Finnaldo

There was a good article on this in the Non-League Paper a while back. Essentially they have a massive facility with plenty of pitches and have managed to get it all under one roof, club makes thousands upon thousands of pounds of turnover through the youth setup and rent of the pitches to smaller local teams. All legitimate and pretty impressive, I could see them being in a position to threaten Coalville as top ranked non-league club in the county if they play their cards right.

Stockport fans allegedly ghost bought a load of tickets too. Plenty to boost the budget then…

I’ve said it before on here but I’ve never seen a club been so consistently dodgy as Nuneaton. If they go bust this calendar years then it’d be the third iteration in 32 years. The last one went bust after a new owner found ‘financial irregularities’ after he bought them and this is looking to be more or less the same outcome 15 years later. I’ve known caterers and the like who have been leaned on to drop prices even after services rendered or have just had regular late payment. It goes on and on. That said the chairman who just stood down, Stuart Elliott, seems a decent bloke. Puts money into a few local clubs (including Hinckley) and he’s clearly taken the fall for other guilty parties seeing as he joined as chairman not all that long ago. If it is to go bust and the successor is not to be a supporter-owned club, they could do a lot worse than be led by him.

Lack of communication from Nuneaton is staggering. Actively toting ‘last game ever’ without any explanation as to why. But there’s money to apparently pay the ground owner all arrears up front? I’d there’s that money available, there’s likely clubs who would be willing to groundshare to see out the season. Paying up to £900 a week for players, crowdfunding the budget last year, on target to catch up on arrears by December but kicked out the ground despite then offering to pay debt up front? Doesn’t all connect up and there’s clearly some porkies being told somewhere along the line. I know a lot of new phoenix clubs (and I imagine some smarter older clubs too) have it in their constitution/operating model not to take on debt except under very particular emergency circumstances. To be a traditionally non-league club and be in serious debt is absolutely bizarre, and it’s becoming more and more common even lower in the pyramid. It’s probably a worth cause to push for a non-debt movement in non-league below National League, but ambition and always fighting for an edge will make that a difficult reality I guess.

The Leicester Road lot will squeeze every penny they can out of them so that won’t last long. Expecting to seen Nuneaton Town AFC by the start of next season

Precisely. Club finances were buggered at a time we were told we were self-sufficient outside of KP, and stadium expansion halted when we were told it had no bearings on the club budget, despite once the news dried up the spending on the squad resumed. Rodgers should have been sacked, latest, after Forest in the cup. He only went when things were terminal. Any other business, or even any other club at that matter, where things fail so badly across three different fronts then the buck would stop at the top. I’m happy for people to say they value the league win & FA Cup over relegation and that they still favour the ownership because of that. It’s a very reasonable stance. But most people will act like you spat on their dead nan if you suggest the ownership have to take fault for relegation, it’s almost taken personally which is bizarre.

Very good but strangely this is about five years old odd it’s popped up now Whilst on the topic, what a fall for them. Been to a few games as my mate lives that way, when we went to the first game a couple years ago they’d started the season well in the play off spots in the National League South, this weekend’s win at Kingstonian put them just clear of the relegation spots in the Isthmian Prem. Shows how quickly your luck can turn in non-league.

Any decent recommendations for a pint in Central Brum? Got a Hinckley away day and will spend a couple hours about before getting the train out to the ground

Ivanhoe sacked their development coach, senior team manager is still in place.

10-1 Hinckley win last night puts them seven clear ahead of today’s games, including Stapenhill vs Droitwich which are the best two teams aside from Hinckley this year. Promising first quarter to the season!

Hinckley grind out a tough away win at Wednesfield in baking conditions, puts them four clear after 9 games. Some difficult games coming up but the most positive start in years for AFC. Ingles also going very well, massive win against Stapenhill too. Play off dark horses perhaps?