The CVA Arrives
City's debt problems were starkly underlined to every Bradford City season ticket holder when The CVA, the document that would get the Bantams out of administration, hit doorsteps.
Sunday 28 July, 2002
The web page that could save your football club
We tried, oh how we tried at BfB to do a How to fill in the CVA but the truth was we did not really get it ourselves (Hey come on- this is a difficult time for us too, moving house etc...) so we thank God for Andrew Dean, the BCST and the CVA For Dummies.
Wednesday 17 July, 2002
The CVA
What the document means to you
Having read the CVA that arrived on the doorstep of all Bradford City creditors yesterday morning. One thing is crystal clear. If this deal is not accepted then there will be no Bradford City.
What you have to do
Regardless of how you feel about Geoffrey Richmond or the Rhodes family you have to vote for this deal for the club to survive and to vote for the club to survive you have to fill in the proxy form and send it back.
City need 75% of creditors, which includes season ticket holders, to for for this deal. As a season ticket holder you will get your season ticket honoured if the deal goes through. If not you get a claim of around £150 which would be serverly reduced after the club's assets have been liquidated.
Richmond: Vote yes or you do "irreparable damage" to Bradford
Geoffrey Richmond urged fans to vote for the deal saying that if they do not then the club will fold. Richmond said "There is a general feeling of relief that there is light at the end of the tunnel, I am confident the proposal will be accepted by the creditors and it is critical that it is because the alternative is unthinkable. It would mean the almost certain demise of Bradford City Football Club. If Bradford City doesn't survive, the city of Bradford would suffer a loss which would be devastating to large sections of the community and do irreparable damage to civic pride."
Taking a look at his own popularity Richmond said "The day we got into the Premiership I had 90 per cent support. Now there's a lot of work to be done to get back to those levels, I think there is a certain amount of cynicism that the same owners that put the club into administration would still be owning the club. There are bridges that are going to have to be built, trust is going to have to be earned. But, at the end of the day, the survival of this club and its prosperity has untold benefits for everybody that lives in this city, works in this city, or loves this city."
Richmond continued "The fact remains that we had no alternative at the time but to put the club into administration and the administrators' attempts to attract interest despite widespread publicity didn't result in any offer whatsoever from anybody except the original directors. Bradford City is not seen nationally as a glamour club in a glamour city and therefore the marketplace for a potential buyer was strictly a local one. There are very few high worth individuals locally and none of those expressed any interest in purchasing the club."
How to vote for the CVA
Either turn up on the 1st of August 2002 at Valley Parade and vote for it or read the CVA document and find out how to vote by proxy. Then make sure every other season ticket holder you know is going to vote.
The edited highlights of the CVA
- If this deal is not approved, City are out of business.
- The basics of the deal are that the Football Creditors, i.e. players, get paid off in full as does the Tax Man. These debts are paid in 50% chunks at the end of next season and the season after.
- The rest of the creditors get 10% now, a future 40% if we get into the Premiership in the next five years and a further 40% if we stay for a second season in the top flight. They also have a claim on any money we get off ITV Digital in the next five years.
- The administrators will stick around to make sure the club's investors, Geoffrey Richmond, Dr Rhodes and his son, are on track to meet these payment to debts and have the power to wind teh club up if they do not feel that these debts will be paid.
- When City come out of administration the players who were previously owned by a player leasing company will now be owned by Bradford City (If my understanding of the CVA agreement is correct).
- City owe Benito Carbone £3.5m but may not be liable to that full amount as Carbone is on the verge of signing a new deal with Como. City may only have to pay the balance. It is understood that the rest of the players will be offered new deals by the club after the club comes out of administration and that should those deals be accepted City will not be liable to pay out the contracts.
- City own a house worth at least £750,000 at 14 Sovereign Court, Leeds which belongs to one of the players. It is being sold as is Long Barn the £140,000 property that the youth players live in.
- The club still owe Dunfermline £50,000 for Andy Tod. We also owe £7,300 which one assumes must be for Alan Combe. These are unsecured debts and will be paid at 10p/£1 initially but this figure would go up on promotion.
- £432.00 is owed to the fantastically named "The Wizard of Dogs" company.