The apparent death of Bury Football Club (and with a very close squeak for Bolton, this week), this week, shouldn't come as much of a surprise. ....
... the English Football Leagues (EFL), which had boasted three full time divisions below the English Premier League, has been something of an anachronism for at least a decade, if not longer.
The reason? Far too many of the clubs in those leagues have not been balancing the books for a considerable time. They have always been a bit like that, subsidised by proud local businessmen, but more recently many seem to have chosen a business model, that meant paying players higher transfer fees and salaries than the club could actually afford, or could be permanently subsidised by the owners, and by doing so they have put the club's futures at great risk.
Fans of these EFL clubs need to get real and ask themselves two questions:
1. Do they want their club to survive, hopefully debt free for the foreseeable future? Or
2. Do they want to chase the dream of promotions up the divisions to the promised land of the EPL, in a Shit or Bust gamble, which if it fails, bankrupts the club?
If the answer is the latter is number 2, then don't come crying when your club fails and no one comes in to rescue it from inevitable closure. Why should creditors have to bail out this failed business? Why do fans think their football club is different and should ignore simple business rules?
I am not entirely clear on what happened at Bury FC and Bolton FC behind the scenes, but in Bury's case it's obvious that the English Football League's 'Fit and Proper Person' test for ownership needs to be seriously looked at again, and stiffened up. Bury FC had been going for 134 years and were elected to the Football League in 1894, so 125 of those years were in the football league pyramid structure .... they even got promoted last season. Now they are dead ....
But Bolton FC do appear to have gone for option number 2. They got into the English Premier League (EPL) in 1995, where they managed to remain financially stable, just as long as they stayed in the top flight .... but perhaps inevitably, they didn't. However after a couple of years they invested heavily in players and returned in 2001.
Relegation from the EPL to the Championship in 2012, and a subsequent failure to immediately balance the books or get a quick promotion back in to the EPL, meant that they were very quickly in big financial trouble. Further relegations and spiralling debts resulted in the current collapse. They actually have spent 73 seasons in the top flight, as opposed to just 47 years in the lower divisions, but still somehow found themselves on the edge of oblivion.
The moral of this to all fans of clubs, outside of a small elite at the very top of the structure seems to be .... Live within your means. Learn to dream smaller, and sustainable, if you want to be able to dream forever.
This is not likely to be the last couple of clubs in financial trouble this season .... it's all very sad, but probably inevitable, as a combination of unrealistic financial models and spiralling player wage inflation have driven running costs above affordable levels, risking the clubs futures.
All clubs should be forced to go through an annual financial sustainability audit - this should confirm that the wages and cost for the next season are able to be paid within the clubs financial model.
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| Bury Football Club - Dead If Not Buried - But No Angel Appeared On Tuesday. |
... the English Football Leagues (EFL), which had boasted three full time divisions below the English Premier League, has been something of an anachronism for at least a decade, if not longer.
The reason? Far too many of the clubs in those leagues have not been balancing the books for a considerable time. They have always been a bit like that, subsidised by proud local businessmen, but more recently many seem to have chosen a business model, that meant paying players higher transfer fees and salaries than the club could actually afford, or could be permanently subsidised by the owners, and by doing so they have put the club's futures at great risk.
Fans of these EFL clubs need to get real and ask themselves two questions:
1. Do they want their club to survive, hopefully debt free for the foreseeable future? Or
2. Do they want to chase the dream of promotions up the divisions to the promised land of the EPL, in a Shit or Bust gamble, which if it fails, bankrupts the club?
If the answer is the latter is number 2, then don't come crying when your club fails and no one comes in to rescue it from inevitable closure. Why should creditors have to bail out this failed business? Why do fans think their football club is different and should ignore simple business rules?
I am not entirely clear on what happened at Bury FC and Bolton FC behind the scenes, but in Bury's case it's obvious that the English Football League's 'Fit and Proper Person' test for ownership needs to be seriously looked at again, and stiffened up. Bury FC had been going for 134 years and were elected to the Football League in 1894, so 125 of those years were in the football league pyramid structure .... they even got promoted last season. Now they are dead ....
But Bolton FC do appear to have gone for option number 2. They got into the English Premier League (EPL) in 1995, where they managed to remain financially stable, just as long as they stayed in the top flight .... but perhaps inevitably, they didn't. However after a couple of years they invested heavily in players and returned in 2001.
Relegation from the EPL to the Championship in 2012, and a subsequent failure to immediately balance the books or get a quick promotion back in to the EPL, meant that they were very quickly in big financial trouble. Further relegations and spiralling debts resulted in the current collapse. They actually have spent 73 seasons in the top flight, as opposed to just 47 years in the lower divisions, but still somehow found themselves on the edge of oblivion.
The moral of this to all fans of clubs, outside of a small elite at the very top of the structure seems to be .... Live within your means. Learn to dream smaller, and sustainable, if you want to be able to dream forever.
This is not likely to be the last couple of clubs in financial trouble this season .... it's all very sad, but probably inevitable, as a combination of unrealistic financial models and spiralling player wage inflation have driven running costs above affordable levels, risking the clubs futures.
All clubs should be forced to go through an annual financial sustainability audit - this should confirm that the wages and cost for the next season are able to be paid within the clubs financial model.
There is talk on the radio of a Bury resurrection in Division 2 next season if they do indeed prove to have the necessary funds after all. Worse mess than Brexit.
ReplyDeleteThey are both shambolic. Thanks for the comment.
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