ACCRINGTON Stanley may consider using any possible prize money from an FA Cup victory over Gillingham to lift their transfer embargo.

Stanley are currently restricted to 20 senior players because they still owe £50,000 to the PFA, who offered them a loan during their recent financial crisis.

The Reds have previously suggested that they may leave the embargo in place until the end of the season, with 20 players considered to be sufficient.

But the club cannot bring players in at the moment because they have reached that 20-player limit, and boss John Coleman is pushing for the embargo to be lifted to allow Stanley to strengthen during the January transfer window and boost their hopes of securing a League Two play-off place.

The Reds’ ability to lift the embargo could lie in Coleman’s hands, though, with prize money of £67,500 and a home tie against Premier League side Fulham on offer to the winners of the FA Cup third round tie against Gillingham.

Asked if FA Cup prize money could be used to pay off the PFA debt, chief executive Rob Heys said: “It’s possible. We could look to do that. We’re on a sound financial footing now but any money that comes in is welcome.

“We’ve got 20 players at the moment and that’s a good number, but John might want us to try to lift the embargo.”

Stanley are due to host Gillingham at the Crown Ground tomorrow, although a pitch inspection is scheduled this morning to determine whether the match has any chance of going ahead with freezing temperatures forecast to remain for most of the week.

If it is postponed it is due to be rescheduled for Tuesday, January 19 – but Stanley may still decide to lift the embargo before then, with Coleman hopeful of a meeting with Ilyas Khan on the subject this week.

“Unless we get the embargo lifted we can’t strengthen at all,” said the Reds manager.

“I’ll know more about that this week. Certainly a big part of that would be to try to win against Gillingham to try to bring some much-needed funds into the club.

“But the embargo in some ways has helped with the fact that it has kept us limited to 20.

“You need to be lucky with injuries and at one point we weren’t, but we’ve only really got Leam Richardson now who is out.

“That leaves us with 19 and that is enough at the moment.”

With Gillingham setting off for the north west at around 9am today, Stanley were keen to hold a pitch inspection this morning to prevent any repeat of the controversy that surrounded the postponement of the original tie last Saturday.

Gills boss Mark Stimson suggested there was a lack of common sense in calling off the game on the morning of the match, with his side already in the north west.

But Heys said: “They couldn’t be unhappy really because we brought in a referee the day before and he said it was playable. And they were staying a mile away at the Dunkenhalgh, so they could see that the snow came down at 8.30am.

“We felt sorry for them because they had travelled, but they could see the weather for themselves so it was not as if we were telling lies.”

l Coleman has missed out on the League Two manager of the month award, with Rochdale’s Keith Hill receiving the honour.

Centre back Phil Edwards finished third in the player of the month race – won by Rochdale’s Craig Dawson.