That is not going to be known in the next 14 days.
Why is that? Could buyer be talking to league now? Could it be in the rules that were posted a day or 2 ago which seemed reasonably clear that debts don't get written off in full?
Thanks for info - seems informative - without being rude, can I ask source of info please
Joe
This is a long post so apologies.
It was me that posted the NL rules as I thought they were highly relevant to the discussion.Ironically those rules sadly seem to have passed many by
My background was debt management amongst my teams one dealt with insolvencies but that was before the Enterprise Act which changed a lot in terms of class of creditors but fundamentally the principles are the same although IVAs & CVAs confuse matters as did the subsequent introduction of secondary preferential creditors .
Pre the Enterprise Act PAYE/NIC debt wasn’t all preferential although if the debt had been pursued vigorously over time then very little would have been non preferential.When debt management was local there was a view that individuals with interests in their local club were a little too generous when it came to TTP and or delayed enforcement.
In that era football club after football club defaulted on paying PAYE & NIC as it was easy to divert into cash flow whereas VAT debt enforcement was rigorous backed up by legislation that enabled in year surcharges. The loss or as relevant delayed payment of PAYE/ NIC to the Exchequer was massive.
To a degree that all changed when IR & C&E merged and focus was bought to bear particularly on football clubs and it took a lot of goodwill and hard work by all parties concerned namely the FA, EFL and Non leagues alongside HMRC because quite simply the sums owed to HMG almost uniquely in the sporting world ,even if much was eventually paid and the Football Creditor(FC) rule , having been legally confirmed was under threat the Treasury floating proposed changes to Insolvency Laws particularly around removal of the FC rule meant that the very existence of football clubs would be under greater threat
Hence the reasons for the introduction of the financial monitoring that now is in place and why the leagues are so concerned about clubs like Southend who are putting the uneasy peace between football and the authorities into jeopardy .
If HMRC take their gloves off then potentially there will be a domino effect meaning a flurry of WUO issued to clubs experiencing temporary cash flow whereas currently HMRC will do all they can to facilitate business recovery.
Southend aren’t going to trade through their current problems . The legacy debts just simply can’t be cleared whilst keeping current liabilities up to date.
We could talk all day about RM but realistically SUFC in the NL pool are a big fish but creep up through the EFL and it is a much smaller fish.
The problem was RM seems to have made mistake after mistake most would say chasing the dream almost having sampled early and possibly limited success many and possibly RM is in that number that believe spend more and success will follow few if any were urging caution in the early days of his tenure
One thing I believe he is right about is RH.
Maybe not the location but the state it is in. Realistically it is not fit for even the purpose of playing in NLS . It’s a tip and the dream that some have of ” doing it up “ sadly is a fantasy.
Be it a new stadium being built over at FF or even re sited on the current site sadly the fact needs to be faced refurbishing whilst trying to remain on site is a logistical and financial nightmare.
So back to the current problems.
I have witnessed business after businesses chasing their tails when it comes to trying to deal with debt mountains. Few recover most that try and trade through are just delaying the enevitable
I keep banging on about a CVA that would have hurt but it would have delivered a far better outcome than any type of Administration or indeed Liquidation would to the FC ( not sure that is so when it comes to the owners of RH)
As we see from the rules any sort of Insolvency Event will bring with it more points being deducted probably an extended Embargo and that’s even if the NL don’t rigorously enforce their rules as I read them.
Finally I want to correct the misapprehension that some have that HMRCs main driver in all this is to delay to ensure payment. HMRC live by the overachieving responsibility to “ Protect the Public Purse”
Not only does that mean collecting taxes as they are due but also enforcing legislation almost to send out a wider message that pay on time, without reminder or we will vigorously pursue debt from delinquent entities
Or put another way the message that enforcement sends out repays the sort of debt SUFC owe to HMRC multiple times over.
My mood is like the weather crap !
