RL club facing wind-up order

OLDHAM Roughyeds are facing closure after it emerged a new winding-up petition has been lodged for unpaid tax totalling £47,000, to be heard next week.

It is the second time in under five months months that the club has been threatened with closure and this time the situation appears particularly grave regarding Oldham Rugby League Football Club (1997) Limited’s future.

Chief executive Chris Hamilton is seeking to purchase the entire 75-per-cent majority shareholding of Bill Quinn in order to move the situation forward. But the two men have so far been unable to come to a deal despite several weeks of negotiations.

No new outside investors have come forward either, despite rumours that a consortium was set to purchase the club.

Quinn paid off the last £55,000 Inland Revenue bill to stave off the last threat in mid-June, but it is unclear whether he would be prepared to do so again.

“I will be meeting with Chris Hamilton today and will be discussing the situation with him,” said Quinn this morning. “It is make-your-mind up time today.”

The petition, advertised in the London Gazette, has been brought by the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs and is to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Wednesday, November 4.

In order to fight off the threat, the club will have to persuade the Revenue before that date that it is in a position to pay off the debt.

Three years ago the club was saved after then-directors Hamilton and Sean Whitehead paid off a tax bill that totalled around £258,000, including interest payments, after negotiations with the Revenue.