Insolvency News:
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was criticised by a leading figure in the insolvency industry for not getting involved in football insolvencies earlier.
Lee Manning a partner at Deloitte and the current president of R3 claimed if HMRC got involved when it first saw PAYE problems there’d be more left for other creditors.
Speaking during a panel discussion on football insolvencies at the Insolvency Group Annual Conference yesterday (14 June) Manning said: “HMRC leave it rather late until they bring action.
“HMRC could put their foot on the accelerator and then there would be more in the pot for others.”
Manning also stated the ten point rule, where football clubs going into administration are deducted points automatically, “encourages trading when insolvent”.
But on a positive note Manning added: “There’s a huge failure rate no other industry could sustain it, but only one club (Maidstone) has failed to emerge.”
During the same panel Trevor Birch of PKF, the administrator of Portsmouth Football Club, admitted one player alone at the club was earning more than the average entire wage bill for a league one side.
Pompey were relegated to league one at the end of last season after being deducted ten points for going into administration.
At the same event and giving the keynote talk Cobra beer chairman Lord Bilimoria called the Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) process “deeply flawed” and said the UK “desperately” needed a US-style Chapter 11 system.
By Luke Walsh
could have been shot of them sooner by the sounds of it !