Chester City, relegated from the Football League last year, face a crunch board meeting tomorrow. With the season starting next Saturday, the club lack a licence to play. What’s more the High Court revoked their Company Voluntary Arrangement that allow them to exit administration. The FA have to decide if they will grant Chester mandatory affiliation even though they are in clear breach of insolvency rules. The club have already paid out quarter of a million pounds in wages over the summer and badly need some cash flow.
Chester City, relegated from the Football League last year, face a crunch board meeting tomorrow. With the season starting next Saturday, the club lack a licence to play. What’s more the High Court revoked their Company Voluntary Arrangement that allow them to exit administration. The FA have to decide if they will grant Chester mandatory affiliation even though they are in clear breach of insolvency rules. The club have already paid out quarter of a million pounds in wages over the summer and badly need some cash flow. A midweek friendly with Burnley had to be played behind closed doors. Chester have had a chequered history in recent years. However, the underlying problem is that the town is within easy reach of top flight action on Merseyside and in Manchester.
Also in Cheshire is one of the country’s most historic clubs, Blue Square North outfit Northwich Victoria. The tax authorities have rejected the club’s bid to exit administration through a CVA. They have estimated debts of around £800,000 with half of that owed to HM Revenue and Customs. The club have offered to pay back 35p in the pound over the next five years, but that is thought not to be a good enough deal for the taxpayer. For the CVA to go through, 75 per cent of the total value of creditors must accept the deal on offer. One piece of good news for Conference clubs is that a television deal to replace the one that ended when Setanta collapsed may not be far away. Two broadcasters are thought to be interested although it is unlikely that either of them will match Setanta’s 60 matches a season.