York Latest Club To Go Under - 23/12/02

York City are the twelth Football League club to go into administration this year. The administrator has allowed until 18 January for a solution to be found. After that the club will go into liquidation without a rescue package.

The York story has some familiar and some specific features. Like many clubs, it has been hit harder by the collapse of the transfer market than by the end of the ITV Digital deal. The club lost £100,000 in television income, the equivalent of five weeks' losses. The club has traditionally survived by selling off youngsters it has developed. But it was forced to sell an England Under-21 goalkeeper, Russell Howarth, to Tranmere Rovers for only £25,000, which would meet barely more than a week's losses.

At the moment the anount paid out in wages, mostly to players, is 120 per cent of the club's total income. The current wage bill is £70,000 a month and while the contracts of fourteen of the twenty-three professional players end this summer, total wage commitments to the end of next season are £800,000. The Professional Footballers' Association, increasingly running out of cash, has paid the players' wages for November and December. Some £200,000 is owed to suppliers and trade creditors, although, somwhat unusually for clubs in this situation, York are up to date with their payments to St.John Ambulance (who provide first aid cover at grounds). The club owes £150,000 in PAYE and VAT payments.

An additional complication is the two most recent owners of the club. The ground is still effectively owned by former chairman, Douglas Craig, although there are plans to use it for housing and to build a stadium on the edge of town. The current owner, John Batchelor, has not proved popular with fans. He is described in The Independent as 'a former toilet paper salesman turned motor sport impressario'. His business strategy was based on combining the club's fortunes with those of the British Touring Car Championship motor racing team.

One problem for the club is that the cathedral city of York is not what is known as a 'football city', while many local fans are no doubt attracted to the Premiership game at nearby Leeds. York ranks 19th in the third division attendance table, based on maximum attendance, although the average attendance figure would put it in a mid-table position. One can anticipate more clubs running into difficulty as season ticket money and commercial sponsorship paid up front runs out.

Update:York City Supporters' Trust are now on the verge of taking control of the club. The Inland Revenue have accepted an offer of £100,000 from the Trust as payment for an outstanding bill of £160,000.