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Hartlepool chairman thinks so
Now, those of you who like association football, get involved in this. For those of us who support lesser/lower league clubs it's very much a hot topic.
We all know about Portsmouth's well documented financial woes where just their staff wages/salaries, not even their total expenditure, was 130% of their revenue. In any other industry this would be classed as serious financial mismanagement and said company would fold.
I can understand the point that the Hartlepool chairman is trying to make, but as a fan of a team that has had dreadful boardroom mismanagement since 1998, I'm quite sympathetic to keeping, or trying to keep clubs afloat because it's unfair on the players, the coaching staff and the fans.
For the vast number of you who don't know about the situation, here's a brief timeline of the financial/boardroom woes of Wrexham FC; sold to unscrupulous businessman in 1999, who was in fact just a frontman for an even more unscrupulous businessman whose only interest in the club was the stadium, which he wanted to convert into a Homebase. Zero investment and extortionate rent against our own stadium via an umbrella/holding company saw us become the first club to fall foul of the Football League's administration rules. 10 points deducted, relegation to League Two. The club was given an eviction notice at the end of this season (2004/05) and was weeks away from being homeless and facing liquidation until a High Court judge ruled that our chairman had acted improperly and the club remained safe, but in millions of pounds of debt. New owners come in, and have big plans to renovate the stadium. A likely story; relegation to the Conference was inevitable. Crusaders RFC begin groundsharing and another holding company rakes in all the club's revenue. One week before the start of this season, the club was so desperate that it was increasingly likely that we would be expelled from the league due to not offering the Conference a deposit of assurance. The fans, yes the fans, had a regional whipround and raised £100,000 in just 48 hours and the club was saved, literally hours from the deadline. An incredible feat for a club in the 5th division, and based in a not-so-affluent area of the country. The club was recently sold to a fans' trust, but uncertainty remains over revenue streams.
This is just one example. In fact, the Conference is a graveyard for former football league teams who ran out of money, in addition to being the place of death of six teams in six years. Since 2006, Canvey Island, Scarborough, Grays, Halifax Town, Chester City and Rushden & Diamonds have all gone out of business. (Not including Boston's FA-imposed double relegation from League Two to the Conference North and the general financial woes/plight of Stockport County and Luton Town).
And even now, this week, there are serious, serious doubts over Kettering Town, who have just nine players, and Darlington, who recently sacked all of their playing and coaching staff.
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Something does have to be done about overspending, and poor accounting in football. But is simply leaving the current weakest clubs to rot and die the right answer?
Interestingly, despite their chairman's comments about letting clubs go bankrupt, Hartlepool United have offered to play in a fund-raising friendly against local rivals Darlington.
Now, those of you who like association football, get involved in this. For those of us who support lesser/lower league clubs it's very much a hot topic.
We all know about Portsmouth's well documented financial woes where just their staff wages/salaries, not even their total expenditure, was 130% of their revenue. In any other industry this would be classed as serious financial mismanagement and said company would fold.
I can understand the point that the Hartlepool chairman is trying to make, but as a fan of a team that has had dreadful boardroom mismanagement since 1998, I'm quite sympathetic to keeping, or trying to keep clubs afloat because it's unfair on the players, the coaching staff and the fans.
For the vast number of you who don't know about the situation, here's a brief timeline of the financial/boardroom woes of Wrexham FC; sold to unscrupulous businessman in 1999, who was in fact just a frontman for an even more unscrupulous businessman whose only interest in the club was the stadium, which he wanted to convert into a Homebase. Zero investment and extortionate rent against our own stadium via an umbrella/holding company saw us become the first club to fall foul of the Football League's administration rules. 10 points deducted, relegation to League Two. The club was given an eviction notice at the end of this season (2004/05) and was weeks away from being homeless and facing liquidation until a High Court judge ruled that our chairman had acted improperly and the club remained safe, but in millions of pounds of debt. New owners come in, and have big plans to renovate the stadium. A likely story; relegation to the Conference was inevitable. Crusaders RFC begin groundsharing and another holding company rakes in all the club's revenue. One week before the start of this season, the club was so desperate that it was increasingly likely that we would be expelled from the league due to not offering the Conference a deposit of assurance. The fans, yes the fans, had a regional whipround and raised £100,000 in just 48 hours and the club was saved, literally hours from the deadline. An incredible feat for a club in the 5th division, and based in a not-so-affluent area of the country. The club was recently sold to a fans' trust, but uncertainty remains over revenue streams.
This is just one example. In fact, the Conference is a graveyard for former football league teams who ran out of money, in addition to being the place of death of six teams in six years. Since 2006, Canvey Island, Scarborough, Grays, Halifax Town, Chester City and Rushden & Diamonds have all gone out of business. (Not including Boston's FA-imposed double relegation from League Two to the Conference North and the general financial woes/plight of Stockport County and Luton Town).
And even now, this week, there are serious, serious doubts over Kettering Town, who have just nine players, and Darlington, who recently sacked all of their playing and coaching staff.
---
Something does have to be done about overspending, and poor accounting in football. But is simply leaving the current weakest clubs to rot and die the right answer?
Interestingly, despite their chairman's comments about letting clubs go bankrupt, Hartlepool United have offered to play in a fund-raising friendly against local rivals Darlington.
