Cork City miss wages deadline
Tuesday, 22 December 2009 20:47A report in today's Irish Independent suggests that the future of Cork City FC is out of their hands, after the club reportedly missed Monday's deadline to settle outstanding wages.
The report says the Leesiders are believed to owe a figure in the region of €150,000 to current and former players and have been unable to secure an overdraft to make the payments.
However, the FAI's Licensing Committee have granted clubs a period of grace until 29 January 2010 and are likely to look at the case once Cork City have paid their bills, when their status as a Premier Division club will be up for discussion.
The financial landscape at City is expected to improve when the transfer of defender Kevin Long to Burnley goes through in early January, and Cork had been expected to offer some sort of written agreement to their players, through the PFAI, in a bid to buy more time.
However, that never materialised and the FAI yesterday admitted their 'surprise' that Cork City Chairman Tom Coughlan has applied for a judicial review over the decision.
This follows a recent call from the FAI for Coughlan to consider his position and a subsequent one-year ban from football and €5,000 fine.
Speaking to RTÉ, Coughlan stressed that City's situation remains unchanged and he believes the club will meet all future deadlines and emerge from its current problems.
The FAI's 21 December financial submissions deadline requires that clubs submit the final salary cost protocol declaration, and it also represents the final deadline by which all overdue payables towards employees and revenue/social/tax authorities must be paid or an agreement with the creditor reached.
