steve mfc wrote:If the situation is as bad as it appears then the big question is will it be administration or liquidation,
Indeed, and something I can't get my head around. Usually, companies go tits up because of debt, i.e. liabilities exceeding assets. They go into receivership so that the assets can be sold for as higher price as possible and the proceeds distributed among the creditors. That situation doesn't apply to MFC, it's lack of cash flow to plug the ~£50k per month losses. Compared to the open market value of the land and some of the buildings, the proceeds of any property sale should be far higher than what little debt there is. Trouble is, the buildings are only worth something if a) if they could be demolished and built upon (ie more houses) or b) as a going concern football club.
It would be a very interesting case for the receiver to explore the options.
If there is some kind of covenant/restriction over the stadium/land having to be used for sports/recreation, then that more or less preserves the core pitch & stands. It could then be that a receiver sells off the other parts which aren't restricted, i.e. car park, all weather pitches, community/academy buildings etc for housing all around the stadium itself, leaving a much smaller/leaner football club. They could even lease out the function room, boxes and bar to third party operators, thus receiving regular rents without having to actually run those areas. You could end up with a basic/simple football club that does nothing except have a team, and without the distractions of hospitality, academy, community etc which may well be the drain on the resources keeping the club in trouble over the last few years.