Exeter's financial situation was much worse than expected

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> Dick Pym's grandson, Richard Pym, is the new chairman of Exeter City

(Topsham Museum)

conducted in the summer, followed by an independent investigation, it was discovered that there had been a breach of compliance around submitting £2 million in HMRC. Upon identifying this breach, the club immediately reported it to HMRC and provided full disclosure including evidence provided by an outside accountancy firm. They basically produced a report on what happened and that then was our defence and sent off to HMRC.

“We also made payment and implemented correct measures to prevent any reoccurrence and the club is now not in arrears with HMRC payments, nor any other tax. Neither were the FA or were the police involved.

“The club acted properly and provided a transparent response and HMRC imposed no penalty, only requiring a VAT payment interest-wise on what we had owed for that period of time.

“Communication with our supporters is always a balance between transparency and disclosing information which could cause commercial disadvantage or, in this case, it was considered that by declaring publicly, this could have led to a substantial penalty”

Itis believed that the club are seeking forward financing to address a serious cash issue at the club now with Harrison highlighting the financial costs of being in League One. Being a supporter-owned football club is certainly romantic and is certainly novel in English football, but for all the emotion and romance it generates, it does lack one vital ingredient to be successful - and that is money.

“What's happened has probably brought forward the inevitable. What it has done is reduce the amount of time that we can react to these things and that is the real damage.