Sale rugby boss Brian Kennedy saved Stockport County from extinction yesterday.
The Edgeley Park entrepreneur and chairman of Cheshire Sport, the company that owns Sale Sharks, agreed to write off all but £38,000 of the £3.8m that he is owed by the struggling soccer club that shares the ground with the rugby giants.
The lifeline took
County out of administration and into the waiting arms of a consortium put together by former
Manchester City and
Leicester ace Jim Melrose.
Macclesfield-based Melrose had agreed a deal with administrators Leonard Curtis to buy the cash-strapped club providing 75 per cent of the club's creditors voted in favour of a Company Voluntary Agreement at yesterday's meeting.
With the percentage based on the value of debt and not the total number of creditors, Kennedy effectively had the deciding vote. And, with him and others voting yes to the agreement in an 82 per cent thumbs up - the club will now move out of administration.
The creditors will receive just 1p for every £1 they are owed, with football creditors and a couple of preferred firms like a finance company with a secured loan against the club being exceptions.
There is a 28-day appeal process in the agreement but assuming that no one appeals the decision, the Football League will then rubber-stamp the deal.
With a CVA in place, Stockport will come out of administration with a clean bill of health as far as the Football League is concerned and therefore no points will be deducted for the forthcoming League One campaign.
If the creditors had voted against the deal, Stockport would have started on at least minus 15 points.
The creditors had previously stated that as they did not expect anyone to buy the club with such a handicap - they would have no option but to liquidate the club and end Stockport's 125-year existence.
Former County chairman Martin Reid said: "The yes vote was great news for the club, for the fans and for the town as a whole. We have to be grateful to Brian Kennedy. What he has done is vital for the future of the club.
"I just hope that the club hasn't been too badly damaged and that under the Jim Melrose consortium the club can now move onwards and upwards."
Powered by: GiveMeFootball.com, the
latest football news
