Notts face new D-day

Last updated : 23 February 2002 By The Nottingham Evening Post
Chairman and majority shareholder Derek Pavis is prepared to effectively write-off some of the £2m owed to him by the club.

He has set the fresh deadline of Thursday February 28 for the duo to complete the deal, for a figure reduced from the original £2m that was due last November.

According to a source close to the club, if the payment is not made, the decision to put the club into administration would be put to a board vote and is likely to be approved.

The new deal was struck on Tuesday evening, following hours of negotiations before, during and after the defeat against Wigan.

But if it does fall through, Notts will be left with few other options.

Scardino
The club is believed to be as much as £5m in debt, though much of that is owed to current board members, including £2m to chairman Pavis and as much as £750,000 to Scardino.

The club’s other debts are extensive, with many outstanding bills to various companies and individuals around the city, with several debtors said to be threatening legal action.

Calling in the administrators would almost certainly result in none of the directors receiving their money back.

In these situations, the first creditors to be paid are the banks, the VAT and income tax offices.

However, it is still possible that the takeover deal could be completed, if Storrie and Scardino can come up with the cash.

If they do not, it it thought that Pavis will — alongside the administrators — step in to guide the club once more, with the board having already taken over the running of Notts from Scardino and Storrie in the past few weeks.

He had — as per an agreement with Scardino and Storrie — taken a back seat during the last 15 months, allowing the duo to run the club, particularly in recent months when he spent a long spell recovering from major heart surgery in Spain.