A new threat has emerged to the effort to save Bradford City after the Inland Revenue filed an objection to a similar rescue package for Wimbledon Football Club.

City chief executive Julian Rhodes had just completed a proposal to put to creditors - known as a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) - when he learned of the Revenue's decision.

Under City's CVA, revealed for the first time today, the Inland Revenue is ranked as an unsecured creditor and would not receive any of the £109,000 it is owed since the last administration.

It is also only expected to receive some of the £1 million it is owed from before the club was first placed in the hands of receivers in 2002.

But fears are now growing the Revenue may lodge an appeal against the CVA even if it is passed at the meeting of creditors on May 7. The Revenue has appealed against similar CVAs at Exeter City and now Wimbledon because - like Bradford - they both propose to pay football creditors everything they are owed, as stipulated under Football League rules.

The High Court is currently looking into the Exeter City case and a court date has been set for the end of May for the Wimbledon case, but both may take months or longer to resolve.

Mr Rhodes said City may not be able to wait until the outcome of those hearings with the threat of closure hanging over the club. He will now seek talks with the Football League about how it proposes to deal with the potential crisis.

"Just because there may be a challenge does not mean that we are going to give up hope," he said. "I am going to do everything I possibly can to help this club survive.

"If that means trying to get the Inland Revenue and the Football League together to resolve this issue then I will instigate that. We cannot afford to have Bradford City as the sacrificial lamb in all of this."

A spokesman for the League said the matter would be raised at its board meeting today.

"Clearly we will have to discuss this issue with the Inland Revenue so that clubs can be in a position to reach agreement with them," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Rhodes has pledged to make a personal donation to dozens of local businesses which stand to lose out as a result of the slump into administration.

The CVA gives details of the £31 million debts - including some £12 million due to the Rhodes family and a further £11 million which the family take on. But it also reveals that the directors have managed to settle more than £30 million of the original £36 million debt from 2002.

Mr Rhodes's proposal will see finance firm Lombard offered £135,000 of the £2.5 million it is still due. The firm has, however, already received £4.7 million from City since the last administration in 2002. Mr Rhodes said the structure of the debts, with certain creditors receiving priority, meant it was impossible to pay small trade creditors such as food and drink suppliers, cleaners, plumbers and stationery suppliers.

"All the way through this, the thing that has upset me most has been the position of those trade creditors who have supported and supplied the club since the last administration," said Mr Rhodes.

"I have instigated moves through the Supporters' Trust to ensure that these people don't suffer financially as long as Bradford City continues. I will be making a large contribution to help towards that if the club is still around."

The deal, on the advice of the Inland Revenue, would see the creation of a new company. It is expected to be known as Bradford City Football Club Limited, with the existing Bradford City AFC (1983) Limited wound-up.