Interesting to note, Newcastle Blue Star have announced that benefactor Dave Thompson has withdrawn his support of the club, there entire future is now in doubt and they face going out of business.
Did NBS win the Unibond North play off?
If they are not able to take the place in the Unibond Premier, what happens?
Does the runner-up get promoted instead, or do the Unibond just decide that there will be one less relegated from the premier?
Just a thought?
If you go on past examples, then a relegated team earns a reprieve.
I can see admission prices going back up to £9 :woohoo: :woohoo:
Best get your season ticket bought quick then!!
:dry: Yes, Newcastle Blue Star did win the 2008/2009 Unibond 1st Division North play-off final, beating Curzon Ashton 4-1. Latest problem seems to be that they’ve been asked to repay a GBP65thd ground improvement loan from the Football Stadiums Improvement Fund that they got some time ago to improve their former Wheatsheaf ground. The money’s long since been spent, but FSIF want their money back because Blue Star aren’t playing at The Wheatsheaf anymore (despite the “improvements” that were supposedly made, the FA grading committee still considered it inadequate for Unibond League football, which is which they’ve had to play at Kingston Park in recent seasons) and the bottom line is that Blue Star haven’t now got the funds to repay the GBP65thd loan.
So, if Blue Star do fold, will Curzon Ashton be allowed to go up in their place, or will the third-bottom placed team in the Unibond Premier League from 2008/2009 stay up instead?
Another example of clubs spending money on players wages without any infrastructure behind them - Their support has always been modest, at less than 200 and they’ve been paying for the likes of Brayson, a Conference player, this was always going to happen.
In respect of ourselves there is this and the Cammel Lairds issue still pending, so could be an interesting time between now and the Unibond AGM.
Whilst any reprieve would be a welcome bonus it does make a mockery of promotion and relegation in non-league football. The season does not end in April, it ends up to 2 months later when decisions over ground grading and the financial demise of other clubs are taken into account.
Surely for the sake of weeding these problems out of the game clubs should have to submit their balance sheets to an FA compliance unit at the start of any season, whereby a governing body can assess their viability to trade based on their debt and ability to repay it. Clubs should not simply be allowed to spend over and above their means and then allowed to reform when they can’t pay their bills. If a club does go into administration then the penalty should be to start again at the very bottom of the pyramid rather than getting a 10, 20, 30 point reduction and relegation by one or two leagues.
Simply more money going into grass roots football is certainly not the answer, it will only promote clubs spending higher sums of money and potentially getting deeper into debt. There needs to be some governance regarding clubs spending money that they can’t afford to spend, or at the very least have to justify the budget to the league of which they are a member. If the debt is underwritten by a benefactor who has proved this is the case then fine, so long as they are a fit and proper person under the league’s rules.
There are far too many instances where clubs are buying short term success which results in mid to long term disaster. The FA should intervene and a part of a club’s membership of the football association should be the necessity to prove their financial standing, or be forced to come back and re-work their budgets accordingly.
That’s talking sense Rabbit!
Unfortunately, football doesn’t?
How can Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool be top of the Premier League, and also be top of the clubs ‘most in debt league’?
For the big guns, loans are secured against massive assets and huge onoing turnover both on match days and through world-wide marketing, plus prize money from FA Prem League, UEFA and the FA, plus TV revenues from Sky and Setanta - simples!
As long as interest payments keep being met and the banks don’t panic, that’s how it will continue for the foreseeable unless there’s a rich arab or ruuski waiting in the wings!
The key is “as long as the banks don’t panic”!!!
Also, if you do get a rich arab benfactor, you could still end up with a cr@p team - carry on agent Sparky, mission nearly complete.
Interesting/Hopeful and unfortunate are the three words that spring to mind.
Really gutted for NBS - OK, so they may have misappropriated some grant money (alledgedly, I don’t know the details), but the comment on their message board makes complete sense regarding help from bigger clubs. Why should Premier League clubs not help out neighbours. Like the guy said, Joey Barton’s fine would keep NBS afloat.
Also, the FA sit in their ivory towers making millions and millions day on day. Would it not be good if say, disciplinary fines received during the season, be paid into a fund to help struggling clubs all through the ladder?
I know I’m living in cloud cuckoo land - it’s like trying to get an MP to pay back ill-gotten expenses!
Something needs to give - or the number of clubs going into administration will rocket and subsequently clubs going out of business will reach catastrophic proportions.
Clubs (usually) go into administration because they have been spending money they just don’t have. Therefore they are gaining an unfair advantage on everybody else.
Vics are a prime example.
I’m not sure that Clubs should get themselves into a financial mess, and then be bailed out by the FA. We have been relegated because we have only spent what we can afford. Had we been given an FA handout, then maybe we could have attracted the players that may have kept us up. So why are NBS more deserving than us?
Players take too much money out of the game at all levels - the clubs who pay them money they have not got get exactly what they deserve. You have got to run a football club according to the money you have coming in and if that means playing in a lower league then so be it.
Have now gone into administration, have pulled out of the Unibond and applied for the Northern League Division 2
Does that mean ??:cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
I dont think it’s as simple as that…i think it may be the best-placed relegated team across Step 7(?) that wins a reprieve…
:unsure:
Robbo_ wrote:
[quote]I dont think it’s as simple as that…i think it may be the best-placed relegated team across Step 7(?) that wins a reprieve…
:unsure:[/quote]
if this was the case then who would replace blue star in the prem?
I believe there is an FA meeting later today. We should find out our fate late afternoon.
Let’s hope we’re painting a Premier Division stadium tonight:)