Yeovil Town have increased the amount borrowed from Sport England by a further £112,000.
The club now owes £801,538 which it said in a statement will cover “lost revenue from last season’s lockdown period” enabling it to pay “costs and creditors from last season.”
The statement was published after the new charge was made public through a Companies House filing made by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited, signed by Chairman Scott Priestnall and Director Glenn Collis.
The statement said the club had also paid back all its debts to HM Revenue and Customs after taking a ‘payment holiday’ offered to National League clubs during the pandemic,
It added: “This loan is a top up on loans given to clubs due to the lost revenue from last season’s lockdown period.
“This means that the loan itself is in relation to the costs and creditors from last season, and that is what the loan will be used for.
“The loan itself is a 20-year term, which includes a four-year holiday period at a 2% interest rate per annum.”
The statement goes on to say that the club is one of a number of National League side which are lobbying Sport Minister Nigel Huddleston for “or the loans to be eventually turned into grants, as has been previously suggested.”
You can read the statement in full – here.
The filing listed on Companies House shows that the £689,538 loan taken out by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited in February has now been extended to £801,538.
The filing includes the following:
Pursuant to an amendment and restatement deed in the Original Facility Agreement dated on or around the date of this Supplemental Guarantee and Debenture, the Original Chargor, the Additional Chargor, the Lender and the Programme Manager have agreed to make certain amendments to the Original Facility Agreement, including but not limited to increasing the total Facility amount to £689,538 to £801,538 (the ‘Amendment and Restatement Deed’, with the Original Facility Agreement being amended in accordance with the terms therein being the ‘Restated Facility Agreement’.).
I mean, what could be clearer than that?!
Chairman Priestnall and Collis are the only two registered directors of Yeovil Town Holdings, the company set up in 2009 by then-Chairman John Fry to own the freehold the club’s assets including its Huish Park stadium and surrounding land.
That move saw the assets of the club hived off from its football operations which are run by Yeovil Football & Athletic Club which also has Priestnall and Collis as its only directors.
You may recall it was the response to a Freedom of Information request by the Gloverscast published in June which confirmed the original loan amount, see – here