AN INVESTIGATION is being carried out into the events surrounding the Trust Fund's takeover of AFC Bournemouth in 1997, it has been confirmed.

Cherries chairman Peter Phillips said the club was currently gathering evidence before deciding what to do next.

The decision to examine the takeover and the company voluntary agreement follows the recent High Court winding-up order brought by former company secretary and original Trust Fund board member Andrew Noonan.

Mr Phillips, who was not involved with the club until 2002, believes Mr Noonan's court action has revealed some major discrepancies.

He is particularly concerned that Mr Noonan went to the High Court claiming for work done on the new stadium, yet an invoice appeared to suggest he had been paid in advance for the same work through the 1997 CVA, which the club is currently paying.

Although the club did raise this issue at the High Court, Mr Phillips feels there is now new evidence to say this invoice was not audited by either the receiver or the CVA supervisor at the time as judge Mr Justice Patten assumed it had been.

The amount claimed by Mr Noonan is significant because it determined the level of influence he had in voting through the CVA back in 1997. All the club's creditors had to approve the CVA by a 75 per cent majority and the more creditors were owed, the more votes they had.

Mr Phillips said: "The club is continuing to investigate the events of 1997 because the various stories just do not stack up.

"We are not ruling out a counter-claim against Mr Noonan."

Former club chairman Trevor Watkins, another of the original Trust Fund board members, said he was "saddened" by the breakdown in the relationship between Mr Noonan and others at the club.

"It came as news to us that there may be some question about his work done pre-1997," he said. "It's very surprising but it would not have made any difference to what happened in 1997.

"All I know is that Andrew Kaye, Ken Dando, myself and a whole list of other names - all we've ever done is act honestly and for the good of the football club."

Mr Noonan has now been paid the £81,198 by AFC Bournemouth but has not dropped his winding-up order and legal representatives for the club are today back in the High Court trying to get the order quashed. Mr Noonan's solicitor told the Echo he did not wish to comment.

How CVA works

AFC Bournemouth's company voluntary agreement (CVA) was drawn up in 1997 and agreed by more than 75 per cent of the club's creditors. It sets out the percentage of debt that creditors can expect to receive (ie 10 pence in the pound over 10 years) and AFC Bournemouth currently makes a lump sum payment to the CVA every quarter.

First published: August 10, 2005