DOVER Athletic FC have been given “a vote of confidence” by the man who is overseeing their debt repayments.

Richard Rones, the independent supervisor of the club’s Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA), says in his first annual report that “the company is complying with the terms of the agreement, which appears capable of being successfully implemented.”

Under the terms of the CVA, which the new Dover board agreed to last summer in response to debts of around £400,000, Whites must pay £3,000 a month from September to April for five years, making a total of £120,000.

Mr Rones, who works for Thornton Rones Insolvency Services based in Loughton, Essex, says in his report: “Under the terms of the arrangement the company can fall three months into arrears, and as at June 17, 2003, we have received six monthly payments so they are within the terms of the arrangement".

Steve Cattermole, Athletic’s financial director, commented: “It’s a relief that Mr Rones has confirmed that we are meeting our obligations under the CVA.”

In his report Mr Rones reveals that he has received preferential creditor claims of £87,061, four football creditor claims of £11,803, and unsecured creditor claims of £230,461.

Mr Cattermole added: “The preferential creditor claims are from the Inland Revenue and will have to be paid in full.”

The four “football claims” are from Cambridge United for £7,658; Harrow Borough for £1,067; Sutton United for £587; and former player Colin Vowden for unpaid wages of £2,500.

The unsecured creditor claims include £86,962 from former Whites chairman Jim Gleeson and £19,544 from Whites’ former director Roger Knight.

But with the Crown claiming £87,061 of the £120,000 CVA fund, and the football creditors another £11,803, plus Mr Rones’s fees, there will only be around £25,000 left to be shared out amongst the unsecured creditors.