Northwich Victoria left 'homeless' by ground sale

[RalphC]

A Cheshire football club has been left "homeless" after their stadium was sold to an unknown buyer.

 

Northwich Victoria was issued with a notice to vacate their Victoria Stadium on Monday after the ground was sold by receivers to an unnamed purchaser.

 

The club has until 17:00 GMT on Thursday to leave the ground, which has been its home since 2005.

 

Club secretary David Thomas said the sale had left the club in a "very precarious" position.

The identity of the stadium's buyer is unknown and there was no indication as to what would happen to the stadium after the sale was completed.

 

The club's board had been trying to buy back the stadium from receivers Deloitte under the name Northwich Victoria Developments (NVD).

 

A spokesman for the receivers said it was "with some regret that we have come to this stage and it is clearly a time of great concern for the supporters of a club with a long history".

 

"However, after providing NVD with several years to find the required funding to acquire the stadium, this has not been forthcoming and so the principal chargeholder and their agents have been left with no option but to consider alternative offers for the site," he said.

 

Mr Thomas said that Northwich Victoria's chairman Jim Rushe was seeking legal advice on the club's position.

 

He said once the deadline had passed, the club would be "homeless".

 

"We play Saturday's away fixture, but after that, we're looking desperately to find ourselves a ground," he said.

 

Northwich, formed in 1874, play in the Northern Premier League.

 

The team were one of the founder members of the Football League's second division in 1892 and won the FA Trophy in 1984.

 

The club sold their original ground, the Drill Field, in 2002 and, following three seasons ground-sharing with local rivals Witton Albion, moved to the Victoria Stadium in 2005.

 

On Monday, the club's manager Andy Preece resigned to join Welsh Premier League side Airbus UK.

 

His assistants Andy Morrison and Darren Ryan also left the club.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16620964

[Eastside Urchin]

why is this being allowed to happen to football clubs

[Horace]

why is this being allowed to happen to football clubs

 

Because they borrow money to pay players wages when they don't have a prayer of paying it back. Meanwhile, they don't send the tax they've deducted from the players to HM Revenue & Customs; and they eventually lose patience and call in the liquidators. Could happen to a club near you soon!

[missunderstood]

why is this being allowed to happen to football clubs

 

Because they borrow money to pay players wages when they don't have a prayer of paying it back. Meanwhile, they don't send the tax they've deducted from the players to HM Revenue & Customs; and they eventually lose patience and call in the liquidators. Could happen to a club near you soon!

 

If the Revenue and Customs or any other organisation that was owed money was allowed to confiscate all the gate money on match-days, and charged a fee for doing so, it would put an end to this form of cheating.

[missunderstood]

I read recently that the Revenue and Customs are looking into the affairs of lower league clubs, which is good news for the honest clubs, and dreadful news for the rest.

[Big J R]

I read recently that the Revenue and Customs are looking into the affairs of lower league clubs, which is good news for the honest clubs, and dreadful news for the rest.

 

You are quite correct, missunderstood !