Club fights to clear its name over court claim

A youth football team has appealed to have a ‘black mark’ against its name removed from the record books.

Windsor and Eton FC was set up in August, 2015, by coach Alistair Rothschild, 48, of Redford Road, Windsor.

The name was chosen to resurrect the defunct title of the town’s former club, which was dissolved after going into compulsory liquidation and later reformed as Windsor FC.

But, apparently due to confusion over this, Windsor and Eton FC has been saddled with a debt which a creditor claims is owed by Windsor FC.

“It’s a black mark against our club,” said dad-of-three Mr Roths-child.

“This would be a black mark on our credit file if we ever wanted to expand the club, which would mean moving to a bigger pitch.

“At this level no one gets paid and we play by a very fine margin to get by with what we need for the team. We’re in Windsor, we’re running the club in an efficient manner and with no debt at all and it’s not something we want on our club.”

In April last year, irrigation services contractor David Jenkinson filed a county court claim against Windsor and Eton Football Club Ltd for £1,173.89 for work he said he carried out at Windsor FC in 2016.

Mr Jenkinson however said he was unaware of the two different names for the two different clubs.

He said: “My solicitors initially said don’t get involved because it’s not, as it were, your problem.

“Just after Christmas the county court and bailiffs have come back and said we can do no more with this, we can’t extricate the funds and said we should close the file.

“From what I’m getting from Mr Rothschild and the debt collectors we went to, it would imply they went to the council grounds where there are no facilities and everything in the name of Windsor and Eton FC they feel they can extricate money from.”

Mr Jenkinson has since admitted attributing the debt to Mr Rothschild’s club, Windsor and Eton FC, was a ‘genuine mistake’ and he will look into removing the claim from the records, but he says he is still seeking payment from Windsor FC.

Kevin Stott, Windsor FC’s founding director said he was unaware of the county court claim but that he had previously had a ‘good relationship’ with Mr Jenkinson and his company.

He added if there had been confusion over the names of the two clubs it was up to Mr Jenkinson’s legal advisers to resolve the matter.