THE Football Association last night revealed they are examining whether Stephen Vaughan can remain owner of Chester City.
The Chronicle has learned that FA officials will consider whether Vaughan is ‘a fit and proper person’ to own a football club after this week’s revelation that the Blues supremo has been disqualified from acting as a company director for 11 years following his involvement in an alleged VAT fraud.
An FA spokesperson said: “All I can say at this stage is that we are aware of the decision and that we will be considering it in line with the requirements of our Fit and Proper Person Test.”
One of the definitions of a director under the FA’s Fit and Proper Person Test is “a person who exercises or is able to exercise direct or indirect control over the affairs of the club”.
Vaughan is Chester’s 100% shareholder but does not serve on the club’s board of directors which includes his son Stephen Vaughan Jnr, currently on loan from the Blues with Northwich Victoria.
The City chief indicated to The Chronicle that his disqualification will not effect the club as he has no part in running it.
Vaughan signed a disqualification undertaking after an investigation by the Insolvency Service’s public interest unit into his conduct while he was a director of rugby league club Widnes Vikings.
The disqualification takes effect on November 25 and means he will be banned from acting as a company director, or in any way controlling a company, until November 24, 2020. If he breaches the undertaking he may be prosecuted.
Ade Daramy, of the Insolvency Service, said: “If you are subject to this undertaking then you are banned from being in the shadows or someone acting as your proxy.
“It’s a complete ban from being a director of a limited company and any of those roles or duties.”
The latest twist in the soap opera that is Chester City comes just days before the club discovers whether they will be kicked out of the Football Conference.
The Blues have been set a deadline of Monday to comply with a compromise agreement containing the club’s conditions of membership to the league, and pay off their football creditors, who include neighbours Wrexham and Vauxhall Motors.
The Chronicle understands Chester aim to do this by using the money owed to them by the Conference and the Football League.
As of last night, Motors were yet to receive the £2,500 they are owed for Paul Taylor while Wrexham are also still waiting for the away ticket sales from September’s Racecourse derby.
