A payment of £3million was due on Monday but that money had still not been received by the SPL last night.

Setanta are believed to be working behind the scenes and negotiations with the SPL will continue over the weekend.

PA Sport understands the SPL board has had updates from their financial and legal advisors and will see what develops over the next 48 hours.

In the meantime, the SPL have agreed to pay £3million from their own funds to their 12 member clubs in a bid to ease the financial pressure.

That cash was distributed between the top-flight clubs yesterday.

Setanta have already asked to renegotiate their four-year deal with the SPL after losing one of their contracts with the Barclays Premier League.

The 12 SPL clubs came to an agreement in April following Setanta's request to change the terms of the contract due to begin at the start of the 2010-11 season, which was initially worth £125million.

Estimates claimed up to £20million could be wiped off the value of that increased deal but the apparent inability to meet one of the demands of their £13.5million annual contract raises further fears.