Can we Survive? 10 Games Remaining.

[westyorkshiregull]

Interesting merse

[standupsitdown]

Orient have paid their tax bill now so avoided the Inland Revenue winding up order. There is a another one outstanding but that's for a much smaller amount. Barry Hearn has apparently said he will help supporters who are raising money to save the club, so although they are going to be relegated their financial situation may not be so bad that they can't play in the National League.

[merse btpir]

Orient have paid their tax bill now so avoided the Inland Revenue winding up order. There is a another one outstanding but that's for a much smaller amount.

No they haven't; not as far as anyone I know involved with the O's trust ~ LOFT ~ is concerned anyway; do you have a link to that information?

I think you're confusing the issue with the The Sun reported in March that their owner Francesco Becchetti had 'paid the tax bill to HMRC to earn the club a stay of execution from administration ~ but that there are still huge debts to be paid.'

What actually happened was that In a hearing at the High Court last month, Mr Registrar Briggs gave the club until June 12th to pay off sums of money to creditors. To the best of my knowledge this has not yet happened and incidentally Becchetti has seen his basketball franchise in Italy severely demoted several levels due to the same problems.

At present LOFT are working on a worst case scenario of liquidation and them running a phoenix club as low as the Southern League second tier or even the Essex Senior League and ground sharing at Dagenham & Redbridge.

LOFT learnt only last Thursday that the players and staff at Leyton Orient Football Club have still not been paid.
 
This is despite a promise made to them the previous Friday, when their wages were originally due. Staff were assured then by the chief operating officer, Vito Miceli, that they would receive their salaries by 6th April......They didn't get them and the O's played their game at Cambridge United on Saturday with a team consisting of only three players over the age of 20 and the rest scholar pros and other academy players.
 
The club is in utter disarray. The chief executive, Alessandro Angelieri, has not been seen at the ground for months. A number of suppliers have approached the trust since the winding-up hearing on 20th March, and it is now clear that there are well over 50 creditors who between them are owed hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This news once again shows that owner Francesco Becchetti and his team, Alessandro Angelieri and Vito Miceli, are unable to keep their promises. It is astounding that they can treat their staff with such contempt while living in comfort themselves. Becchetti lives in a £22m mansion in Mayfair but can't or won't pay his bills, while Angelieri reportedly lives in luxurious accommodation paid for by the football club; it is not clear whether his rent is still being paid. If it is, the trust quite naturally find this particularly disturbing given the situation with creditors and staff.
 
Vito Miceli is the messenger for the president and the chief executive, but he is unable to answer the many questions the staff have. His reassurances, like his promises, are not worth anything. All three have failed miserably in their responsibility as employers and their failure to pay their staff and the club's players is a shameful breach of responsibility.
 
LOFT will be meeting the PFA this week to discuss how they can help move the club out of this crisis. They are doing everything that they can to support the dedicated staff at the football club during this extremely difficult period. They have called on Becchetti, Angelieri and Miceli to sort out this problem and then sell the club to more competent people who understand that employers are legally obliged to pay their staff according to the contracts of employment.

[standupsitdown]

I don't know anything that hasn't been in the media. For example -

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 39241.html

However I'll gladly bow to your greater knowledge.

[merse btpir]

Yes; that is 'old news' from last month, that 'settlement of the tax bill' means that Leyton Orient could survive in the short-term and were able to complete the rest of their matches this season but as you can see from the detail; thereafter it becomes an absolute nightmare and the trust are convinced Becchetti will liquidate as an act of spite as he is 'highly offended' that he has been disrespected since the Orient and Blackpool fans got together at a match between the two in a joint protest against malevolent owners.

[madgull]

Will we survive? Well, so far I have had portentous dreams of us both being relegated, losing 10-0 against North Ferriby on the final day of the season, and also beating Braintree. Gonnna try and make it up for the last two home games of the season with some friends, will add a few more voices to the pop side.

I'm strangely not as panicked as I probably should be, I think supporting this club almost gets you desensitized to the fear of relegation battles. I think Braintree is gonna be one of the biggest matches in our recent history.

[standupsitdown]

Macclesfield 3 Maidstone 0 tonight.
Maidstone already on 50 points and five games to play (albeit not easy fixtures) so unlikely but not impossible that we'll catch them.
Macclesfield's win puts them 6 points below play off place so maybe they'll be extra motivated in their Easter games - Woking & Solihull.

[Jerry]

Lincoln had a player sent off tonight and Angol was subbed after half an hour, presumably due to injury.

[portugull]

On the 12th March I predicted we would get 52 points and finish 19th. We reached 53 points and 17th.

I got Woking wrong but predicted York City, Southport and North Ferriby for the drop.

Did not foresee the collapse by Braintree Town.

Really feel for the York fans.

[tomogull]

On the 12th March I predicted we would get 52 points and finish 19th. We reached 53 points and 17th.

I got Woking wrong but predicted York City, Southport and North Ferriby for the drop.

Did not foresee the collapse by Braintree Town.

Really feel for the York fans.

Yes - back at the beginning of March, Braintree seemed to be pulling themselves away from trouble. YorkieAndy said York were cr*p and would go down but I hoped they would stay up. We should have sent Guiseley down last season on that last game of the season and they have survived again with a last minute equaliser. And we climb to the heady heights of 17th ......