• Fratton Park may be sold to owner and leased back • Club must find even more cash if relegated

There is now a prevailing view within Portsmouth, and among football finance experts, that entering administration offers the best route for the club to emerge from their mess.

In this scenario, the theory goes, the process might be painful as players are sold off for less than their market value. But it may allow, broadly, the fresh start which Portsmouth fans dream of.

Behind this potential scenario it is the sheer, eye-watering scale of Portsmouth's financial plight which will be of most concern for the club and their supporters.

When monies from the Premier League, Sky, season tickets and sundry other finance are calculated Portsmouth might optimistically forecast that they will receive £15m-£20m between now and the end of this season.

That is a sizeable sum of money. But the Guardian understands that a further £22m is required for Portsmouth to continue trading until May of this year – and that this is dependent on the club finishing 17th.

Portsmouth are bottom of the Premier League, eight points from safety, so it seems likely they will finish 20th, meaning they would, according to sources, require around £26m.

Even if they enter administration, assets are realised and all creditors are settled with, a further £14m is required.

Next is the proposal that Portpin, the company owned by the current proprietor, Balram Chainrai, will be sold the freehold to Fratton Park for £10m, which will be subtracted from the £14m he is owed.

Beyond the emotion this is bound to invoke from supporters regarding the ground on which Portsmouth have played since the club's 1897 inception, it is moot how financially beneficial this would be.

The argument that the club have little choice but to wipe £10m from a major creditor's bill by selling the ground falls down if the rent of around £1.4m for the first year – and subsequently rising – becomes another financial millstone.

And, perhaps as worrying, is how the loss of their own stadium will affect Portsmouth going forward when the club attempt to find a new buyer. Crystal Palace fans are all too conscious how the sale of Selhurst Park to Ron Noades before the former owner leased the ground back in 1985 at a similar rate as is proposed for Fratton Park became a debilitating predicament.

Good news is as scarce a commodity as hard cash for Portsmouth, but Chainrai's apparent willingness to fund administration, plus the fact that the former owner Sacha Gaydamak, who is owed around £30.5m, considers himself a soft creditor, offers a little comfort.

First, though, Portsmouth have to convince their other major creditor, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, that they can come to terms regarding the petition that will be heard on 1 March for an unpaid bill of £12.1m VAT, PAYE and National Insurance. The club this week asked the Premier League if they might be able to sell players as soon as possible – outside of the transfer window – such is their desperation to be in as strong a position as possible on 1 March.

Whether this will be successful is in the balance but the manager Avram Grant conceded the seriousness of the situation when he conceded his skeletal squad may yet lose more players. He said of their potential sale: "At the beginning, I thought it was a joke. But now I know it is not a joke. There are many things that have happened here that I don't like. Things have happened here that I never accepted in the past and I will not accept in the future. But because of the club and the fans, I am trying to do the best I can with this situation. But every week, or every day sometimes, there is a new thing and I don't know whether these things are sad or funny sometimes.

"I'm not happy with the situation because when you promise something, you need to keep your promise. I know it's not easy in football and I know not 100% of the things I want can be done. But it's not possible that 100% of the things will not be done.

"I don't know who is at fault – I am not involved with the financial situation. But I'm trying not to think about myself at the moment and I'll give everything to the team, which is important for the future of the club. I know not many people believed I would stay two months ago, but I stayed even though the situation was very bad."

It could yet become much worse.