This last week has not been the best week to choose for some leave, but then when is!  Certainly there has been plenty of action off the pitch, and here is a summary of the ‘clubs in flux’.

• Cardiff City (see postings passim)
  HMRC have been making winding-up moves which even spinmeister Peter Ridsdale is having problems in explaining. Walesonline (1), eurosport (2) and the BBC (3) all carried the story on 25 November that a winding-up order sought by HMRC had been adjourned for 70 days. Ridsdale gushed to BBC Wales “I’m delighted. It’s confirmation from the Inland Revenue that we’ve now reached an agreement on any monies that were outstanding from the past. We’ve started paying it back, we have an agreed payment plan and they confirmed to us that they would go to court and withdraw any likely action and I’m told today they suspended that action exactly as agreed.” – presumably forgetting that there should have been an agreement, being kept to, in the first place.
  Walesonline subsequently reported the HMRC debt as being ‘around the £1.2m mark’, small beer compared with the club’s debt to Langston.
  Ridsdale dismissed the HMRC court move as “nothing more than an attempt by the authorities “to rattle our cage“. His cage had obviously been rattled by Walesonline as he is now refusing to speak to them.
  He is meantime trumpeting the appointment of Malaysian property developer to the board of Cardiff City, although there is a marked reluctance for any specific figure to be stated regarding investment beyond ‘millions’ (4), which may be nothing like enough to cover the millions and millions Cardiff owes. The little disagreement with HMRC was, according to Ridsdale, ‘linked to unexpected extra costs for fixtures and fittings at the club’s new stadium‘. My, those solid gold pie holders can be expensive. Of his £350,000 annual salary and a £500,000 bonus when the stadium was completed, Ridsdale commented “I make no apology and believe I am worth it“. Perhaps someone has been watching too many L’Oréal advertisements – I would suspect that increasingly the problem for Ridsdale will be that not so many share that belief.
  If we stay with the Edward Gibbon reference, images of Nero and a burning Rome spring to mind.

• Chester City (see postings passim)
  I’m beginning to think that, when the time finally comes for it to be written, The Decline and Fall of Chester City will rival for length even Edward Gibbon’s classic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which runs to 1088 pages in the compressed paperback edition.  Even Ian King at 200% has reached Part 6 of Chester City Football Club: The Death Rattle.
  The Chester City version has all the makings of a classic soap, especially the cliff-hanger at the end of every episode. Lately though the script-writers have begun to run out of ideas as every time the cliff-hanger is ‘Will this deadline actually be a deadline?’ and we know the answer will be ‘No’.Due to be expelled from the Conference for failing to pay football creditors, the deadline has once again been extended (5). Just how much longer can this saga continue?
  There is vague talk of new owners (6) but Vaughan says, with an interesting use of the word ’still’, “I will still support the club. There will still be money available. All I’ve ever done is put money into Chester and that will still be the case” (7). A threat, a promise, or a wind up?

• Farsley Celtic (see postings passim)
  Better news for a club that teetered worryingly on the precipice all too recently. Planning permission for 14 houses on land that the club owns has been granted (8). There is still no CVA, HMRC being the obstacle, but at least there is pale glow on the horizon now.

• King’s Lynn (see postings passim)
  The club lost in court against HMRC, who won a winding-up order on 25 November (9). The present regime is still supping up in the back room of the last chance saloon as there is a seven-day period in which to mount an appeal. Erstwhile benefactor, and still a director, Michael Chinn has spoken of a mystery benefactor coming to the rescue (10).  Time is running out fast, and AFC King’s Lynn is still running favourite in my book.

• Southend United (see postings passim)
  Chairman Ron Martin who said on 20 November (11) “I shall, next week, be issuing a series of blogs to cover such subjects as:
  • HMRC – how did the position arise
  • How was the debt paid
  • The “consortium”
  • My thoughts about the current squad size
  • The future“
  has so far failed to ‘issue a single fatwa blog’.  It’s worth recalling how he began his statement on 20 November: “A few – not many in truth – have commented that I have “gone quiet” over the past two or three weeks whereas supporters would have expected me to add clarity to recent events “as you always do“.  No doubt they still do.

• Weymouth (see postings passim)
  Pulled back from the edge at the last minute by new owner George Rolls. the latest figure on the club’s debts is £700,000, a deeply worrying level of debt for a club at this level (12).
  My concern if I were a Weymouth fan would be his track record at Cambridge United – appointed Chairman in January this year (13), preaching continuity and stability (luxuries that Weymouth have not enjoyed in a long time), he saw two managers leave in quick succession, and himself resigned at the beginning of August (14).

Normal posting has hopefully been resumed (although I’m heading north to a conference tomorrow, so I’m afraid there is a meassure of uncertainty until Friday evening) with upcoming postings on three ‘new to the blog’ clubs.

The sacking of Paul Hart by Portsmouth (1) has been greeted with universal sympathy in cyberspace and this will doubtless be repeated in newsprint tomorrow. Received wisdom is that he was on a hiding to nothing and made the best of a bad job in the circumstances, made all the more ironic by the number of goals scored last Saturday by former Pompey players (no, please don’t mention Ricardo Fuller’s contribution; he left Fratton Park as far back as 2005 in any case).

The sad fact is that managers have one of the most insecure jobs in the world.  Yes, there are the exceptions of Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger and Dario Gradi, but they definitely are the exceptions.

Dr Sue Bridgewater at Warwick Business School conducted a very comprehensive survey of manager employment trends including dismissals in the top four divisions over the period from 1992 to 2005 (her very readable report is downloadable here, and there is a webcast of her talking about the key findings here).  She found, among a number of fascinating conclusions, that more experienced managers who have longer in post achieve higher levels of success.  It also emerged that the average rate of tenure over that period, 2.19 years, was declining, and could be projected to have fallen, if the trend is maintained , to one year by 2023.

She also found that there is a significant correlation with success for managers who have followed the route of taking coaching and Management qualifications.  Yet still we see good ex-players without coaching badges being given special dispensation to manage even in the Premier League.

Human Resource Management in the football sector is way, way behind the times.  In other sectors it is not generally accepted that you get the best out of people by kicking boots at them or continually swearing at them.  And I have yet to see any evidence that such approaches actually work in football.

To return to Paul Hart, my recent posting (2) suggests that current board-level HRM practices at Portsmouth are poor even by football’s low standards.

A press conference scheduled for last night was postponed, and the Dorset Echo has carried two reports today (1 and 2) which provide some insight, if not full transparency, on what is going on.  Cancelled press conferences are a bit of a Weymouth thing – back in March one was cancelled when Stephen Beer, who was expected to be announcing a £300,000 investment in the club, was rushed into hospital with a suspected stroke just thirty minutes before it was due to take place (3).

So far as I can tell, the Ryan/Beasant offer (see 4), which had looked set for confirmation, had in fact been rejected, the alternative George Rolls bid, at least according to George Rolls, former Chairman of Cambridge United, having been accepted instead.  This, it would seem, was to be announced at last night’s press conference, which was cancelled at one hour’s notice.

Derek Bish of the Dorset Echo suggests that pressure had been put on the board by Malcolm Curtis, a former director currently trying to recover money owed him by the club, by saying in an email that he would demand immediate repayment of his £221,000 loan if Ryan and Beasant were allowed to take over the club.

Ryan confirmed late this morning that the directors had placed unacceptable conditions in his way (get rid of Beasant? pay off Curtis? [JB]), thus in effect rejecting his offer, adding “Consequently our offer was rejected in favour of George [Rolls]’s“.

There is no confirmation from the club that Rolls’s bid has been accepted, the club website having gone very quiet.  There does not seem to be a third alternative other than Administration, which the board has tried desperately to avoid.  Definitely one to watch.

Headlines can be oddly misleading.  I clicked through just now to ‘Boro collapse stuns France’, wondering how the French had failed to notice Middlesbrough’s relegation for so long (1), only to find that I had forgotten the name of the manager of one of our leading resurrectionist club.

They can also be very amusing.  I’m thinking here of headlines that just aren’t news, more, as Basil Fawlty would have it, statements of the bleeding obvious, or statements of just wishful thinking.

A good example of the former is Martinez embarrassed after defeat from today’s BBC website output. No! Really?

An example of the latter would be Ridsdale Far East trip expected to tie up Cardiff City investment from WalesOnline on 2 November.  Surely even Ridsdale wasn’t seriously expecting this.

The downright surreal also would qualify, as in £10m loan will secure Pompey future: Al Fahim from Portsmouth’s The News of 17 November.  Of course – the new owner is going to increase the club’s debt.  Really thinking outside the box there.

So, any offers of non-headlines?  The rules are simple.  All you have to do is post the actual headline in a comment below, exactly as it appears on the webpage, together with the URL, and the date it was published – no more, no less.  It has to be on the topic of football management (rather than performance on the pitch), and the less there is any need for comment, and/or the greater the irony, so much the better.

I’m a Pompey fan so I need cheering up. If that had been a headline it would certainly have qualified as a statement of the bleeding obvious!

King’s Lynn, who face a winding-up order in court this Wednesday from HMRC over a debt of £65,000, have just seen the resignation of their recently appointed Financial Director David Handley (1).  This is clearly a cause of deep concern to Linnets fans, but it might the bigger picture behind this might just pick up some resonances for fans at many another club higher up in the pyramid.

The nearest Football League clubs are Peterborough (roughly 30 miles away), Norwich (roughly 40 miles away) and Lincoln (roughly 50 miles away).  To see a Premier League game you would have to travel just over a hundred miles to watch Spurs or Arsenal, or almost 110 miles to Hull. So with a population of 135,000 in the town alone, it would not be unreasonable to have aspirations of being at least in the Conference or even League 2.  Carlisle, for example, is in a similar position in terms of local competition, and has a smaller population.

The Linnets have however spent most of their life in the various divisions of the Southern League, but were promoted to the Conference North in 2008.  The beginnings of fulfilling their not unreasonable ambition?  Sadly not.

The first of a number of problems arose with their stadium, which is owned by the local council. The Conference decided at the end of last season that the Walks Stadium did not come up to their standards, and announced that the Linnets would be demoted. This, in spite of the fact that King’s Lynn Borough Council had given their unconditional undertaking that all required alterations would be completed by the start of this season (2) and West Norfolk Council had earmarked £250,000 towards the cost of new changing rooms and floodlights (3).  The Conference was given written undertakings that the work would be completed by the start of the season, but chose to take an uncompromising line and the appeal against demotion was rejected (4).  The milk of human kindness was not to flow as it was for Chester City but a few months later – one attitude to those coming down the pyramid and a different one to those trying to climb it, it would seem.

One immediate outcome was that the manager and his assistant resigned (5), followed by their Director of Football (6) on the day that the HMRC winding-up petition was announced (7).  In September the new Assistant Manger resigned (8) saying that the club owed him ‘a considerable sum of money’ and that the club had “been taking advantage of me“.

Clearly financial matters in the club were, let’s say, suboptimal.  David Handley arrived in October.  At the time he told the Lynn News “This is a massive and dream job for me, but I’ve got big plans for the future and on the financial side of things the buck will still stop with me.I want the fans to judge me at the end of the season, but I’m determined to get the club in a good financial position and move forward from there. When I took the job on I had two aims. The first was to get an adjournment with the Revenue, which we’ve done, and the second is to repair and fix the financial position of the club. You have to remember that the outstanding debt with the Revenue goes back a number of years and because players have been overpaid in the past. There’s no reason whatsoever why I can’t get the club where I want it to be financially when you look at the fan base and if we can achieve success on the pitch with a good, young side.“

Handley is a realist, saying on 22 October: “I don’t think we can expect to get any outside investment within that sort of timeframe. Added to that we haven’t got many home games within this period either so I guess the burden will fall on me and the other directors. I’ve already put some money in initially to get a place on the board and I managed to get us an adjournment result in the High Court, and let me tell you that was by no means a guaranteed outcome. This situation is solely down to unpaid tax on high wage-earning players but I’m pretty confident we can clear the debt and stabilise the club so it can move forward.” (9)

A month later, and his views are rather different: “I feel I have been brought to the club under false pretences. I have put in £23,000 and I feel I am going to be made a scapegoat for all the problems. I had a pact with the other directors but it seems I was paying for everything and there was a hell of a lot coming out of the woodwork.“

To be fair, the facts are disputed by 40% shareholder, director and ‘benefactor’ Michael Chinn, who now says of Handley “We’ve wasted six weeks because of him. He came in making all sorts of promises and basically he hasn’t been able to deliver” (10) and disputes Handley’s claim of £23,000 investment.  As the club prepares for the High Court hearing Chinn says “I have got a Plan A and a Plan B and I’m confident we’ll be okay. I’ll be talking with a number of friends and I’m hopeful they will lend me the money I need to pay off the tax bill” Ah, an almost seamless switch from benefaction to borrowing.  At least he has two plans, which is two more than some Chairmen, but let’s hope neither involve disappearing from the dugout at this vital time – in January he resigned from the board (11) only to reappear by June (12) promssing to take the demotion issue to the Court of Appeal (which he decided eight days later not to [13]).  Borrowing may get HMRC off the club’s back but it’s hardly the way to be going forward – borrowing from Peter to pay Paul is not a sustainable business model.

There is one small glimmer of good news – the Blue and Gold Supporters Trust was launched earlier this month (14 and 15).

There is a cautionary tale here for any club that has aspirations to climb the pyramid, has become dependent on a benefactor model, or has not kept up payments to HMRC.

That doesn’t really cut it down much though, does it?

Southend United’s Chairman Ron Martin could never be accused of consistency.  First we were told on the club website on 4 November that a full statement about the recent near melt-down of the club in winding-up proceedings would be forthcoming, but this claim was mysteriously airbrushed out.  Warming to his strategy of non-communication of information, he bluntly stated on 9 November that, the debt to HMRC having been settled, the matter was now closed (1).

In a dramatic and unexpected, but most welcome, U-turn, he has now decided to explain what exactly he meant – “I said at the time of discharging the payment to the “tax man” (on the day of the Gillingham FA Cup game) that I would make a fuller statement the following week. The short comment about the formality of the court hearing on the Monday was not it!” (2)  Actually, Ron, I don’t really think that anyone thought that.

What is that has prompted to come good on his promise of a full statement?  Apparently it’s because “A few – not many in truth – have commented that I have “gone quiet” over the past two or three weeks whereas supporters would have expected me to add clarity to recent events “as you always do““.  Ah yes, clarity.  Personally I had expected a uniquely odd view of things direct from Planet Ron, and I haven’t been disappointed.

We learn that “Like all complex legal/banking matters there are often subsequent conditions which need to be addressed, swept up if you like, and the past two weeks I have largely been engaged in doing just that“. Quite so, sweeping up, not to mention air-brushing.

Now that he’s finished sweeping up, “I shall, next week, be issuing [sic] a series of blogs to cover such subjects as:

• HMRC – how did the position arise
  
• How was the debt paid
  
• The “consortium”
  
• My thoughts about the current squad size
  
• The future”

Probably a series of statements on the club website I would guess, rather than blogs where people can post comments.  To be fair, what with him being so busy, he probably hasn’t quite caught up with the interweb thingee.

I must confess though, ‘How the debt was paid’ is the one I’m really looking forward to.

What are we then to expect?  As a taster, Ron tells us “Recent events did not “creep up” unnoticed and whilst the inadvertent “use” of HMRC Bank Plc may not have been well received in all quarters the Club’s approach was one of control and expectation of policy promoted by the Football League in discussion with HMRC. In the event, HMRC had the Government coffers to protect and in doing so had no regard for the screamingly obvious commercial position that would facilitate payment or the delays and circumstances of which they were directly or indirectly responsible.

If this gives the impression that the gods are looking down from Olympus and competing with each other to see who can screw our Club the hardest, then so be it. As football supporters we are all cursed with a genetic propensity for moaning but the tax man’s efforts to unglue all that is good about our wonderful Club was beyond the pale. Not just the passion that is created during 90 minutes on a Saturday, or as with today on a Friday night, but the outstanding contribution the Club makes to the community, social inclusion, charities, civic pride and the children of our Town. Do not tell me this would not have been unravelled if HMRC had “won”.“

I guess what we might have expected from Ron Martin – all the fault of ‘HMRC Bank plc’ (well, he is certainly as brazen as he is cynical) and absolutely nothing to do with the esteemed Chairman or the board.  His use of ‘inadvertent‘ as in ‘the inadvertent “use” of HMRC Bank Plc” is interesting – had he not noticed that this is the second year running that HMRC has had to take the club to court to get over £600,000 in unpaid taxes etc.?

Ominously he concludes “I know where I am taking this Club and will not be distracted by the detractors“.  And where exactly would that be?  To Fossetts Farm via Hell in a handcart?  Let’s just hope that the wheels don’t unglue.

A press interview (1) given by manager Paul Hart reveals the level of communications which can be expected form Portsmouth’s new owners.  Following a meeting with their representatives (he has yet to meet Al Faraj some seven weeks after the takeover), Hart revealed:

“There have been discussions. They were preliminary talks which will lead to others.

‘The detail wasn’t great so there needs to be more said.

‘The talks were with two of his advisors and more talks are going to take place over the next few weeks.

‘When we get down to more succinct talks and conversations and a bit more direction then we will know where we are going.

‘The date for more talks isn’t in my diary at the moment.“

So, a clear strategy effectively communicated from the top then.  ;-(

This style of football management is more appropriate to a pre-Herbert Chapman world of club secretarys than to the Premier League in the twenty-first century!  As if Paul Hart hasn’t got enough obstacles to overcome…

Just how brazen can you get in flouting the Fit and Proper Person test?  See my last posting for some suggestions.  There is however a new contender.

Latest on the takeover at Weymouth from the Dorset Echo includes the following gem: ““We are on course to fulfil our due diligence and will make a full statement on Monday on our decision, which is to carry on and take the club on,” said …” (1)

The name that follows is not that of Chris Ryan, presented as the “prospective new owner” (2), but that of Steve Beasant, who the Echo euphemistically describe as ‘Advisor’ to the Ryan consortium.  Beasant was declared personally bankrupt less than a year ago (3) following the compulsory winding-up of two of his companies, leaving debts running into millions of pounds.

Beasant happily speaks of ‘we‘, and indeed the club itself referred to the investment proposal as having come form “Chris Ryan, Steve Beasant and a group of un-named investors” (4, 13 November).

The Ryan consortium would present Beasant’s position as “purely a consultant on behalf of the consortium” (5), which is hardly compatible with Beasant’s use of ‘we‘ mentioned above.

If Beasant is not “a person who exercises or is able to exercise direct or indirect control over the affairs of the Club” (from the FA’s own rules on who the Fit and Proper Person test applies to), then what on earth is he?

Once again the  Fit and Proper Person test proves itself to be absurdly ineffective.  It seems anyone can circumvent it by describing themselves as a ‘consultant’ or an ‘advisor’ and owning less than 30% of the club.

If the FA does not act swiftly to plug the obvious loopholes in the test, it will be seen as an object fit for proper ridicule. It is in serious danger of bringing the game into disrepute, for want of a better expression.

Meanwhile, unless some action is taken before the Monday deadline for finalising the sale, Weymouth will be subjected to the business practices of someone whose recent track record is hardly one to inspire confidence.  Hasn’t the club suffered enough?

Well, obviously he should about the future of Chester City, but I was thinking rather more of the implications of his signing an undertaking banning him from acting as a company director until the year 2020 (1).  The specific implication is that “may no longer act as either an active or inactive director, or exercise control over an individual who is a director, of any company” according to Companies House.

Although Vaughan had been a director of Chester City Football Club Ltd, the company which went into Administration in May, he is not a director of Chester City FC (2004) Ltd, the company which now owns the club.  He is, however, the owner of Chester City FC (2004) Ltd.  We are thus moving into the shadowy world of what is known as a ’shadow director’, defined as a person upon whose instructions the majority of the board of directors of a company are accustomed to act.

It is because of the potential existence of shadow directors that expressions like “exercise control over an individual who is a director” appear.  Indeed, the FA Fit and Proper Person Test rules and regulations include the following within the definition of a director of a football club:

• a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the persons constituting the management of the Club are accustomed to act; or

• a person who exercises or is able to exercise direct or indirect control over the affairs of the Club. For the purposes of this definition, a person shall be regarded as being able to exercise direct or indirect control over the affairs of the Club in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the preceding words if that person owns or is entitled to acquire 30% or more of the share capital or issued share capital of the Club or the voting power in the Club.

It was because of this last sentence that the FA has just required Vaughan to reduce his shareholding (2).  It is the rather more open to interpretation first bullet point that there will be dispute.

A look at possible precedents paints a rather one-sided likely outcome.

I’ve blogged before on Spencer Day (formerly Trethewey), ruiner of Aldershot, convicted fraudster (six counts, plus one of obtaining credit while bankrupt), and now owner and team manager of Chertsey Town FC, and also on the brothers Muduroglu.  Sami, disqualified from being a company director, used the cover of his brother Eren, who lived in Turin, as Chairman to run Fisher Athletic into the ground.

There are other examples of driving a bulldozer through the spirit of the Fit & Proper Person test.  At Salisbury City, Peter Yeldon, who had been severely reprimanded and fined for malpractice by the Professional Standards Office of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (3), served as a director.

Reading through my files when preparing yesterday’s posting, I was reminded of the case of Mike Diamandis at Swindon Town.  He “supplied management and financial support on a day-to-day basis” by the club’s own admission (4) and, in meetings with potential investors, was “at the forefront of these discussions” (5).  He attended meetings alongside the board members (6).  The BBC described him in december 2006 as “the man who – behind-the-scenes – has effectively run the football club for the last five years” (7).  Diaminidis was not a director of the club – he had been disqualified from acting as a company director in 1992 (8), and had been “in breach of a director’s disqualification between 1997 and November 2004 which later became the subject of criminal investigations” (9).  The authorities seemingly did not see him as “a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the persons constituting the management of the Club are accustomed to act“.

Vaughan, it would seem from precedent, does not have much to fear.  Once again, the Fit and proper Person test proves to be neither fit nor proper.

Perhaps the pressure has got to him nonetheless.  The Liverpool Daily Post carrys a report that Chester City is in talks with a consortium interested in buying the club.  This was revealed by Chairman Ian Anderson rather than the ‘presumably about to be ex-owner even if the consortium doesn’t buy the club’ Stephen Vaughan.  He was, I would imagine, too busy arranging the transfer of shares, not that he is inexperienced in the procedures, having once famously and quite openly sold his Chester shares to a local painter and decorator and promptly bought them back again once a tie against Barrow had been played, Vaughan still being the owner of Barrow at the time (10).

This latest move against Vaughan is not really a scalp, maybe a short-back-and-sides, but definitely not yet a scalp.

Swindon Town have one of the worst financial records among English league clubs.  They last turned a profit in 1996/97, and have been into Administration in February 2000 with debts of £3.5m, and again in March 2002 with debts of £1.8m. Following the second Administration, they did not emerge from a CVA until the end of May 2008.  Their financial instability has been compounded by their lack of stability in the pyramid, having been as low as the current League 2 following a single season in the Premier League in 1993/94.

A report in The Guardian (1) that they are once more in financial trouble, under threat of a winding-up order to be serve by property developers St Modwen, came as no great surprise.  The report refers to “the non-repayment of a £2.45m loan dating back to 2005“, adding that St Modwen “is claiming the original £1.45m loan plus £1m in interest“.  The club’s response, however, says that the “matter referred to dates back to 2003 when the Club’s former holding company established a joint venture company, Shaw Park Developments Ltd, with St. Modwen” (2).

The quite horrific amount of interest would suggest that no interest has been paid since 2005, and that, at such a high rate, the club were seen as toxic, a very unsafe bet.

Certainly the club were in serious trouble in January 2005.  On 24 January the BBC reported that they faced an unpaid tax bill of £600,000 (sic), and had been given until 2 February to clear the debt (3).  Three days later the BBC reported “Sir Seton Wills, the club’s major shareholder and benefactor, and Town’s development partner St Modwen provided a £750,000 loan to cover the amount” (4). Roll on another nine minutes, and the BBC are reporting a different version of events: “major shareholder Sir Seton Wills stepped in and brokered a loan deal with property company St Modwen” (5).

Roll on until 19 October the same year, and we find that the club has again faced a winding-up order for non-payment of VAT, and has narrowly escaped closure.  And who paid this time? “It is unclear how the current bill was paid.  A club spokesman said: “I’m not aware of the details”” (6).  Given the level of revenues at the club during this period, it looks as if no tax was being paid until writs were served, and the not out of cashflow – Modwen and Sir Sefton Wills were relied on to bail the club out.  The regime at the time, under the chairmanship of Willie Carson, were not overfond of filing accounts either – accounts for 2004/05 were not filed until May 2007, and for the next three seasons did not appear until a new board had taken control.

So, the assertion that the demand is for the repayment of £2.4m lent to pay off tax debts in 2005 is perfectly plausible, but the club, now under a new regime with Andrew Fitton as Chairman, insist that the debt, which they dispute, is to do with the establishment of a joint venture company, Shaw Park Developments Ltd, back in 2003.

This was established in connection with a somewhat fanciful plan (7) to build a new 23,000-seat stadium, with the seemingly mandatory hotel and gym, at a site which, although largely ‘brownfield’, included part of the Great Western Park, which would necessitate the felling of thousands of recently planted trees (8) – a plan hardly likely to proceed with serious opposition.

I use the word ‘fanciful’ as Swindon’s average attendances have not exceeded 10,000 since the 1997/98 season (9). Like far too many clubs, Swindon suffered from a ‘cargo cult’ belief that a large empty stadium would attract twice or three times the number of spectators.  It was also fanciful in that there was no huge profit to be made by the club in selling the old ground to developers – it was owned by the council and the club were tenants.  Nevertheless, the whole project fell within the regeneration remit, and would appeal to property developers.

Now, if the phrase ‘property developer’ automatically fills you with dread when used in a football context, you should think again with respect to St Modwen.  If you don’t take my word for it,check out their website. It will rapidly become clear that they are the Goliath in this dispute with Swindon Town.  Their high prestige redevelopments include the regeneration of Trentham Gardens, turning it into one of Britain’s most popular visitor attractions (10), and the MG Rover Longbridge site (11).  They are no strangers to redevelopment projects with football clubs – their Trentham Lakes project (12) includes, as a relatively small part, Stoke City’s Britannia stadium, and they are leading partners with Worcester City on the Nunnery Way project (13, and, for my thoughts on this particular project, 14).

Why should such a giant get involved in a dispute over what is, by St Modwen standards, pretty small beer, if rather more crucial a sum for Swindon Town?  There is the pretty obvious reason that the Swindon redevelopment is no longer going ahead, the club instead looking to a phased redevelopment at the existing County Ground (15), with the announcement being made a few weeks ago.  This will have made absolutely clear to St Modwen  that there was no longer any chance of major scheme requiring their involvement.  Time to tidy up and close the Swindon account then.

Another reason may well be that this is a bad time for redevelopment with companies, with their property portfolios taking a hit in value with lowered property prices.  This is certainly part of the reason why St Modwen have yet to begin the building development on Stoke City’s old Victoria Ground, vacated by the club in 1997. St Modwen’s latest financial accounts show an annual loss of £50.7m, as opposed to a profit of  in the previous year of £93.7m (16).  As I expect they can’t resist saying in the world of regeneration through retail parks and supermarkets, ‘every little helps’.

There seems little chance of a quick and simple resolution of this dispute.  As Ian King has pointed out (17), it will become bogged down in arguments about the interpretation of documentation. Nothing but more worry for Swindon fans, and no doubt Worcester City fans will also be watching on with interest.

To me this sorry tale makes clear that any notion of a CVA being a kind of ‘half way house’ in the rehabilitation process for companies coming out of Administration is laughable.  The regime under which the failure to pay taxes from cashflow and the reliance on an unsustainable old-style benefactor model operated under what, I believe, is the longest CVA in the football sector.  If ever there was a case for some form of monitoring of companies while still in a CVA, the previous Swindon Town board provide ample evidence.

Three weeks is a long time in football management – it was only on 25 October that I posted my last overview.  Previous ‘overviews’ can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Overviews’ tag at the top of the page.

With a number of clubs things have become clearer, but for many the confusion has just changed to a new confusion.

• Accrington Stanley
  The absurd brinkmanship that saw the club rescued on the footsteps of a court has seen Ilyas Khan come in as non-executive Chairman, but with ex-Chairman Dave O’Neill effectively in day-to-day control as Managing Director and Head of Operations.  Khan is now talking of the Championship in three to five years (1), not suggesting a great degree of realism, and seems to have forgotten all the talk of being pro-fan – certainly no indications of any fan directorships.  The current crisis is over, but I’m not encouraged at the prospects for the longer term.

• Bournemouth
  Bournemouth won my Soap Star of the Year Award last season and obviously are reluctant to give up the title.  Eddie Mitchell announced last Monday that £80,000 had been paid to HMRC (2) and the remaining £70,000 would be paid by today (although, as I write, that second payment had not been confirmed).  Where this money has suddenly materialised from is not being revealed, although Mitchell says it is being “paid through hard work – not through loans or anything else. It is hard work which usually does it”, whatever that means.
  A case brought by Jon Piper against Vice Chairman Jeff Mostyn personally over a loan of £30,000 has been dismissed, but he is taking action against the club over a different loan.
  Meanwhile manager Eddie Howe is making himself more and more attractive to other clubs by sustaining moss impressive performances on the pitch.
  Definitely one with legs.

• Bromsgrove Rovers
  The club has been bought from the Administrator by Mike Ward (3), together with as yet unnamed partners, but these do not include Tom Herbert, former Chairman.  The purchase has yet to be approved by the FA, and Ward is not make any announcements at this stage on his strategy.

• Chester City
  See postings passim.  The club, or rather the company, its owner and the board, continue to make a mockery of football governance.   Owner Steven Vaughan is, it would appear  no longer a ‘fit and proper person’ following being banned from acting as a company director, or in any way controlling a company as a result of his involvement in a VAT scam while a director of Widnes.
  Vaughan however “indicated to The [Chester] Chronicle that his disqualification will not effect the club as he has no part in running it” (4).  As if!  An FA spokesperson said to the Chronicle: “All I can say at this stage is that we are aware of the decision and that we will be considering it in line with the requirements of our Fit and Proper Person Test”.
  Meanwhile the Conference have given Vaughan Chester another extension to paying their football creditors! (5)
  The club website is its usual informative self – the most recent news item is ‘Youth team coach required’, posted as recently as 6 October.
  Quite why the FA and the Conference both continue to pussy-foot around is far from clear.  Their lack of action is setting very dangerous precedents.  Frankly, phoenixing as AFC Chester is becoming the only viable way forward.

• Darlington
  No developments of significance, but new owner Raj Singh is busy trying to get sponsorship from local businesses (6).

• Halesowen Town
  See postings passim. The day of decision by the creditors on who of two rival bids has come and passed, with the meeting postponed.
  So, an unusually quiet period of activity for the club by recent standards, but Yeltz fans must just be wishing that the whole sorry episode comes to a definitive conclusion.

• Hyde United
  The club has survived its immediate demise, but a debt of £50,000 to HMRC remains (7).  In what way the board is going to change its business model in order to meet this remaining debt has not been announced, but apparently it allows new signings (8).

• Ilkeston Town
  Back in July, the club faced a potentially serious problem with the personal bankruptcy of benefactor Chet Whyte (9).  Latest news is that a deal for the Whyte family to sell the club to a group of Nottingham businessmen has collapsed (10).

• King’s Lynn
  Not much to report here other than new signings (11). The deadline to pay HMRC £65,000 remains 25 November.

• Lewes
  The club was given a three-month adjournment on 3 September  of an HMRC winding-up order, and have to pay off the outstanding debt at £10,000 a month.

• Margate
  By way of a change from developments, or lack of them, at other clubs, some unmitigated good news – the club has cleared its debt to HMRC in full, having raised money through a successful shares issue (12).  Excellent news!

• Merthyr Tydfil
  The Supporters Trust, now running the club, have had to make some tough decisions.  Wages have been cut by 50% (13) in the light of unexpected debts of £40,000 to the FA, Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council and the Administrator, and disappointing revenues.

• Northwich Victoria
  Still no CVA agreed.  As a result, the club cannot yet receive the financial benefits of their successful cup run, thought to be £43,000 so far (14), with an FA Cup Second Round tie at home against Lincoln to come.

• Ringmer
  Still a news blind spot, I’m afraid. Unless, of course, you know better – any information would be gratefully received.

• Salisbury
  Discussions between the would-be consortium (15), the Administrators, the Conference and HMRC are ongoing, with the Administrators “still confident that agreement can be reached” (16).

• Southend United
  See postings passim, and The continuing Southend saga in particular.
  The matter remains closed apparently, at least to Chairman Ron Martin, even if the mystery of where the money came from remains unresolved, and there is no indication of how a repeat of the recent fiasco will be avoided.
  Presumably the move from Roots Hall remains ‘transitional’ and, at least to Chairman Ron Martin, there was ‘no financial crisis’ (17).

• Stockport County
  The Administrators remain confident that ongoing discussions will lead to an exit from Administration (18).  We shall see.

• Weymouth
  See postings passim.
  Ian King recently described the club as “one of the ongoing financial basket-cases of the last three years in non-league football” (19), and with good reason.  I see them as a seemingly never-ending Western, with an ever-changing cast of ‘good guys’ and ‘baddies’.  The end may yet be nigh however.
  To cut a complicated and ongoing story short, here are the most salient points.
  On 28 October, the club announced their intention of appointing Administrators ( a pre-Administration legal move) (20).  This prompted two expressions of interest in buying the club.  One was led by Chris Bryan, local businessman, and involves one Steve Beasant, the other being led by ex-Cambridge United chairman George Rolls.  However the deadline was passed without either group formalising a deal.
  Director Paul Cocks then announced that the club was “under an obligation to take formal insolvency proceedings” (21).
  The Ryan offer had been one of £2 (sic), but has subsequently been revised upwards.  Beasant cannot be one of the directors as he is a property developer (no, that’s not yet a reason for failing the Fit and Proper Person test, although it probably should be, but bear with me) who was declared bankrupt at the end of last year (22).  This hardly augurs well.  Ryan has been putting the case for his bid on the Weymouth Independent Fans Forum on the thread OUR OFFER under the particularly irritating pseudonym of ‘True Facts’ – a tautology since there cannot be a fact that is not true. Cocks has also been posting on the forum (23), and on the club website (24).  He resigned as a director on Friday night, although his resignation has yet to be accepted. News on the club website may dry up if his resignation is accepted.
  All of which leaves the club in an unholy mess.

Other clubs on my radar screen are the Premier League trio Hull, Portsmouth and West Ham, for well publicised reasons, together with a number of Football League clubs who I have mentioned in previous postings, now plus Watford (25).

As there have been a blog posting since the link was posted on the forum, you need to click here for my posting on the UEFA Club Financial Control Panel.