Wigan Athletic face a race to find a buyer by the end of the month – or their EFL future is in doubt.
The club’s administrators revealed the shock news after their latest bidder pulled out and admitted they would NOT run the club when the season starts.
Latics is up for sale and letting players go to pay the bills and clear some football debts, but no-one is committing to taking over.
The administrators said: “We have set a deadline of August 31 to agree and sign the sale contract.
“If the contract is not signed by this date we will have to consider the position on the basis that the new season starts a week later.
“The reason for this is that we will be responsible for the team at the start of the season and the fulfillment of the fixtures.
“Understandably if no buyer is available we do not wish to commit to something we cannot see through.”
The administrators are considering sales of a training ground and a warehouse beside the ground.
However, a couple of potential buyers want those to be kept so that they can sell them at a later date.
Administrators say further talks are taking place concerning player sales following Joe Gelhardt and Kieffer Moore departing for Leeds United and Cardiff City.
Earlier this month Wigan were relegated to League One after losing their appeal against a 12-point deduction for going into administration.
The club, who would have finished 13th without the punishment, ended up second from bottom in the Championship this season.
