Bournemouth served with winding-up order by HMRC

Bournemouth face an important few weeks on and off the pitch

Bournemouth have been served with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs over a £314,000 tax bill.

Chairman Eddie Mitchell, who revealed the petition at a fans' forum on Thursday, told BBC Radio Solent the club have until 31 March to pay it.

Mitchell said they were ready to pay £100,000 immediately, leaving them five weeks to find £214,000.

The Cherries, who are second in League Two, have been under a Football League transfer embargo for more than a year.

Mitchell, who was part of a five-man consortium which took over at Dean Court last summer, stated at the forum that the club's total debts had been reduced from £1.8m to £800,000 during his time in charge.

606: DEBATE

This seems to be a long running issue with Bournemouth but hopefully they can sort their problems out sooner rather than later

shakencity

He insisted that the new board had - rightly in his view - prioritised their historic debts to HMRC, paying them around £600,000 since last summer, and that whilst doing so, the newer amount owed had slowly accrued.

The club - who have made an operating profit of £52,000 in the last six months - hope that settling the HMRC debt could go a long way towards getting the transfer embargo lifted.

The embargo has meant that manager Eddie Howe's injury-hit squad has been stretched to its limits, with Bournemouth needing special dispensation from the League to extend Norwich defender Rhoys Wiggins' loan spell for a second month on Wednesday.