Sheffield Wednesday ......

[Easy 10]

Half a mill is peanuts, the directors there will cough that up no problem.
My guess is that they've been dragging their heels on it, HMRC have got pissed off, and are now serving these winding up orders to get the ball rolling on these outstanding tax bills sooner rather than later before it escalates.

As we know, the Palaces and Pompeys of this world will quite happily allow a £500k tax debt to become that x10 and x20 if they know they can get away with it, while they merrily piss millions up the wall on players they can't afford at the expense of the taxpayer. So this is almost like a pre-emptive strike.

Well played HMRC.

 

[SurreySeagulls]

Football clubs have long being using HMRC as a non banking overdraft and only bother to pay up when they need to which is what is pissing HMRC off royally. Most business have to pay their VAT & NI on a monthly basis yet football clubs seem to have drawn up their own repayment rules. Look at Cardiff, they only stopped getting wound up last time by paying one months VAT & NI bill forcing HMRC to issue yet another petition. Same with Southend.

Most clubs struggle with cashflow during the summer for obvious reasons hence the request normally to pay for season tickets long before the season is over. Therefore, HMRC get left further behind especially since they are no longer a guaranteed creditor and are well down on the football creditors list. Therefore, I am not sure they will wind up a club as it won't be in their best interests. So now they are going for the jugular long before a club becomes insolvent.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Whoops

 

[The Merry Prankster]

As all Brighton Supporter will know very well. We have been down that route and the support we got from fans from other clubs was nothing short of Fantastic. So I for one would like to wish Sheffield Wednesday FC, club and supporters all the luck in the world that they can survive and come through this problem and continue as a football league club and look forward to seeing them down at Withdean on August 21st ....

Calderon wont thank you for flying that flag.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I find myself increasingly siding with Barry Hearn on all this kind of stuff. Clubs that get into financial problems while fielding teams, signing players, paying wages and competing in divisions that they can't really afford because they haven't paid their bills are essentially cheating, and should be demoted two divisions. He didn't even think Pompey should have been allowed to play in the FA Cup final.

If ordinary businesses treated the HMRC or many other creditors with the contempt certain football clubs appear to, they would not be around long.

 

[Easy 10]

Perhaps HMRC are putting in new mandatory tax debt thresholds which will trigger a winding up order. Something like:

Non-prem clubs £500k of unpaid tax/PAYE
Prem clubs £1m of unpaid tax/PAYE

Get in there early and nip it in the bud, before they end up at the back of the queue of creditors whilst Carlos Kikaball still rakes in his £90k a week.
Will hopefully see an end to the public purse getting raped by these feckless cheating football clubs and their fly-by-night owners.

 

[portlock seagull]

This is a non story. Clubs of this size in the top divisions simply don't go bust. We all know that.

If you're in the bottom divisions, with a small supporter base and/or have also no ground then yes there's cause to concern. But even then, as we proved, some do survive.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Half a mill is peanuts, the directors there will cough that up no problem.
My guess is that they've been dragging their heels on it, HMRC have got pissed off, and are now serving these winding up orders to get the ball rolling on these outstanding tax bills sooner rather than later before it escalates.

As we know, the Palaces and Pompeys of this world will quite happily allow a £500k tax debt to become that x10 and x20 if they know they can get away with it, while they merrily piss millions up the wall on players they can't afford at the expense of the taxpayer. So this is almost like a pre-emptive strike.

Well played HMRC.

If that is the case - quite right too.

 

[Easy 10]

This is a non story. Clubs of this size in the top divisions simply don't go bust. We all know that.

If you're in the bottom divisions, with a small supporter base and/or have also no ground then yes there's cause to concern. But even then, as we proved, some do survive.

Whilst I don't doubt there is no real threat to Sheffield Weds future by this, I certainly wouldn't call it a non-story. Its a clear indication that HMRC are getting tough a LOT earlier now on football clubs who are in hock with them.

Football clubs that think they can put off paying their taxes indefinitely and just carry on spending will need to think again by the looks.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Calderon wont thank you for flying that flag.

Indeed.

Try this one:-

And VC might consider changing his username to Gora Calderón

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

jermaine johnson would do a job wouldn't he?

and maybe tudgay? or heffernan?

 

[Viva Calderon]

ha Yeah Sorry !! Got it wrong they are down here Sat 9th April 2011. Hopefully just a month before they recon that Falmer will be finished : :albion1: : :albion1:

 

[Brovion]

Half a mill is peanuts, the directors there will cough that up no problem.
My guess is that they've been dragging their heels on it, HMRC have got pissed off, and are now serving these winding up orders to get the ball rolling on these outstanding tax bills sooner rather than later before it escalates.

As we know, the Palaces and Pompeys of this world will quite happily allow a £500k tax debt to become that x10 and x20 if they know they can get away with it, while they merrily piss millions up the wall on players they can't afford at the expense of the taxpayer. So this is almost like a pre-emptive strike.

Well played HMRC.

Totally agree. It always seems like HMRC bend over backwards to help football clubs and have only issued winding-up petitions as a last resort. Then in return they get clubs like Pompey trying to wriggle out of paying any more than a fraction of what they owe. And as you say the debt always escalates.

Glad to see that that they're now not letting the problem escalate. Half a mil SHOULD be relatively easy for Wednesday to find, if not, well, no one wants to see them go bust and reform, but ...

 

[blue and white army]

They won't go out of business, could get the required money through the sale of their keeper Lee Grant.

 

[MrFootball]

We've signed our players assuming an average crowd of 22k

Don't hit that we're in BIG trouble!

 

[BensGrandad]

Why cant HMRC treat football clubs like other business and take action as soon as there is arrears or a payment not paid on time. Why shouldnt they be forced to pay tax and NI monthly?

 

[Scotty Mac]

25,000 people in for their first home game at £20 a pop virtually pays that off straight away

 

[Scampi]

I think to be fair to Wednesday they stand out as a club who haven't jumped on the route of admin and 10p in the pound. They've been trading with a considerable debt for some time and it's hurt them on the pitch.

 

[Scotty Mac]

We've signed our players assuming an average crowd of 22k

Don't hit that we're in BIG trouble!

22,000 should be a more than realistic target for a club of wednesdays size - shouldnt it?!

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Wednesday should have the money already set aside from money received for season tickets. HMRC just want to set an example and it wont be long until a club cant raise enough money to pay off their tax debts and gets wound up.