ST ALBANS City are being investigated by the Football Association regarding payments to players.

ST ALBANS City are being investigated by the Football Association regarding payments to players.

An article in the national press on Sunday alleged that City had avoided “paying tax on many of their players’ wages for more than a year”.

The Herts Advertiser contacted the Football Association who confirmed that representatives from the club met with the FA at Wembley last Thursday to discuss the matter and the FA hopes to conclude its investigation by November.

A spokesman for the FA said: “We can confirm that St Albans City attended a hearing regarding player payments at Wembley on September 9 and anticipate a conclusion to the case by November.”

If the Saints are found guilty it’s likely they’ll be hit with a fine and a points deduction although the FA says there are no set punishments.

“There are no set sanctions and it’s still very early at this stage,” the spokesman added.

The club reacted by issuing a statement on Monday morning which claimed they had met with the Football Association to deal with “some procedural matters relating to the 2008/2009 season”.

The statement read: “An article this weekend in the Non-League paper speculated over the reasons for our recent attendance at the FA. Whilst representatives of the Club did meet with the FA last week, this was to deal with some procedural matters relating to the 2008/2009 season. We are continuing to work with the FA to address these matters.”

Saints chairman John Gibson hit back at the Non-League Paper’s article saying it lacked any factual evidence.

Gibson told the Herts Advertiser: “There is a headline about St Albans and it mentions a hearing on Thursday but it then just goes on about the history of Boston United, there is no factual information. It’s pure speculation.”

The City chairman says the fans will be kept informed of events once the situation has been resolved.

He said: “The fans will be kept informed once there is a resolution to the situation. As the statement says it’s going back a couple of years and as far as we’re concerned it’s not a major concern at the moment.”