Plymouth players to work for free

04 March 2011 21:30

Plymouth players and staff will have to work for free while the crisis club's administrator looks for a buyer.

The npower League One outfit, who lie bottom of the table and have already been docked 10 points, went into administration on Friday. Administrator Brendan Guilfoyle of the P&A Partnership, who revealed three parties had expressed an interest in acquiring the club, wants a buyer to be found by March 17 at the latest.

"I have practical difficulties at the moment. I'm not currently funded so I'm prevailing upon the goodwill of staff and players to continue to work without pay," Guilfoyle told the club's website. "I am hoping to rectify that situation shortly in conjunction with a potential buyer."

Guilfoyle, who will be assisted by insolvency lawyer David Hinchcliffe, has taken control of the Plymouth with immediate effect after an application by Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs to present the club with a winding-up petition was turned down at Friday's High Court hearing.

"I am optimistic that we'll find a buyer," Guilfoyle said. "In previous clubs I've worked with, most recently Leeds United, Luton Town and Crystal Palace, we've always succeeded in finding a buyer and I'm encouraged by the fact that we have three parties that are expressing a definite interest in acquiring Plymouth Argyle.

"Unfortunately for the club, none of those parties are interested in buying the club shares, they want to buy the club from an administrator, thereby reducing the amount of money they have to make available to buy the club. So, in relatively short time, I hope to have given exclusivity to the most promising purchaser who in return will give me funding."

Guilfoyle revealed he would talk to Peter Ridsdale, who has been acting as an independent advisor to the Plymouth board, about a possible role.

Asked if Ridsdale would be offered a role, he said: "I don't know, I'm going to give favourable consideration to that.

"Peter is well known in football and I'm going to have a chat with him to see if we can sketch out some role for him. He's had a fairly torrid time in recent times, so I'm just giving him chance to adjust to the current circumstances before I make any commitment to him."

Plymouth boss Peter Reid added: "Hand on heart I want someone to come in and take over the club, take over the debts, pay people, get the club on a sound financial footing and hopefully get their investment back by running it like a business over a number of years. That's the logical way."

Source: PA