Gretna's administrators will make an announcement on the cash-strapped club's future at 2.15pm.

Gretna officials held a board meeting on Thursday morning to discuss their crisis.

The administrators had warned they require a cash injection of £30,000 by lunchtime, otherwise they would have to close down the club.

However there has been some interest in taking over Gretna, and rescuing the Borderers from their current precarious situation.

A consortium fronted by football agent Paul Davies are considering making a rescue bid for the club, and they have been reviewing the club's accounts today.

Administrator David Elliot, of Wilson Field Limited, made a brief appearance outside the stadium to announce the early-afternoon press conference.

Gretna have several creditors, including the Inland Revenue, who they owe £350,000.

The administrators were looking for swift action today as they sought to keep the club alive.

They were seeking funds to pay wages which went unpaid on Monday and to finance the transport and overnight stay for the first team ahead of Saturday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League match at Aberdeen.

Gretna have been docked 10 points by the Scottish Premier League for going into administration, but that may not be a major concern given their current circumstances.

Relegation had been a near certainty before their main backer Brooks Mileson withdrew his financial support this month, prompting the club to call in the administrators.

If the club survive this threat to their existence they will be looking at a return to the Scottish Football League ranks.

However Gretna cannot survive on small gates and continue to pay out high wages, and there could be widespread redundancies even if the closure threat is averted.

Staff and players were at the club on Thursday, awaiting news of their fate.

Gretna have played their home games at Motherwell's Fir Park this season because their own stadium does not meet SPL standards, and they attracted just 501 supporters to last week's match against Dundee United.

(reopens) Davies received a copy of Gretna's accounts this morning and was reviewing them with representatives of Hume International, a Glasgow-based sports management firm who would help to fund any takeover.

Davies first discussed a possible deal to buy Gretna a month ago.

He told BBC Radio Scotland: "It's our aim this year to take over a football club and the opportunity came up so we decided it was something we'd certainly look at.

"We spoke to administrators yesterday. I spoke to the club about a month ago. Nothing really came of it.

"Yesterday when I was away on business in Germany I took a call from the administrators to ask would we be interested taking over the club.

"Once we've had a look at the books we can decide if this is something we are going to take further or not."

Davies was hopeful of the administrators extending their deadline, saying: "I'm sure they're not going to give me one hour to make a decision."

A future business plan for Gretna could see the focus switched to developing young talent, Davies confirmed.

But he added: "First of all we want to have a look at the accounts see if it's possible to stabilise the club.

"If the club can be stabilised then we will make a bid for it."

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