BASINGSTOKE Town FC has been issued with a winding-up petition – but chairman Rafi Razzak is assuring supporters and everyone involved with the club that there is nothing to worry about.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has applied for the petition against Basingstoke Town Limited, with a hearing due to take place in the High Court next Wednesday.

However, Razzak claims the matter will never come before a judge and is confident that the future of the club is secure.

“I think to say that I can assure the supporters that the club will not be wound up is an understatement,” he said. “The whole thing is one big farce.”

Razzak said that the problem stems from £140,000 the club owed HMRC when he took over as chairman two years ago.

The board came to a deal with the taxman, agreeing to pay the debt off at a rate of £5,000 a month. The club have been doing this ever since and the amount outstanding is now down to £12,000.

Everything would have been paid off by February and Razzak claims that the club even received a letter about a month ago, thanking them for their efforts to erase the debt.

However, the Town chairman and benefactor admits that the club have occasionally been late making payments, and he said it is this that has sparked the winding-up order, with HMRC demanding that the balance is paid immediately.

“They say they are doing this because we have sometimes been a few days late paying the monthly instalment but that is not a good enough reason for the petition,” he said. “It has never been a long time, just a few days.

“The club income fluctuates depending whether we have a match and when the players are paid. The board are doing the best they can to improve the club but we are staffed by volunteers and that will not change.”

Razzak said the club has three options. They could fight the petition in court, which he feels would be successful, continue with the current arrangement – which he said HMRC has agreed to – or pay the balance off.

The board have decided to draw a line under the issue by paying the remainder of the debt off, though Razzak declined to reveal where the money for this would be coming from.

“Out of principle, we should go to court and fight this but sometimes you have to bite your tongue,” he said. “We have decided to pay it off in one go to bring an end to this out of court.”

A HMRC spokesman declined to comment due to confidentiality issues.