Hythe Town FC: Explosive report claims VAT evasion and other serious irregularities

Exclusive

Claims of VAT evasion, financial mismanagement, the legal status of the club to qualify for the Isthmian league put in doubt, a secret deal to sell the club for housing, and the overall poor management of the club’s assets, are laid bare in an explosive report  circulated to directors of Hythe Town Football Club in mid May 2023.

Hythe Town Football Club, formed in August 1910, play at the Reachfields stadium in Fort Road, Hythe (Kent). We wrote about the Club back in February and the potential sale of the site for a housing development. 

Overall the conclusions of the report are, the club resources and assets have been historically mismanaged, going back to  the creation of Hythe Town FC, from the remnants of Hythe United FC and these issues have put the club at serious risk.

The report claims an individual who is not a director of the club was added to a secret governing board, which was charged to protect the assets of the historical club. This individual then proceeded to negotiate with GSE over the potential sale of those assets via a shared ground deal with Folkestone Invicta and GSE, with the land at Reachfields effectively becoming a community housing build in exchange.

Furthermore an alleged loan by a former director and former person of significant control of the club has been added to the club’s companies house annual accounts filings The report goes onto say the £40,000 loan was NOT a loan. There appears to be no evidence or documents supporting it was a loan. There are no minutes or voting records either, the authors of the report claim.

The report goes onto make it very clear that serious irregularities in the accounting processes at the club, cash handling process are non-existent, remuneration to relatives are not being properly accounted for, and potentially reach £2,000 – £4,000 per annum. Nobody has been able to discover or locate a proper process for recording of the payments. 

The authors of the report claim the club has been using two bank accounts to avoid/evade VAT. But the use of and cross filing between the accounts indicates to them (the authors) that as no franchise was ever set up by HMRC, it is more like it would more likely be VAT evasion than VAT avoidance.

The report also claims that Hythe Town FC to play in the Isthmian league could be challenged. The reason being is that the title deed for the third of the stadium that should in theory belong to Hythe Town FC was never properly transferred to the new entity when Hythe Town FC was created and was kept under the name Hythe United FC, this the authors of the report claims should of serious concern to all directors. 

In theory then Hythe Town FC should have a lease to complete all its seasons but no such lease exists, and as such HTFC status in the isthmian league could be seriously challenged.

We could say more, but for the sake of transparency, and the public interest, we place the report into the public domain, allowing fans of the club, sponsors, and the people of Hythe to draw their own conclusions. 

Hythe Town Football Club Report 15 May 2023

The Shepway Vox Team

Dissent is NOT  a Crime