Mechelen in meltdown
Monday, December 9, 2002
Article summary
Belgian strugglers KV Mechelen have been forced to sack their entire playing and backroom staffs.
Article body
Contracts terminated
Mechelen had hoped the decision to declare themselves insolvent would attract investors. But with no new revenue streams forthcoming, the liquidator decided to terminate the contracts of all club employees.
FA intervention
Mechelen, who lost 2-0 at KAA Gent to stay second bottom of the Eerste Klasse yesterday, have now asked the Belgian Football Association to postpone Saturday's home match against R. Antwerp FC as they seek to raise the necessary funds to fulfil the fixture.
'Not feasible'
Assistant coach Alex Czerniatynski said: "We will not be paid in the next few days, we will have to give back our club cars, and there is no insurance money left. So even if the players wanted to play next weekend, it would not be feasible."
Dangerous precedent
However, Czerniatynski added that "nobody at the club thinks this is the end". Last season, another insolvent club, Eendracht Aalst, managed to complete their league programme. However, they were subsequently denied a professional licence and relegated to the third division. Mechelen, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners in 1988, will now struggle to gain a professional licence for next season.
