Arsenal News » 2009 » November » 12

The Sheffield Wednesday manager recently said that it is “inevitable” an EPL club is going to go bust.

The man from the Wednesday’s prediction is that a club will go down to the Championship and will then go bust because they can’t afford to keep paying the players.  I would not be surprised if someone actually goes bust while still in the EPL.  Here’s the candidates…

WEST HAM UNITED have been covered here so often I hardly need start again.  Bust, broke, and owned by a bankrupt Icelandic bank, they owe money to Sheffield U for stealing their place in the EPL, and their ex-manager for sacking him.

HULL CITY were very late in submitting their accounts in 2008, but when this was pointed out their chairman, Paul Duffen, said that the Guardian, which broke the story, had lots of inaccuracies in its reports.    Trouble is, he never said what those inaccuracies were.   And for those of a much older persuasion the words, “Third Lanark”, might come to mind – although I stress we have no evidence of wrong doing anywhere – so my connection with a dead Scottish club is fanciful and mischievous and must not be taken seriously.

But now we do know this.  There are no less than four Hull City companies, and the accountants can’t say that the four companies represent a going concern.   One of them owed £22m and had to pay it back by July 2010.

Shall I say that again?    July 2010 – they have to pay it all back by.   Now it is true that their overdraft has come down considerably since then – but there are four companies involved.  I have no knowledge that money is moved from a to b to c to do, of course, and I make no allegation.   I just can report that in accountant speak the current situation represents, ” a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

In case you are interested a b c and d are

R3 Investment Group,KC Stadium management, Tiger Holdings, Fortis Property Investment.  Funny that.  Why have four companies?

Strangely, the two guys who finance Hull were interested in buying West Ham before Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson did.

Let’s look elsewhere.  NOTTS COUNTY told the Football League that   Russell King had nothing to do with the club, just as Mr King went to see Kim Yong-nam in North Korea last month on behalf of Swiss Commodity Holdings whose badge is part of the logo of Notts County.  (A picture of the event exists which includes Nathan Willet whose father is a director of Notts C).

King offered Sven-Goran Eriksson  shares in SCH as part of his deal to join Notts.  Sol C was offered shares too.

The owners of Notts are all fit and proper, and don’t include King who is being investigated concerning a £1.9m fraud case in Jersey.  (Remember Jersey?  Leeds?  all that stuff).

Nathan Willett is also a director of Qadbak, which owns Notts County through a sort of roundabout route involving the British Virgin Islands.   Apparently Sven is now referred to at Notts County as the “Dear Leader”.

Now the Guardian has revealed that “no filings have ever been made with the British Virgin Islands Companies Registry relating to shareholdings or directorships for Munto or Qadbak,” the firms who are supposed to own Notts.

All gibberish and rubbish?  Maybe, except that yesterday, with just one day to spare Notts County just managed to pay off the debt it owed to the taxman.  Most companies pay the tax man month by month – but not it seems Notts County.  They were so far behind that they just kept on going and going and not paying anyone.  Which is very odd for a company with so much money.  One more day and they were in court and being sued for one hell of a lot of dosh.

I tried to phone the President of North Korea, or failing that Dear Leader Sven to ask why, but neither would take my calls.

Who else should we add to the list?

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR have just made a record profit, and seemingly just told Arry that he can’t buy anyone without selling people first.  That seems a bit odd to me.  If you have just made a record profit, why would you suddenly change the habit of a life time.

I have always admitted I do not understand Tottenham’s accounts – at least with Hull we could find out the list of companies that interconnect with each other, and with Notts C we know that there are these companies that don’t actually exist in the Virgin Islands.  But Tottenham?   I just wish someone would explain to me what is going on.

LIVERPOOL probably remain top of the about to go bust league because they can’t pay their £60m a year back  to the bank.  PORTSMOUTH are just doomed because non of their friends from foreign parts seem to have the money they said they had.

Which one?   You tell me.   But it will be one of them.

And yes, I know Notts C are not in the EPL, but they are such a very strange odd case, that one wonders exactly what is going on – even clubs like Chester City, who do the oddest things ever, don’t behave like Notts C.

As to Arsenal – we seem to make a profit, have all our accounts in order, only owe money on the mortgage, and have rather a jolly football team.   Bit of an oddity really.  I wouldn’t be surprised if when the EPL consider putting Rangers (totally bust and about to go out of business) and Celtic into the EPL Division II, they throw out Arsenal for having too much cash in the bank.

The only thing I know that is stranger is the involvement of MI5 and Winston Churchill in Woolwich Arsenal in 1910.  To find out more, read MAKING THE ARSENAL.  It would make a lovely Xmas present.  Only £12.99

So this week’s most likely to go bust league table is

1. West Ham
2. Liverpool
3. Portsmouth
4. Hull City
5. Notts County
6. Rangers
7. Chester City
8. Bournemouth (banned from buying players)
9. Tottenham Hotspur (can’t make out what is going on)
10. Manchester United (can’t pay the interest on their debts)

(c) Tony Attwood 2009