Another bid by ex-City director Gilbert Kinch fell by the wayside after the administrators said they had no evidence to suggest the offer was viable.

“We have reviewed the proposals put forward by a number of interested parties and discussed them at length with the major creditor and effective owner of the Walkers Stadium,” said administrator Nick Dargan.

“The major creditor has now accepted our recommendation to back the Lineker Consortium.

“There is a lot of hard work still to be done and a successful conclusion is by no means certain. The first and most obvious requirement is for the consortium to finally secure their funding and they require the full support of the Leicester public to achieve this.”

Assuming this is attained, the proposals then have to be agreed with the Football League, the Football Association, the Premier League, the Professional Footballers’ Association and the rest of the club’s creditors.

“The consortium will be outlining their plans to Micky Adams to ensure both he and the players are fully aware of their intentions and progress being made,” added Dargan.

“It is likely that any deal would be concluded early in the new year.”

According to the Leicester Mercury, Lineker’s consortium is just £400,000 (€621,000) away from raising the cash it needs.

Speaking this morning to the BBC, Lineker said: “The very existence of the club is at stake.

“We have got a bit of a way to go. We need to get fans part of the club and return it to a community club. The future is bright.”

Leicester went into administration two months ago with debts of around £50m (€77m), and the players have since agreed to defer a percentage of their wages.