National League Southend have been docked ten points after they failed to pay the HMRC around £275,000.
Although Southend were given a 42 day adjournment against being wound up in the High Court today for them to complete a sale of the club to an Australian buyer, the National League bosses decided to punish the club given how long they have had to pay HMRC.
The club is said to have debts of over £2.5M and had been warned by the National League about the tax debt in particular.
Later the club issued a statement:
'We know that people are concerned about the prospect of a points deduction for apparent non compliance with the conditional licence we have been granted to play in the National league’s competition.
'We believe that the correct sanction for non payment of HMRC is an embargo, not a points deduction. We are talking to the National League on this point.
'If agreement cannot be reached we will immediately pursue
an appeal.'