Sport England

  • Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has spoken about the different debts the club has in an update posted this morning.

The owner confirmed the following in his update published on the club’s website on Friday morning – see here:

  • The club still owes Sport England almost £1m from loans it took out to handle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – but the chairman is still working with the National League to get these written off.
  • £600,000 in shareholder loans have been written off by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited (YTFC Holdings), one of the two business which operates as part of the club.
  • The £1.35m loan taken out by Priestnall and Errol Pope, the businessman who he bought the club with in 2019, has been paid off.

The writing off of £600,000 in loans appears to be a financial arrangement between YTFC Holdings and Yeovil Football & Athletic Club (YF&AC). We’ll certainly not claim to be financial experts, but any figure of that magnitude being written off certainly sounds like a good thing.

The two companies were set up back in 2010 when then-owners Norman Hayward and John Fry separated the clubs assets with YTFC Holdings taking ownership of the land around Huish Park and YF&AC taking ownership of the stadium and the club’s football operations.

Priestnall is the only director of YTFC Holdings whilst YF&AC counts the chairman and fellow director Stuart Robins among its board members – and, according to another part of the update, soon will include Martyn Starnes, who is returning as the club’s Chief Executive Officer, read more on that – here. Starnes was previously involved in the club for six years up until 2013 when he joined Plymouth Argyle.

In his update, the chairman confirmed that any charges owed to MSP Capital, the Poole-based finance group which lent money to Priestnall and Pope when they bought the club in 2019, had been removed.

We reported back in May that the money had been repaid to MSP Capital following a filing made at the time – see here.

In his Friday statement, Priestnall said: “All MSP Capital charges have been removed from Yeovil Town Holdings Limited and Yeovil Football & Athletic (Club) Limited. Any MSP Capital charges still showing as outstanding at Companies House should show as cleared when their website is updated.

In summary, nearly £1m still owed to Sport England but discussions to write it off still continuing, £600,000 in shareholder loans written off and money owed to MSP Capital written off as well.


 

The Sport England loans get quite a bit of focus in the update with Priestnall first confirming that the almost £1m (£998,538, to be precise) has not been paid off by money raised from the sale of Huish Park and surrounding land to South Somerset District Council in May.

The chairman has reiterated that at the time the club took the loans the National League “were given assurances that in time these loans would be written off“.

Now, when the Gloverscast contacted the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) last month to ask them what the current situation was with regards to the loans they gave out as part of the Sport Survival Package and they told us: “The terms of the loan repayment remain the same as when it was provided in early 2021. We expect every loan recipient to fulfil the terms of their loan.”

However, it seems Priestnall, a member of the National League’s board of directors, is working alongside his counterparts to keep up the fight to get the debts cancelled.

He added: “I will continue to work with The National League, who have regular meetings with DCMS, and other National League System clubs to get these loans written off.

Like all National League clubs who took loans, a four-year holiday period was granted before repayment begins and I will be pushing the National League to ensure those assurances are upheld.

‘Gate Money – Inside Non-League Football’s Funding Fiasco’ is a documentary due to air in November.

The chairman’s update also makes reference to a documentary – titled ‘Gate Money: Inside Non-League Football’s Funding Fiasco’ – which he says has “been produced to investigate the distribution of payments to National League clubs to help support them through the recent lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The documentary, produced by SPNJRT Media Productions and Moody Shots Production, is due for broadcast in November and a trailer can be viewed – here.

In his update, Priestnall says he opposed the way the money was distributed despite the club receiving “the highest level of distribution” of funding.

The chairman said: “As board minutes will show, although YTFC were one of the clubs that received the highest level of distribution, I was one director who voted against and regularly opposed the formula and the way the process was dealt with.

I never believed it directly addressed what the funds were for. While primarily it kept the League operating, it did not replace lost revenues as publicly stated by DCMS and, in my view, was disproportionately distributed to clubs.

Clubs with higher average attendance in the National League, National League North and National League South lost out, while clubs which had lower average attendances in the National League pyramid benefited dramatically. Additionally, I also endorsed the publishing of the so-called “Bernstein Report” and could not understand why it had not been published in full at its completion.

The (so-called) Bernstein Report was written by former FA chairman David Bernstein who led an independent panel charged with looking in to the way money was distributed by the League.

There’s been no statement made by the National League in response to the documentary’s trailer which features Bernstein, so we will wait to see what happens when the full version appears next month.


 

The other parts of the update make reference to “recent reports” and “comments on social media” which the chairman is responding to.

Yeovil Town chairman Scott Priestnall has said he has no ambitions to take over Worcester Warriors.

The first relates to Worcester Warriors, the Premiership Rugby side which has been wound-up by administrators after running in to financial difficulty responds to “recent reports.”

Priestnall says: “I have not been involved in any capacity with Worcester Warriors Rugby Club or any consortium looking to acquire the club since taking over at Yeovil Town FC. I have not had any and have no plan for discussions with any parties regarding an involvement in a new ownership or management team.

I sincerely hope the club finds a new owner soon who can help get them through a traumatic time for everyone involved with the club.

In October 2018, the rugby club announced the Glovers’ chairman was part of a consortium which had bought it. That consortium included Errol Pope, who would work with Priestnall to take over at Huish Park a little more than a year later, Jed McCrory and David Seymour, a former Premiership Rugby player.

McCrory took a role on the club’s Executive Board, but there was no mention of either Priestnall or Pope after the initial takeover.

In June 2019, it was announced that Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham had taken over as joint owners at Worcester with McCrory stepping down from his role on the board.

By this point, Priestnall and Pope were completing their takeover of Yeovil Town and it appears no longer involved with Worcester.


 

In the other part of his update, the chairman said that CV Leisure, the company which he used to take over at Huish Park in 2019, had not claimed support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the initiative otherwise known as ‘furlough’ set up by the Government.

The updated said: “There have been comments on social media regarding a Coronavirus job retention scheme claim for CV Leisure Ltd. I can confirm that CV Leisure never made an application to claim support and therefore any information circulating on social media is incorrect.

Last month, we published a blog, The Priestnall Tapes – Five Months On – which looked back at words spoke by Yeovil Town owner and chairman Scott Priestnall to supporters in April and reviewed where his promises had got to in the months that had passed.

Among the topics we covered were the issue of the almost £1m (£998,538, to be precise) in loans the club took out from Sport England to help the club survive the COVID-19 pandemic – yes, that’s on top of the sale of the club’s stadium, surrounding land, the £50,000 raised by supporters in the Crowdfunder and furlough payments the club took during the period.

For your recollection, here’s what that blog said about the loans from the Sport Survival Package:

 

Sport England loans

Scott said: “We’ve taken not as much as some other clubs and only what we needed and we have been promised as a league by the Sports Minister that over the next four years, he is working towards getting those loans written off.”

What’s happened since? The Sports Minister, Nigel Huddlestone, is the same man who promised Scott and his fellow club owners he would be working towards getting the almost £1m which we have borrowed written off. We’ve got in contact with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to ask how the Minister is getting on – but, to be fair to the department, they’ve been in charge of arrangements for The Queen’s funeral in recent weeks. We’ll let you know if we hear anything…….


Now, we’re people of our word and far be it from us to promise something and not deliver upon it, so here’s the response we’ve had back from the DCMS today:

  • The terms of the loan repayment remain the same as when it was provided in early 2021. We expect every loan recipient to fulfil the terms of their loan.Loans were provided to beneficiaries of the Sport Survival Package at a low interest rate, with a flexible approach to loan terms and repayment holidays.
  • Sport England is in regular contact with every loan recipient and we will continue to work closely with them to understand each individual organisations’ circumstances. If an organisation is concerned about its ability to meet repayments, we would encourage them to contact their relationship manager in the first instance as soon as possible.
  • We do not comment on the specifics of individual Sports Survival Package cases given their commercial sensitivity.

The other thing to correct is that on the day we published The Priestnall Tapes – Five Months On blog, Nigel Huddlestone was replaced as Sports Minister by Stuart Andrew. Either way, there seems no appetite from the DCMS to cancel the loans or turn them in to grants.

Yeovil Town‘s debt to Sport England has increased by a further £197,000, meaning the club is now almost £1m in the red.

The latest filing to the accounts of Yeovil Town Athletic & Football Club, the company which runs its football operations, and Yeovil Town Holdings, which owns the land surrounding its Huish Park stadium.

It showed that the club’s loans to Sport England rose from £801,538 to £998,538 due to a charge registered on March 26.

The latest increase in debt comes as the club filed its accounts for the 12 months up until June 31, 2021, when it owed ‘just’ £582,950.

The accounts show that, at the end of June, “the directors have reviewed likely future developments and remain of the opinion that the company still has adequate resources to meet its obligations and shareholders have agreed to continue to support the club financially where necessary.

Therefore there is no reason to believe that the club will have to cease trading as a result of inadequate financial resources, or any other foreseeable event.

As such the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements continuing to be adopted.”

Scott Priestnall, left, alongside now former Glovers’ manager, Darren Sarll. Priestnall and fellow director Glenn Collis are the only directors of the companies against which the club’s loans have been charged.

In other words – everything’s fine, nothing to worry about. Whether that situation remains nine months and two additional Sport England loans later, is another question.

This is the third loan which the companies behind the club, which list chairman Scott Priestnall and fellow director Glenn Collis as directors, have taken out against the club.

In case you needed a recap, this is the timeline:

  • 12 February 2021: Yeovil Football & Athletic Club Ltd (YF&AC) agree a loan of £689,538 from Sport England.
  • 17 March 2021: The loan is created as a legal charge on the club.
  • 31 August 2021: The club confirms it has borrowed an additional £112,000 from Sport England with a charge taken by Yeovil Town Holdings Limited (YTHL).
  • 12 October 2021: YTHL confirms it has satisfied the  £112,000 loan.
  • 13 October 2021: A new charge filed against YF&AC is registered which confirms it has taken on loan of up to £801,538.
  • 26 March 2022: New charges which appear on the accounts of both YF&AC and YTHL shows a further £197,000 loan has been taken out with Sport England, raising the debt to almost £1m.

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.

The latest filing from Companies House – which appears to fast be becoming the way for Yeovil Town‘s owners to communicate with fans – suggests the club has repaid at least part of its  £801,538 loan to Sport England.

Yeovil Town Holdings Limited, the company’s holding company which lists Chairman Scott Priestnall and partner Glenn Collis as its directors, filed a “statement of satisfaction in full or in part of charge” on Tuesday night as fans headed to Huish Park for the draw with Altrincham.

The latest filing by Yeovil Town Holdings on Companies House.

The filing offers very little in detail but relates to  “Charge 0711 3379 0004″, the reference for the latest loan taken out from Sport England to cover the costs incurred by a lack of income in during the pandemic.

The Charge linked to that reference is the additional £112,000 loan taken from Sport England in August.

The filing by solicitors Bates Wells, which represents Sport England, suggests the charge has now been satisfied “in full.”

However, the Charge relating to the other £689,538 loan taken out from Sport England remains on file with Companies House.

Whether our lender is satisfied we have paid our entire debt of £801,538 or just part of it is what is not clear – never mind who has paid it and why.

The Gloverscast  has contacted the club to seek clarification on what this means – we’ll update you as soon as we hear back!

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