For clarity regarding press reports that appeared in 2019 relating to my time as Chief Executive of Goals Soccer Centres, I issued the following statement in 2022.
Statement from Keith Rogers · 2022
This statement addresses historical press coverage that appeared in 2019 making allegations of fraud and financial misconduct against me, during my time as Chief Executive of Goals Soccer Centres from 2000 to 2017, and against the then Chief Financial Officer, William Gow.
I led Goals for 17 years following a management buy-in, growing the business from three centres to 46 across the UK and USA. I left the company in 2017 and had no involvement in its management or governance thereafter.
In 2019 press reports appeared making those allegations. This was the first time I became aware that the issue had been raised.
By way of relevant context, during my tenure HMRC claimed that Goals had wrongly exempted its league programmes from VAT and that the company owed a significant sum in underdeclared VAT. Goals challenged this assessment at the First Tier VAT Tribunal — and not only won the case but the tribunal ruled that Goals had in fact been under-claiming the VAT exemption to which it was entitled, leaving the company in a stronger position than before the case began, a ruling that benefited Goals and operators across the sector.
Goals was a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange (AIM), audited twice annually by independent auditors and subject to the full regulatory oversight applicable to listed companies, including the Financial Conduct Authority. The statutory bodies responsible for investigating potential wrongdoing by executives of listed companies — including the FCA and the Serious Fraud Office — carry both the powers and the duty to investigate and, where necessary, prosecute.
No statutory authority — including the Financial Conduct Authority, the Serious Fraud Office, or any other regulatory body — ever opened an investigation into me in relation to these matters, before, during or after the civil proceedings that followed.
The issue ultimately became the subject of civil proceedings raised in the Court of Session in Edinburgh in February 2020 by Goals acting through its administrators. The administrators subsequently sold the rights to the claim to a third party for £25,000, reflecting their own assessment of the claim's merits.
The proceedings were brought against both myself and William Gow, the former Chief Financial Officer of Goals. ICAS, the professional body regulating Scottish chartered accountants, found no case to answer in respect of Mr Gow. He is currently Finance Director of Tunnock's, one of Scotland's most successful and respected businesses.
The Court of Session granted both Mr Gow and me decree of absolvitor — the highest level of clearance available in Scottish civil law — with expenses awarded in our favour. This means the claims were extinguished and cannot be raised again. The proceedings ultimately failed and we were completely exonerated.
The allegations reported in 2019 were civil in nature, were never the subject of any statutory or criminal investigation, and did not survive judicial scrutiny.
Those press reports predate the resolution of proceedings and do not reflect the final position. The business itself was subsequently acquired, traded successfully through the Covid-19 pandemic, and was sold in 2022 at a value reported to be in the region of £200 million1.
Today Goals Soccer Centres remains the leading operator of small‑sided football facilities in the United Kingdom, with locations across the country.