Parma's season has taken yet another turn for the worse with the club failing to meet a deadline to pay wages at the weekend.
The Gialloblu are currently bottom of Serie A with two wins and nine defeats from their 11 games so far this season. They finished last term in sixth place, qualifying for the Europa League, but only hours after celebrating that achievement, their problems started.
They were refused a licence by UEFA to compete in Europe after failing to meet a deadline to pay taxes. They vowed to fight for their place, which was taken by Torino, but that battle has now evaporated as more worrying details have emerged about their financial situation.
Unable to pay overdue salaries and taxes by a Nov. 15 deadline, they will inevitably be deducted between one and three Serie A points after infringing league rules.
Parma have broken their silence with a statement on their official website which explained how a delay in the sale of the club to a prospective buyer led to the failure to meet Saturday's deadline.
"Parma FC is sorry not to have been able to meet the deadline and, at the same time, not to have been able to provide any information in recent days about the existence of negotiations [which are ongoing] due to a secrecy agreement which still remains in force," read the statement.
"As far as the financial situation of the club is concerned, Parma reaffirm that the problems that need to be resolved relate to the momentary lack of funds and that the club's future is not in doubt at all.
"At present, after a difficult start to the season characterised by unexpected negative results, but also by a quite extraordinary number of injuries, our efforts are focused on obtaining the highest possible position in the league to enable us to remain in Serie A.
"That is something we must achieve at all costs and with all the energy we have got, to give back to the fans the satisfaction that they deserve. To that end, we are maximising the efforts of every member of the club. It is a long and hard season, but there is plenty of time still to recover.
"Unfortunately, we have got to expect a now certain points deduction which the club will try to keep to a minimum."
Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi put the club up for sale immediately after UEFA refused to grant them a licence in May.
After months in which he left the running of the club to his managerial staff, he has recently returned to a more hands-on role, although it was reported last week that Albanian oil tycoon Rezart Taci, who has previously tried to buy Bologna and AC Milan, is keen on acquiring the club.
"An essential part of the negotiations, as had been established in our preliminary agreements, was that the purchase would be completed no later than Nov. 10, in order to guarantee the payments due on Nov. 15," the club statement continued.
"Despite the advanced stage of the negotiations, and despite the agreements reached by both parties, the prospective buyer, unexpectedly, put back the completion of the operation beyond the aforementioned deadline agreed of Nov. 10."
Although the club states that those negotiations with the unnamed party, understood to be Taci, are still underway, missing Saturday's deadline means they will be docked points when the Serie A disciplinary committee sits to discuss the infringement in the New Year.