High Court ruling leaves City facing end game

“We’re right in extra time” said Cork City owner Tom Coughlan outside the High Court in Dublin yesterday.

Others thought injury-time would be the more appropriate football analogy, as a painful end appeared to loom for one of the League of Ireland big guns.

The club’s failure to settle a tax bill which, according to the Revenue Commissioners, now stands at just over €439,000 had led to Ms Justice Mary Laffoy making a winding-up order for the holding company which runs Cork City.

However, she did place a stay on the order until Friday, leaving the club one last chance to try to resolve its differences with the Revenue. But optimism was in short supply outside the court, with Coughlan – who indicated that a Supreme Court appeal was out of the question – making no effort to disguise the seriousness of the situation.

“The Revenue haven’t shown us any way that they want to negotiate so we’ve got to go away and get more cash – and get it by Friday,” he said.

“That’s where it stands and we’ve got until Friday to try and do something. They’re talking about 50% so let’s see if we can do that and see what happens. You were in there, this is no-messing stuff. This is it.”

Cork City, the current holders of the trophy, will still be included in today’s draw for the Setanta Cup but contingency plans are already being readied to cope if the club does go out of business on Friday, with Bray Wanderers expected to replace them in this year’s competition.

Coincidentally, Bray are due to play Cork City at Turner’s Cross in a league match on Friday and, while the club yesterday called for a show of public support on the night, events in court earlier in that day could mean that the match will not take place.

If the club do go under, their record will be expunged from this season’s League of Ireland Premier Division with a subsequent impact on the points affecting other clubs. Cork would also fill the automatic relegation slot on zero points for the rest of the season, meaning that the Premier Division wing of the promotion/relegation play-offs would be contended by the two teams who finish above them.

Meantime, events continue to move swiftly in the wake of yesterday’s High Court bombshell. It’s understood that Coughlan will today hold early morning discussions with FAI officials followed by a meeting with the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI).

Confirming its plans to meet with the club chairman, the FAI yesterday expressed its dismay at the situation in Cork.

“Following a week which has seen so many positive developments on the pitch for the League of Ireland, the FAI is disappointed that Cork City has failed to meet its obligations to the Revenue Commissioners,” the statement read. “Despite numerous assurances from Cork City that matters with the Revenue Commissioners would be resolved, the FAI is disappointed and concerned that the club finds itself in this situation. The FAI will meet with representatives of Cork City and will continue to monitor the situation ahead of Friday’s deadline.”

Stephen McGuinness, head of the PFAI, said his organisation wanted to see all of Cork City’s players placed on the transfer list irrespective of Friday’s court hearing.

“We’re looking to get every lad on the transfer list as soon as possible with immediate effect,” he said. “I think it’s only fair.”

By a twist of fate, the transfer window closes at the end of the week but then if Friday does indeed prove to be Cork’s last stand the issue of player movement would effectively be rendered academic – all of the City squad would become free agents and would be entitled to move to any other League of Ireland club which wants them.

Yesterday, the court heard that the recent sales of Colin Healy to Ipswich Town and Denis Behan to Hartlepool United had brought in €80,000 and €40,000 respectively to Cork City. With €439,658 owed to the Revenue, the club was now proposing an up-front payment of €120,000 with the balance to be paid in 12 monthly instalments.

However, in continuing to seek a winding-up order, counsel for the Revenue noted that one previous cheque of €15,000 had bounced and insisted that “every indulgence” had been given to the company since the winding-up hearings had begun. Dermot Cahill also said that there was no obligation on the Revenue to compromise on debt. Other football clubs, he added, were paying their taxes and keeping themselves in order.

Rossa Fanning, for the club, told the court that Tom Coughlan strove manfully to solve the problem and had sunk some €700,000 of his own money into Cork City since he took over the running of the club after it emerged from examinership.

In arriving at her decision, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy said that “in reality” the company was “insolvent”. Pointing out that the court couldn’t impose compromise, she concluded: “I don’t see that I have any choice but to wind up the company.”

It was at this point that, opposed by the Revenue, counsel for the club sought and obtained a stay which was set for Friday.

And so it seemed that Cork City had once again been brought back from the very brink. But, barring an unlikely 11th hour solution, the effect may be only to postpone the inevitable by a matter of days.