by Alex Hoad

Ashford Town’s immediate future will be decided at the Royal Courts of Justice in London next Thursday.

Chairman Don Crosbie has applied for the club to be placed into administration and papers were served on co-director Tony Betteridge on Wednesday afternoon to inform him of the High Court date at 10.30am on July 29.

Mr Betteridge claims he will fight the application “tooth and nail” and says his current winding up petition is the right way to deal with the club’s financial problems, which has seen the club build up debts of around £1m.

The club has been suspended from all football by the FA due to non-payment of fees to Ebbsfleet last season while Mr Crosbie resigned the club from the Ryman League this week with a view to joining the Kent League Premier Division.

Mr Betteridge says he is not expecting to get back the £600,000 he claims to have invested in the club, whether or not he is successful in having the club wound up, but claimed: “putting the club into administration is like a ‘get out of jail free card.’

“This is an unwelcome development and I will go to court and will argue as fiercely as I can that administration is not the correct way to deal with this situation.”

He claimed an administrator would discover the club had no money to pay creditors - including Mr Betteridge and HMRC’s £150,000 - and “would end up selling the club for one-and-six so which creditors are left to fight over while someone else is able to come in and run the club without any debts.”

Mr Crosbie was unavailable for comment.