The state of Football

Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne

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In our league, the Blue Square North we have two teams (Northwich Victoria and Farsley Celtic) who entered administration over the closed season and must start the season on -10 points.

They're lucky though, at one point both were thrown out of the league and only retained their places on appeal.

In the Zamaretto Southern League Merthyr Tydfil are in admin and start the season on -10 whilst Halesowen Town face outright expulsion after not being able to pay their football debts. If they make the start of the season they won't be able to compete in either FA Cup or Trophy as they couldn't afford the entry fees as at the time they were paying off ex-players to prevent another FA Ban.

The semi -professional game is in a right mess.

Is this going to be commonplace from now on?
 
Newcastle Blue Star have gone bust after leaving their ground to share with Newcastle Falcoms RFC, In the past they'd had grants from the Football Foundation to fix up their old ground and as they no longer played there the FF demanded that the money be repaid. Money that Newcastle BS didn't have.

FWIW Farsley is in Leeds and were two seasons ago in the Conference and Northwich were relegated from there last year, but being in Cheshire is probably a hotbed for Man Utd fans.

Skippi, I believe that although not exclusively a football fan should support their local team when and where they can if they were born in that place and still live there. Believe me, these clubs need their money!
 
Some clubs just are not financially viable, its sad, but true.

At the level you are talking at, its not massive transfer fees or excessive wage demands, its simple ground maintenance and rates which cannot be covered without sponsership or a benefactor.
Its how its always been, its how it always will be.
 
atpbx you're very wrong there I'm afaid, it IS excessive wage demands which cannot be covered, it's just that they aren't on the same scale as the £120,000 per week that some premiership players are getting.

My club won promotion last season and were paying out £1700 p/w in wages up until the seasons run in. The team we beat to go up were paying in the region of £6500 p/w thanks to a rich backer. They couldn't sustain that kind of outlay on gate receipts, bar takings and sponsorhip alone.

Another team, Salisbury City from the BS Premier are also facing administration. They are up for sale for £1, but no-one wants to buy them. They've traditionally paid over the top for their wages and in that time they've won two promotions but are now finding it unsustainable.

Ebbsfleet United, the club owned by MyFC have had to cut their weekly wage bill to around £5k p/w owing to the lack of people resubscribing to the scheme, which didn't produce the amount of control that they'd promised. MyFC could end up killing Gravesend and Northfleet, erm, I mean Ebbsfleet.

It's a very sorry situation only compounded by the fact that Manchester City are offering stupid money at the top end of the pyramid.
 
Well in which case they deserve to go bust, players at that level shouldnt really be being paid anything like that, and its idiotic for clubs to do so.
I was under the impression that stupidity hadnt filtered down as far as these leagues, but it seems they have done.
At level, the players should really still be in proper jobs and not getting anything other than travel expenses for playing.

Its not the top clubs fault, or other clubs in a certain league for paying big money, just because one club does it, doesnt mean they all have to.

As players that go to City will find out, money isnt everything.
 
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atpbx said:
Well in which case they deserve to go bust, players at that level shouldnt really be being paid anything like that, and its idiotic for clubs to do so.
I was under the impression that stupidity hadnt filtered down as far as these leagues, but it seems they have done.
At level, the players should really still be in proper jobs and not getting anything other than travel expenses for playing.

Its not the top clubs fault, or other clubs in a certain league for paying big money, just because one club does it, doesnt mean they all have to.
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None deserve to go bust. I hope you're not thinking that I'm saying that clubs are paying out £1000's to players at step 5 of the pyramid because I'm not :eek:

Part time players are in proper jobs mostly but supply and demand, especially in areas where a player can choose and be courted by half of the league within an hours drive dictate that they are able to command a very good wage for playing football.

I'd like to see non-league players wages driven down but as long as there are clubs able to pay enough to attract the better players other clubs will follow suit to try to keep up, whether they can afford to or not.
 
The problem with semi-pro football is the players get paid too much. The last couple of clubs I played for before getting injured were paying players upto £200 a week. Thats for turning up at training on a Tuesday and Thursday and just the one game on a Saturday.

Doesn't sound like a lot but when you condsider the average gate was around 100-150 with £4 entrance fee, it doesn't really add up.

This is only at North West Counties League aswell which is one below the Unibond.
 
Jeff Lynne said:
None deserve to go bust. I hope you're not thinking that I'm saying that clubs are paying out £1000's to players at step 5 of the pyramid because I'm not :eek:
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Of course they deserve to go bust, they operate with complete disregard for the financial stability of their club, ergo they go bust.

If they operated sensibly and in their means, they would be fine, they dont, so they go bust.
Its not as if they have been operating sensibly and they are going into administration by some other entirely unjustified means, they have not been prudent.
 
Im from Merthyr Tydfil, and im really saddened at the state of the club.

Its been mis-managed for years by greedy chairmen who thought they could make a quick buck. We used to get crowds of 1500-2500 a good while back, now were lucky to get even 500.

Saddens me a lot, as with better management in the past the club could have been in a relatively healthy position.
 
Merthyr is an interesting story.

Wyn Holloway wanted to build Merthyr Village, a complex built around a new stadium for the Martyrs including shops, cinemas, restaurants etc on a **** heap to the west of the town. This saga dragged on for years until the plans were thrown out for fear that the village would drive trade away from Merthyr town centre.

In the meantime Holloway was drip feeding the club and they continued to do well in the SL but as soon as the Village plans went pear shaped Banbury based Holloway had enough.

The past couple of seasons have seen war between the trust and the board and people have been banned. It's all very bitter.

They had a decent cup run and bought a nice carpet for their club "Strikers" mind ;)

I know a couple of the guys from Merthyr and their ex-manager quite well, they're a decent bunch and oddly they were the ones who managed to get the club into administration. I just hope they know what they've taken on and are able to finance the club to the level that they need to compete.

I've always enjoyed my visits to Penydarren Park and even spent one very cold evening up on the TV gantry!

pendy, if you don't go often and you like your footie but don't do much on a saturday now is the time to think about getting down there on a regular basis. They need your support.

BTW, if you see Mike Donovan, flick the v's at him from me, I owe him one :D
 
I went to a few matches last year, buts it stupid as my son plays for the under 18s, who usually play midday on a saturday - if we play away theres no chance to watch em.

Hopefully it will be different this year, as my boy had a game this am. Still dont like them playing at the Grove in Aberfan as its way too open,windy and muddy.
 
Thats a shame pendy, although he might make the first team before long because they've done well promoting yougsters recently.

http://www.halesowennews.co.uk/sport/4489697.BREAKING_NEWS__Yeltz_suspended/

I feel for my friends at Halesowen, they're owned and run by a complete buffoon, and thats being nice. They're now banned from any kind of football activity.

Funny how lubs at the top end of the game must owe clubs and ex-players money but they never get banned.
 
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