Sky Sports journalist Rob Dorsett has revealed this morning that Notts County are in danger of slipping into administration.
The world’s oldest Football League club are currently bottom of League Two, five points from safety, and have been looking for new owners since Alan Hardy put the club up for sale last month after he controversially posted an inappropriate picture of himself on social media.
However, Sky is reporting the reason Hardy is looking to sell as nothing to do with a social media faux pas but is entirely due to severe financial problems at his Interior Design Company Paragon, who, they report, Hardy borrowed £7 million from to buy the Magpies in 2017.
It is now understood by Sky, who have studied Paragon’s latest set of accounts, that the business is facing the real prospect of going into administration in the next couple of weeks. The company has recently ceased work on several contracts and is informing customers they hope to catch up in March.
If Paragon does bring in the administrators, they are likely to call in the debt from the football club which would cast a huge doubt over Notts County’s finances and future.
Rob Dorsett revealed the news on his Twitter account, and his tweet provoked many responses from worried supporters who once again called into question the much criticised EFL ‘fit and proper person’ rule which governs the suitability for club owners.
Concerns over the plight of County follows recent high profile, controversial ownership issues at League One Blackpool and Championship Bolton Wanderers.
Here is a selection of their responses.
https://twitter.com/arthurs21mil/status/1099993472856141825
https://twitter.com/jayh96/status/1100014042977107969
https://twitter.com/SamZakisDickens/status/1100013119940845568
https://twitter.com/Spurs2380/status/1099992198035185664
Another EFL triumph. At least they’ve stopped people standing on public roads watching training sessions though.
— Courtenay (@CourtenayLeeds) February 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/JonesBjmfan18/status/1100006363101573122
This is the end
— Luke (@lalpj100) February 25, 2019
Suspect he’s in make up ready for another live interview on the local news! I do feel for #notts fans but this was always going to end this way.
— Dave (@davetNG8) February 25, 2019
