8th tier club announce liquidation, with phoenix club planned and expected reprieves

8th tier club Hinckley (LR) Leicester Road FC announce liquidation, with a phoenix club planned and expected reprieves to come.

They said in a statement that they are facing severe financial and operational challenges due to rising costs, declining revenues, and loss of key sponsors.

Despite a 10th-place finish in the Northern Premier League Midland Division, recruitment failures and retirements have strained the club’s ability to continue operating its senior first team.

Fundraising efforts failed to improve the cashflow situation, leading to the decision to request voluntary demotion from the league and place Leicester Road Football Club Limited into voluntary liquidation.

This decision does not impact the Senior Development, Youth, Junior, or Mini teams, which will continue to operate at Leicester Road Stadium.

A new entity will be formed to apply to re-join the National League System, aiming to re-establish senior first team football under new leadership. No further comments will be made on this matter.

Step 4 club @HinckleyLRFC is to be liquidated but there are plans for an immediate return to the National League System (Step 6)

Interesting takeouts from the statement, including a request for voluntary relegation that “made other pressing decisions much easier” ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/1pH6tqE9am

— Andy Mitchell (@sirandymitchell) June 7, 2025

Official Club Statement #Pitcherohttps://t.co/qkVuIIYbqY pic.twitter.com/YWVTe8rrtV

— Hinckley LRFC (@HinckleyLRFC) June 6, 2025

CLUB STATEMENT:

Leicester Road Football Club Limited

The current economic climate has created many additional challenges on top of the traditional headaches that come with running a successful semi-professional football club. We have tried to absorb these challenges rather than pass them on to our loyal supporters but day to day operating costs have spiralled out of control and revenues have dropped significantly.

We have a core of very hard-working staff but both retirements and several recruitment failures in key positions has left us in a position where we simply cannot continue to operate at this level of intensity.

The senior first team ended the season as the form team in Northern Premier League Midland Division, finishing in a very credible 10th place due largely to the coaching style of Neil Lyne and the players commitment to his methods whilst our operational staff continued to deliver the professional service that made us the club we are.

Putting emotions to one side, commercially the drop in revenues and the loss of key sponsors combined with the increase in operating costs determined it was no longer viable to continue operating the senior first team on this basis and whilst this became abundantly clear by Christmas, the masses agreed that we would finish the season on a best endeavours basis even though the traits of Judas did impose themselves on several within the group as they attempted to belittle our situation!

In an attempt to try and avoid the inevitable, a series of fundraising events were put on and promoted to improve the cashflow position but the response and support was very disappointing and set the tone for the immediate future and ultimately this decision.

The decision was made to be proactive rather than reactive. So, we started the process of requesting Voluntary Demotion from the Northern Premier League which in turn made other pressing decisions much easier.

Today we have pressed the button and put Leicester Road Football Club Limited into Voluntary Liquidation.

This decision does not affect the Senior Development, Youth, Junior or Mini teams who will continue to operate, play and be based at Leicester Road Stadium without exception.

A new entity will be formed to apply to re-join the National League System as a phoenix to the former and it is hoped that senior first team football will be re-established for this coming season under new leadership.

Whilst we are sure there will be many opinions, questions and suggestions, that time has now gone for all those that sat on the fence and there will be no further comments on this matter.

Twitter users reacted as the 8th tier club announce liquidation, with a phoenix club planned and expected reprieves…

@EvanMcNamee22: Does this mean @RugbyTown_FC stay up? Or will the league just be played with 21 teams

@NonLeagueMaps: I’d imagine @RugbyTown_FC will be reprieved and then possibly a reprieve in the UCL @ Step 5 too

@Luke_Gurney_: As the leagues not been finalised yet I believe there is a very good chance they’ll be given a reprise.

@paulknight1976: Rather than form another phoenix club from the last phoenix one why not just get over the differences and merge with Hinckley AFC. Obviously the town can’t manage 2 different teams

@Roddersplodder: Paul, the differences you talk about will never happen when a certain person is involved. He’s ripped off plenty over the years and even the teams own players this season. Talk to any fans connected with AFC about it and you will get the same answer.

@alexjhurley: Real shame, especially given how good your ground is. Hopefully it doesn’t now become an expensive white elephant. The lesson is probably that Hinckley can only support 1 semi-pro team rather than 2…

@PHewins67: Disgraceful that egos have prevented Hinckley from having a senior side that can compete with other big teams across the Midlands and beyond. You get what you deserve!!

@philhighland63: I dread to think how much time and money I spent, following and supporting this club for 13 years, after reading the statement, it seems to be everybody else’s fault that lead to this shambles, I want to thank players and coaching staff for so many great memories over the years.

@Camiea17: 9 years commitment, 280 appearances, 2 promotions all for fuck all 👍

@StevenSewell22: Hope rugby come back up , only fair in my opinion

@millsy1809: Lads ain’t been paid for months and that’s all the communication they get and deserve!! Statements shocking.. cowards

@LiamReadd:
I joined this club at a time when football felt more like a chore than a passion. I’d lost the love for the game.
Since then
Step 6 promotion ✅
Step 5 promotion ✅
Play-off semi-final heartbreak on pens
🏆 The best coach I’ve ever had
🤝 Mates for life
🔥 Unreal Changing Room

@willhighland17: Over 10 years service at the club, Hinckley LRFC and Hinckley United. 384 appearances and tireless commitment to the club, all to be ended like this.

@danny_mac1987: Bad craic not paying your players since December. Thats some real shithouse behavior there

@1992_andym: Says a lot for the lads to finish that well when getting screwed over. Even happier we’ve got a few of them in ⚫️⚪️ next season. Whoever was running the club should be banned from football, proper shit way to conduct a press release as well.

@SpezialSSLE4: Fucking disgrace of an ownership

@dogeasfuc: You’re screwing your creditors even more than you screwed your players. Utter scum. Always have been from start to finish.

@88rdu: He should be banned from being involved in the running of a Football Club ever again. #cheerio

@samf_coach: Such a shame for local football, no matter of opinions, feel for the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Staff, Volunteers and players, in no particular order. Some very good players at the club, including the U18’s who have developed/developing and a very fast rate