Ipswich Town joins football casualty list
First Division football club Ipswich Town has become the latest victim of the growing financial crisis in the game.
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The club announced that it had ‘reluctantly’ filed for administration at the High Court today and called in administrators Nick Dargan and Nick Edwards from Deloitte & Touche.
It now joins a long list of clubs, including Leicester City, Bradford, Queens Park Rangers, York City and Port Vale who have all had to call in administrators following financial collapse.
Club chairman David Sheepshanks said the filing had been made and the administrators called in with a view to reaching company voluntary arrangements with Ipswich Town’s creditors.
He blamed the club’s collapse on the ‘immense financial burden caused by relegation from the Premiership’.
According to Sheepshanks, the club lost out on £15m by being relegated from the Premiership and a further £2.5m following the demise of ITV Digital last year.
Furthermore the problems were made worse by the collapse of the transfer market and the introduction of the new transfer window, which hampered the club’s efforts to offload some of its players.
Joint administrator Nick Dargan said the club’s management and track record were not at fault but added ‘Unfortunately, relegation from the Premier League and the collapse of the transfer market have left the club with short term cash flow difficulties.’
‘Our role is to help management develop proposals with the club’s creditors to rephase outstanding debts and ensure the club continues successfully in the future.’
