With an unpaid tax bill of £700,000 being revealed in a House of Commons debate by local MP Eric Martlew and the promise of further investigation of Mr Knighton's role in the club by the Department of Trade and Industry, United could be on the brink of receivership. The club's debts have mounted this season and now supporters are uniting to force the discredited owner out of Brunton Park for good. A poll here on CUFC Online already reveals an incredible 88% are backing calls for a boycott of home games if Knighton doesn't sell the club before the start of next season. Mr Knighton, who owns 93 per cent of the shares in the football club via his holding company CUFC Holdings, threatened last week to resign United from the Football League and wind them up. His plan has brought a furious response from the local community and is set to bring a massive turnout on Saturday when the Carlisle and Cumbria United Independent Supporters' Trust (CCUIST) stage their Knighton Out day. Thousands of posters and banners have been distributed around the country and overseas fans have also got in on the act. Knighton Out posters have been downloaded over the Internet in countries such as Belgium, Spain and the USA. Supporters of John Courtenay's bid in Dublin are promising to turn the town black & white with banners in prominent positions. An online petition calling for Knighton to quit had been signed by over 150 supporters tonight, many of them followers of other clubs. Courtenay today told the News & Star that his only hope of taking over the club was via receivership. He admitted Knighton had no intention of selling and described him as "the captain of a sinking ship going down with the ship". Courtenay has initiated legal proceedings against Knighton for defamation and loss of character. He said he was cheered by messages of support from fans of the Cumbrians, well over 100 of which had been passed on to him by CCUIST chairman Mike Corry. The spotlight now falls on Bristol & West Investments plc, believed to be the biggest single creditor of the club and its holding company. Managing director Royston Smith appeared to rule out immediate court action to recover his firm's debt yesterday but it is understood the relatively small firm are anxious to pass the near-£1m debt on to another party. The table of United's creditors currently looks approximately like this:
Jerrolds is a financial lender with whom CUFC Holdings took out a mortgage on properties in Warwick Road, Carlisle and Derbyshire last October. The outstanding money owed to the PFA has left United under a transfer embargo since last year. Until it is fully repaid they will not be allowed to sign new players and the club are expected to announce they are releasing all their out of contract players shortly. It is not known whether United have paid a £20,000 fine imposed by the League for fielding an unregistered player, Sean Friars, earlier this season. It is thought other creditors of the club could include catering firms, the security company Touchline Events Ltd and the local police force, whom United have struggled to pay off in recent years. In addition, they are understood to be behind on their Council Tax bills. If fans carry out their proposed boycott of season tickets, the club's close season revenue could be virtually nil. In a normal season, United would expect to sell over 500 season tickets bringing in summer revenues of over £100,000. Even with a reduced wage bill after the out of contract players are axed at the end of June, the crisis-hit Cumbrians could be forced to sell their two most valuable assets, Richie Foran and Lee Andrews, just to survive until the beginning of the new season in August. Picture from News & Star |
