Sad to see Southend in such a state at the moment.
They face a huge 24 hours as unless a £660k tax bill is not settled tomorrow, they will face a winding-up order. They are currently under a transfer embargo, are short of players and have been unable to extend the loan of George Friend from Wolves due to the outstanding tax bill. I understand their bench on Saturday was made up with a couple of 16yr olds.
All seems a bit of a mess, and a shame to see a club i’ve always looked favourably on in trouble. Hope they can get it all sorted.
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So many clubs in a financial mess and close to the edge.
Just hope the recent re-investment means that we are not one of them.
I do fear a domino effect that once one club goes under creditors at other clubs will panic and more clubs will follow.
On a brighter note, perhaps we could help them out by taking Lee Barnard on loan......
Good point GH
Great idea GH ... but I can see the flying pig as well.
And it's always the bloody tax man, isn't it? It was the Inland Revenue which got the winding up order against us in the High Court in 1984 and it's the Inland Revenue again giving Southend a 24 hour ultimatum.
Was it Dr Johnson who said the only two things that were inevitable in life were taxes and death? Let's hope the former is not followed by the latter at Southend...
Shug shoulders or start chasing and maybe even issue your own winding up order in order to try and get your money?
I imagine that many small companies are already asking for COD from football clubs.
Town's full of slags too.
Would this not encourage clubs that have overstepped themselves to rely on handouts from the more successful? Football should be run like any other business. If anyone ever implemented like this who do you think would suffer? In the minds of all the idealists I imagine it's the fat-cat players and directors would take a pay cut and transfer fees would fall, but the truth is they'll cut back on the easier things, such as community tickets, spend on academies etc. Meanwhile the lower leagues would turn into a free for all with everyone desperate to spunk their cash up the wall quickest so they could get their claws into the emergency parachute pot.
...you obviously didn't check out Scally's track record properly before doing business with him !!! ;o)
Several famous authors have uttered lines to this effect. The first was Daniel Defoe, in The Political History of the Devil, 1726:
"Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed."
Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) used
"'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
Margaret Mitchell's line from her book Gone With the Wind, 1936:
"Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them."
Childbirth can play havoc with match attendance but the others less so.
Unfortunately I believe it is, an issue that I blogged many months ago .... and I am sure that this situation is being replicated all around the country. I am willing to bet that season 2010/2011 will see us without 2 or 3 existing clubs somewhere in the League
I said "your" company".
"My" company would 1. Never do business with Scally 2. Wouldn't have that level of exposure to any client (chance would be a fine thing!) : - )
Do they still owe us over Josh Wright, btw?
It is amazing though that its always the Tax being the last to be paid!
Off topic (a little) my brother did a number of deals lending money to premiership/div 1 clubs this year to finance player purchases based on ST sales and TV income.
quite frightning the scale of potential problems some clubs are storing up for themselves.
Huddersfield, Leeds and Millwall 1 point each
Swindon, MK Dons and Southampton 3 points each
Yehh, we are top!
How can a club be closed down because £664K debt when Man Utd are £560 million in debt? Its not because of the ground, etc. as Southend could sell the ground and raise the money.
Its unfair and totally bias towards bigger clubs.
Surely if the tax man wants to make a point, do it against a club with bigger debt and more to lose. Who would take notice if Southend went bust? Not many. Who would take notice if a big prem club went bust?? Everybody!
Big difference.
What WSS said and the big clubs pay their tax bills.
The Man Utd debt is to the Glazers. Man Utd are effectively buying themselves.
If there's anyone that you're going to pay first: make it the tax man.
kev...where did you get the info re the amount of debt at Man Utd....is this just figure juggling for effect or factual??
I doubt the reality is anything like that.
As has been said - there could be a lot more clubs in the same situation before this recession is out - and there but for the grace of God....