Uncertainty surrounds Tai Po future as owners consider pulling plug on football club

The future of reigning Hong Kong Premier League champions Tai Po has been left shrouded in uncertainty, with the club’s owners reportedly considering pulling out at the end of the season.

Sources have told the South China Morning Post that Francis and Catherine Yip, the husband-and-wife pair, are considering cutting their ties after four years of bankrolling the district club.

The SCMP has also been told that none of the large number of players whose contracts expire this summer have been offered renewals for next season.

“It’s not easy to talk now, I don’t know what will happen but I want them to continue,” head coach Lee Lee Chi-kin said after his side were beaten 2-1 by Southern on Saturday. “We will try our best to fight in every game.”

With Tai Po’s hopes of retaining their title long since over, the FA Cup represents the only chance to secure revenue-generating AFC Champions League Two football for the second successive season.

But winning that competition for the first time since 2009 is a tall order, given they face runaway league leaders Kitchee in the quarter-finals. Victory next Saturday would then likely set up a semi-final against a strong Lee Man side.

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