Of course if you are only interested in how wealthy your club is, or how much money your club owner has, and are happy to have some money grubbing spiv empty your bank account to pay for your ticket then watch a posing chav diving and cheating to try and win a trophy, kissing his badge before clearing off to earn even more money in Russia, where the club is bankrolled by a Russian oligarch who has robbed his country of its natural resources, then I suggest you 'look away now', this post will not interest you.
Glasgow Rangers are in deep shit, Portsmouth are in deep shit, Port Vale are in deep shit. Manchester United have a debt in the region of £500m after the Glazers bought the club, which was then debt free, and dumped their borrowing onto the club. Incidentally, £500m was the combined national debt of Bolivia and Honduras that was wiped out by the Inter-American Development Bank in 2007. I gave up my season ticket and walked away from Old Trafford, like thousands of others, in 2005 to support FC United of Manchester. The Glazers wouldn't pay off my debts, so I'm not busting a gut to pay off theirs.
The latest club to hit the skids is Northwich Victoria, who FC United play on Saturday. Northwich have a proud history which you can find out more about on their official website. They were founded in 1874 but due to years of appalling management, both at the club and within the Football Association, they could soon be gone, finished, kaput. You can read the gory details on the Northwich Guardian website.
If you happen to be a smug football fan who thinks Northwich are only a non-league club, and that it couldn't happen to your club just remember that Glasgow Rangers fans thought that when they were in the UEA cup final in 2008 and Portsmouth fans thought that when they won the FA Cup in 2008. Where are they now?
That's why on Saturday, when FC United play Northwich Victoria at Gigg Lane, I will be joining the Vics fans in protesting at the mess that people have made of their club. We should be playing a game that will help decide which clubs go into the Northern Premier League play-offs. Instead Vics have been told that due to mismanagement they will not be eligible for the play-offs, instead they will be relegated after Saturday's game and one team will be in the play-offs knowing they are there because of the misfortune, off the field, of another club. Details of the protest can be found here.
To find out more, or to join the Northwich fans in their campaign visit The Northwich Victoria Supporters Trust
2 comments:
Northwich were of course one of the leading non-league sides of the 80s and 90s, regularly competing strongly in the conference and scoring numerous FA Cup upsets.
The 'Premier League brand' can go fuck itself. Much prefer lower league football and even the SPL.
Suggestion for reforming football and making it a more interesting game:
Impose a limit on how much money any team can spend on players in a season. At the same time, remove all limits on how many players a team can have on the pitch at any given time. If Team A wants to blow £5,731,234.21 on a single alleged super-player, that's fine - they can put him up against Team B, who've spent the same amount of money flooding their half of the pitch with 500 incompetent Norman Wisdom types. See which side wins - either way it'd make the game more interesting. Mind you, I'd also arm referees with stun guns to cut down or arguments.
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