ACCOUNTANCY firm Mazars have disbanded Farsley Celtic after rejecting numerous offers for the club from the Palmer-Farrell consortium.
The consortium had been desperately trying to raise the funds necessary to keep the club going but administrators Mazars have ruled that would not be possible.
Celtic were forced into administration at the start of the season with debts reported to be in the region of £750,000.
That brought with it a mandatory ten-point penalty but despite that the team remained clear of the relegation zone.
However, their financial troubles caught up with them last week when administators Mazars postponed their Tuesday night fixture with AFC Telford United. Last Saturday's game with Workington was also postponed, as was their game with Harrogate Town this Tuesday.
Those three postponements led to the Football Conference suspending the club for failing to fulfil fixtures and they were likely to be expelled from the competition later this week.
But now Mazars have decided to disband the club, leaving the Conference with no option but to remove them from the Blue Square North and expunge their results.
Administrator Robert Adamson confirmed the demise of the club in a statement, reading: "The consortium has
known for three months the required level of funding to enable to the
club to exit the administration via a CVA [Company Voluntary
Arrangement], as required by League rules, and they simply haven't been
able to raise sufficient funds.
"As an officer of the court,
one of my statutory obligations is that I must be satisfied, in my
professional capacity as an insolvency practitioner, that a CVA is
viable.
"I cannot move forward this offer and meet that statutory
obligation. The deal was based on creditors' accepting a reduced return
but not all creditors were agreeable to this.
"We are as
disappointed as everybody with today's events and we reject Councillor
Andrew Carter's comments regarding our understanding of the importance
of the club to the community.
"We have worked extremely hard
and continue to do so to ensure that the remaining teams are able to
fulfil their fixtures with the continued use of the site's facilities,
and indeed we met with the Junior's chairman last week to confirm our
commitment."
Celts boss Neil Parsley is devastated by the demise of the club and feels the Farrell-Palmer consortium did not receive the support it deserved.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds, he said: "I remained optimistic this could all go through
because deals were trying to be done and people trying to be appeased
and people were trying to work with us.
"But
as it's turned out I don't think certain people were working with us at
all. I think people were actually working against us.
"I'm very
angry, upset and disappointed about it all. I just couldn't tell the
players face-to-face what has happened. I didn't have the bottle
because we'd been through so much but I will speak to them all very
soon when my emotions have calmed down.
"All the players have
now been released by the club and are free to join other clubs. I'm
sure they'll all get snapped up soon because they are very good
players.
"The players have been great this season for us.
They'd got themselves in a position where they'd moved from a 10-point
deduction to a position where we were mid-table and could have secured
our survival in Blue Square North within the next 10 days.
"That opportunity has been taken away from them by people who don't
understand what Farsley Celtic are all about and what football are all
about.
"That opportunity has been taken away by people who sit
in offices, with flash cars, big fat salaries and posh ties on and they
don't know the emotions that are involved in it."
A reformed club are expected to apply for UniBond Division One North membership next season.
.gif)
