Town MD Ian Milne says the club’s appearance on a Ministry of Justice list of companies being issued with winding-up orders today was a "mistake" relating to an automated process at a service provider and will be dismissed at this morning’s hearing.

“What happened was that a service provider issued a court petition for non-payment between Christmas and New Year whereby their automated processes accelerated this action, despite an agreement for payment to be made in early January,” Milne told Radio Suffolk.

“The creditor subsequently withdrew the petition on receipt of payment and this will be dismissed at the hearing today.

“If they issue a court order then the only way it can be dismissed is back in the court, and that’s what’s being heard today. It’s a storm in a teacup because it was paid at Christmas.”

He added: “I totally understand [fans’ concerns, but] it’s the way the court system deals with these things. It’s listed and it’s listed because it’s the only way to dismiss the application.

“It was a round the Christmas period and they’ve got this automated process between Christmas and New Year when they shouldn’t have done because everything was tied up before then but they still went ahead with it. We got a letter in early January saying we’d paid in full and the application will be dismissed.

“It’s regrettable. Certainly, we don’t like this sort of thing happening and we do try to pay people on time.

"It was a mistake by the service provider because there was an agreement to pay which we duly met."

He says the matter is not an indication of any underlying financial trouble at Portman Road.

“Marcus Evans still continues to put a lot of money into the club,” he continued. “We’re doing well with our attendances, our corporate hospitality, so it’s business as usual. This is just a glitch that hopefully has been explained as a non-event.”

A club spokesperson told TWTD in a statement: “A service provider issued a court petition for non-payment between Christmas and New Year whereby their automated process accelerated this action despite an agreement for payment to be made early January.

“The creditor subsequently withdrew the petition on receipt of payment and this will be dismissed at the hearing today.”

Photo: Action Images

MaySixth added 11:22 - Feb 22 Doesn't get past the fact though that we are annoying local suppliers with payments later than originally expected. Should of never have got to this stage.
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itsonlyme added 11:23 - Feb 22 Much ado about nothing!
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Chiffchaff added 11:24 - Feb 22 No smoke with out a fire! Pushing payments to the last minute hints of cash flow issues!
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ArnieM added 11:25 - Feb 22 Load of rubbish then. Not sure why people get out of the prams about an onus error or at worst small claim against another organisation. Still, the knee jetlag panic on here gave that lot up the A140 a good old laugh and no doubt ITFC will get decent local news coverage at 6pm today for a change.
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JustSpivvyChops added 11:25 - Feb 22 I remain extremely sceptical of this explanation, but the point remains that the creditor must have issued ITFC with a statutory demand for payment prior to the issue of the WUP (or the WUP wouldn't have reached the court in the first place) Mr Milne, so why was the creditor not paid? Do we really wait for our suppliers to take us to court before issuing payment? Does that sound like a good long term relationship? Also, who paid the costs of the issue of the WUP, which are anywhere between £300 and £2000??

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ArnieM added 11:26 - Feb 22 sodding predicted text !
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itsonlyme added 11:28 - Feb 22 MaySixth - who says it is a local supplier? Besides, in business different terms are agreed with different suppliers and town agreed to pay it after the Christmas period - which they did! There us no issue here only people who want to make mischief!
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hoppy added 11:29 - Feb 22 Had they given the envelope with the cheque in to one of the bar staff at Portman Road to deliver? If so, I can understand why it was so late being paid...
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Kesgraveblue57 added 11:38 - Feb 22 It's a question of being economic call with the truth Mr Chairman, why are you did the third-party start court proceedings how long were they kept waiting for that payment this moment in time is a great embarrassment for the club we all love
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Taricco_Fan added 11:41 - Feb 22 Pay-up on time in future.
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JewellintheTown added 11:57 - Feb 22 I see from the link that we're number 47 on the list of 120. At least we're just about in the top half I guess. No doubt Mick & Ian will be happy with that position, so no need to get new Solicitors, accountants or Staff in as we can't get any better than what we've already got for the money.
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GeoffSentence added 12:14 - Feb 22 Would it have got this far if we still had a fat MD?
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Manchesterblue added 12:16 - Feb 22 So we hold payments back from suppliers big deal, every business does it, what I do worry about though is are we holding back payments to Agents, this would explain why we can only get freebies in the door, if we are holding back payments to Agents then no-one will want to deal with us.
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OnlyOneSuperJim added 12:20 - Feb 22 Well the club will definitely have to make an appearance in Court soon due to banning a 15 year old boy with Autism and other difficulties so had legal action taken against them for discrimination
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runningout added 12:53 - Feb 22 to get anywhere near stage of being on this list is a sorry state... more to come I believe
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butleymallard added 13:19 - Feb 22 “We're doing well with our attendances" really? Proof the club is happy with 35 quid a ticket and only 15K through the gates
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essex57 added 13:56 - Feb 22 People on here really do like to make a mountain out of a molehill it's laughable I think they really would like to see the club in crisis to justify there own warped perspective on events at Portman road.
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itsonlyme added 15:12 - Feb 22 Essex57 - Exactly this is a story for those who want to see the worst in itfc and are not happy unless they can run the club down at every turn.
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Seasider added 16:29 - Feb 22 Milne says non payment at end of last year,blames Christmas period,debt must have been o/s before then. Essex57 and itsonlyme.I was in banking all my working life and this is the 2nd time this has happened at Club but previous time did not get to court; this is normally a sign that business is in trouble;so I don't feel it should be dismissed lightly.
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essex57 added 19:18 - Feb 22 Oh well I bow to your better knowledge Seasider I will have to raid the piggy bank when the season tickets go up by more than inflation to bail ME plc out. I might add I was ridiculed by some when they were crying out for ME to spend some of his fortune to buy players I made the statement you don't know how much somebody is worth till you count it perhaps I am right.
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essex57 added 20:02 - Feb 22 Why do you disagree with my last post Blueboy
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 20:33 - Feb 22 If you ask me, it was probably due to an automated process between Christmas and the New Year.
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