Vitesse seems to be a step closer to salvation: Parry is definitely not allowed to become owner | Football

This means that Parry will not be the man who will rescue Vitesse from the financial malaise. Crisis managers Edwin Reijntjes and Paul van der Kraan had not counted on this for some time. For them, the appeal committee’s decision is actually good news in their utmost attempt to save Vitesse.

Van der Kraan and Reijntjes were on a collision course with the American. Due to a claim by Parry on the shares of owner Valeri Oyf, the club could not get out of Russian hands, according to Reijntjes. Parry’s claim would only disappear if the intended takeover by his Common Group was also rejected on appeal to the KNVB.

The KNVB’s independent licensing committee already rejected the takeover in February. According to that committee, after lengthy investigation it had not emerged that Parry’s Common Group had any equity or investors. No insight was also provided into the origin of all the money. Since his presentation at Vitesse in the summer of 2022, Parry has loaned 10.5 million euros to the club.

The way is now open for Vitesse to transfer the shares from Oyf for the symbolic amount of 1 euro to the recently established Vitesse voor Altijd foundation. Oyf will fully cancel its debt of 155 million euros in the letterbox company that arranged the payments at Vitesse.

Cutting Russian ties is an important requirement of the licensing committee for Vitesse to obtain a professional license next season. Without this license, the relegated club is not allowed to play in the Kitchen Champion Division.

Vitesse must have resolved all problems by next Friday. Otherwise the license will be taken away. Due to the Russian presence, house bank ING has terminated the banking relationship and accountant BDO has refused to approve the annual accounts. A club will not receive a license without a bank account and accountant.

Vitesse has not gotten rid of Parry yet. Due to the collapsed takeover, Parry’s investment was converted into a debt. Due to fines and interest of more than 10 percent, Vitesse now owes the American 14.3 million euros.

This makes Parry the largest creditor at the ailing club, which has a total debt of 19 million euros. The club is currently trying to significantly reduce its debts with a special procedure through the courts (WHOA). In that case, a potential investor has to invest much less money to make the club debt-free.

It is still uncertain whether Vitesse will be allowed to continue with that procedure. The court granted the procedure last Thursday “with the benefit of the doubt” to Vitesse and imposed additional conditions on the club.

The judge did this because it is far from certain whether Vitesse has a right to exist on financial grounds. A specially appointed restructuring expert, Amsterdam lawyer Hanneke de Coninck, will let the judge know this week after an inventory whether this is the case.

For example, the intended takeover by Parry turned out to be a flop. The American was presented in a grand manner at the Papendal sports complex in September 2022 by the then directors Pascal van Wijk, Peter Rovers and Henk Parren.

Parry was seen as the ideal successor to Oyf, because he also managed the English club Leyton Orient and Patro Eisden from Belgium. But questions soon arose about the origins of Parry and his Common Group’s money.

The American refused to reveal which lenders are behind his investment company, because he said he had a duty of confidentiality. That was a sore point for the KNVB’s independent licensing committee, which strictly assesses a new owner to prevent money laundering, among other things.

After a year and a half of investigation, the licensing committee pulled the plug on Parry’s takeover plans in February. The then director of Rovers reacted with frustration and filed an appeal, partly because this was laid down in the contracts with Parry. The choice of Parry now appears to have brought Vitesse to the brink of collapse.

After the departure of Rovers and the arrival of crisis managers Reijntjes and Van der Kraan, a different wind blew in Arnhem. Vitesse and Parry found themselves diametrically opposed. Reijntjes had to stand up for Parry during the hearing in Zeist on Monday, because this was contractually agreed. He found that “absolutely strange”.