Wakefield Trinity Wildcats have moved to allay fears over the future of the club after they were the subject of another winding-up petition.
Wildcats chairman Andrew Glover has revealed the Wildcats have recently been the subject of nine County Court Judgments (CCJs) in addition to facing a winding-up petition issued by HMRC last Friday. Glover, who took the club out of administration just under three years ago, says the difficulties have been caused by a “particularly tough six months” but insists there is no danger of financial collapse.
The local businessman traces the problems back to the loss of Wakefield’s main sponsor earlier this year and the postponement due to bad weather of their attractive fixture with Leeds Rhinos. Glover admits the two blows left the club with a £300,000 shortfall yet he expects that to be offset by the arrival of a replacement sponsor, the appointment of new commercial staff and the sale of 2014 season tickets.
“We’ve always said we’ll be transparent in what we do,” Glover told the Wakefield website. “Our cashflow has taken a couple of massive hits this season.” The chairman insists the debt attached to the winding-up petition, which came about due to a legal battle with a supplier, will be paid before any action is taken.
“We had hoped they would accept our payment terms without advertising the information,” Glover added.
“There have also been a number of CCJs against the company. Some of these are through disagreements with suppliers and others are through straightforward mistakes on our behalf.
“There have been nine in total, of which eight are now settled and cleared. We are still waiting for the final paperwork to come through for the last one and then it will be cleared off.
“It’s been a particularly tough six months, but we’re getting there.”
Glover also insisted the club’s plans to build a new stadium at Newmarket, just off the M62, remain intact.
State of Mind would like to wish all the Wildcats staff all the best for the future