Northampton Town: £10m loan to club 'will not be written off'

Developing land around Sixfields stadium was due to pay off a large part of the debt

A council loan of more than £10m to a League Two football club will not be written off, the authority has said.

The loan was made to Northampton Town on the basis that developing land around the stadium would pay off a large part of the debt, it said.

Northampton Borough Council said it had not been given a "full account" of where the money had been spent.

Club chairman David Cardoza said he expected the issue to be resolved by the end of October.

The £10.25m loan was originally given to the club for the re-development of its Sixfields stadium.

A council spokesman said: "It is for the football club to account for how that money has been spent.

'Temporary issue'

"The council has made proper inquiries as to the use of these funds, but cannot say that it has been given a full and complete account."

He added time was "now short" to ensure the club was not liquidated on 16 November, following a winding up order issued by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Work to revamp the East Stand was abandoned

An earlier statement from the club said the debt was "a temporary issue".

Earlier this week, the developers building a new stand at Sixfields said they had stopped work because they were owed nearly £3m and it emerged a prospective takeover of the club had also fallen through.

On 25 September, the council gave the club three weeks to repay the loan, but on the deadline day, HMRC officials issued the winding up order.

Northampton Town chairman David Cardoza said he was in talks with HMRC.

Writing on the club's website, he said: "Meetings have and are continuing .. and we are very close to reaching an agreement on the sale of the club to one of a number of interested parties and we believe we will have some definite news very soon."