Club Statement
Friday, 8th Mar 2002 00:00

A Statement From The Swansea City Board

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On January 24th this year Swansea City was finally rescued from Tony Petty when it became clear that the club was only 24 hours away from liquidation and at a time when no other buyers were anywhere to be seen. In order to gain control, the club was effectively bought blind without the knowledge of the club's full financial position at that time.

Since then the whole board of Swansea City has worked tirelessly to shore up the horrendous financial position they found the club in as a result of the actions of previous owners. This, it has transpired, included all season ticket money being spent, all monies from the televised QPR game used up , the club's commercial income gone and over £100,000 taken out of the club by Tony Petty. In total, the club's indebtedness, it transpires, now stands at £1.7m.

The management team have themselves invested over £115,000 and taken some extremely tough decisions within the last few days to preserve the club. Part of this involved yesterday's extremely difficult decision to dispense with the services of a number of staff at the Vetch, thereby reducing the club's wage bill by approximately a quarter of a million pounds per year. The club's current income, per home match, is approximately £15,000 per game - £4,000 of which is spent, each game on hosting the match. In contrast, the club's current wage bill stands at £145,000 per month.

Despite the recent arrangement with the City and council of Swansea and the personal investment by the management board of £115,000 the club's debts of £1.7m are insurmountable without reaching an agreement with the creditors involved. It is for this reason that the board has decided to try and reach an arrangement with it's creditors via a Company Voluntary Arrangement. The club proposes to pay £264,000 to preferential creditors, mainly the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise, in full, spread out over the next two years. In addition, the club proposes to offer to pay the remaining £1.4m of unsecured creditors 5p in the £1.

A creditor's meeting will be held later in the month for the club to present it's proposal which would allow the club to effectively wipe the slate clean and stay in business. This would allow the club to have a viable future, take advantage of the move to Morfa and look ahead to next season and beyond without the financial threat which currently continues to loom over Swansea City.

Everything the board has done and is doing is aimed at enabling the club to stay afloat. Collectively, as local businessmen and genuine life-long supporters of Swansea City FC, the board is aiming to once and for all provide financial stability and a real future for the club it, like the many thousands of other Swans fans, loves so much.