Ashford Town face another summer of discontent

Saturday 05th June 2010

ASHFORD TOWN face yet another summer of off-the-pitch struggle, which isn’t ideal as manager Steve Lovell rebuilds his squad for the new season, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Homelands outfit faced a summer of uncertainty twelve months ago as Lovell didn’t even know if they’d be a club as chairman Don Crosbie was recovering from a heart attack and the club faced an unpaid tax bill.

Thankfully, Lovell guided the club towards Ryman League Division One South safety with a final day win over Chatham Town and has already brought in three new players, Adam Flanagan (Dartford), Ian Pulman (Whitstable Town) and Tom Bryant (Tonbridge Angels), before the latest power struggle.

The club’s long-suffering supporters read the following statement from Tony Betteridge on Friday morning.

He said: “It is with great sadness that I have to report to you that I have been forced into winding up proceedings against Ashford Town Football Club.

“I am a 50% shareholder and one of only two Directors of Ashford Town Football Club. In addition to this I am also the 100% owner of the freehold; despite this I have been locked out of Ashford Town Football Club’s business for some considerable time by my co-director.

“I and my Solicitors have been trying to address this situation however events have overtaken us and it has come to our attention that the club is clearly insolvent and does not have the means to trade out of it's insolvency.

“In a normal company situation this would be dealt with by a functioning Board of the company, but in the case of Ashford Town Football Club we never had a functioning board at the best of times and certainly not now.

“Also it is evident that my co-director does not accept the seriousness of the current situation. Even though the club has reduced its costs significantly and has additional income from rent and profit on bar and food takings relating to Maidstone United Football Club, Ashford Town Football Club is still accumulating more debt week on week.

“An incomplete schedule of creditors supplied to me by the club's book-keeper and a notice of winding up proceedings from HMRC demonstrates to me that clearly the club is insolvent and continuing to trade insolvently.

“In these circumstances my Solicitor has advised me most strongly that matters cannot be left as they are, creating further detriment to creditors, and as I am powerless to affect things at board level I have no option other than the action I am taking.

“I have endeavoured for the last 15 months to prevent the inevitable fate that now faces the club; a few years ago there was real potential to turn Ashford dreams into Nuts & Bolts reality but unfortunately that potential has been squandered for reasons I do not fully understand, but rest assured it is my intention that Homelands will always be the home of Ashford Football.”

In response to Mr Betteridge’s statement, club chairman, Mr Don Crosbie, issued the following statement:

“This morning’s announcement from Tony Betteridge came as no surprise to me, but at least he has now finally had the courage to come clean about his intentions.

“As all that work at, and support the club, already know, Mr Betteridge has tried his utmost to force the club to close over the last 18 months.

“By reneging on his business commitments to me (which are now the subject of civil and criminal legal proceedings) he thought he could tempt me into either joining him in shutting Ashford Town Football Club in order to profit on the real estate, or by my refusing to do this, to simply starve me of money owed in order to drive me out. He even tried these tactics when I was taken ill with two heart attacks last April. However, because of my love and resolve for Ashford Town Football Club, he failed miserably.

“A course was then set to undermine our sponsors and the running of the club by refusing to allow the club to trade with its own bank account. We have money in the bank to pay our way, but Betteridge refuses to sign the cheques. This has put both me and the football club under enormous pressure, but we have survived without him. He is now peeved that his plan has not worked.

“The Club’s solicitors have been monitoring the actions of both Mr Betteridge and his advisors and have compiled a dossier of wrong doings that will be exposed in court. My legal advisors have unearthed all the illegal and fraudulent transactions in preventing the Freehold being owned by the football club and again court action with criminal charges are likely to be brought for these surreptitious attempts to steal Homelands.

“It was clear 18 months ago when Mr Betteridge told Steve Lovell and me that he could not care less about Ashford Town Football Club or the people and players involved, that he had other intentions in mind.

“It is therefore a relief that we can finally get into court and allow a Judge to see ALL the evidence, and I am confident justice will prevail. I have been assured by our legal team including Queen’s Counsel that Mr Betteridge’s attempts to wind up Ashford Town Football Club will fail miserably and I for one am looking forward, albeit in a back seat role, to seeing Mr Betteridge being brought to account.

“We have a claim from the Revenue and Customs which predominantly was unearthed due to under declaration and what can only be considered false accounting during the years prior to my involvement.

“For some reason Mr Betteridge tried to prevent action against the previous Directors, but it has since been exposed as to why this was the case. It is a great shame that all this has to be aired in public, but it is good that it can finally be sorted and will allow Ashford Town Football Club to move in the right direction and achieve the level it rightfully deserves.”

Visit Ashford Town’s website: www.ashfordtownfc.co.uk