Cardiff City have been given a final deadline of 5 May, three days after the end of the season, to settle their debts to the taxman, The club faced their third winding-up order yesterday over a £1.9m debt to Revenue and Customs. For HMRC Matthew Smith argued that the club should be wound up immediately as it was ‘plainly insolvent’. Half of the remaining £1.7m was paid on Tuesday, but the HMRC counsel said that this was onl
Cardiff City have been given a final deadline of 5 May, three days after the end of the season, to settle their debts to the taxman, The club faced their third winding-up order yesterday over a £1.9m debt to Revenue and Customs. For HMRC Matthew Smith argued that the club should be wound up immediately as it was ‘plainly insolvent’. Half of the remaining £1.7m was paid on Tuesday, but the HMRC counsel said that this was only possible after the club defaulted on its ongoing obligations to pay PAYE and VAT.
Cardiff hope to raise £1.8m from the sale of two plots of land around the stadium. Cardiff argued in court that an Asian businessman, believed to be Datuk Chan Tien Ghee from Malaysia, had already invested £500,000 into the club and had ‘indicated’ that he would give £6m. However, the Registrar said that there was no evidence relating to the third-party investor before the court.
The club has real potential, but its finances need to be put on a secure footing and at the moment there is no clear evidence that this is going to happen.
In other court decisions, Chester City were wound up and Southend United were given 35 days to settle their debts. The Shrimpers have been borrowing from the Professional Footballers’ Association to meet players’ wages.