A Winding Up Order for Truro City

A notice published yesterday in The London Gazette, the official journal of the British government, confirmed that a winding up order has been issued against Truro City Football Club Limited. The club’s rapid rise from the South-Western League to the Conference South has been bankrolled by owner Kevin Heaney, but this news suggests his money may finally have run out.

For supporters of Plymouth Argyle, the situation will be of particular interest. Heaney has been at the centre of a bid to buy Plymouth’s Home Park stadium, a move which now appears to be failing as former Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale is set to take over the running of that club.

Heaney's Millions

Truro City’s last available accounts, for the period ending 31 December 2009, show a club entirely dependent on its owner’s generosity. The balance sheet revealed liabilities exceeded assets by £1,689,807. A note in the accounts clarified that £1,408,408 of this figure related to a loan from the director, who had “indicated his ongoing support to the company”. That support now appears to be in serious doubt. Heaney’s initial plan was to turn the club professional, believing there was enough interest in Cornwall to make it self-sufficient. That ambition was scaled back, though the club retains full-time staff, and a grand plan for a 16,000-capacity stadium was twice rejected by councillors before a smaller version was approved earlier this year.

On the pitch, Truro are finding life in the Conference South more challenging. After ten matches, they sit mid-table with five wins and five losses. Competing with established non-league names like Woking and Dartford was always going to be difficult, and a season of consolidation would represent progress. Whether the club can sustain even that modest goal with its finances in such a perilous state is the pressing question.

A Web of Companies

The club’s finances are entwined with a series of property transactions centring on their Treyew Road ground. The freehold was transferred on 12 February 2010 to a company called Cornish Properties Ltd for just £1,175.00, with Truro City continuing to play there on a 199-year lease. Kevin Heaney has been a director of Cornish Properties Limited since 2003. Land Registry documents show that the ground cannot be sold without the written consent of Lloyds TSB bank.

A more recent charge, dated 15 July 2011, is even more curious. It prevents the sale of the ground without a certificate confirming that clauses in a contract made on 8 July 2011 have been met. The parties to that contract were Persimmon Homes Limited, Cornish Properties Limited, a company named Truro Retail Park Limited, and Kevin Christopher Heaney. Heaney is a director of both Cornish Properties and Truro Retail Park, which share a registered address with the football club. The nature of that contract with a major housebuilder, and specifically its clauses 12.1 and 12.2, remains unknown.

This is all taking place against a backdrop of local development plans. A Cornwall Council feasibility study into a new ‘Stadium For Cornwall’ was completed just three weeks after the Persimmon contract was signed, and the housebuilder has been listed as a lobbyist for a major housing project near the city. Back in August, the Plymouth Herald reported that the takeover of Plymouth Argyle hinged on the outcome of a separate property deal. These events, occurring within weeks of each other, appear connected.

Order and Disquiet

Rumours that Truro players had not been paid began circulating in August. That same month, after a home match against Dorchester Town, anti-Heaney songs were reportedly sung by supporters. This prompted the club’s vice-chairman, Chris Webb, to demand that any items branded with the logo of The Truro Independent Supporters Association (TISA) be banned from Treyew Road, with gate security instructed to refuse entry to anyone wearing them.

The club’s official response to the winding up petition betrayed a misunderstanding of the process. A statement claimed the club was “only recently … advised of the amount of debt due” as a result of “HMRC failing to demand this debt over the last two years.” This ignores the fact that a company is responsible for paying its own tax bill. The petition was presented on 25 August, giving the club ample time to pay, dispute the debt, or come to an arrangement before its mandatory advertisement in the Gazette.

The Football Conference will be watching developments closely. With its accounts showing massive debts, its ground tied up in an opaque contract with a property developer, and a winding up hearing now set, Truro City’s future looks anything but certain.