Monday 27 April 2009

DEATH OF A FOOTBALL CLUB

The information I'm getting strongly suggests that Chester City FC will be in administration within a fortnight. The season is about to end, there is no revenue coming in, and the traditional source of income at this time of year - season ticket sales - will yield next to nothing because no-one knows if the club will still be in business come August. Meanwhile debts continue to mount. The club hasn't paid the players' wages for months. Instead, the PFA has been lending the money for the wages. That loan will have to be repaid sooner or later and is subject to interest at 10%. Any money which does come into the club such as TV money or parachute payments will go straight to the PFA and other creditors. The club has other outstanding debts which led to a transfer embargo being slapped on it by the Football League. The embargo is still there, which indicates that the debts have not been repaid. The players are due to be paid next at the end of this month - and the only way that will happen is if the PFA stump up again. Then there's the wage bill at the end of May, and June. And an income tax bill is due shortly. The owner, Stephen Vaughan, wants to sell but has failed to find a buyer. So it will be no surprise if he puts the club into administration sooner rather than later. That's if the creditors agree. If they don't, it could mean liquidation.

2 comments:

Chris McKenna said...

It seems as though the club needs it's community behind it, fundraiser after fundraiser is what is needed. Check out my blog which gives a brief outline of what my local club, Drogheda United did 6 months ago. http://thesportingrant.blogspot.com/2009/01/drogheda-united-true-local-club.html We have now a totally different squad, new manager, back to part time but we're still going and that's the main thing. Managed to get out of administration, pay the taxman and the creditors...somehow! It's a long road back to the top though but I'm sure of the people of Chester want their team to go on, they will get behind the cause.

Charlie Lambert said...

The first challenge is to move on from the current ownership. If administration achieves that, we can hopefully start to follow the Drogheda blueprint.