Freefalling Burnley FC’s worries have deepened after the club’s parent company, Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings, received a compulsory strike-off notice.
The Clarets, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, are in the bottom three of the Championship, with just one win from their first 12 games, and currently without a permanent manager.
The US-owned Lancashire club are also heavily indebted, with £142m of borrowings, including more than £100m owed to banks and other external lenders.
Now Companies House has issued a warning over immediate parent Velocity Capital’s accounts, which are almost two years overdue.
Unless the issue is resolved within a statutory two-month window, Velocity Capital could be dissolved and its assets passed to the Crown.
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SUBSCRIBE HEREThis is not the company’s first strike-off notice. It received an identical warning in February last year and resolved the issue satisfactorily within a month.
The delay may be down to Burnley’s multi-layered ownership structure and sums owed to each other by the various corporate vehicles as a result of the club’s 2020 takeover.
Auditors have previously highlighted receipts and financial flows between Velocity Capital and the club as a critical assumption in assessing the club’s ongoing status as a going concern.
Turbulent months at Burnley
Burnley’s majority owner is former Lehman Brothers banker Alan Pace, who cut his teeth in football as CEO of Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake.
His ALK Capital controls Velocity Sports Partners, which also owns Spanish top-division side Espanyol after acquiring a majority stake in the Barcelona outfit 12 months ago.
It comes at a turbulent time for Burnley, who sacked their Belgian manager Nicky Hayen after just 14 games in charge following defeat by Lincoln City at the weekend.
This week they announced the appointment of a new sporting director, Diego Lopez, after recruiting the Spaniard from Italian side Genoa.
Burnley were forced to ditch their main sponsor on the eve of the new season after trading platform Finotive failed to meet payment deadlines.
Finotive was announced as Burnley’s front-of-shirt partner in early July but lasted just a few weeks before the club pulled the plug and replaced it with Vertu Motors.