[Football] Poor old Bury

[Nottseagull]

The Premier League was created so that the rich clubs could get shot of the poor ones

Complete and utter garbage.

If that was remotely true, they wouldn't have maintained three up three down, would they.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

92 full-time clubs is a lot to have in such a small country. It's been a scrap at the bottom for a long time for clubs to try and balance the books but maybe something will need to be done to avoid such clubs over reaching and crippling themselves.

A small country maybe, but one with a massive population. The problem is, all the revenue is at the top end of the pyramid, not enough of it filters down.

 

[Boroseagull]

As it's a Premium article I took the liberty to c&p today's article in the Telegraph. What a sad state of affairs exist below us.


League One, the basket case of English football, heads into another season of unchecked chaos
JIM WHITE
Follow Jim White 29 JULY 2019 • 11:07AM
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Bolton head into the new season with a 12 point deduction and only seven senior players on the books
Bolton head into the new season with a 12 point deduction and only seven senior players on the books CREDIT: REUTERS
It is a pity that League One is not able to offer a sponsor naming rights. If it could – in the manner of the Bet Victor Northern Premier League for instance – then Linyi Luckystar Home Products League One would have a more than appropriate ring to it.

Because Linyi is the world’s largest supplier of wicker baskets. And there can be no doubt League One is English football’s basket case division.

Here is how bonkers it is: with just four days left before the grand launch of the 2019-2020 season, two of Saturday’s opening fixtures are in danger of not being played, another club are undertaking home matches 21 miles down the road from their base, while another are being coached by a manager who has been charged with assaulting a rival last season.

And that is before we even mention the club whose previous chairman still maintains ownership of the stadium, where he refuses to allow the sale of the beer the logo of which is carried on the club shirt.

For Bury and Bolton Wanderers, though, the jeopardy extends significantly beyond what ale is stocked in the club bars.

In fairness to League One, neither club was a member last season. Bolton were then in the Championship, in freefall from the glorious Premier League days when Sam Allardyce ran the place as a retirement home for footballing superstars. Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff and Ivan Campo had long gone as the club sank under the combined weight of debt and directorial incompetence.

Placed in administration, they enter the new season as good as already relegated yet further. As if an automatic 12-point deduction were not enough, at the time of writing the club only have seven senior players on the books, two of whom are goalkeepers.

Coventry will play their football 21 miles away from the Ricoh Arena this season
Coventry will play their football 21 miles away from the Ricoh Arena this season CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
The manager, Phil Parkinson, who, like his staff, has not been paid for nigh on six months, was obliged to cancel most of his pre-season warm-up games when the few players still contracted refused to turn out until they received some income. Not that the administrators seem keen to improve the cash flow: they have yet to issue any season tickets to fans.

Meanwhile Bury, who had been evicted from the division in 2018, somehow engineered a return after triumphing in League Two last season against all the financial odds.

Like Bolton, they too will be facing a 12-point deduction after the owner, Steve Dale, who only took control last December, realised he had bought a pup and put the club into administration in April, just as promotion was achieved.

With Ryan Lowe, the manager who had taken the club up, leaving to seek sanity at Plymouth Argyle, new man Paul Wilkinson has a challenge on his hands.

As the two newcomers to the division flounder, Coventry City remain in a permanent condition of self-destruction.

The despised owners Sisu, after first selling the Ricoh Arena then seeming unable to reach a deal with the new owners, have decided to play home games at Birmingham City’s St Andrews.

Quite why they believe this to be an economically sustainable idea, given how few Coventry fans are willing to pay to watch the club in exile, is anybody’s guess.

Still, at least, unlike Fleetwood Town’s Joey Barton, the manager, Mark Robins, has not been charged with assaulting a rival – a charge Barton vehemently denies. And presumably, unlike at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium, Singha Beer will be available for those who bother to make the trek.

And what are those who run the English Football League doing about the chaos taking place under its auspices? Roughly what they always do to prevent incompetent owners taking control of our critical public institutions in the first place: they have sat on their hands, fingers in ears, humming loudly, hoping somehow the mess will clear itself up.

Related Topics

 

[Nobby]

Complete and utter garbage.

If that was remotely true, they wouldn't have maintained three up three down, would they.

Not garbage at all - wake up.

Presumably three up three down is written into the original EPL contracts with the FL, and the bottom half of the PL would gladly like that rule cancelled.

But absolutely correct that the rich clubs wanted to get shot of the poor clubs. They’re trying to do it now - see El Pres post above, and a European League will finish off the bottom of the Premier League ultimately

 

[Sirnormangall]

And what are those who run the English Football League doing about the chaos taking place under its auspices? Roughly what they always do to prevent incompetent owners taking control of our critical public institutions in the first place: they have sat on their hands, fingers in ears, humming loudly, hoping somehow the mess will clear itself up.

Related Topics[/QUOTE]
Good post though I’m not sure it’s possible to sit on your hands and put your fingers in your ears! The Football League is completely useless on these matters and has never learned from the problems of us, Wimbledon and others.

 

[Ernest]

Trouble is when Bolton were in the PL they couldn't give a flying f**k about the lower leagues and wanted to cast them adrift. Now they are in the shite and on the way to L2 they want the PL to bail them out , they could have campaigned for a fairer share of TV money when they were in the PL but wanted it all for themselves and that has come back to bite them on their backsides

 

[herecomesaregular]

Trouble is when Bolton were in the PL they couldn't give a flying f**k about the lower leagues and wanted to cast them adrift. Now they are in the shite and on the way to L2 they want the PL to bail them out , they could have campaigned for a fairer share of TV money when they were in the PL but wanted it all for themselves and that has come back to bite them on their backsides

Which was probably just the chairman and owner at the time. Not the fault of the fans.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Trouble is when Bolton were in the PL they couldn't give a flying f**k about the lower leagues and wanted to cast them adrift. Now they are in the shite and on the way to L2 they want the PL to bail them out , they could have campaigned for a fairer share of TV money when they were in the PL but wanted it all for themselves and that has come back to bite them on their backsides

Nor do some of us care, given some of the comments from apparent newishbies on other threads about clubs in trouble - haven't got time to find examples but they are out there if you look hard enough.

Which is strange given the amount of crap we got into, before being helped by Fans United et al.

 

[atfc village]

Not so much in their regional divisions (I think). Weren't Gateshead and Hereford United both in the national division? I think we need input from atfc village

Indeed this year we won the AGM cup with Gateshead being demoted . Over the years Salisbury ,Hereford have also dropped for money problems . Halifax and Telford went bust. The most dramatic was Boston who were relegated and the national league refused them entry over money issues and sent them to National North.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Indeed this year we won the AGM cup with Gateshead being demoted . Over the years Salisbury ,Hereford have also dropped for money problems . Halifax and Telford went bust. The most dramatic was Boston who were relegated and the national league refused them entry over money issues and sent them to National North.

I see Mitch Walker has pitched up at Aldershot for the season - your boys worth a few quid in the outrights?

 

[atfc village]

I see Mitch Walker has pitched up at Aldershot for the season - your boys worth a few quid in the outrights?

Favorites for the drop

 

[Ernest]

Which was probably just the chairman and owner at the time. Not the fault of the fans.

Can you point me in the direction of where their fans campaigned to help others when they were sucking up PL money

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Favorites for the drop

Not with Mitch between the sticks, no chance.

 

[Juan Albion]

Good post though I’m not sure it’s possible to sit on your hands and put your fingers in your ears! The Football League is completely useless on these matters and has never learned from the problems of us, Wimbledon and others.

It would be easy to do if you have your head up your arse like the Football League bosses usually do.

 

[Nobby]

EFL fines yesterday

Millwall £10k for racism

Leeds £200k for looking over a fence

Says it all really

 

[atfc village]

Not with Mitch between the sticks, no chance.

yes but we struggle to score.

 

[Juan Albion]

yes but we struggle to score.

Don't we all.

 

[studio150]

He purchase the Shakers for £1 in December 2018 hoping to save the in-trouble club, but later uncovered ‘serious, massive problems’ – hidden debt that amounted to around £13million.

And the new owner is saying that he shouldn't be responsible for the debt and the EFL should have dealt with it when the previous owner was in place.

Unfortunate but whatever happened to due diligence when considering a business purchase.

 

[Easy 10]

And what are those who run the English Football League doing about the chaos taking place under its auspices? Roughly what they always do to prevent incompetent owners taking control of our critical public institutions in the first place: they have sat on their hands, fingers in ears, humming loudly, hoping somehow the mess will clear itself up.

Good post though I’m not sure it’s possible to sit on your hands and put your fingers in your ears! The Football League is completely useless on these matters and has never learned from the problems of us, Wimbledon and others.

The problem is, what else are the Football League supposed to do ? If a club is on its uppers and desperate for a buyer, and someone comes along to buy the club and keep it running, then as long as they haven't got a criminal record what exactly can the FL do ? If they block the new owner and the club plunges into administration and is then liquidated, then I don't think many fans would be thanking them for scuppering their chance of continuing as a going concern.

The EFL hasn't got a crystal ball. Not all owners turn up with machiavellian intentions, and sometimes through incompetence or inexperience, some way down the line it goes tits up. Like I say, if a potential owner has a criminal record or a history of financial disasters then of course they should be refused ownership of a football club under the fit & proper test. But if there's none of that in their background, and a deal is agreed to purchase what is a Ltd company, then even in Legal terms the EFL would probably be on shaky ground to send them packing.

Bad owners do not always LOOK like they're going to be bad owners when they arrive on the scene, so pulling the old Captain Hindsight on the EFL if it does go bad is not going to resolve anything.

 

[Sirnormangall]

The problem is, what else are the Football League supposed to do ? If a club is on its uppers and desperate for a buyer, and someone comes along to buy the club and keep it running, then as long as they haven't got a criminal record what exactly can the FL do ? If they block the new owner and the club plunges into administration and is then liquidated, then I don't think many fans would be thanking them for scuppering their chance of continuing as a going concern.

The EFL hasn't got a crystal ball. Not all owners turn up with machiavellian intentions, and sometimes through incompetence or inexperience, some way down the line it goes tits up. Like I say, if a potential owner has a criminal record or a history of financial disasters then of course they should be refused ownership of a football club under the fit & proper test. But if there's none of that in their background, and a deal is agreed to purchase what is a Ltd company, then even in Legal terms the EFL would probably be on shaky ground to send them packing.

Bad owners do not always LOOK like they're going to be bad owners when they arrive on the scene, so pulling the old Captain Hindsight on the EFL if it does go bad is not going to resolve anything.

That’s a fair point and I’m not sure that any of us have a solution. But when I look back at our own experiences in the 1990s and look at what’s happened since (Wimbledon, Blackpool, Bolton, Bury and others) the question has to be asked weather the EFL ( and PFA) could do more. My perception is that they stand idly by...