Bournemouth could go out of business

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The League One club chairman, Peter Phillips, has said he fears the club could go out of business unless they can re-finance their debts now. In an interview to local media Phillips said the club’s prospects would turn around if the deal to sell the Dean Court stadium to a London-based property company for GBP 3.5m were “rubber-stamped.” The club would then lease it back for an annual rent of GBP 300,000. The all-cash offer from the property company will be discussed at a public meeting although it is not popular with many influential supporters who had been hoping for an alternative resolution that would allow the club, rescued from administration by its supporters several years ago, to keep ownership of one of its principal assets.

The club had been in advanced discussions on an innovative scheme by which supporters pension funds can be harnessed in order to acquire the stadium and then lease it back to the club, but this project would not be in operation until next year. Meanwhile the club’s creditors are pressing for settlement. "On the one hand, we're very close to the edge now. It is no secret that we've fought off these creditors month after month and year after year, but it's reached the point where we can't do it any longer, Phillips told media. Phillips also said he had received a letter informing him the club could be faced with a winding-up order unless they pay GBP 500,000 to the Inland Revenue by the end of November and the club also needs to find another GBP 1m by the end of next month to take advantage of a GBP 400,000 discount offered by creditors Northover and Gilbert.

Phillips believes the new deal is the club's best chance of survival. He said: "This deal gives us the chance to get rid of well over £4m of debt at a stroke. Some of our creditors, like the Inland Revenue, are extremely dangerous and legal action against us is imminent…There is a real risk if we bury our heads in the sand that we could be out of business by Christmas. We could wait for somebody to come along with a pot of money to save the club but, as a board would be grossly irresponsible to rely on that.”