Dundee this morning face the very real prospect of being the first SPL club to die. With the Scottish PFA demanding an independent investigation into the reasons for, and extent of, Dundee's debt, their board of directors will attempt to alleviate their parlous plight (the result of gross financial mismanagement and overweening ambition from Peter and Jimmy Marr, the Dundonian businessmen who have helmed the club since 1997) by entering into administration.

That course of action would allow the club to continue to trade but can only succeed if 75% of their creditors accept a reduction (for example, 10p in the pound) in the money owed to them. Since their major creditor, HBOS, accounts for the bulk of that debt, much will depend on the approach taken by the bank in the days to come.

Ten of the 12 SPL members - the exceptions being Celtic and Motherwell - have long relied on the Bank of Scotland to arrange and extend their overdrafts, but since their merger with the Halifax Building Society was completed two years ago, the English influence in HBOS has taken an increasingly dim view of clubs living outwith their means.

With Dundee's debts reported to be in the region of (pounds) 20m, not only are they unable to pay back what they owe, they are also not in a position to service their debt. In recent years the new hard-ball approach from HBOS has led to cutbacks at most clubs and it is understood that the bank insisted on the provision of the (pounds) 15m rolling facility by Rangers' majority shareholder, David Murray.

Rangers are currently (pounds) 68m in the red but with home gates of 50,000 and Murray as sugar daddy, HBOS were content to allow Rangers to continue the cost-cutting policies which have been in place since the removal of their former coach, Dick Advocaat.

Similarly, while Celtic's debt levels are almost as high as those of Dundee, attendances of around 60,000 for most matches at Parkhead, plus the financial clout of their majority shareholder, Dermot Desmond, mean that markers are unlikely to be called in on the league leaders any time soon.

Last night a spokesman for HBOS said: ''We are continuing to work with Dundee Football Club,'' but refused to speculate on what their reaction to the offer of a reduced payment would be. Ernst & Young will be asked to appoint an administrator to oversee the club's day-to-day affairs and that will lead to the biggest downsizing yet seen in this country.

He (or she) will attempt to offload their biggest earners. With the transfer window due to open again in January, the likes of Fabrizio Ravanelli, Craig Burley, Gavin Rae, Lee Wilkie, Juan Sara, Nacho Novo, Fabian Caballero, Julian Speroni, Beta Carranza, and Georgi Nemsadze will be made available.

In the interim, some players and members of staff are likely to be sacked, while others will be asked to accept significant cuts in their salaries. This action, long overdue, is opposed by the controversial Giovanni di Stefano, whose appointment as a director of the club is now unlikely to be ratified by the SFA. His claims of having (pounds) 26m to invest in the club have been dismissed by the Marrs as ''bluff and bluster.''

Di Stefano, who may or may not be a lawyer, has hovered on the fringes at Dens Park for years but was formally invited to join the board this summer. It was an act of desperation by a club heading for oblivion but di Stefano's failure to produce his millions has led, inevitably, to a souring of their relationship.

Then again, it may be impossible to find out exactly which one, if any, of these now warring factions is telling the truth. When Herald Sport contacted Dundee's chief executive, Peter Marr, last Tuesday to discuss the possibility of the club going into administration, he replied: ''I am not aware of anything to do with that.'' That state of denial, not to mention dishonesty, has been evident on Tayside for some time.

John McCormack, sacked by the Marr brothers as Dundee manager in the aftermath of a victory which took the club five points clear at the top of the first division, was not paid the monies owing to him when he left, and did not have the remainder of his contract honoured. Ivano Bonetti, brought in to replace McCormack's successor, Jocky Scott, is also embroiled in a financial dispute with the club.

Indeed, Dundee requested that the money they wrongly believed they would be paid by Rangers for Zurab Khizanishvili be paid to a company owned by Celtic goalkeeper Rab Douglas, Peter Marr's son-in-law, to prevent Bonetti freezing their accounts.

The Marrs planned to finance their over-optimistic plans for Dundee by the regular sale of players attracted to the club but the collapse of the transfer market meant that only Douglas and Claudio Caniggia attracted substantial sums. There will now be a fire sale, with their biggest assets likely to be sold for less than their current market value in what has become a buyer's market.

Given the extent of Dundee's liabilities, it is unlikely a new owner will be found for the club, which makes the response of HBOS crucial to the club's continued existence. If Dundee were to enter liquidation, then their players would become free agents, able to negotiate with any interested parties. Under Scottish Football League rules, the players of any club which ceases to exist become the property of the ruling body, theirs to sell to the highest bidder. However, the SPL have no such clause in their constitution.

Should Dundee go under, their results would be expunged from other team's records and the SPL's bottom club would not face relegation. However, if Queen of the South or Inverness Caledonian Thistle, clubs which can't meet the SPL's stadium criteria for promotion, were to win the first-division championship, the elite division would have one member idle each weekend.