Kentish Football 
Welling United must find £60,000 in only fourteen days to survive
Wednesday 01st December 2010
WELLING UNITED have been given a fourteen-day stay of execution to find £60,000 to pay off their tax-bill - if they fail then the Kent club will cease to exist, writes Stephen McCartney.
Desperate fans of the Blue Square Bet South club have issued a plea to former player Steve Finnan - who made 41 appearances for the Park View Road club between 1993-1995 before moving to Birmingham City for £100,000 - to remember his roots and bail the club out.
The 34-year-old defender went on to play for Notts County, Fulham, Liverpool, Espanyol and Portsmouth, including 52 caps for the Republic of Ireland, is seen my many Wings fans of being the crisis club’s savour.
“Steve Finnan should come to our rescue, it’s not as if he has anything else to do, I take it he knows?” one concerned fan wrote on the club’s unofficial fans’ forum.
Another former Welling United player, Andy Townsend, who made 105 appearances for the Kent club between 1980-1984, before going on to play for the likes of Southampton, Norwich City, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Middlsbrough, West Bromwich Albion, and winning 70 caps for Republic of Ireland, and is now a pundit for ITV Sport, is another personality who could help.
Welling United published a life-or-death statement on it’s website www.wellingunited.co.uk and pleaded for anybody to assist with their survival.
“We at the Club are pleased to inform supporters that the club has been given a further 14 days to settle the total debt due to HMRC. The petition will again appear before the High Court on the 15 December 2010.
“We must now all understand that this stands as a final opportunity for the Club to survive, and there is a lot of work to be done to ensure that this is the case. So everyone is clear what we are facing, we have a petition debt to clear of £59,411.75.
“The initial petition debt stood at £97,880.12, other than that we have to be mindful that further sums totalling £20,000 PAYE/VAT, sums will be payable to HMRC in due course.
“It is proposed that we hold a meeting with supporters this weekend (probably Saturday morning in the likely event of our home match against Eastleigh being postponed).
“In the last 24 hours there has been a positive move by potential fresh investors, although with time being so short we would have to move very fast for things to fall into place on this front (and we are conscious that we have been let down previously by what we thought were genuine investors). We should therefore also explore whether we as a Club, and fans, can raise the monies required and if so, on what basis.
“Finally we would like to express our very sincere thanks to Messrs Leathes Prior (our solicitors, and especially Dan Chapman, Head of their Sports Team for their magnificent and continuous work on behalf of the Club to get us to this stage). Without them,
“If any fan, third party or potential investor wishes to enter discussions with us then - as an alternative to contacting Barry Hobbins (0208 301 1196) - they may contact Dan direct on dchapman@leathesprior.co.uk”
The Wings’ Park View Road pitch is currently under seven inches of snow and club officials rate Saturday’s home game against Eastleigh as doubtful.
Meanwhile, Welling United’s trip to Blue Square Bet Premier side Luton Town in the FA Carlsberg Trophy First Round, has been put back 24-hours to Sunday 12 December, due to The Hatters’ televised FA Cup Second Round replay against Charlton Athletic on Thursday 9 December.
Visit Welling United’s website: www.wellingunited.com
Welling United v Eastleigh
Blue Square Bet South
Saturday 4th December 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd