Dunfermline Athletic manager Jim Jefferies has declared that he feels "let down" by the club's owners over their handling of the current financial crisis.

The former Hearts boss said that he and his players have been kept in the dark by Pars owner Gavin Masterton regarding the extent of the monetary issues.

Cash-strapped Dunfermline have failed to pay their players on numerous occasions this season, with recent reports suggesting that the squad have received just 20% of what they are owed for the current campaign.

The club also owe an estimated £8m to directors and a further £134,000 in unpaid taxes that could see them slapped with a winding-up order.

"You expect to get your salaries on time. The club can certainly be a wee bit late - that would have been okay with our players - but when it's gone on this long, there is a sense that we've been let down," Sky Sports News quotes Jefferies as saying.

"A lot of the guys are dependent on that money and we didn't know how things were coming about.

"Gavin was trying to buy a bit of time but time ran out. The things he hoped would come off didn't and the up-shot of that was that the players have been left with very little money coming in."

Jefferies added that the situation at Dunfermline is among the "worst" he has experienced at any club.