Insolvency stories are dominating this week’s football finance news. With HM Revenue and Customs cracking down on clubs that don’t pay their tax bills, a second winding up petition has been served against League 2 club Notts County. Only two months ago the Magpies paid a bill of about £400,000 in unpaid tax. The new petition, issued against County’s parent company Blenheim 1862 Limited, will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on January 27.
Insolvency stories are dominating this week’s football finance news. With HM Revenue and Customs cracking down on clubs that don’t pay their tax bills, a second winding up petition has been served against League 2 club Notts County. Only two months ago the Magpies paid a bill of about £400,000 in unpaid tax. The new petition, issued against County’s parent company Blenheim 1862 Limited, will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on January 27. To add to their misery, the Football League has imposed a transfer ban on County which means that they will not be able to sign players in the January window. But new supremo Peter Trembling, who bought the club from Munto Finance in December, has issued a ‘don’t panic’ message to shell shocked supporters who have been on a roller coaster ride in the last few months. All potential investors have been kept informed about the troubles with the taxman and ‘they are fully relaxed about this’ which suggest a fairly laid back attitude to financial challenges.
However, it seems that there is some substance in this positive attitude. Director of football Sven Goran Eriksson has secured a sponsorship deal with Ludo, a telecommunications company from Norway. This will probably be for shirt sponsorship and be worth around £300,000, a decent sum even for a League 1 club if County get promoted, but it won’t kick in until next season. Meanwhile, debts of £1.5m have to be dealt with, of which £600,000 is for PAYE. However, apparently agreement has been reached with various investors to cover the PAYE bill by the end of next week. Tomorrow, wintry weather permitting, Sven Goran will travel down to London to attract more investment into the club. Why anyone should want to invest in a finacially struggling League 2 club, albeit one with substantial ambitions, is an interesting question, but perhaps Sven can exercise his charm. However, some of the realities of the situation are emphasised by Trembling’s admission that ‘Clearly, the postponement of three fixtures over the festive period has not helped the club’s cash flow and this is an area we are currently actively addressing.’ If he can make the wintry weather go away, he may really be on to something.