Football players face job losses

Football players face job losses

Professional footballers could find themselves with unenforceable contracts, or even redundant, if the Nationwide Football League accepts a proposal from its special insolvency advisers and suspends its controversial 'super creditor' rule for six months.

Business recovery firm Kroll Buchler Phillips, whose partners are advising the League, has proposed the suspension as one among a number of ideas, saying the League must realise there is a financial crisis.

It believes the League should tackle the rule which currently obliges clubs to fulfil players contracts before any other creditors, including banks.

Suspension would allow insolvency practitioners, who have been in operation recently at QPR, Bradford City and Bury, to renegotiate players’ contracts to slash their wages. High wage bills are the greatest burden facing many Nationwide clubs who have faced financial failure since the collapse of ITV Digital and the loss of the company’s sponsorship.

Alistair Beveridge, partner at KBP, told Accountancy Age: ‘Given there is an impasse at the moment and no one seems able to break it, one of the possibilities is that there would be a moratorium period to allow some clubs to get rid of the players they don’t need and can’t afford.’

A suspension of the rule would cast doubt on the future of players across the Football League and would cast a further shadow over those returning to the League after relegation from the Premiership.

Administrators called in to help ailing clubs say that they would find it easier to restructure clubs if the super creditor rule were removed.

KBP believes that Nationwide teams have reached the current crisis not only because of ITV Digital’s failure but also as a result of the economic downturn and a slump in advertising revenue.

A Nationwide spokesman told Accountancy Age last week that the League’s board had decided against outright abolition of the super creditor rule.

He added that clubs could raise cash by selling the broadcasting rights to games.

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource