As reported here on CUFC Online yesterday, Mr Knighton has missed the April 1 deadline to confirm notice of intent to resign from the league before the start of next season. Football League spokesman Ian Christon said: "That won't happen. There's nothing within our constitution to allow that to happen. He has missed the time scale in terms of resigning from the Football League. He would have had to have given notice by December 31 and confirmed that by April 1." And the League would take legal action if United attempted to avoid fulfilling their fixtures next season. They are currently attempting to talk to the under-fire owner to discover that his next move will be. It is known that the club are in serious financial difficulty and the playing staff are now feeling the effects. United have decided to release all their out of contract players to reduce the wage bill, meaning that players such as Ian Stevens, Steve Soley, Mark Winstanley, Dave Rogers, Tony Hopper, Peter Keen and Jonny Allan will be free to talk to other clubs. United could re-sign them later if no other clubs offer them contracts. In-contract players such as Richie Foran, Lee Andrews, Will McDonagh, Mark Thurstan, Luke Weaver, Lee Maddison and Mick Galloway could all be put on the transfer list. It is thought only Foran and Andrews might attract a fee. Andrews was linked with Celtic earlier this year. The club are believed to be nearly £2m in debt with the biggest creditor being the Bristol & West Investments plc who are owed almost £1m. Managing director Royston Smith said today: "I don't know what's happening. The loan is there. It continues to run but we're quite happy about that for the time being." However he refused to say whether his company might take court action to try and recover the debt, which is secured on the buildings at Brunton Park. "I'm not saying we will let the loan run indefinitely. No decision has been made on this." The loan taken out by CUFC Holdings in January 2001, which was a short-term bridging loan, attracts a very high level of interest, now thought to be over 18% and could be costing the club over £3,000 a week to maintain. In addition, several renewal fees will have had to be paid, each time the loan period expires without the debt being settled. One option for potential buyers of the club is to buy the loan off the Bristol & West, who are understood despite Mr Smith's comments to be keen to find a company or individual to take the debt off their hands. It is thought to represent almost 10% of their total loan capital. Once a deal has been struck, the new owner of the debt could take CUFC Holdings to court and force a winding-up order if the debt remains unpaid. Receivers would be appointed if the club could not find a way of repaying the money. It has also been discovered that the club have had no fewer than EIGHT county court judgements against them in the past 12 months. The amounts involved were up to £3,362 each. Credit agency Equifax gave the club a credit rating of zero. Credit card facilities were withdrawn from the club last summer, forcing supporters to pay for season tickets with cash or cheques. Meanwhile fans of United have been flooding the Football League, the Football Association, the PFA, the DTI and the sports minister Richard Caborn with letters, faxes and emails demanding action against Mr Knighton. The FA confirmed that they are still investigating the finances of the club, an inquiry which began as long ago as May 2001. However they refused to comment on the state of the inquiry. The club announced yesterday that they were scrapping their reserve side. Police go easy on Knighton death threats Carlisle police say they are treating death threats against Michael Knighton posted on internet messageboards seriously but would "not be going overboard" on them. Calls made to the News & Star's hotline number also contained threats to Mr Knighton and his family. Chief Inspector Mark Graham said: "We are not going overboard and will react appropriately if the situation develops. At the moment there is no specific operation mounted because of it." In the past Mr Knighton and his son Mark have been advised to stay away from Brunton Park because of perceived threats to their safety. Picture from News & Star www.newsandstar.co.uk |
