Disgruntled players, sacked staff and the taxman could vote to sell Crawley Town football club from under the noses of the Majeed brothers.

The fate of owner Azwar Majeed and his bankrupt brother Chas will be decided by the people owed a reported £400,000 by the club at a meeting in the next few weeks.

The Argus understands creditors will be offered a quarter of what they are owed as part of a financial rescue package drawn up by accountancy firm Begbies Traynor, which is running Crawley Town after the club was taken into administration by the Majeeds.

If half of them reject the offer, Begbies Traynor would be forced to sell the club to the highest bidder, according to insolvency practitioner Malcolm Fillmore.

Mr Fillmore, of Crawley-based firm Atherton Bailey, said: "The Majeeds insist the club is not up for sale but really they have little control over that.

"I'm not sure they understand that if creditors cannot be satisfied, the decision to sell could well be taken over their heads."

Information received by The Argus reveals the club is £1.1 million in debt. Some £700,000 of that is owed to the Majeeds for money they claim to have injected into Crawley Town since they bought it nearly a year ago.

The Inland Revenue is understood to be owed tax on employees' wages and VAT from ticket and bar sales.

Players are owed their May salaries and unpaid match bonuses, while the wage bill continues to clock up an estimated £25,000 a week.

Sacked managing director Steve Duly is still owed the £35,000 he was awarded by an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Any deal to buy the club would require paying off the Majeeds, said Mr Fillmore, who took the club into administration in 1999 and subsequently sold it to John Duly for £65,000.

He said: "If the Majeeds claim they are owed £700,000 they would need to be paid at least £175,000 to go away.

"They would probably not agree to that but if there was a stand-off, the administrators could organise a sale and indeed would be obliged to do so.

"If there is a wish to get a transfer of the club to new owners, the creditors need to join forces to tough it out. To block the Majeeds' proposals will require at least half of them to stand together.

"There does not appear to be much goodwill on the part of creditors towards the Majeeds."

Mr Fillmore is doubtful the Inland Revenue will accept the 25 per cent offer.

He said: "The taxmen will have considerable regard to whether they believe the club will meet both its commitments under the Company Voluntary Agreement and also in respect of future deductions from wages."

Former diamond dealer John Goodwin has gone public with an offer to buy the club and a number of other potential investors are waiting in the wings.

But Rob Sadler, of Begbies Traynor, said at this stage he had no intention of seeking offers to sell the club.

Mr Fillmore said in his opinion, Begbies Traynor would in due course have to test the market by seeing who else would offer to buy the club.

The Majeeds could not be contacted. The Inland Revenue said it did not comment on individual cases.