Bradford dismiss winding up order

James Gordon

Bradford have dismissed reports that they are subject to a HMRC winding order.

Bulls General Manager, Ryan Whitcut said:

“Further to the speculation surrounding the issue of a winding up order issued by HMRC, I can confirm that this was the case due to an oversight by myself. As soon as the club became aware of this debt, it was paid along with all costs due and, as it was dealt with at the time, it came as a complete surprise to see that the petition was left on file.

“The RFL was informed of the situation by myself and had correspondence with HMRC to confirm that the matter was resolved.

“To explain further, when a winding up petition is issued, companies have 14 days to pay the debt in full, if they fail to do this the petition must be advertised in the London Gazette a minimum of 7 days prior to the hearing. In our case as we had paid the debt in full no advertisement was placed and the hearing yesterday was simply a withdrawal hearing.

An email and statement received from Blake Solly at the RFL confirms this:

“As discussed, I have confirmed with HMRC that the petition debt has been cleared (although the club will still need to go through the formal process with HMRC of withdrawing the petition).  On that basis the club has been removed from “special measures”, and the registration embargo has now been lifted.”

Whitcut continued:

“The club is in a good financial position; Omar has put in excess of £1m into the club during the 2012/13 season and continues to invest. I am very disappointed to see some areas of social media consistently targeting the club in bad press, with negative comments in what seems to be a destabilising campaign. I hope the above detail explains the club’s position and puts an end to speculation. My door has been and will always been open to speak to any fans with any issues relating to the club.