Heathcote plans for BSP return

11:14am Thursday 15th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

ALTY are on the verge of a third consecutive relegation reprieve after Halifax Town collapsed under a mountain of debt last week.

The Yorkshire club failed to meet Friday's deadline to agree a new company voluntary agreement (CVA) with creditors, and they could now face liquidation.

"What this should do is reinforce our belief in the route we have taken."

Graham Heathcote

An offer to creditors of 2.5 pence in the pound was refused and eventually the club's debts of more than £2million, including around £814,000 owed to the Inland Revenue, simply proved insurmountable.

Although efforts are still being made to save the club in some form, one thing is certain - they will be unable to take their place in either the Blue Square Premier or the Blue Square North next season.

But even though Alty will have to wait until the Football Conference annual general meeting on June 7 for their reprieve to be fully ratified, Graham Heathcote is pressing ahead with plans for the new season.

The Alty boss is not pleased by the nature of his club's survival but believes they deserve their break due to the way in which the club is run.

He told SAM Sport: "You are talking about some people's livelyhoods so there can be no euphoria about (Halifax's demise). It wasn't the people at the club now who created the debt.

"I feel very sorry for Chris Wilder and his players because they have had to go home and tell their families that they don't have jobs anymore.

"But there does still have to be a message for everyone about how clubs run themselves and i mean that in general terms, I'm not singling out any one club.

"I don't know who does these things but someone at the FA has to look at the rules because clearly, the people who thought a 10-point deduction would be sufficient weren't thinking hard enough.

"What this should do is reinforce our belief in the route we have taken because we could very easily have been one of those clubs, we could have been one of the first ones. I was at the meetings so I know how close we came.

"We have to wait now until the Conference AGM to have our status confirmed but whatever happens we'll be pressing ahead with the same budget.

"We need to bring in between six and eight new players to be able to compete next season."