GARY COXALL, the Hartlepool United chairman, has allayed fears over financial difficulties at the club.

Following the revelation in The Northern Echo on Christmas Eve that Pools were facing a winding up order over a £104,000 tax bill, Coxall issued a statement which said that £100,000 of the bill had already paid off.

As a result, the club won’t face a High Court hearing in early February.

The statement read: “When JPNG became owners of Hartlepool United last summer we made it clear that we wanted to work with supporters to the benefit of the Club and be as open and transparent as we could about our decisions.

“That being the case, I felt it was important to address some of the issues that have been discussed by supporters in forums and online, and covered in the local press in recent days.

"It is true that the club has previously received two winding-up petitions but both have been explained.

"This 'third' winding-up order is totally different, as we agreed a payment plan with HMRC [HM Revenue and Customs] by which we would settle the amount in two separate payments and, as of today, we have now cleared £100,000 of that bill.

"As part of the payment plan, we agreed that if the second payment wasn't met, then a winding-up petition could be back-dated, but this has been resolved. In short, it was only a notice of a winding-up, which has been effectively resolved before issue."

Last week, Pools announced they had secured funding for the proposed Mill House redevelopment.

But doubters have raised concerns about the loan, with Coxall explaining: “I know there has also been some concern about monies borrowed from Access Finance but I can assure fans that this does not – and will not – put this Football Club at risk, in fact it allows us to finally achieve something the club has wanted to do for years, to own its own ground.

“Questions have been asked about why we required the money quickly – to be honest, we didn’t. However, the simple reason is that Access Finance offered us exactly the same deal we would get from any bank but without having to go through various departments and the process taking up to six weeks. There’s nothing more sinister than that.

“Early in the New Year we are looking forward to once again sitting down with the Council for more productive talks and working with them for the betterment of the town and the community.’’