The future of Southend United Football Club hangs in the balance. A petition by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to have the club wound up over unpaid tax liabilities has just been adjourned by the high court until March. The court had previously granted one stay of execution from November to January, but agreed another after being persuaded by lawyers for the fifth-tier club that it may yet clear its debts.
It comes shortly after Scunthorpe United, another club from the same division, received a similar winding-up petition earlier this month. Both clubs are around 120 years old and were in recent times playing football in the Championship, English football’s second tier: Southend in 2007 and Scunthorpe in 2013.
Without a change in fortunes both clubs will go the same way as numerous other clubs that have been liquidated in recent years, such as New Brighton (1983), Aldershot (1992), Bury (2019) and Macclesfield Town (2020).
