Championship side Crystal Palace have gone into administration, according to administrators P&A Partnership.
The Eagles twice failed to pay players this season and chairman Simon Jordan had been searching for new investors.
Clubs entering administration are automatically docked 10 points, which would see Palace drop from ninth place to two spots above the drop zone.
But the Football League has yet to receive formal confirmation from either the club or the administrators.
The Football League would need to see official documentation before applying the penalty.
"Our role is to find a buyer quickly to provide certainty for the future," said administrator Brendan Guilfoyle.
"This club has been in the spotlight with creditors pressing for payments and players anxious about wages.
"We are hoping our appointment will be short-lived as we understand there are many interested buyers."
Palace have reported debts of approximately £30m and are due in court on Wednesday to face a winding-up order from HM Revenue and Customs.
Despite their financial constraints - Warnock has at times not been able to name seven substitutes this season - Palace were lying two points off the play-offs ahead of Wednesday's trip to Newcastle.
Warnock will instead have a relegation fight on his hands, while the sale of his star players, such as teenage striker Victor Moses, now seems inevitable.
Jordan, who saved Palace from administration in 2000, last year announced his intention to sell the club.
The club has twice since been subject to a transfer embargo, with the Palace players first informed that Jordan had "cashflow" problems at the end of November.
The deduction of ten points (if confirmed) means that clubs currently below Crystal Palace such as Coventry City will rise a place in the Championship table.
