The Coca-Cola Championship side on Thursday borrowed £550,000 from leisure tycoon Trevor Hemmings' investment vehicle, Guild Ventures, to "meet the cost of players' wages due this month".

Yet despite the cash injection, which took Hemmings' investment in the Deepdale club to £13.82million including interest, the winding up petition was issued yesterday.

It came following North End's "failure to pay certain liabilities", and Preston North End Plc will be suspended from trading on Alternative Investment Market (AIM) stock exchange from Monday morning, pending clarification of the company's financial position.

Preston finance director Kevin Abbott said: "As a public company, we are required to make this announcement with the consequence that our shares will be suspended from trading.

"The board of the club face a challenging economic climate and are disappointed that HMRC have taken this action in respect of a debt which is around 20 days overdue. We will be looking at our options to solve the issue next week."