GARY Bowyer believes the EFL must start cracking down to stop clubs being plunged into financial turmoil.

City play their first game in hand on the rest of the promotion pack tomorrow with the rearranged trip to Macclesfield.

The Silkmen are continuing to battle on despite facing huge off-field uncertainty after a string of late payments with wages.

There are growing fears that Macclesfield could become another Bury, who were kicked out of the league in September.

Bowyer feels the authorities need to get tougher to stop the situation spiralling out of control.

The City boss said: “We don’t know the ins and outs but again it’s a situation where the powers-that-be shouldn’t allow that ever to happen.

“We’ve lost one Football League club and it should never ever be a possibility that it could take place again.

“However they do, whatever the rules and regs, they should have penalties so it couldn’t happen.

“It’s not fair on the players and it’s not fair on the supporters.

“The EFL have got to have a look at themselves and say, ‘how do we go about addressing this?’

“They have to put consequences in there and penalties to stop this situation arising because it’s not right.

“It doesn’t reflect well on the league at all. You hear about these clubs and apparently there are a lot more.”

Bowyer has witnessed problems behind the scenes with previous clubs Blackburn and Blackpool and is impressed with how rookie league boss Daryl McMahon is holding things together. Macclesfield are eight points clear of bottom club Morecambe.

“The manager is doing a brilliant job with that,” he added.

“The football sometimes becomes a relief. You really do find out who plays for the love of the game.

“When you watch them, there are a lot of the Macclesfield lads doing that and running round for each other. That’s really refreshing to see.

“The situation they’ve been through brings the group closer together. It galvanises the group and that’s what they are doing.

“It’s like any team in this league. If we’re not at it, we get what we got last week.”

Bowyer is deciding whether to make changes after City’s loss at Plymouth.

“Sometimes there’s the option to be loyal and give them the opportunity to correct what went on last weekend.

“The easiest thing in this job is when somebody knocks on the door without any evidence to say why they should be in the team. Whereas, with the game we organised on Tuesday, several put performances forward that said, ‘you should pick me’.”