Football club to be put in administration if buyer not found

Port Vale owner Norman Smurthwaite has said that the football club will be go into administration of a buyer is not found by May 5.

Smurthwaite will only fund the League Two club up to that point, as a result of supporter protests about his running of the League Two club.

He claims that as much as £600,000 will be needed to keep the club going until the start of next season.

“I wasn’t the person or group of people who said ‘you’ve got to go’,” he told BBC Radio Stoke.

“They didn’t and don’t understand the implications of what they’ve done, and they’ll learn that as time goes by.

“The football club has to trade through to 5 May and it will. I’ll pay all of the bills up to that point. After 5 May, I will not put one cent more into the club.”

Carol and Kevin Shanahan, who own Stoke-on-Trent-based IT company Synectics Solutions and who won an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2017, have made three attempts in recent weeks to buy the club and its Vale Park ground.

The latest bid is reported to have been for more than £4m.

Smurthwaite added: “I’ve empowered (chief executive) Colin Garlick to deal with anybody who’s in a position to buy the football club and be in situ by 5 May and pass all of the requirement tests.

“If they meet that deadline, great. If they don’t, the club will go into administration and it will get a 12-point deduction.”

Port Vale are currently fourth-from-bottom in League Two, which is the last of English football’s four professional leagues. They are seven points clear of the relegation zone with seven matches to play, but could finish the season in their lowest league position since they returned to the Football League 100 years ago.