Peterborough United dismiss the chances of the club falling into Administration despite report on a prominent sport journalism website

The subscription-based website published a long piece on Saturday which suggests Posh could be placed into Administration by a Canadian investment fund who claim they are owed £14.6 million by a company that owns half of the club.

Long-serving chairman Darragh MacAnthony sold half of Posh to Kelgary Sports and Entertainment in 2018. That’s a company created by current co-owners Dr Jason Neale and Stewart ‘Randy’ Thompson.

The Canadian pair are also co-founders of OKR (Old Kent Road) Financial whose main business is lending money to technology start ups.

According to the Athletic, Neale and Thompson paid MacAnthony £2.5million for the shares and loaned the club another £3million, but their business relationship ended last year for reasons that are unclear and disputed. It’s understood Mr Thompson now has little involvement in the running of the club.

Neale left OKR and the Athletic reports recovery agents were brought in to chase loans, and in November a demand was sent to the club for repayment.

According to the club’s most recent set of accounts, which were filed at Companies House last month, OKR’s demand was for £7.16million.

However Posh dispute the amount claimed and have recently paid back £1.1 million as confirmed in the club accounts, which incidentally showed a profit of over £1million for the year ending June, 2022.

In response to the article a Posh statement read: “The club strongly disputes the OKR debt position and after receiving legal advice and conducting further investigation takes the position that the debt reported in the financial statements is materially lower. We anticipate our next set of financial statements will demonstrate this. There is no danger of the club falling into administration.

“Whilst the club is in a position to repay any secured debt it is actively working with OKR to settle all issues which would include PUFC debt and secured debt with which would lead to the stadium company coming out of receivership. We are aware of a dispute between the owners of Kelgary Sports and Entertainment and OKR.

“To date, this has had no impact on the ownership of the club. Notwithstanding, the club is negotiating with all parties to resolve all matters as part of a global settlement agreement. Further, it should be noted that under the shareholders’ agreement, no share transfer can occur without existing shareholders being given the option to purchase.

“As with many clubs, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to take expensive debt, and whilst it’s been a challenging time, we are confident that cooler heads will prevail, current very advanced negotiations will lead to a settlement in the coming weeks, and the club will emerge stronger and have a very successful 2023-2024 season.”

The Athletic reports the Posh accounts note OKR’s loan is secured by a charge ‘on the company’s assets and the right to appoint an administrator in the event of a default’.

The PT recently reached out to Mr MacAnthony and Dr Neale when reports of a court case in Canada first emerged.

Dr Neale said then: “All parties are working towards a settlement agreement and at this point and due to the sensitive nature of those conversations it’s difficult to comment other than to say discussions are advanced with various agreements being drafted and exchanged for comments.”

Mr MacAnthony and Dr Neale declined to comment further after the Athletic article was published.

Mr Thompson also said the current dispute will not negatively impact the club and all are working on a solution to satisfy all parties.

Thompson told The Athletic: “The football club and its related entities continue to work with our recovery team to structure a repayment plan.

“While this negotiation was expected to close in June with a first significant payment in July, final agreements are still being drafted at time of writing.

“The fund has put the stadium under a receivership order and we still have the ability to do the same with the club, if we should choose to take this route.”

“The whole process has been gutting and disappointing for investors and fans alike.

“The fund knows how much it is owed and is asking the amount gets paid in full. The process of acknowledging that amount and executing on a plan forced the fund to go to the next step on the stadium.

“However, I think we all want this to be completed amicably and in a way that the investors are whole and PUFC supporters are left with a financially stable club.”