Ebbsfleet Have a New Owner and Paid HMRC. Why Are They Still Suspended?

The takeover has happened

When we first examined Ebbsfleet United's finances earlier this month, the proposed takeover led by John O'Leary had still not legally completed.

It now has.

On 19 August, Ebbsfleet announced that full control of the club had transferred to O'Leary and that funds had subsequently been transferred to the club to settle HMRC and football creditors.

The corporate record has caught up with the announcement. Companies House filings made on 24 August record O'Leary becoming a director and a person with significant control from 18 August. The same filings record KEH Sports Limited ceasing to be a person with significant control, while Abdullah Alhumaidi and Abdulrahman Alhamidi ceased to be directors.

This is therefore no longer a proposed rescue dependent upon a transaction completing. The ownership has actually changed.

And HMRC has been paid

There has also been significant progress on the tax position.

On 26 August, Ebbsfleet said payment had been made to HMRC for the full value required under the winding-up petition and that proof of the transaction had been supplied to the National League.

That matters. Unpaid PAYE liabilities had been one of the clearest immediate signs of Ebbsfleet's financial problems and were central to the League's intervention.

But timing has repeatedly worked against the club. Ebbsfleet says funds initiated following completion of the takeover arrived late on Wednesday afternoon — after the previous day's deadline and after the League's Compliance and Licensing Committee had met at 10am. The League therefore made its 26 August decision on the information available at the time, when the PAYE arrears remained recorded as unpaid. Later that day, Ebbsfleet announced that the required HMRC payment had been made.

There is another technical complication. On Friday, the club acknowledged that the winding-up petition had subsequently appeared in The Gazette. Ebbsfleet said the HMRC bill had been paid in full the evening before that notice was published, and that it was now working through the process required to have the petition formally withdrawn.

So paying the bill and formally disposing of the petition are not quite the same event.

So why are Ebbsfleet still suspended?

Because HMRC was never the entire test.

The National League's statement on 26 August made that unusually clear. Its Compliance and Licensing Committee considered not only the PAYE arrears and winding-up proceedings, but the recent ownership change and Ebbsfleet's wider financial position. Crucially, it is considering whether the club under its new ownership has the financial capacity to meet its obligations throughout the 2026/27 season.

That is a substantially broader question than whether one creditor has been paid. It is effectively asking whether the new Ebbsfleet is sufficiently funded to complete the season.

And that takes us back to what the club's accounts showed when The Pyramid first examined them. The latest accounts then available, covering the year to 29 May 2024, showed net liabilities of £6.098 million, current liabilities of £15.491 million and a loss of approximately £2.84 million. Of those current liabilities, £15.339 million sat within "other creditors," while £6.995 million was owed to related group companies. The accounts were prepared on a going-concern basis because of continued financial support from the club's then ultimate parent.

That ownership structure has now changed. The obvious regulatory question therefore becomes: what replaces that support?

Paying HMRC removes an immediate creditor problem. It does not, by itself, answer that question.

The suspension began on 5 August

This distinction is also important when looking at how the situation developed.

The National League's Compliance and Licensing Committee first decided to suspend Ebbsfleet after meeting on 5 August. At that stage, the League's concerns already went beyond the HMRC petition — it identified concerns over the club's financial position and specifically its ability to meet financial obligations throughout the 2026/27 season. Ebbsfleet were initially prevented from fulfilling their opening three National League South fixtures.

The club was then given time to demonstrate compliance. When the committee met again on 19 August, the takeover had only just completed and the funds transferred by the new ownership had not cleared in time for the meeting. The League extended the suspension for another seven days, and AFC Totton became the fourth postponed fixture.

A week later, the suspension was extended again. The HMRC payment has now been made. But the broader financial test remains.

Owner approval and club solvency are different tests

There is another important distinction in the Ebbsfleet story.

The club said earlier this month that vetting and financial checks connected with the proposed new ownership had taken place over the preceding 12 months, and that approval had been received from the League in writing on 1 May. Yet the League is now asking for further information about the financial capacity of the club under that ownership.

Those two positions are not necessarily contradictory. Approving somebody to become an owner is different from being satisfied that the company they have acquired is sufficiently funded to meet its obligations.

That distinction matters far beyond Ebbsfleet. Football ownership tests tend to attract attention around who is permitted to buy a club. Ebbsfleet demonstrates the other half of the equation: what happens immediately afterwards. A buyer can complete a takeover, inject money and settle an urgent creditor while the regulator still asks whether the resulting business has enough funding to complete the season.

Six fixtures postponed

The practical consequences are becoming increasingly unusual.

Ebbsfleet's opening three fixtures against Slough Town, Folkestone Invicta and Chelmsford City were postponed following the original suspension. The home fixture against AFC Totton then became the fourth.

On 26 August, the National League confirmed that the continuing suspension meant Ebbsfleet would also be unable to fulfil their away fixture against Farnborough on Saturday 29 August, or their home fixture against Horsham on Monday 31 August. That takes the total to six scheduled league fixtures postponed before Ebbsfleet have played a minute of their National League South season.

For the players, staff, supporters and opponents involved, this is no longer simply an accounting or ownership problem. It is disrupting the competition itself. And that increases the pressure on both Ebbsfleet and the League to reach a definitive position.

Tuesday matters

Ebbsfleet said on Friday that it continues to work through the League's requirements and intends to submit its response on Monday. The club also believes formally discharging the winding-up petition will release some of the financial restrictions under which it has been operating, and help it fulfil the League's requirements.

The next deadline is now clear. The National League has required any further information from Ebbsfleet by 5pm on Tuesday, 1 September. Ebbsfleet says the Compliance and Licensing Committee will then review the club's position at 7pm that evening.

There are therefore two separate developments to watch. First, whether the winding-up petition is formally withdrawn following payment of the HMRC liability. Second — and more importantly — whether the information provided by the new ownership satisfies the National League that Ebbsfleet can meet its financial obligations throughout the season.

The first would resolve an immediate legacy problem. The second determines whether Ebbsfleet can start playing football again.

Expulsion is now explicitly mentioned

The stakes have also risen.

The National League's latest statement goes considerably further than simply extending the suspension. It says the club has now had time and opportunity to demonstrate compliance, and warns that matters cannot continue in the same way. Most significantly, the League explicitly identifies potential expulsion from the National League among the actions available under its rules and regulations.

That does not mean Ebbsfleet will be expelled. It does mean the possibility is no longer something that needs to be inferred from the severity of the situation. The League itself has put it into the public record.

Ebbsfleet's submission ahead of Tuesday's review therefore matters considerably more than another routine extension of a temporary suspension.

A different Ebbsfleet — but not yet a clean slate

There is a temptation to look at the continuing suspension and conclude that nothing has changed. That would be unfair. Quite a lot has.

The previous controlling interest has gone. A new owner is registered at Companies House. Fresh money has entered the club. Ebbsfleet say the HMRC amount behind the winding-up petition has been paid in full. Those are meaningful developments, and they have happened quickly.

O'Leary has also inherited a financial structure that was already deeply dependent on shareholder support. Replacing that structure and satisfying a regulator about an entire season's funding is a different task from paying one overdue bill. That is why Ebbsfleet remain suspended.

When The Pyramid first examined the situation earlier this month, the immediate questions were whether the takeover would actually complete and whether HMRC would get paid. Both have now happened, according to the club and subsequent Companies House filings.

The question for September is harder. Can the new ownership prove that Ebbsfleet United is funded not merely to survive its immediate crisis, but to complete the season?

Tuesday should tell us considerably more.