Chief executive Rob Heys admits it is getting harder and harder to run Accrington Stanley as long as the ownership issue remains unresolved.
The wrangling between major shareholder Eric Whalley, managing director Dave O’Neill and chairman Ilyas Khan, who wants to turn it into a fan-run club, has been ongoing for 18 months and nothing has really changed.
Peter Shaw is waiting to come on board as a fourth director alongside O’Neill, Khan and Peter Marsden but the problem of who actually owns the club remains up in the air.
Heys admits it is a battle just to keep the club afloat, especially with the uncertainty.
O’Neill, who tried to take over the club 18 months ago, has not been around the club day-to-day during the last month but is there on matchdays, like former chairman Whalley, who did try to sell his majority shareholding to O’Neill but the deal was never completed.
Heys said: "The ownership issue needs to be resolved and it is a real weight around the club. We continue to get some good results on the pitch; however, behind the scenes we are fighting a losing battle.
"It is getting harder and harder to get people to take the club seriously, let alone to support us in terms of sponsorship or even coming to a game.
"Finances are now tight, we are currently three games behind where we should be due to postponements and, even when they are played, rearranged match income is poor in comparison to original.
"Added to this one or two of our major sponsors have had difficulties. Our cashflow is thousands of pounds down at the moment"
Accrington millionaire Khan saved the club from being wound up by paying a £306,000 tax bill in¿November 2009, but is based in London.
He then donated his 12 per cent shares in the club to the fans and wants to turn the money he has since put into the club into shares which he says would give him 66 per cent shares and make him the majority owner. He wants to then find a way to let the supporters run Stanley. However, this has not been agreed behind the scenes and so the battle goes on.
The club still has to pay £30,000 a month to the tax man as well as the running costs, made worse over December and January due to the number of postponements of home games.
Heys continued: "In the past we have looked to Ilyas for support, and maybe if the situation was at its most serious we could ask for assistance. However, with no shares in the club, it is arguably not his place to be putting in the cash.
"There has been no involvement in the running of the club from those who are involved in the ownership wrangle since before Christmas.
"It is the staff behind the scenes who have been left to keep the club going, and they deserve a massive amount of credit for getting on with the job in hand despite all the difficulties. Every day is a battle and the attitude of all involved has been tremendous. Wages have been paid late, we have to fight to keep HMRC satisfied and more and more creditors are understandably pushing for money. We are fortunate that we have a great bunch of people at the club and a remarkable team spirit on and off the pitch.
"Staff and players have been patient with wages and fortunately for the time being there is an understanding of the issues we face on a daily basis."
The club wants to offer new deals to several of their players, whose contracts run out in the summer, but Heys admitted that they are hitting a brick wall due to the financial uncertainty.
"It is also having an impact on what is going to happen in the future," he said. "It is holding up negotiations for new contracts with the likes of Jimmy Ryan, Terry Gornell, Phil Edwards and others.
"There is a great squad, a real chance to do something this year, but whatever happens, we want to keep a side together for next season so we aren’t asking John Coleman and assistant Jimmy Bell to start from scratch again."
Manager Coleman, whose 17th placed side play Southend at home tomorrow, was able to sign Ian Craney on an 18-month new deal in January but Heys said: "That had conditions as I agreed with John that we would cover his wages with sending players out on loan and I expect a number to go soon after the loan window reopened on Monday."
The chief executive admitted the situation was exasperating for everyone connected with the club: "There needs to be a resolution before it is too late, whatever too late may mean.
"It would be soul-destroying to see us lose our Football League status, and it is debatable whether we would ever get it back within a lifetime.
"But the real tragedy is that if a solution can be found and a way forward agreed we have a great platform from which to build.
"We have a great young squad, an ambitious management duo, a good team of people behind the scenes who need to be given the freedom to do what they are capable of, and an inevitable swell of support that would get behind us if we could show we can get things in order.
"This club has had a lot of success in the last 10 years, and there is no reason why that shouldn’t continue.
"We could do something special with Accrington Stanley, but the situation at the top needs sorting now."
