Rotherham United, Sheffield United, Leeds United, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City wait for Trotters decision

The Trotters won a reprieve after being issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs over an unpaid tax bill for £1.2m.

Liquidation was seen as a possibility ahead of yesterday’s hearing but Wanderers now have a fortnight to find a buyer.

Barrister Hilary Stonefrost, representing Bolton, told the court the club has a potential buyer lined up who “already owns a major stake in a high-level football club”.

She asked for a 14-day adjournment to give the club time to complete a sale and settle its debts.

Judge Clive Jones, sitting in the Insolvency and Companies Court in London, adjourned the case until April 3.

It means a tense waiting game for not only Wanderers and their anxious supporters but also the other 23 clubs competing in this season’s second tier.

If Bolton become only the third club in the last three decades to fold during a season – Aldershot Town (in 1992) and Chester City (2010) are the others – then their results are likely to be expunged from the records.

For Leeds United, Sheffield United, Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday, this would mean a loss of six points due to the White Rose quartet having completed the league double over Phil Parkinson’s side.

Middlesbrough, yet to travel to Bolton, would lose three points, while Rotherham United’s tally would fall by one to 35.

The big losers in Wanderers’ record being scrubbed would be Wigan Athletic, who would fall from 19th to second bottom in the table.