‘It’s green for go’ as creditors back Quakers rescue package (From The Northern Echo)

‘It’s green for go’ as creditors back Quakers rescue package

8:19am Friday 26th June 2009 in

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NEW Darlington Football Club manager Colin Todd is ready to unveil his playing squad after the Quakers took another step towards exiting administration.

The club’s creditors yesterday accepted the administrators’ proposals and it is expected that the club will start the new season without any points deduction.

Companies and creditors with the equivalent of 93 per cent of the club’s £7.8m debt passed the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) at yesterday’s creditors’ meeting.

Only one creditor turned up for the meeting, which lasted a matter of minutes, with the rest of the creditors voting by proxy.

The club needed at least 75 per cent of the creditors to accept the proposals for the CVA to be passed.

The document also had to be passed by more than half of the creditors unconnected with the club – 85 per cent voted in favour.

All football creditors, including players and other clubs, will receive all their debt. Unsecured creditors, including councils, the tax man, local businesses, have accepted only 0.9p in the pound.

Mr Todd, who has not yet signed a contract with the Quakers, was delighted the club has overcome another hurdle.

He said: “The green light is there now. I’m delighted for Raj [Singh] and obviously delighted for myself.

“It gives us all peace of mind to move forward. The players are all ready to sign. The players will see today’s news and will be convinced. They were convinced before, but it just reassures them that bit more.

“It is a new regime moving forward now and we have got to walk before we can run. As a football club, we will assess things as we go along.

“But today is brilliant news for everybody. The supporters have been uncertain and now they can also be assured we are up-and-running.”

Mr Todd says he has already assembled the “vast majority”

of his squad and said they would be unveiled next week.

The Quakers were placed into administration in February by former chairman George Houghton.

The Football League automatically imposed the club with a ten-point penalty, effectively ending any promotion hopes.

Mr Houghton tabled proposals to the creditors earlier this month. The meeting was scheduled to take place last week, but was postponed after intervention from the Football League.

Dave Clark, from administrator Brackenbury Clark & Co, was confident the CVA would enable Darlington to start the forthcoming League Two season without any further points penalty.

He said: “It was a bit of formality really. Most of the creditors voted by proxy which is a piece of paper they submitted instructing the chairman to vote on their behalf.”

The CVA will return control of the club to Mr Houghton, but he is in advanced stages to sell it to his previous vicechairman, Raj Singh.

The administration process will take between four and eight weeks to complete enabling an appeal process and all paperwork to be finalised.

After that the sale can be completed with Mr Singh and the club can offer contracts to players and management who have agreed to sign.