Plymouth Argyle - On The Brink

Plymouth this season have faced a winding up order from HMRC which was heard on the 9th February which they managed to get dismissed after paying their £750,000 tax bill through player sales late in January clearing out Bradley Wright Phillips, the league one top goalscorer for a cut price £125,000 to Charlton Athletic, whilst three other players were also moved on during the January transfer window to other clubs.

Surviving the winding up order however is just the start for the Pilgrims who still are a month behind on paying wages to their playing staff. With another tax bill due on 22nd February, the club has real cash flow issues currently and need roughly £2M in total to survive until the end of the season according to Peter Ridsdale (Involved in yet another club in debt,following on from Leeds, Barnsley and also Cardiff), who is football consultant to the Plymouth Argyle board of directors.

The Plymouth board of directors have of course repeatedly stated money will be given and put into the club, this money has apparently yet to arrive, and is leaving Plymouth facing a real struggle to stay afloat. With a £500,000 tax bill due on the 22nd February, the club have little choice but to just pray that investment can be found, and extremely quickly to replace the Japanese investors from 2008, Mr Kagami and Mr Synan who have let the club down. 

Plymouth currently face three main options; Administration, liquidation or investment.

Administration is not a new thing in recent years to teams in the Football League, with many teams having entered and then left administration successfully. With Plymouth already having been forced to sell their best players just to stay afloat, the 10 point deduction that comes with entering administration will almost certainly see the 17th placed club certainly relegated, leaving them with an even smaller revenue to work with in a lower league. This will not be good news to any Pilgrim fans ears as the club obviously already have major cash flow issues, and the ground currently being the main asset, administration could see the hasty end of Plymouth Arygle if there was no potential investor who could see a way out for them.

Liquidation has happened before in the Football League to both Accrington Stanley and also Aldershot Town, both who started again in non league and are now neck and neck in the league currently below Plymouth, however gone would be the 125 year history that Argyle currently have, along with it any form of ground, staff and players. This has the potential to happen sooner rather than later if Plymouth fail to pay another tax bill, as it is unlikely that HMRC are going to be so lenient with the bill paying, and a winding up order for the second time could spell the end for Plymouth Argyle on a permanent basis.

The last, and most optimistic option is of course, finding new investors for this potential "bigger" club, currently there is a massive scope to improve Plymouth as a club. With average attendances dropping 5,000 since relegation last year to just 8,000 a game, the club know the fans are out there and need to be persuaded back into the club, the scale of the target area it could attract is huge, as shown by the inclusion on the ill fated world cup bid from England, where Plymouth had lobbied a 42,000 all seater ground in place of Home Park. Currently there is three potential investors who would be willing to buy the club at a nominal fee and take on the debts that the Pilgrims have, whilst pumping enough money into the club to see it through till the end of the season.

Plymouth over the last few years have had it rough going, with relegation to League One seemingly hitting the club hard both in the pocket, and also now on the pitch as they slumber down the table with a less than average side who are trying to compete in League One. Soon they will be fighting a battle on two fronts, one relegation battle on the field, and one cash battle off it with HMRC to try and keep themselves afloat and keep the Plymouth Argyle club fighting till next season.