A financial expert brought in to assess the problems at Bradford City today likened the football club to a "financial black hole".

John Dewhirst, a specialist in independent business reviews, admitted it was "difficult to make an objective case" for why the directors should continue to plough money into the troubled club.

But today the life-long City fan called on the club's two key shareholders - Julian Rhodes and Gordon Gibb - to do all they could to resolve their differences.

Mr Dewhirst warned administration was looking "increasingly inevitable" unless an agreement could be reached over the terms of the £3 million injection deemed necessary to keep the club going.

Chief executive Julian Rhodes has said he will put the money in provided he is able to take control of the club in return, but former chairman Gordon Gibb is reluctant to give up his 49.6 per cent shareholding.

Mr Dewhirst, a member of the creditors' committee which was set up to oversee the terms of the deal which saw the club come out of its last administration in 2002, undertook a review of the financial position last November as it became clear the club was running out of cash.

He then submitted a report from his firm Vincere Ltd to the major creditors, which confirmed the club was no longer able to meet its requirements under the terms of the original Creditors' Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

"Even though the CVA wrote off a considerable amount of the club's liabilities it was always going to be a major challenge for it to meet its commitments," he said. "The fact that gate receipts and commercial income have been far below expectations during the past two seasons has made it difficult for the club to meet its ongoing trading liabilities, let alone those inherited under the CVA."

Mr Dewhirst said the situation was now so desperate that it was essential an agreement was reached between Mr Rhodes and Mr Gibb as a matter of priority.

"I believe that the Rhodes family are under no illusion that the financial situation at Valley Parade is desperate and that it will require significant effort and investment to achieve stability," he said.

"But I can fully understand and can sympathise with the frustration that these two families both feel at the position they find themselves in.

"Both families must be going through hell in terms of the money that they have already lost and the obligations which they have to commit to. It is as though both of them are peering over the abyss and that is the background for the current fall-out."