PEACOCKS’ PICKLE OVER PAYMENTS

DIRECTOR Carl Gazzard offered “a hesitant no” to the question of whether missed wage and HMRC payments could send Taunton Town under.

The Peacocks staved off a winding-up petition in January but now the club admit they have been “unable to meet” salary and tax payments.

Players were paid an “affordable percentage” with the rest to follow “as soon as the club is able to” but staff at the National League South strugglers went unpaid altogether.

Perhaps more worryingly, payment plan options with HMRC have been “exhausted” and “another winding up order and league transfer embargo could be unavoidable”. Gazzard, who joined the board in January, pointed to a spate of postponements – estimated to cost the club up to £35,000 – and having to prioritise clearing the last tax bill as major factors in falling behind. In an interview with BBC Somerset, he acknowledged a “deep problem” but hoped that the flurry of home games still to play would aid cashflow to keep the wolf from the door. “Until then we are asking for some support,” he said.

Gazzard suggested “the football has outgrown the business” having reached Step 2 for the first time and while he described the prospect of the club folding as “a big question”, he also referred to “verbal” commitments from people who say they “won’t let that happen”.

“A hesitant no is the answer to that (the danger of folding),” he said. “In our eyes the club should survive and thrive in the future but we have this really big shortterm issue.”

On the prospect of another winding-up petition, Gazzard added: “We are not at that stage, the reason for the statement was because people have been crying out for transparency and open communication. “We know this is a potential and we are trying to get ourselves ahead of the game.