DERRY City Football Club went into liquidation in 2010 with debts of £1.4m, it was revealed yesterday.
During one of the most turbulent periods in the club’s history, the company which ran the club, Wellvan Enterprises Limited, went into liquidation in November 2010.
As a result of the financial difficulties, a new company had to be set up to take over the club.
When details of the difficulties emerged, Derry City was thrown out of the League of Ireland before eventually being allowed to play in the First Division on conditions that the then directors left the club.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) yesterday said it had accepted disqualification undertakings from four of the former directors.
The undertakings came from Patrick McDaid, 36, of St. John's Park, for nine years and from Peter Leonard, 48, of Oakbridge Park, Joseph William Doherty, 54, of Grangemore Park, and Francis Houston, 49, of Kildrum Gardens, for six years in respect of their conduct as directors of Wellvan Enterprises Limited.
A DETI spokesperson said the company traded as Derry City Football Club and went into administration on November 20, 2009, with estimated total assets available for preferential creditors of £380,000, liabilities to preferential creditors of £45,866, liabilities to unsecured creditors of £1,648,156, and an estimated deficiency as regards creditors of £1,314,022.
The spokesperson said that after taking into account the losses incurred by members of the company, the total estimated deficiency was £1,434,522.
The company subsequently went into liquidation on November 10, 2010.
The DETI spokesperson said that proceedings are continuing against another two other former Derry City directors.
The spokesperson said the department accepted the disqualifications based on ‘unfit conduct’ by the former directors which included:
• causing and permitting improper use of dual contracts in respect of participation in the League of Ireland by causing and permitting both the continued use of pre-existent sham contracts and the submission of other new sham contracts to the FAI in an attempt to circumvent the requirements of a protocol designed, inter alia, to prevent financial mismanagement of football clubs;
• causing and permitting the Company to fail to secure an apartment for a prize in the development draw, by failing to ring fence funds for that purpose and failing to account for same to the Joint Administrators and Joint Liquidators; and
• causing and permitting the Company to misuse a bank account at the Bank of Ireland in that a total of 20 cheques with a value of £82,558 were returned unpaid in the period 29 October 2008 to 21 November 2009.
 

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