Hartlepool United issued with further winding up order petition

But the club's chairman Gary Coxall is insisting the matter has been "sorted".

A petition for a winding up order by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs was listed in London’s High Court today.

And the Mail understands it is in relation to the same issue which plagued the club two months ago - an unpaid tax bill.

But Coxall says it is business as usual at Pools, despite the high court of justice order.

"This is something that has already been sorted," said Coxall, when quizzed on the matter by the Mail.

"We were aware of the issue and had a payment plan in place with the HMRC.

"This matter has already been dealt with."

The petition reads: "A Petition to wind up the above-named Company, Registration Number 00098191, of ,VICTORIA GROUND, HARTLEPOOL, CLEVELAND, TS24 8BZ, presented on 14 December 2016 by the COMMISSIONERS FOR HM REVENUE AND CUSTOMS, of South West Wing, Bush House, Strand, London, WC2B 4RD, claiming to be Creditors of the Company, will be heard at the High Court, Royal Courts of Justice, 7 Rolls Building, Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL on 6 February 2017 at 1030 hours (or as soon thereafter as the Petition can be heard)."

The League Two outfit have until Friday, February 3 to decide whether they will attend the hearing.

Coxall moved to explain the club's financial problems in a statement released on the club website on December 24.

In relation to the likelihood of a third winding up order petition he said: "It is true that the club has previously received two winding-up petitions but both have been explained.

"This 'third' winding-up order is totally different, as we agreed a payment plan with HMRC by which we would settle the amount in two separate payments and, as of today, we have now cleared £100,000 of that bill.

"As part of the payment plan we agreed that if the second payment wasn't met then a winding up-petition could be back-dated but this has been resolved.

"In short, it was only a notice of a winding-up, which has been effectively resolved before issue."

Back in November Pools were issued with an identical order.

That bill went unpaid for around eight to 10 days.

The issue was then dealt with in court a fortnight later with one of the country's senior insolvency judges - Mr Registrar Nicholas Briggs - dismissing the petition and order Pools to pay the taxman's legal costs.

At those proceedings barrister Mazim Cardew, representing the HmRC, was told "the debt had been paid".

In July last year they had another HMRC winding up petition issued, which also ended up being dismissed.

That particular problem was blamed on a clerical error in relation to the club's accounting software.