Following the end of the play-offs, now is a good time to catch our breath, reflect on where we are and where the Club is going. Having done so, we wish to open up the possibility of further investment into the Club to enable it to keep moving forwards.

History

The Football Club was founded in 1889 and we recently celebrated its 125 years anniversary. This is some achievement in itself given the not so distant history of the Club.

The Club achieved a number of promotions through the League System and won the FA Vase in 2006-07. This however came at a considerable cost with the Club losing control of its ground at Treyew Road and the company owning the Club and its assets (Truro City Football Club Limited) being in debt to the tune of approximately £3,900,000.

In 2012, Truro City Football Club Limited attended a number of High Court hearings in London in relation to winding up petitions pursued by HMRC and other creditors. This was a very difficult and dark time for the Club which included the Club’s first team players refusing to play a pre-season friendly due to having not been paid their wages.

Notwithstanding the off pitch problems, the Club commenced the 2012-2013 season in the Football Conference South (as it was then called).

Truro City Football Club Limited (the company controlled by the former owners of the Club) was set to face a further winding up petition on 3rd September 2012 in respect of crown liabilities but its directors made an application at Court for an administration to be made in relation to that company prior to the hearing of the petition. On 4th September 2012, an administration order was granted which led to the Club suffering an automatic 10 point deduction.

In order to guarantee the Club's continued membership of the competition, the Football Conference board issued the Administrator a deadline of 5pm on Thursday 11th October 2012 to provide a bond of £50,000. The Football Conference held an emergency board meeting on Friday 12th October 2012 and agreed to extend the deadline by a further 7 days until 5pm on Thursday 18th October in order to meet their requirements.

On 18th October 2012, the Football Conference agreed to extend the deadline until Friday 19th October 2012 to enable paperwork to be completed with the then preferred bidder with the expectation that the bond would be released to the Football Conference that morning. The then preferred bidder pulled out of the transaction on the Friday morning. The Football Conference deadline of 12 noon passed without a bond being lodged. Discussions were ongoing between the Football Conference and the Administrator but it appeared that the Club was in the process of being expelled from the competition.

On Friday 19th October 2012, without any prior investigation or due diligence on the Club or Truro City Football Club Limited, Philip Perryman and myself lodged a £50,000 bond with the Football Conference which saved the Club from extinction.

On 14th December 2012, Truro City Football Club 2012 Limited (a company set up by Philip and myself) purchased the business and assets of Truro City Football Club Limited. There were a number of particularly complex issues surrounding the purchase of the Club, including significant issues over the ground and what tenancy rights existed and due diligence in relation to the Club and its considerable debts, including significant monies owed to the players.

The FA Membership Committees’ approved the transfer of membership from Truro City Football Club Limited to the new company and the hard work continued in relation to seeking to pass a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). A CVA was required to be passed in order to ensure that the Club could exit its administration in accordance with the Football Conference Rules and such CVA had to ensure that all creditor claims were satisfied in full over a maximum period of 3 years. A failure to have done so would have led to the automatic relegation of the Club by at least one Step in the National League System.

Not surprisingly, given the off pitch problems, the Club was relegated from the Blue Square Bet Conference South at the end of the season due to its league position. The simplest and cheapest route forward for us would have been to drop the CVA but this would have meant that Truro City Football Club Limited’s creditors would not have been paid and the Club would have dropped an additional league.

We therefore proceeded with the CVA. After considerable work, the liability under the CVA to the creditors (ignoring the Administrator’s costs) was reduced to approximately £150,000. I would like to re-thank a number of creditors who supported the Club by assigning their debts under the CVA to Truro City Football Club 2012 Limited. Many of them had genuine claims for liabilities incurred by the former owners of the Club, and they sacrificed these claims in order to help the Club move forward.

The Football Conference approved and confirmed that the CVA, which had been approved by the Club’s creditors on 4th June 2013, was compliant with their Rules and the Club was therefore elected to the Southern League Premier Division in June 2013. This was the best possible outcome that the Club could have achieved.

Season 2013-2014 was one of consolidation in the Southern Football League. Steve Tully was appointed player-manager at least until the end of that season and the Club were promoted back to the Conference South, renamed the National League South, after winning the 2014–15 Southern Football League play-off final 1–0 at home to St Neots Town on 4th May 2015. That season also saw Treyew Road host Cornwall's first ever international football game in the county, England v Wales ESFA U-18.

After a relatively slow start, the Club reached the National League South play-offs after finishing fourth and in doing so achieved its highest ever league position. This will have surpassed the neutral’s expectations.

Equally as positive steps have also been taking place off the pitch over the past few seasons. In particular:

• the ground at Treyew Road was improved to enable the Club to take part in the play-offs;

• the Administrator is in funds in order to discharge all remaining liability under the CVA. Therefore, all of the old debts and liabilities of Truro City Football Club Limited will shortly be settled in full; some achievement.

• a Relocation Agreement remains in place with Jojo Investco Limited and Helical Bar and, those parties and Cornwall Council have also entered into a section 106 Agreement in which, amongst other things, provides that in order for there to be any development at Treyew Road, then the Club must play its football next season at Treyew Road and, it must be supplied with a replacement facility to be as a minimum compliant with National Ground Grading Category A and include a 3G playing pitch, stands, clubhouse to at least the minimum floor space of the Club’s existing clubhouse and car parking. Such facility must be constructed on or before 26 July 2017.

Therefore, in summary, within a relatively short period of time, the Club has gone from being minutes away from extinction with no ground and debts of circa £3,900,000 to being the most successful Club in Cornish football history which almost secured promotion to the National League, no debts and, assuming the development proceeds at Treyew Road, security of tenure at a new Category A compliant facility with a 3G surface.

Given what has been achieved, now appears to be an appropriate time to mark on record my thanks to a number of persons within the Football Club and the Club's professional advisers. In that regard, I would like to give special thanks to my co-owner Philip. It has been, at times, a long and winding road and we would not be here now without the support (financial and otherwise) from each other. Also, a special mention for Ron Ratchford for kick starting the Supporters Club. Outside of the Club, I would like to thank Dale Band and his team from Nalders Solicitors for their continued efforts and advice over a whole range of difficult legal issues that the Club has faced during the 3½ year period to date.

Going forward

Whilst these are very exciting and promising times for the Club, it is also at a cross roads. In order to push forward and to take the Club to the next level, further investment is required. We therefore invite any potential investors to contact the Club’s agent, Paul Collins of Miller Commercial on or by 31st May should they be interested in becoming involved in trying to assist in delivering National League football at Truro City. Opportunities to become involved in such a venture are extremely rare so serious investors should notify Paul of their interest on 01872 247029 and/or pc@miller-commercial.co.uk.

Peter Masters
Chairman