Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert and his players have given their full backing to owner Terry Serepisos following revelations the Accident Compensation Corporation lodged papers in the Wellington High Court to liquidate the club.
The ACC were owed more than NZ$260,000 in unpaid levies by Century City Football - the company that owns the Phoenix and whose sole director is Serepisos - and launched liquidation proceedings after their repeated failure to pay.
On Tuesday afternoon after the papers had been lodged, ACC received the full payment staving off the threat of legal action.
Herbert, who recently signed a new deal to stay at the A-League club, gave his support to Serepisos.
"I think the players and staff are extremely supportive of Terry. He's done a wonderful job for the club," said Herbert, who was adamant the team had not been distracted by the situation in the build-up to Friday's match against Gold Coast United at Skilled Park.
"It hasn't affected us one bit at all. I think everyone turned up this morning not even knowing about it.
"There was an amazing strength from all the players and staff about what one guy has done for football in New Zealand. That's the most important thing for us."
Serepisos' financial troubles have been widely reported in the media in recent months but striker Chris Greenacre said morale at the club remained high.
"We're a strong group and I include management and staff in that. We're 110 percent behind Terry," the Englishman said.
"He's the reason why we're all here and we want to be successful for him. He's a proud man and we want to really do our best on the field to show all his fruits have come to bear really."
ACC acting chief executive Keith McLea had earlier said in a statement: "Century City Football owes more than $260,000 in unpaid levies to ACC, some of it dating back several years.
"They have promised to pay many times but not done so. We have even agreed payment plans with them but these have not been honoured.
"Liquidation is the final option and is a step we have not taken lightly. We fully appreciate the potential impact on the Wellington Phoenix football team … [But] we believe we have been more than reasonable, over an extended period, with Century City Football. We also need to be consistent with how we would treat any other business. So we cannot simply write off this debt."