Looking like both Bolton and Bury could be on their way, possibly more to follow.Is the day of reckoning actually coming?. Clubs have been living beyond their means for ages, it can only go on for so long. The level of player wages in the EFL, particularly in the championship, but also to a lesser extent in League 1, cannot continue as a lot of clubs can’t afford them.
It’s a double pisser as well. Rovers even though won will in my opinion be safe this season due to those two having that deduction and not playing. Or in Bolton’s case playing their proper first team.
It would be a very sad day if Bolton or Bury went out of existence and I'm sure the boys that were around during our own close demise and feel for their supporters.When I see the monies flowing like champagne in the upper echelons, and in particular the ludicrous salaries being paid to pampered so-called super stars, it makes me want to scream - "do any of them give give a rat's arse?" Perhaps some of these over hyped celebrities need a dose of reality and feel what it's like for other professionals in the game that can't afford their mortgages along with the young kids who wont be able to go and see their local with their dad. Perhaps some of the overpaid need a real kick up the backside with a shaming campaign on the social media, but again they probably don't give a tinker's ass. A life changing state of affairs for many people and a permanent change in the way of life for many thousand others.
I feel sorry for the fans. They haven’t spent beyond their means. They just buy their tickets and merchandise from their clubs and hope that the (Unelected) powers that be use their hard earned money sensibly to take their club forward. Those owners are not fans. If their venture goes wrong they will simply move on. Real shame that this has been allowed to happen and I wouldn’t wish this even on the Sags.
Firstly - we are sooooooo lucky to have an owner that actually cares about the club (and not himself) Secondly - how did these people pass the fit and proper persons test??? Thirdly - perhaps it's time for the FA to grow a pair and insist that the PL share the money more evenly (I think I read that more EPL fans buy Sky subscriptions that PL fans). They get £100m for finishing bottom of the PL. So if every PL team had £10m less, that would give a pot of money worth £200m - or £2.78m for each club in the EFL
Clubs have to spend within their means. Whilst I agree money from the Premier league should filter its way down the simple premise is still the same, spend more than you can afford and one day it will catch up with you. Take heed RR.
Just as in life, the rich (clubs) get richer and the poor teeter on the edge of existence. When you see league clubs like Macclesfield that are only getting 1,700 people come to their home games it's a wonder they exist at all.
Just watching sky sports now outside Bury’s ground with fans gathering behind. Then this young kid appeared with a Man Utd top on. The issues there is Manchester with Utd and City are close to where Bury and Bolton are so you are going to get a lot of people following them rather than their local teams. But everyone has fickle fans, when we played the Sags on a Tuesday night last we had 17,000 fans signing “City till I die” then we played someone like Shrewsbury on Saturday and 11k turned up.
How can it be right that clubs in the championship are 'allowed' to lose £13m per season with no questions asked? In most cases that is more than their total gate income. Even allowing for the fact that clubs are using creative accounting to stay under this limit, it's way too high. The EFL need to grow a pair and start setting much tighter rules and close all the loopholes. It does seem that there are a small group of big clubs that are preventing a sensible reform of the rules. Surely the majority of clubs would welcome rules that protect them all from going bust. Perhaps the voting rules need amending so the majority can overule the reckless few who resist sensible controls?
Bury gone: Bury expelled by English Football League after takeover collapses https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49451896 So sad for their fans. End of an era.
Especially galling when they have two of the most high profile and wealthy neighbours in the entire football world a few short miles away. The EFL need to ensure that after Bury and possibly Bolton this can't ever happen again. I'd like to see organisations such as Sky and the Premier League take a long hard look at the money they spend and receive respectively not that they will as its' all about greed.
It's a tough world, it's an even tougher business world, unfortunately football at the higher echelons is now a business, they are not charity institutions and have no regard for the traditions, history or prervious achievments of the club, it's the big buck that counts. When Woolworths, BHS, Toys-R-Us and other retailers went bust recently there was no bail out, no sympathy, just hard facts pay up or close down, job losses, large gaps in the high street, heartbreak for the workers, inconveniences for the customers but the world just moved on, adjusted. In the mean time the asset strippers and developers move in, destroy and develop in the name of modernity, it stinks. I feel tremendous sympathy for the supporters and sincerely hope they have some kind of a future, I am old enough to remember our own fear of 1982 and thanks our lucky stars we have an owner like Steve Lansdown.
Prevention is better than cure - a proper vetting of would-be owners should be put in place and a mechanism to monitor and enforce good behaviour implemented to prevent this ever happening again. In the meantime I wondered whether a footballing kind of ‘nationalisation’ would work in this sort of situation? Not by the government, but the EFL or FA, where they forcibly take over (confiscate) the club, pay ‘emergency’ wages and keep the club going until a permanent way forward can be found (a bit like the government did with Lloyds TSB and RBS during the banking crisis). The boards of these failing clubs should be held to account and MOST importantly not allowed to profit from the situation. There is plenty of money in English football to fund this - it’s rich. This is bigger than just a badly managed business deservedly going bust. This is the destruction of 130 years of history, culture and community and should not be allowed to happen. My opinion - I know plenty will disagree.
This is just the beginning others will fall wait and see. Football is living way beyond it's means. Who is next that is the question.
Bolton are safe https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48906359 Some people are saying that other clubs should help out, but as Wiz said no one helped out any other businesses and also no club is allowed to help out. I feel sorry for the fans as it’s the owners that ruin these clubs. But the one thing that is noticeable is when clubs are in trouble you never see an increase on attendance’s. So a lot of fans choose not to help out their own clubs. It’s difficult for EFL as some owners are financially secure but just take the money for themselves.
Agree with all points raised. The pressure to spend in order get success is huge. I imagine there are many other clubs in similar peril, it’s a huge issue , it can’t be allowed to carry on or else football as we know it is in peril of imploding. Whilst the collapse of any club is awful for all concerned the implications are far reaching.
It’s still three for the chop and it can be a long season but I think The Rovers will be Ok , there are some pretty average outfits in League one this term.
