Barclays Blamed for Forcing Southampton Leisure Holdings into Administration
www.barclays.co.uk
Rupert Lowe, the former Southampton Football Club Chairman, has blamed the force of Southampton Leisure Holdings into administration on Barclays. He said that by foreclosing the overdraft facility of £4 million, Barclays forced the company into administration earlier last week.
Lowe says that irresponsible lending led to the troubles at the Southampton Football Club and has accused the bank of calling in the loan due to problems they were suffering from the financial crisis. He claims that Barclays acted like more of a salesman instead of a lender over a long period. Lowe says that he set out to cut costs in order to bring back the debt to the facility, but then discovered that Barclays decided to cut the facility from £5 million to £4 million in November.
The crunch seemed to be the transfer window in January. Hopes of the sale of players didn’t materialize and the precarious position of the club, which was next to the bottom in the Championship, contributed to the loss of confidence from Barclays. The bank said that the reasonable targets for raising club attendance, an increase in income, the sale of players, and the need for more investment that the company hoped for wasn’t met, and they would be working with other parties in order to achieve these goals.
Lowe is not going to be one of these. He said that the directors didn’t have enough money in order to refinance the Southampton Football Club personally. He added that he never pretended to be an über-rich member.
www.barclays.co.uk
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