Welling United Fans Save Club
Thu 9th Dec 2010 | Football Club Administration
Little Welling United Football Club will live to play another day because their fans are in a league of their own.
Supporters of the Conference South side have saved the club from being wound-up by HM Revenue and Customs, digging deep to raise almost £45,000 in a matter of days.
And now owner Barrie Hobbins is confident the Kent club can find the balance of £60,000 they need to survive.
"We've had some wonderful responses from people who are still very much with us - the supporters have been magnificent," he said.
Just a week ago they were given fourteen days to raise the funds or face a winding up order. An emergency meeting was held last Saturday to discuss the crisis with fans.
And now thirty supporters of the Wings have stepped forward to offer cash of between £500 and £3,000 as short loans, which is now with the club's solicitors.
Hobbins warned that there are no guarantees for the club - which was started in 1963 by his father former Charlton Athletic keeper Sydney Hobbins as a youth team for his sons.
But he added at the Parkview Road ground: "I'm quite optimistic and my confidence has been growing over the weekend.
"We've had some wonderful responses from people who are still very much with us - the supporters have been magnificent."
The effect of the winding-up order, which would have been made on 15 December, would be that Welling United would join the list of clubs - including include Chester, Ilkeston Town and King's Lynn - to have ceased to exist at the hands of HMRC.
Hobbins - who with his brother started with Welling United's under-15s, says the players and manager Jamie Day have been "superb" during the upheaval.
Hobbins told BBC Sport; "There's been no fuss from the players.
He continued “They weren't paid this week as we didn't have a game at the weekend but they've been paid all the way along the line up to last week.
“They've done the business on the field - obviously none of it is their fault and I've got no grumbles at all with the way they've reacted. They appear to be fully behind the club and you can't ask more than what they've achieved this season - given the difficulties."
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