HULL City would need to off-load high-earning players quickly to avoiding going into administration should they be relegated, a leading football expert says.

Vinay Bedi, of stockbrokers Brewin Dolphin, has become one of the country's most respected and regularly quoted analysts of football finances in recent years.

He has studied the impact of top-flight relegation in high-profile cases such as Leeds United, Southampton and, more recently, the likes of Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

Given the Tigers' position in the Premier League with just five games remaining – and their near £39m wage bill – he told the Mail a summer 'fire-sale' of players would be a 'certainty' should City lose their top-flight status.

"Hull City will have had a turnover of around £60m turnover in the Premier League this year and they face a possible loss in revenue of more than £30m should they be relegated to the Championship," Bedi said.

"Should they be relegated, their revenues are likely to fall to between £20-£25m and that would not be enough to manage the club's wage bill.

That would mean having to slash the wage bill, and quickly, which would probably mean having to give players away."

With a loss of Premier League revenues and a catalogue of players commanding high salaries, Bedi says it often becomes a race against time to balance the books when a club loses top-fight status.

"This is where the threat of administration comes in because clubs often struggle to find takers for players and they end up haemorrhaging money at an alarming rate," he said.

"If you can get £10m off the wage bill that is great, but often the question is can you then get rid of the next £10m for players that maybe don't have clubs queuing up for them?

"It would really be a fire-sale and fans have to accept that players would have to go.

"It wouldn't be a question of 'can we keep him', it would be a question of 'can we sell him?

Hull would probably start the summer with a list of the top 10 earners and would work to get them off the wage bill as quickly as possible."

Whilst Bedi warns that many of City's under-performing stars may struggle to attract buyers, he has no doubt that club record signing Jimmy Bullard would move on – allowing City to cut £45,000 a week off their bills.

"Jimmy Bullard remains a very saleable asset," he said.

"It doesn't matter if he is sold for £4m or for free, there would be a club willing to take him on, and Hull would have to let him go to just get his wages off the bill.

"Obviously, Bullard could choose to hold out on his contract and collect his money, but I would think that he will want to play Premier League football."

Should City manage to clear players out quickly, Bedi says it could provide a route to financial stability.

But, unless the club's owner is able to plough in huge amounts of money, he says any thoughts of a quick return to the Premier League are likely to be over-optimistic.

"To me Hull seems to be a similar case to Middlesbrough when they went down," he said.

"They had a wage bill which was far too high for the Championship and it took some time for them to move players on.

"They started the season well but then Robert Huth and Tuncay left for Stoke during the transfer window and all of a sudden the results started to turn.

"They didn't have the same financial strength as Newcastle, who were able to take the gamble of holding on to some of their better players in the hope of making an instant return to the top flight.

"As a result, Middlesbrough have found themselves struggling to make the play-offs, and that I feel would be the same for Hull.

"They would have to sell or let go for free their better players and the ones left would probably not be good enough to mount a serious challenge."

Tigers' owner Russell Bartlett has so far declined Mail requests to speak about the club's financial plans should it be relegated, saying at present it is merely 'unhelpful speculation' given City's continuing fight for survival.

Chairman Adam Pearson has said the club hopes to be able to 'trade through' any difficulties, but has admitted 'nothing could be ruled out'.