Wrexham Evening Leader

Men with future of the club in their hands

02 December 2004

David AclandIF, as expected, Wrexham FC goes into administration tomorrow, the day to day running of the club will be carried out by David Acland and Steve Williams from Preston insolvency firm Begbies Traynor's specialist Football Finance unit.

Their job will be to try to salvage the club as a going concern, but also maximise the return for creditors.

Mr Acland steered Chester City through the perils of administration.

Wrexham directors David Bennett and David Griffiths will give up control of the club, but will be available to give advice to the administrator, as will owner Alex Hamilton.

The administrators have wide ranging powers to look at business dealings and the conduct of the board, but their main task will be to find a solution to the club's problems in agreement with shareholders and creditors.

D-Day for the Reds


BOSSES at Wrexham FC are today putting the finishing touches to their bid to put the cash-strapped club into administration.

An order will go before a judge tomorrow at the High Court in Manchester, and, if successful, the League One club will be put in the hands of administrators, who will work to clear its huge debts.

The move will hopefully prevent Wrexham FC facing a winding-up hearing later this month in London instigated by the Inland Revenue.

On the day before the club faces being docked 10 league points for being placed into administration, key findings from a top level report say the FA should be doing more to help lower league clubs.

A new survey into the game and its finances by the All Party Football Group revealed half of the 109 participating clubs questioned – from the Championship and below – would welcome the formation of an independent regulator to implement tighter controls on wages, directors, transfers and agents.

An Administration Order is a single court order that deals with all credit debts. It means a single monthly payment can be made to the court. The court staff will then divide the money among creditors.

While the Administration Order is in place, none of the creditors listed on it can take any action against without first getting the court's permission.

Provided you pay what you have offered, the creditors can take no further action.

Unless the judge makes a Composition Order, or regular payments are stopped, an Administration Order will go on until all the debts are paid off in full.

Club directors David Bennett and David Griffiths, who have now resigned themselves to the club going into administration, say they are already working on plans to get the club back out of administration as soon as possible.

Raising money

The directors, and Wrexham Supporters Trust, feel administration is now the only way forward for the club because if the move was not made a High Court winding-up petition will close down the club.

The trust is also keen to work with the administrator and help in any way it can to ensure the future of the club. It has also been raising money to be in a position to buy the club, should the opportunity arise.

However, all agree that administration will be a bitter pill to swallow.

The club is likely to be deducted 10 points by the league, putting it joint second bottom of the League One table and plunging Wrexham FC into relegation danger.

Directors hope they can appeal against the points deduction, but if it goes ahead, Wrexham FC will be the first league club to suffer the punishment.

The Football League could also withhold payments in an effort to ensure the club completes all its fixtures, and under other rules other payments, including Sky TV's £75,000 payout from tomorrow's Scunthorpe game, could be withheld.

The administrator may also conclude that the only way to pay off the club's creditors will be to capitalise on the club's assets - including its best players.