Notts County face winding-up order

Mon 25th Jan 2010 | Football Club Administration

Notts County Football Club face the prospect of raising £2million by Wednesday to save the club as reported in The Times.

The League Two club are due in the High Court in two days after the club's owners Blenheim 1862 were served a winding-up petition from HM Revenue and Customs over an unpaid £600,000 tax bill.

Peter Trembling, the executive chairman, still hopes to pay off the debt and avoid going to court. He and director of football Sven-Goran Eriksson have scoured Europe for suitable investors since completing a management buyout at Meadow Lane last month. Trembling remains confident of securing major investment in time to save the club.

"We hope to be able to satisfy the winding-up petition before Wednesday by paying off our debts," Trembling said. "The critical thing is to get £2 million into our bank account before then. It's a challenge but that is what we have been working towards for the last few weeks and I'm ever hopeful we can do that.

"It will give us a bit of room to play with. We could actually go to court and pay off our tax bill of £600,000. But the danger with a winding-up petition is that we could have all of our creditors turning up on the court steps and jumping on the back of the petition.

"In which case, we have to satisfy the judge that we have got the funds to pay everybody. If we haven't got that in our bank account our next course of action is to show proof of funds committed to pay these creditors off and that we just need a bit more time, and really plead our case."

Trembling added: "We have been speaking to a number of investors for a few weeks now and we have got two investors who are very close to the line. Sven and I have met them and we have presented our vision to them. They are very enthusiastic and they have got the funds - we have seen the proof of that.

"Given what has happened in the last six months, I'm not going to say we are definitely there until we are over the line. I won't believe it is definite until it is over the line.

"The two investors want to work together, and we have got a couple of back-up plans as well. I think the two we are talking to are best for the future of the club because they can invest the sort of funds that will take the club further forward, of £25million to £50 million over five years.

"They want a long-term return on the investment but the important thing is that they are football fans and they love this idea - the project of taking Notts County through the leagues.

"The idea of putting £25 million in to get us in the Championship and having Sven at the helm to lead us on that appeals to them enormously."

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