Bury and Bolton struggles highlight football’s financial failings
Bury have been expelled from the football league after 125 years and Bolton narrowly avoided following them into obscurity. Despite genuine sorrow from within the football industry, will the game finally learn some harsh financial lessons?
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There but for the grace..............
I feel really sorry for the Bury fans, shafted at every turn; barring the super clubs that are too big to fail supporters of smaller clubs all know that their club is usually only two under financed owners in a row away from oblivion.
Football seems to be a area in which normal business rules do not apply. With such large losses there must be some evidence of wrongful trading. I feel sorry for the fans for whom it is a part of their life rather than a vanity project of some millionaire.
At least when it was the local scrap dealer who owned the club you knew where to find them!
Feel sorry for the club's employees who will probably lose their jobs. Don't feel sorry for the clubs because why should they be treated any different to any normal business?
Because frankly they are really not a business- there are very few individuals who bought a football club to make money and succeeded ,though there are likely some- I think McCann at Celtic, likely The Glazers at Man United, have probably done okay.
Clubs are part of the fabric of a local community, hence why Tom Farmer bought Hibs when they were under threat, not because he liked football, I believe he did not, but because Hibs are a part of Leith , a part of his background. (And he has at last exited from them this summer just past after all the years since 1990 when he stepped in to save them)
Clubs are different to other business entities, they can really mean a lot to people, they can be tightly linked with the whole community/town and they often serve a purpose to same way beyond the economic.
I am not a football fan, but it is a concern when the big clubs are bought by wealthy consortiums/parties from overseas. Yes I guess there is an element of status in a Thai businessman owning a Premier League club back in Thailand as he is seen as successful etc...
However, how long before an owner looses interest / has cash flow issues / or simply decides they own the club so want more of a say in how it's run eg the club has to play x because he is a big name back home and it is good for viewings (even though he has 2 right feet).
How long before it is decided that there should be a world soccer league and we should have franchise teams?
One day you could find the local team from where you grew up has moved to the other side of the world, but you cannot setup a new club under the same name because you don't own the trademark rights etc.
I think the big names in football are not as safe as they think and fans are naïve if they believe that the status quo will be maintained.
I wouldn't be surprised if a big name EPL team falls by the wayside in the next 10 years, there is a bubble waiting to burst here.