KEVIN Blackwell has warned Bury’s directors that they need to act quickly to revive the club’s financial situation or he will struggle to put a team out in their next match.

Six first-team players are expected to miss the trip to MK Dons a week on Saturday due to injury or illness, and with five out of his six loan signings due to return to their parent clubs following Tuesday’s 1-0 home defeat to Tranmere, Blackwell believes the Gigg Lane outfit is at crisis point.

“I’ve been telling them (the directors) that their day of reckoning is coming,” said Blackwell. “Someone better wake up and listen to it.

“We’re certainly not going to be able to put a team and a bench out at Milton Keynes, as we speak at this moment in time.”

The Shakers squad has taken a battering during a gruelling 10-game winless streak.

With results on the wane, Blackwell had lined up a number of transfer targets for the January window, but is currently kicking his heels in frustration after the Football League put a block on the club registering new players.

That sanction was imposed due to a PFA loan taken out by the Bury directors to cover a cashflow problem, which they have promised will be paid back by the middle of the month.

Until then, Blackwell will be unable to sign new players, or even tie up Tom Soares and Sebastian Carole, who are currently playing for free on non-contract terms.

There is hope that Bury will at least be able to extend loan deals for defender Ethan Ebanks-Landell (Wolves), midfielder Zac Thompson (Leeds) and strikers Tom Hopper (Leicester) and Troy Hewitt (QPR), although Matt Doherty confirmed on Tuesday a move to extend his stay at Gigg Lane had been turned down by parent club Wolves.

The whole situation has left Blackwell seething, but the 53-year-old former Leeds and Sheffield United boss, who was appointed to the hotseat in September, has vowed not to throw in the towel.

“Not being told the truth about the club’s finances when I took over hasn’t helped, but I haven’t come here to get relegated,” he said.

“Now I know what the situation is, at least I can start doing something about it.

“But we need players. We’ve needed players all season. I have squeezed as much out of the kids as I can.”

Despite concern over his threadbare squad, Blackwell this week sanctioned the release of 20-year-old striker Lateef Elford-Alliyu, and allowed midfielder Marcus Marshall to extend his loan deal at Grimsby until the end of the season.

Both were signed in the summer by previous boss Richie Barker, who has given Elford-Alliyu a lifeline at his current club Crawley.