Liquidation Threatens
An update on the Shots.
On May 2nd 2013, Aldershot Town Football Club 1992 Ltd entered administration due to players and staff went unpaid for April.
The consortium, led by Shahid Azeem and supported by Tony Knights and John Leppard have been working hard to secure the future of football in the town of Aldershot.
£600,000 has been raised at the time of going to publish but are short of about £60,000.
Keep updated on the latest via the official club website, http://www.theshots.co.uk
Football is a major aspect of everyday life for Aldershot Town supporters and without it, many would feel there is a hole and a missing day every Saturday afternoon.
The members of the consortium are prepared to write of debts owed to them by creditors of the club, totalling £400,000.
There have been no fewer than 13 redundancies this summer with long-serving Danny Hylton, made redundant along with captain, Ben Herd and Olly Lancashire.
Should an agreement not be reached in time, the pre-season friendlies away to Farnborough, Staines Town, Sutton United and Basingstoke Town will be cancelled.
Support the Shots before it’s too late.
A few days ago, a joint statement was released on behalf of the Shots Trust and the consortium which read,
The consortium has raised in excess of £600,000 to settle football and non-football creditors and administrators` expenses. The consortium has also raised additional funding to provide for working capital in order to fund the club next season (and hopefully many seasons to come). In addition, members of the consortium are prepared to write-off debts owed to them as creditors of the club amounting to a further £400,000.
The consortium has created a prudent business plan with financial provision to enable the club to run on a more sustainable basis. They understand that they have a responsibility to staff, players and supporters to ensure that they never again find themselves in this position. There were alternative, less-expensive ways to take the club out of administration, however, these would have involved the club receiving further footballing sanctions including further relegations and with no certainty from the Football Conference that the club would be able to play in their leagues in the future. It is acknowledged this is unacceptable to the loyal fan base.
Working with the administrators, the consortium had believed that they could take the club out of administration this week. However, there are still some major hurdles, which if unresolved, will prevent the (only) bid proceeding. Primarily these hurdles revolve around Creditors (both Football and non-Football) accepting compromises in order to reduce their debts to match the offer received.
The Administrators have made it very clear that unless a deal is completed by Thursday this week, the prospects of saving the Football Club are slim as there is little or no cash left to meet ongoing trading and there are no other offers on the table. In the event that the Club fails and goes into liquidation, there will not be any dividend payment to Creditors whatsoever.
We would like to thank creditors who have already supported our efforts. The next few days are critical in terms of the survival of the club and we urge all Supporters and Creditors to get behind the bid put forward by the Consortium. Unless that bid proceeds, the Club will stop trading and will enter into liquidation. As referred above, in these circumstances neither Football Creditors (including players), nor non-Football creditors would receive any financial recompense.
The Shots
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