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[Mrs Warbouys]

MIKE CONNETT has applied to take Northwich Victoria into administration.

If successful the club will not be wound up at the High Court tomorrow, Wednesday.

The Vics owner said this afternoon it was the only way to save the struggling club, which owes more than £350,000 in unpaid taxes.


"We are working tirelessly towards saving this football club," he said in a statement.

"The club will then be sold to a consortium headed by leisure businessman Jim Rushe if the administration order is accepted.

"I am personally doing all I possibly can to make this possible.

"If we can pull this off, Northwich Victoria, although in administration, will be saved.

"But even if we do succeed, it should not disguise the facts.

"And the facts are that this club needs home attendances of 1,500 just to break even and we are well short of that.

"If Northwich wants a football club the local community needs to support it - and so do local businesses.

"I would urge the supporters' trust to stop mischief making over the coming days and months.

"We can save this club."

The usual penalty for a football club entering administration is an automatic 10-point deduction, which will mean almost automatic relegation from the top tier of non-league football for Vics.

However the Guardian has learned that the club would not be relegated further as part of any punishment doled out by the Football Conference

[TheCultOfIanTunnacliffe]

The term 'shyster' could surely have been coined to describe Mister Connett.

Even when they were doing well during the early years of the Alliance Premier League, I don't recall Vics ever having an average home gate of circa 1,500.

Has he never thought that cutting overheads/costs/wages in line with their home crowds might be the answer?

Does anyone else wonder just who these characters are behind this consortium and exactly what their motives for getting involved are?

If, God forbid, I was a Vics supporter, I honestly believe that my preferred outcome would be for NVFC to be wound up by the Inland Revenue and then for the Supporters Trust to form a new club at a lower level of the Non-League structure, which would entail the blissful prospect of severing all links with this blundering egomaniac.

[Alty365]

Here's a good starting point for Mr Connett:

YOU CAN'T AFFORD JOHNNY ALLAN

[penfold]

There was a 4/5min news artical on Granda Local News at 6pm, they said that if it comes to it the supporters trust will start a new club from next season :s i dont no whether they are trying to reasure there fans or they are hinting that there are not expecting a good result tomorrow.

[Dougals Dad]

Has he never thought that cutting overheads/costs/wages in line with their home crowds might be the answer?

Any decent business man would see this......

Oh! I can see a flaw!

[altyf]

QUOTE
"There was a 4/5min news artical on Granda Local News at 6pm, they said that if it comes to it the supporters trust will start a new club from next season :s i dont no whether they are trying to reasure there fans or they are hinting that there are not expecting a good result tomorrow."

We have known this for weeks! As soon as the supporters knew they were in trouble and saw that Mr Connett was going to pull out they really couldnt see anyone wanting to invest and buy them out and so they decided they were going to reform as a new club. Obviously the situation has changed with the new circumstances. But the point is, the reformation of a new club is neither to give hope to the fans or the fact they are expecting a bad outcome tomorrow, it is simply what the Vics supporters trust will do.

[penfold]

I think it does becasue it wouldnt have been given air time if it wasnt a bad situation, would it if they felt an investor would come in and pay some debts off , they wouldnt have advetised the fact. The think is they had some guy saying if we have go fold from next year there will be a new Vic's which means they will end up many leagues below, which will be disasterous for the club as they will never recover. Hence why they are advertisng to the public that they need an investor.

[altyf]

They already have a potential investor, they arent appealing for one anymore, they think they've found someone to save them and now theyre just waiting to see what happens at the high court tomorrow The situation seems to be:
-Connett decides to pull out
-High court puts winding up order because of the huge debts and unpaid taxes
-Vics fans decide it's very unlikely that an investor will save the club
-Vics fans decide to reform as new club lower down
-Potential investor declares interest
-They try to declare administration and pay off the debts by offering to pay "so much in every pound they owe"
-Hearing tomorrow???Im unsure about that part but im pretty sure its tommorrow

Therefore, I'm not at all saying its not a bad situation, because its terrible, the point I was trying to make was that the following statement wasn't true... "I don't no whether they are trying to reasure there fans or they are hinting that there are not expecting a good result tomorrow." Because we have known for a while that Vics are thinking of reforming and they arent hinting anything, they're simply saying that if worst comes to worst they will reform and try to build.

[Blackie (Vics)]

Hi folks...latest is as i hear it:

Con.nett has applied for us to go into administration again, which would of course carry the usual 10pts deduction (I can see a new all time conference low points record coming on  ) and certain relegation.
This has to be accepted by the conference board and a hearing is apparently scheduled for Oct 26th.
The inland revenue has asked for today's hearing to be deferred for two weeks to see if the application is accepted by the league and what the offer to them is.

At this point would like to say a quick thank-you for all the well wishes we've had from the genuine fans of non-league clubs who realise what your team means to you.

Exeter fans actually handed us a card on Saturday and had a bucket collection which they handed over at half time to members of the supporters trust. They also gave us the bucket which they consider a lucky omen as it was used to collect money when they were in the same situation not so long ago. Lump in throat moment 

Christmas isn't cancelled.....yet. 

[TheCultOfIanTunnacliffe]

Exeter fans actually handed us a card on Saturday and had a bucket collection which they handed over at half time to members of the supporters trust. They also gave us the bucket which they consider a lucky omen as it was used to collect money when they were in the same situation not so long ago. Lump in throat moment 

Why not hand the bucket over to Mike Connett.....and then hope that he kicks it?!

Seriously, Blackie, do you have any faith in the supposed 'Consortium'.....or would you truly prefer a fresh start, admittedly in a lower league but which would at least be a Connett-free environment?

[Alty TV]

And now a players perspective from the Northwich Chronicle:
Everyone else to blame!

Oct 17 2007

by John Buckley, Mid Cheshire Chronicle
 
MIKE Connett ‘blamed everyone’ except himself for Vics plight, said a player at Thursday’s meeting with the club’s owner.
‘He spent 45 minutes blaming the fans and the people of Northwich, Steve Burr (former manager) for leaving and Neil Redfearn (his successor) for spending £1,600 a week over budget.
‘We pointed out he provided the budget in the first place, but he still insisted it was Neil’s fault.
‘Connett told us the club was going out of existence and that he wasn’t putting any more money in. He claimed it was what the Supporters’ Trust wanted, that they wanted to start again at the bottom.
‘He blamed everyone but himself. Most of us thought it was all bull****.’

The players voted to play in Saturday’s game against Exeter City.
‘We wanted to fullfil our obligations to the supporters and not be the ones to send the club out of existence. Mike Connett said he would pay us some of our wages, but no-one really expected to get anything.
‘He said it was in our hands if we played and he wasn’t bothered either way,’ added the player.
The Chronicle understands the players are now owed one week’s wage.
The chairman had recently put three injured players – Jonny Allan, Mike Welch, who had both broken bones playing for the club, and Lee Steele – on half-wages, but the issue has been overtaken by events.
The team and fans struck an emotional rapport on Saturday, when it seemed as if the Exeter game might be the club’s last.
Northwich were due to be wound-up today (Wednesday) but the club applied to go into administration on Tuesday. This would pave the way for a deal with the Inland Revenue and a possible takeover by the Manchester consortium led by Jim Rushe.
Administration would mean Vics would be docked 10 points and relegation then would be a near certainty.
At the very least it would also mean a stay of execution and Saturday’s game at Grays Athletic and following week’s FA Cup 4th qualifying-round trip to Southport would go ahead.

[penfold]

Does that mean our Boxing Day match will be canceled, or are you going to have gone by then? I hope not because im looking forward to our Holiday games against vics.

[altyf]

Well if they do go bust then it will quite obviously mean the game will be cancelled...but as stated many times before, the hearing has been postponed for a couple of weeks because the circumstances have changed in terms of them entering administration and trying to get this investor to make the deal final.

[Darren]

Well if they do go bust then it will quite obviously mean the game will be cancelled...but as stated many times before, the hearing has been postponed for a couple of weeks because the circumstances have changed in terms of them entering administration and trying to get this investor to make the deal final.

They have been down the route before whats to stop it happening a 3rd time if they get the go ahead, There should be some safe guards put in place.

[gazwarrington]

I reckon there should be some sort of wage cap or something .... oh yes ......