I did not realise there was such a problem until the creditors' meeting," said Elliot. Meanwhile, further complications emerged over possible wrongful trading and tax evasion.

"I would personally want to look at the possibility of wrongful trading," said Elliot. "If this was found to be the case, the directors could be made personally liable for the debt."

Elliot also revealed that ,within its £500,000 claim, HM Revenue & Customs has raised concerns about around £70,000 in tax liabilities against perks to employees and directors.

Ex-manager Rowan Alexander is claiming a reported £800,000, while Gretna's landlords are owed a reported £25,000.

Mileson, who claims to have sunk almost £8m into the club, is listed as the largest single creditor in the form of an outstanding loan of £1.87m, and is also believed to have converted around £6m of that into share capital, a sum questioned by Gretna chairman Ron MacGregor, who said: "This is a significantly inflated figure and there is little evidence of that level of investment."

Concerns over wrongful trading will be heightened by the fact that the corporate vehicle used by Mileson to underwrite the club's fairytale, its holding company Heartshape Ltd, which provided £4.95m, was itself haemorrhaging funds, reporting a loss of almost £2m in the latest accounts available. Another business in the complex Mileson stable, Crest Identity, which made the club's playing and replica kit, is also in liquidation with several others, including five within Mileson's Arngrove Group, overdue in filing accounts.

Stephen Morrow, head of the department of sports studies at the University of Stirling, said: "Gretna was a financial failure waiting to happen. It is an example of over-trading, where its liquid resources were insufficient to maintain the level of SPL operations that the company reached.

"This could be very damaging, not only for the club involved. It also damages external perception of the league and potentially its very integrity. Clearly that does not help the image of the SPL or its attractiveness to potential sponsors."

Sixty-year-old Mileson, understood to have discharged himself from Newcastle's Victoria Infirmary last month, was not answering calls to his 100-acre Blackford Estate north of Carlisle last week.

Meanwhile, Hearts fans, who travel to Motherwell on Tuesday to play Gretna in what could be Gretna's last-ever fixture, may be forgiven for thinking that "There but by the grace of God go I".

The Tynecastle club, with a similarly elusive benefactor, reported a £10m trading loss and net debt of over £36m last year, while Hamilton Academical, set to take Gretna's place in the top flight, are facing a £1m-plus bill to make their New Douglas Park pitch SPL-compliant before August.