League One side gave holiday as a prize in club raffle – but the winner didn’t exist
Supporters cried “Foul!” when the winner was announced as “Surrey-based James Higgins”
CHESTERFIELD FC fans cried foul after the side touted a holiday as a prize in a raffle that was fiddled.
The scam was rumbled when the club’s website invented a sob story about the “winner” being too ill to go on the trip.
Supporters of the League One team — nicknamed the Spireites after the Derbyshire town’s crooked spire — were instantly suspicious because they had never heard his name before.
The prize, a trip for two to join players on a pre-season tour of Hungary, was said to have been won by “Surrey-based Spireite James Higgins”.
The website asked fans to “spare a thought” for him.
It fibbed: “James was due to fly out with the party last weekend, but illness prevented him.” Yesterday the club had to admit no such fan exists.
Club director and Secretary Ashley Carson told fans: “I have discovered that a winning entry was not legitimate and the information supplied to the club’s communications department had clearly been falsified with regards to the winner of a place at the pre-season training camp.”
Only four supporters had entered the competition and the club has already refunded their entry fees.
Carson added: “Fortunately, no supporters have been affected financially or inconvenienced.
“However, the club has a zero tolerance approach to such misleading activities and we remain committed to supporting our supporters on every level, which includes transparency and clear communications.
“Chesterfield FC apologises unreservedly to the four supporters who entered the competition and we can assure all supporters that following the internal review, disciplinary action will be taken.”
Supporters on internet footie sites blasted the club, which last month unveiled Ched Evans as its star signing. The ex-Sheffield United striker, 27, faces a retrial in October for allegedly raping a girl of 19.
One fan stormed: “It appears plausible the club have been selling raffle tickets with a non-existent prize and then invented a winner.”
Another told SunSport: “They’ve run a raffle, not given out a prize to anyone, and pocketed the proceeds. It’s fraud, isn’t it?”
The club told The Sun the review was “close to being concluded” but fans on Chesterfield message boards are asking if the whole idea might have been a fix.