TOWN SET TO APPLY FOR £400,000 LOAN “We’ve been left to fend for ourselves” says chairman
TOWN CHAIRMAN David Bosomworth says the club will be applying for a low cost loan of around £400,000 from Sport England to cover overall running costs and see them through to the end of the financial year on June 30.
The decision comes after it was made clear to National League clubs in January that only loans and not grants would be made available, despite clubs appearing to be under the impression grant funding would continue after the first three months of the season.
“We’re currently engaged in the process of applying for it,” said the Town chairman. “We, along with all the other clubs, have had no grant funding since December. We have done well to get through both January and February utilising a mixture of cash reserves and financial input from others, along with other small incomes, such as streaming, TV monies etc. We do need money now by the end of March, as our reserves are empty, so between now and the end of June, we’re going to require upward of £400,000. We are hopeful it might be a little less than that when we have worked through the final figures, because the least we have to borrow the better. The loan funding scheme via Sport England has been available since December 14 for certain key sports, not just football, and now offered to the National League. Everyone in the National League was under the impression that if the effects of Covid–19 were being experienced and no fans were entering stadia, then the grant scheme would extend beyond December 31. This was our understanding before we’d signed the new players’ contracts and staff, aside from the ones who were already under contract, or staff or other new commitments. That appears not now to be the case.’
“We have done very well to manage our way through January and February, but you can only continue for so long with no income. Accepting these are unprecedented times, we’ve been put in a very unsatisfactory position, without any shadow of a doubt and left to fend for ourselves.
“From the comments we read in the press, we understand the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) is saying that the continuation of grant funding beyond December was not made at the outset.