Coach faces accusation at Edinburgh football club as £25k vanishes with fraud investigation ongoing

Hutchison Vale have been impactedHutchison Vale have been impacted
Hutchison Vale have been impacted | Hutchison Vale FC
A coach is at the centre of accusations at the Edinburgh club.

Police have said that they are investigating a report of fraud after parents at an Edinburgh football club were left £25k out of pocket.

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The money was supposed to go towards a tournament trip to Spain that was never booked. Families at Hutchison Vale Football Club U16s told Forth 1 their "excitement turned to heartbreak.” The team coach has been accused of of failing to return the funds.

Parents said they had been fundraising for a year for the Copa Daurada tournament in Salut. Reality hit the day before they were due to travel after discovering they'd no flights, “owing - they claim - to the club's coach not having paid for anything.”

The accused coach has denied any wrongdoing and Hutchison Vale FC have said that an alleged fraud was reported to club leadership. They immediately informed Police Scotland and enquiries are ongoing.

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A parent said: “Obviously the parents, the parents are still looking for their money back if possible somehow, but there’s a police investigation now so it’ll be whatever the police can do, it’s up to them just now.

“If it’s a genuine mistake then the money would be there, the money would be transferred back, everybody would have booked another trip by now, he would have still been coach and he wouldn't have been suspended. I don’t think it was a genuine mistake, I think it's been pre-meditated since the beginning.

“It kind of gets to the point where everyone’s like, there’s something wrong here now. So we’ve done a bit of our own digging, got in touch with the travel company and basically they say all that was paid was a €195 deposit and that was it, there was never any further money paid to them.

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“For somebody you’ve known for so long, you just don't expect them to do that to anybody, especially if they’re part of your football team where your kids have been playing for a long time. Pretty disappointing.

“It was pretty stressful for most people, especially with young kids, and a lot of people can’t afford it, and probably a lot of people would’ve got another holiday out of that - so yeah, pretty stressful.”

Ballfreunde, the travel company, have said they are €12k out of pocket, having paid for the trip up front: "Indeed, the accused coach officially booked the tournament as well as a shuttle from the airport to the Cambrils Park resort through our booking system and also affected the first payment (€195 which is the equivalent of the Registration fee).

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“He several times assured us that he had made the further payments but these never reached us. We will shortly be taking legal action through our lawyer, as the accused coach owes us €12,987. Of course, we had to pay for the team's accommodation and the shuttle etc. as he hadn't cancelled but simply didn't turn up. We are also currently in contact with the parents, who also are trying to solve this problem and get their money back."

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