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Farsley Celtic saved at eleventh hour
FARSLEY CELTIC were yesterday dramatically saved from extinction following a whirlwind 24 hours.
The club were wound up late on Thursday night after talks with a consortium led by club president John Palmer fell through.
Players and officials were told to gather their belongings and leave the club's ground Throstle Nest which was then going to be sold by the administrator.
But yesterday afternoon Mr Palmer returned with a fresh bid backed by his son Steven and two other parties who at present wish to remain nameless. At 4.15pm Mr Palmer and his solicitor, together with the administrators Mazars, faxed through notification to the Football Association and the Conference League that a deal had been made to rescue the club from closure.
Tomorrow's game with Stalybridge Celtic is now back on.
Elated manager Neil Parsley last night said: "I'm relieved it's all over. It's been turmoil. This has been dragging on for all of the 12 months I have been manager and for the two years I spent at the club before that.
"Hopefully a line has now been drawn under all of this.
"I'd just like to pay credit to the players. Every single one of them has made themselves available to play against Stalybridge."
A statement from Mazars read: "An agreement has been signed wherein the proposed purchaser meets the ongoing trading expenses to allow further dialogue next week with a view to an eventual sale."
Robert Adamson, joint administrator and partner at the Leeds office of Mazars said: "I received a call from the interested party at 3.15pm (Friday) afternoon. The Football Conference had set a deadline of 4pm for us to officially confirm Farsley's fate.
"We are very grateful that they extended the deadline to accommodate this eleventh-hour deal and allow the transfer of funds and the signing of the relevant contracts.
"The offer came out of the blue but buys us time to continue negotiations to secure the club's future."
Andrew Walker, insolvency partner at law firm Irwin Mitchell in Leeds, who advised the administrators and has worked on a number of football administrations, said: "I am pleased I have been able to assist the administrator in his hard work and endeauvours to ensure the survival of football at a long established club.
"We have literally got an agreement at the eleventh hour which we hope will guarantee that football will continue to be played at Throstle Nest and this will help the club and its fans go on to future success."
Farsley Celtic is over 100 years old and enjoyed a meteoric rise to the Conference in 2007.
They were served with a winding-up order by the taxman in June over an unpaid bill believed to be in the region of 200,000 and started the season with a 10-point deduction.
They have already begun the fight back on the pitch, winning three and drawing one of their games to get to zero points.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
