Will there be more Saturdays to come? Clubs facing the wall

News of a fresh bid for stricken League One club Stockport County has filtered through, raising hopes of survival. The football community can only hope that they don’t suffer the same fate as that of the likes of Chester City or Farsley Celtic who cease to exist under those guises. To simply have the facility of eleven players, a modest stadium, a pitch and a ball might even be considered a luxury should County fans’ worst fears be confirmed. Never mind mouth-watering ties in the finest football cathedrals of Europe this spring. Many fans will be satisfied just to have these pre-requisites as they fight to stay in business.

Stockport’s administrators, Leonard Curtis, have been busy touting the club to potential buyers. The Hatters have been in administration since April 2009 and Football League rules forbid clubs beginning two consecutive seasons in the hands of the administrators. Protracted talks with the Melrose consortium have so far failed to gain approval from the Football League, leaving the hopes and dreams of fans in the hands of the latest unnamed group to come forward.

Football League clubs going out of business and re-forming is nothing original and some have enjoyed success in their new incarnations. Aldershot F.C were an established lower league club until financial worries finally caught up with them and they were forced to resign from the League in 1992. It may have taken them until 2008 but they finally returned, gaining promotion to League Two where they are now challenging for the play-offs.

As highlighted earlier, Chester City became extinct this season. Chester were another famous League name to fall from grace with financial problems dating back to 1998. Owing to a succession of fiscal mismanagement, accumulating massive debts in the process, the club finally folded this year. Unfortunately, the city never seemed to fall in love with football in the same way as its local neighbours have.  The move from the club’s first long-term home, Sealand Road, to the Deva Stadium, didn’t improve support as some might have hoped. Supporters have since formed a fans club, Chester F.C and are hoping to continue playing at the present ground.

Interestingly, with clubs such as Portsmouth and Crystal Palace facing uncertain futures, the government have added their voice to the finances debate. Immediately, opposition parties have accused them of crude electioneering, whilst football bodies aren’t too keen on state intervention. Labour plans to force through rules changes which include altering the FA constitution to allow fans of member clubs to purchase shares in their team. Their bargaining chip is to threaten to withdraw £35 million worth of annual funding and denounce their support for the FA’s right to collectively sell their prized asset, namely television rights.

All of this begs the question, how big does a club have to be before things change? Three thousand fans or thirty-thousand, any extinction is a tragedy that has wide repercussions for the surrounding community. Granted, a fan base is no longer made up of the traditional model of local workers walking to the ground to cheer on their town’s team, their proud symbol of regional identity. This does not mean that this type of fan doesn’t exist, even if their professions and income might have changed. Corporate packaging of the ‘matchday experience’ might diminish but never eradicate football’s tribal roots.

If you asked fans of Stockport how they felt about plans to change the rules to protect clubs from entering their situation, they might say it’s already far too late. They might also doubt the benefits of proposals for part-ownership by the fans. After all, a fans group bought them back in 2005 and owing to problems controlling income streams and ground ownership; they were unable to provide a sustainable future. As Chester City were nearing the end, with players unpaid and unable to fulfil fixtures, fans begged for the club to be put out of its misery. Whichever league they re-emerge in, all those connected with football in Chester care about is when the next Saturday will come. Securing a place where they can watch their team kick a ball around a field of grass for ninety odd minutes is all that is vitally important. No matter what league they play in or how many people turn up, they’ll have a team to support as solvency never looked more attractive.

William Geldart