Lower League Funding

[David Hankey]

I used to think the cash rich EPL should do more to help out those Clubs in the lower leagues who are strapped for cash, however, after listening to an article on the radio at the w/end regarding the plight of Bury, Bolton Wanderers and others I can't see that being the best way forward.

 

Some Clubs are being run by folk who have not passed the 'Fit & Proper Person' test, are milking Clubs dry and building up their own personal bank accounts. It is regrettable that Clubs which have been around since the late 1880's have either gone to the wall or about to but what should be remember is, in the case of Bolton Wanderers, their wealthy owner sold out after amassing a fortune and was not really bothering about the Club's future. Same with Bury and nearly Blackpool after the Oyston family debacle.

 

The English Football League has a duty and, to my mind, it has been sadly lacking in ensuring Clubs don't fall foul of miscreant owners.

[Jon the Hat]

4 hours ago, David Hankey said:

I used to think the cash rich EPL should do more to help out those Clubs in the lower leagues who are strapped for cash, however, after listening to an article on the radio at the w/end regarding the plight of Bury, Bolton Wanderers and others I can't see that being the best way forward.

 

Some Clubs are being run by folk who have not passed the 'Fit & Proper Person' test, are milking Clubs dry and building up their own personal bank accounts. It is regrettable that Clubs which have been around since the late 1880's have either gone to the wall or about to but what should be remember is, in the case of Bolton Wanderers, their wealthy owner sold out after amassing a fortune and was not really bothering about the Club's future. Same with Bury and nearly Blackpool after the Oyston family debacle.

 

The English Football League has a duty and, to my mind, it has been sadly lacking in ensuring Clubs don't fall foul of miscreant owners.

I think the League should consider making the league places held by bankrupt clubs available to supporter owners consortiums for Zero cost as long as they can secure some funding.  The current issue is there is no way back after shite ownership screw over the fans.  This way if there actually are fans who care enough, they could buy the grounds out of recievership and restore clubs in their current league.

Edited 5 October 2020 by Jon the Hat

[The Fox Covert]

I think I listened to the same radio programme as David, in my car on a long journey back to the West Country from Scotland yesterday afternoon.

Helping the lower league clubs to survive a whole season without supporters through the gate should be as given. If a town loses its club it is a very long road back for a successor club to regain the level of the original club. If anyone looks to argue, then just consider that Wolves, Burnley and Brighton plumbed the depths of what is now League Two and Bolton are now doing the same for the first time in their history. If it wasn't for Mandaric we could very easily have suffered the same fate.

The thing is to make sure that any money given to hard-up clubs as a temporary support measure does not end up in the hands of scumbags like Anderson. 

I think it would be necessary for the EFL to step in and put clubs who request funding in a new 'stewardship' category. The EFL could appoint trustees who would have the power to control the finances, even if one person legally has complete control of the club. The remit of the trustees  would be to maintain the club as a going concern and avoid the club running out of money and going into administration.

The owner and directors would only be allowed to take out of the club the average amount for a club in that division. So if someone owns a League 2 club with a turnover of £5 million and the average total amount of emoluments and expenses for the directors in that division is £50,000 that is all he and the other directors and/or trustees would be allowed to have. The onus would then be on the owner and directors to build the club rather than running it into the ground, as developing the club would be the only way of getting a return on the investment. It would also help to ensure that clubs attract the type of owner who actually understands how to run a football club as a business.

Another thing the EFL could do is to take control of the major fixed assets of a club, usually the ground and the training facilities, as well as the registration of the players if a club goes into administration. Owners would then have an imperative to avoid administration because if it happened they would most likely be left with nothing. On this however they would probably need the government to change the law to class a football ground as a community asset which can't be simply bought and sold like a normal commercial property.