Bradford City chief executive Julian Rhodes will tomorrow hold make-or-break talks with the footballers' union in a bid to secure the Bantams' survival.

Mr Rhodes will meet the Professional Footballers' Association to discuss the use of a payment from the Football League which could become available to City following a change in league rules.

And he will also raise the matter of former striker Ashley Ward, above, who is still owed more than £700,000 after quitting the club for Sheffield United.

The crunch talks will take place only hours ahead of the 5pm deadline when the £300,000 injected into City by the Rhodes family to fund the administration period runs out.

Today, Mr Rhodes said it was still "in the balance" as to whether he would be forced to walk away from the crisis-torn club and admitted he had to make a "big decision".

As exclusively revealed in the Telegraph & Argus last week, Mr Rhodes needs to be satisfied that key talks with finance company Lombard, stadium owner Gordon Gibb and the Inland Revenue are progressing before he will inject any more money into City.

Mr Rhodes said he believed it would take another £450,000 to keep City in business until the end of the season. But the T&A understands that could be reduced if the Football League money was to be released.

He said the offers made to the various stakeholders were "fair". "They can either take what I have offered them, or I will be forced to walk away with the consequences that will bring," said Mr Rhodes.

"I am not going to carry on if I don't think that the club has got a future. But it is out of my hands. I cannot just continue to throw money at it - I can only offer what I can afford."

It is understood that talks with Lombard have progressed steadily but the meeting with the PFA could prove decisive.

The players' union - which saved Bradford City in 2002 by handing the club a £2 million loan - has first call over any money received from the Football League under the terms of that loan.

City had not expected to be eligible for the Football League payment because, until recently, the rules had stated it would not be paid to a club in administration. It is understood that may now be more flexible if the club is in a position to fulfil its fixtures.

But the crunch issue could be that of Mr Ward because of the sheer size of the amount due to the former City player who joined Sheffield United in August last year. Last night he was unavailable for comment.