Southend winding up petition

[Garawa]

So Southend face their fifth winding up petition in four years next month! Two years ago they were saved at the last when they agreed repayment terms with creditors and now appear to be in trouble again whilst they battle to their new stadium built. I cannot get my head round this. Once is a wake up call, twice is bloody great whack in the head, thrice is certain death so to survive a fourth should surely have said to someone that maybe they might be more careful in future.

As for sorting the new stadium, wouldn't it more more wise to concentrate on their fiscal affairs first. What is the point of a new stadium with no team to play in it?! And should they be wound-up and Portsmouth cease to exist, could the side finishing fifth in League 2 get promoted at the end of the season!!!!

[Robpthegills]

Gary if you read into this you will see that the chairman has no concerns whatsoever, he has the money to settle the issue and so the club are under no threat whatsoever. This just sounds like the darker side of business where people wait untill the last possible minute to pay off debts in order to make a bit of interest on the money themselves over several months rather than pay the bill early.

Their chairman is saying nothing to worry about.

[Garawa]

What is the last possible moment then? Two minutes into a court winding-up hearing?

If this is another example of HMRC getting all excited over a football club, isn't it about time THEY were taken to court? They are sullying previously good names it appears and going down the extreme route before simple measures had been taken. Isn't it a bit like filing bankrupcy against you a month before you are due to submit your self assesment forms?

[Robpthegills]

tbh Gary I think it is more a case of HMRC becoming one of the first organisations to get fed up with football and all its antics.

When the HMRC is owed £20k for example by a club who dont pay but still recruit players on 2k a week is basically sticking your fingers up at the tax man.

The problem is most chairman of most football clubs are total knobs who havent a club, its all about ego's.

I do not know of many football clubs that an astute businessman would want to take charge of.

[Garawa]

You're right there.

What I cannot fathom though is that we seem to have a case of:
a) a club has refused to pay and all attempts to address the issue have failed and therefore HMRC have taken the last resort and asked the courts to wind-up the company and
b) the club has says it has the money and will pay when the bill is due and not before.

Which one is right? Surely it must be the former as the courts wouldn't allow antics like that to force payment quicker?! If so, the Southend chairman might possibly be trying to save face in the hope the next month solves the problem otherwise he potentially loses his club.

[Rimshot]

Anyone who has ever had dealings with the revenue might take a more balanced view. They are without doubt the least competent; least knowledgable and slowest organisation I have ever come across. When someone from HMRC says ' so what letter have we sent you ?' you realise that half the time they are making it us they go along.
HMRC is the only organisation in the UK which can have the law changed retrospectively because they are too incompetent to frame their own regulations properly.
Some years ago we had an HMRC inspector telling us that our two nights a week cleaner was 'fully employed' by us. When I asked if that ruling also applied to the other eight companies where she cleaned there was a distinct lack of response. We appealed their decision and they simply backed off. They tried exactly the same tactic with the occasional freelance graphic designers we used and their ignorance of our industry was absolutely staggering.
They seemed unable to comprehend why a small company would use freelancers to cope with peaks and troughs of workflow. Here's a typical example of our exchanges with them.

'So what happens if they are ill ?'
WE GET SOMEONE ELSE
'Why don't they send someone else?'
THEY HAVEN"T GOT ANYONE ELSE
'Well, how do they manage to run their business?'
ASK THEM
'It doesn't seem a very satisfactory arrangement for you?'
THEY DON"T WORK FOR US - THEY ARE FREELANCERS !!!!!!

[Garawa]

So this then appears to be another issue whereby large sums of public money is squandered frivolously away. So the government are right in some ways when they say cuts can be made without affected services. Seems to me a failed court case costs lots of money so stopping the silly inaccurate claims could solve any budget cuts received. I wouldn't mind betting they are not the only public office with such failings.

[Poshgill]

No Gary. Making cuts are not the way forward. Being smarter. Having more robust procedures. Having better training for staff and not putting staff in positions where they are working more hours then they are supposed to, just to ensure that the work is donecis the way forward. If HMRC cut staff then it may look like they are saving money but with huge gaps in collection of taxes, how much revenue will be lost.

We now have less front line Police than anytime in the last 40 years. False economy. So the country is saving a few quid in coppers wages. How much is the cost to society in the rise of crime. How dearer will our insurance premiums be to pay for stolen cars and burgled houses.

Cuts are never the answer. Lazy politics for instant results. Long term damage to the country is irreparable.

[Robpthegills]

So lets blame the HMRC.

Albeit that Southend have not denied they owe the money, they admit their payments are late, and admit to deliberately delaying the payments till the last possible moment.

Sounds like the HMRC have really got it wrong this time.

That said I do agree with Rimshots views on the HMRC. Cannot agree with Posh's, sounds like a political swipe, yet I dont remember HMRC being very good under new labour for 3 terms. Never mind we could always keep spending like Greece.

[Poshgill]

I'm no lover of HMRC, having been clobbered by a massive bill due to their incompetence a few years back. But cutting their staff is just NOT the answer. The work still needs to be done. Money still needs to be collected but if you cut the jobs, then who will do the work? It doesn't just disappear. The work still needs to be done. Scare mongering with comparisions to Greece really are ludicrous. They are in that position because hardly anyone pays tax in that country as they have no tax collectors. So, if we continue to cut, we will more likely be in that scenario than if we spend! How ironic! (That will confuse the govt!)

So we lose our triple A credit rating due to incompetence by this govt for the first time in 40 years and yet it seems as if cuts are the right way forward! They have been in power over 2 years now and still they blame the last regime. About time they admitted that it is'nt working. Coalition? Neither fish nor fowl.

Still, be alright when I get my house broken into, I'll call the police. Oh, hang on................