Distillery may sell ground

A large number of shareholders turned up for a crisis meeting on Thursday night at New Grosvenor and after hearing the full extent of the cash flow problem they voted to bring in the same company that helped Coleraine out of their cash problems.

Moore and Stephens will begin the process of writing to all the creditors in the coming days and acting chairman Bobby Hanna says taking on CVA status means they will not face a winding up order.

"We had a very good turn out of shareholders despite the bad weather," said Bobby. "A full and frank discussion took place and the full extent of the cash flow problem was given. It's around the 280,000 mark. However, there is hope and we may be putting the ground up for sale which would certainly solve all our problems.

"But that is in the future, right now we need money to pay the players. We need money for the day to day running of the club. We have been hit like other clubs with no gate money because of the bad weather.

"With the transfer window now open players can walk away because we are in breach of their contracts by not paying their wages and at present we have no money to pay them. It looks like we need an 'Abramovich' to come in - but where do you find someone like that?"

If the ground does go up for sale, the people behind the Drumbo Park Dog Racing at New Grosvenor have first option.

Mr Hanna continues as acting chairman following the shock departure of chairman Jim McGrory, Jim Duffy and Thomas Beckett on Christmas Eve. The other members left on the board include Rodney McComb, Jim Greer and Paul Monaghan. Club secretary/general manager Paul Kalla has also resigned.

With some players now owed up to six weeks wages manager Tommy Wright could see several of his players leave before Irish Cup day on January 16 before they become cup-tied.