BURNLEY vice-chairman Ray Ingleby was declared bankrupt just days before he quit Turf Moor, the Lancashire Telegraph can reveal.

Mr Ingleby, 47, of Woodlands View, Lytham St Annes, resigned at the end of last week after more than a decade as a director at the club, citing personal reasons.

On Wednesday he appeared before a District Judge at Blackpool County Court to face bankruptcy proceedings.

Under the Football League’s ‘fit and proper persons test’, introduced in 2004, anybody currently subject to a Bankruptcy Order is banned from being a director at a club.

A spokesman for the Insolvency Service said: “Bankruptcy is one way of dealing with debts you cannot pay.

“The bankruptcy proceedings free you from overwhelming debts so you can make a fresh start, subject to some restrictions, and make sure your assets are shared out fairly among your creditors.”

The order means Mr Ingleby will now be unable to promote, form or manage a limited company, or act as a company director, without the court’s permission.

A Bankruptcy Order can only be made after a bankruptcy petition has been made to the court, by either the person being declared bankrupt, or a creditor owed more than £750.

On Friday, Mr Ingleby, who was appointed vice chairman in September 1999 when Barry Kilby took over the club, said he hoped to get back involved with the club at some point in the future.

After spending more than £1million on shares at Turf Moor, Ingleby attempted to take over the club himself, before backing the bid of current chairman Barry Kilby.

Mr Ingleby, a boyhood Chelsea fan before he got involved with the Clarets, attended Kirkham Grammar School despite being diagnosed as dyslexic.

Shortly after finishing school he started work for an advertising firm, but lost his job as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

His response was to start his own advertising firm, and in 1983, before he was 21, the Ingleby Group was valued at £1million.

He also ran Ingleby Communications, which became Caribiner and was based in New York, with Ingleby chairman and chief executive until for nine years until returning to the UK early in 1999.

Since then he has branched out in the property industry with his primary company Rushcliffe Properties.

The order against Mr Ingleby will be automatically discharged on August 25, 2011.