UNSECURED creditors of the old AFC Bournemouth company - which preceded the current Community Club - will have to wait another year before being paid.

They are due to receive an interim dividend under the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) set up following the insolvency of the old company.

The creditors are likely to receive 5p for every £1 they are owed under the CVA which was set up to ensure that league football continued in Bournemouth and to repay some of the old company's debts.

The AFC Bournemouth Community Club has repaid in full some £276,889 to preferential creditors of its predecessor.

But HM Revenue & Customs has since submitted a further VAT claim for £66,918.

The AFC Bournemouth Community Club has so far paid off £600,625 of the £775,000 CVA - 31 quarterly payments of £19,375.

The CVA was set up in June 1997 and expected to last 10 years. The next quarterly payment is due by August 31.

CVA supervisor Duncan Swift of chartered accountants Grant Thornton, Southampton, said: "I am currently holding funds amounting to £150,000 and there is a further £174,000 due from the Community Club, payable in quarterly instalments between now and 2007. "These funds will be available for distribution to the (old) company's unsecured creditors, subject to the costs and expenses of the CVA and the additional preferential claim for VAT of £66,918.

"Claims to date total some £2.8 million. I shall aim to pay an interim dividend of 5p in the pound as soon as I have sufficient funds to do so - although I do not envisage this situation arising for at least a further year from now, assuming that £66,918 is payable in respect of the additional preferential (VAT) claim."

Administering the CVA has required 982 man hours of accountancy at an average £112 per hour, costing fees of £104,298 plus VAT.

Cherries chairman Peter Phillips said: "I have said many times that the CVA is one of the worst rescue packages. The new club is still paying for it.

"It's particularly galling since the recent court case involving (former Community Club director) Andrew Noonan has raised some serious questions about the circumstances surrounding the CVA."

First published: August 26