One Year Ago Today

It was one year ago today that Plymouth Argyle had an unexpected date in the High Court.

In what was a monumental day in the history of PAFC lawyers acting for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs applied to wind-up the club and put it into administration using an administrator of their choice. Lombard, who provided the mortgage for the freehold of the Home Park stadium, were also present in the courtroom.

The Directors of Argyle and Football Consultant Peter Ridsdale were unaware of the hearing and what the details were but hastily assembled a legal team to represent the club in the High Court.

The club had already announced in February 2011 that it intended to enter into administration and were seeking to appoint an administrator, this action led to the deduction of 10 points.

HMRC were now using the power of the court to finally force Argyle into administration and appoint their own administrator to start winding-up proceedings, however, a delay in court enabled the Argyle Directors to be one step ahead and voluntary enter into administration and appoint an administrator of their choosing.
Despite this action being contested by HMRC the Judge agreed and the club officially appointed Brendan Guilfoyle, Christopher White and John Russell of The P&A Partnership as administrators.

After his appointment Guilfoyle issued a statement, he said: ‘I’m pleased to say that this afternoon, I was appointed as joint administrator of Plymouth Argyle Football Club.
‘Christopher White and John Russell are also administrators but, for practical purposes, I’m the lead administrator, dealing with the football matters.
‘The powers of the directors have now been suspended as a consequence of my appointment and I am effectively running the club.
‘My role is, in relatively short term, to find a potential purchaser who is able to fund the club in the short term, so it can continue to fulfil its fixtures and then, thereafter, to satisfy the Football League requirements in acquiring the club and transferring the share to a new company.’

However, after several delays and false hopes it wasn’t until October that Argyle finally exited administration after the club was saved by James Brent.

March 4th 2011 is a day that will never be forgotten.