Cumbrian League Two club served with winding-up petition over £1.4m tax debt

A League Two club in Cumbria has been served with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over unpaid tax of £1.4m, with a High Court hearing listed for 4 November and players and staff unpaid since the end of August.

The petition, filed on 7 October, is the third the club has faced in four years but the first to arrive with no obvious means of settling it. The club’s owner, a property developer from the north-west who bought it in 2021, has not been seen at a home game since March and did not respond to requests for comment. The club’s chief executive, Lynne Harker, said the board was “days from a solution” involving new investment, but declined to identify the investor.

The manager, Craig Dalby, confirmed after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with a Lincolnshire club that he had not been paid since July and had told his players that they were free to speak to other clubs. “I will not sit here and pretend,” he said. “I have got lads who are putting petrol in the car to get to training and do not know when the money is coming. They have been magnificent. I do not know how long magnificent lasts.”

The club, which was founded in 1904 and has never been higher than the third tier, has 19 full-time professional players and about 40 non-playing staff. The PFA confirmed it had made hardship payments to 11 players in September and would do so again this month. The EFL said it was “in daily contact” with the club and had placed it under a registration embargo, which prevents it from signing players.

“Everyone has seen this coming and nobody has been able to stop it,” said Tom Ridley, chair of the club’s supporters’ trust, which has raised £48,000 since September to pay for matchday stewarding and the floodlight electricity bill. “The regulator has powers to stop bad owners coming in. It does not appear to have much it can do about a bad owner who is already here and has stopped answering the phone.”

The Independent Football Regulator confirmed it was aware of the petition and said it had requested financial information from the club under its licensing powers. It is understood the club has not yet provided it. Under the EFL’s rules, a club that enters administration is docked 12 points; the Cumbrian club is currently 18th in the table on 13 points.

The town’s MP has written to the sports minister asking what support is available, and the local council has said it would consider converting a £600,000 loan made in 2019 into equity if the club could demonstrate a credible plan. Harker said that would form “part of the conversation” this week.

The club’s next home game is on Saturday against a Greater Manchester side. The supporters’ trust has asked fans to buy tickets in advance. “If the money is in the account on Friday it gets paid to the players,” Ridley said. “That is where we are.”