Whitehaven Rugby League club has bowed to the inevitable and is to go into administration with debts of a quarter of a million pounds.

The final tip over the edge came from HM Revenue & Customs with its demand for a £64,000 tax bill which carried with it a winding-up order.

Whitehaven’s shareholders were told last night by the chairman Dick Raaz that filing a notice of intent for administration would stop the winding-up action.

 “By notifying our intent to go into administrationt we would have ten days to find a suitable administrator and I think there are viable bidders out there as well.

“We have identified a potential administrator and are also looking for potential buyers with a credible likelihood of bringing the club out of administration.

“The decision on a credible buyer would be shared by the administrators and the RFL (Rugby Football League).

“If you can’t satisfy the RFL that you have a viable buyer, you don’t let the club go in to administration, you let it go in to liquidation and we don’t want that.”

If a buyer can be found, then the club would be put in administration to negotiate with the debtors, and the creditors, and the buyer. The administrators will do all this work to find the most beneficial action for the creditors.

Chairman Raaz and directors Ralph Calvin and Michael Wood are said to be preparing to form a consortium to bid for the club which would be prepared to put in “tebns of thousands of pounds.”

But supporters are also looking to form a rival consortium to produce a viable and alternative bid for the club which has slipped into Championship One.

By going into administration it also means they will start next season with a penalty of nine points – as Keighley did this year in the Championship and Gateshead did in Championship One.

The current Haven board inherited debts of £305,576 when it took over in early 2009, and cut the debt slightly to under £282,000 while thr year’s operating loss was £21,635, down from £92,799.

Whitehaven sacked coasch Ged Stokes ahead of the final game of the season – which they won – and will also have to off-load a number of highly-paid players, some of whom refused to take a cut in wages.

David Seeds, caretaker coach for the victory over Batley, is likely to be offered the jopb on a permanent basis for next season.

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