Two Conference clubs, Crawley and Scarboro, are on the brink of liquidation after it was revealed both had not paid wages for several weeks.
The representative of Crawley's players, David Woozley, admitted that every player was seeking employment elsewhere after failing to be paid for six weeks. Woozley told the Crawley Observer: "What he told me was the club doesn't own any assets - there's nothing to sell to give the creditors any money. He (Chas Majeed) said he can stop it going into liquidation by finding some money from other parts of his business, but only if the administrator is able to get the creditors to take a much smaller offer.
"Chas said he foresees it going into liquidation unless the creditors accept what I would imagine amounts to next to nothing. For the players it's a real kick in the teeth. To get any money at all you have to terminate your contract for next year. But if the club goes into liquidation there will be no contracts next year anyway. Every single player at Crawley Town is actively seeking other clubs at the moment."
Scarboro boss Neil Redfearn claims his players haven't been paid for two months: "Things are getting ridiculous now. None of the players who were released have been paid, while all of the staff are owed two months and my assistant manager Eric Winstanley is owed three months. I have been advised by the League Manager's Association and the PFA not to bring any more players in until this is sorted out.
"You just can't work in this sort of situation because the word has got out now. Any player you talk to asks you straight away if the wages are being paid at the club. A player turned us down last week to sign for Blyth Spartans, which is just embarrasing for the club.
"Players can't go for two or three months without being paid - some of them have mortgages and young families. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I've discovered that I can sue the club for 12 months pay because it is a breach of my contract, but I don't want it to come to that. I want happy players and things to be on a level playing field - when people are not being paid that is not going to happen. We desperately need to sign players because we start pre-season in three weeks, but that isn't going to happen as things stand."