A lot became TWS supporters because they thought it made them hard rampaging about in a large group when City didn’t have a mob and they would have been up against it. Burnley never had people defecting to other clubs as it was a football town with long traditions. They had the largest proportion of any place attending long before and after Bob Lord. Places like Huddersfield and Bolton had odd games where half the population turned up for the odd game but Burnley used to average a quarter to a third of its population at games for years. Globe did for a long time. If you recall that famous incident at a Cup game in a pub in Halifax that was that lot.Wish that mob had gone to City games in 70s/80s they would have been useful at some games . The Globe was barred from both dominoes and darts for scrapping back in the day. Quietened down nowadays. Used to be packed every night but not now. There is a bus from Brid that has always gone to Leeds games even in Div 3 but the organiser is from Leeds. Decent bloke who was a good footballer when younger.
Bury have officially done one. If Bolton go (and no doubt they will), then it's a ****ing travesty. In an age when a footballer can earn £500k a week but they can't find the money to help an ailing but respected member of the EFL, the game is dead. Somebody like Man U or Man City could have done something there, they could have donated 10% of their TV rights money and it wouldn't have made a dent.
Morally given these clubs are on their relative doorstep, they could have done something, but in my view it would have to have been more than simply writing a cheque which given the gross mismanagement at both clubs would be simply delaying the inevitable.
When an owner as in Burys case is allowed to mortgage absolutely anything in terms of assets, and the EFL have no 'controls' to prevent or intervene, then the EFL has questions to answer. To then postpone a clubs fixtures as they have with Bury, and deprive them of what income they could have generated which may have made a difference, is simply crass management of the highest kind!
Lets hope with a lower cost base and sensible management they can make a sustainable come back up the footballing pyramid starting next season. Tier 7 football for them to start with.
A quote from the EFL when Dale was taking over - "the EFL immediately began to implement its change of control processes which include submission to the owners and directors' test for all relevant persons, as well as seeking additional information in regard to the source and sufficiency of funding" #ChocolateTeapot
Someone on twitter suggested allowing Bury to play Bolton at Old Trafford, try and get the place filled and all proceeds go to the staff & players etc. It would be nice to see something like that happening.
so if a small corner shop on the high street goes bust then someone like Marks and Spencers should bail them out? - of course not - its very sad whats happened but football is a business at the end of the day and unless the owner is a some kind of benefactor they are in it to make money from their investment - and no difference in our own case - the Allams took control when we were £30/£40 million in debt - that debt increased to around £100 million and then we got relegated - at that point the plug was pulled in the same way the banks sometimes pull the plug, enough is enough and they wanted their money back - in our case the Allams thought it was easy - small investment achieved promotion to the PL and a great first season in the PL - they must have seen millions of pounds worth of profits coming their way, its easy this football business - they then gave/ trusted Bruce with what was a massive war chest at the time to push on and achieve great things, top six etc - that's when it all started to go wrong - after all that investment we got relegated and they weren't prepared to get into any more debt, they wanted their money back - they learnt that pumping money into something in football doesn't guarantee success and unfortunately that's where we are today, still recovering from the financial mess caused by that season - at least the debts coming down and at least we're not in the same position as Bury and Bolton
Form a new club named Bury Tigers and sponsorship will roll in and world domination will follow. Maybe...
The integrity of your competitions means absolutely **** all if you let clubs in them die like this. Seriously, **** off you ****ing ****s.
Nearly right regarding the Allams. The investment stopped for two reasons. Group financial pressure and supporter relations.
But football clubs shouldn’t be a normal business (I know they are, but they shouldn’t be) The EFL could put proper checks in place to ensure that owners can’t come in and **** things up by overspending. A half hearted attempt was made with FFP and fit and proper person tests () but it could be done properly and effectively if there was a real will to do it. I’m not suggesting Marks and Spencer FC should fund corner shop FC. I’m suggesting the rules should be changed so that Marks and Spencer’s couldn’t overspend and go out of business, and neither could the corner shop.
"Businessman Steve Dale bought the club in December 2018" from Wikipedia So EFL, how the hell can he pass a FPP test in December 2018 and pretty much immediately be bust (CVA 18th July)?
I'm just waiting for the 'celebrity' Bury fan to come out of the woodwork.... How many clubs will there be in say 10 years time? With the way the premier league is dominating everything and sucking up the cash from the lower leagues I reckon the 92 will become the 60 by 2029. On a positive I think (hope) that BWFC will survive in the short term, but maybe they are not viable in the long term. PS...The one thing which might save HCAFC is the catchment area, but don't quote me on that one.