It Could Happen To Your Club

It has been troubling news this week for Darlington FC.  The club under administration is facing certain doom of folding after 129 years.  The remaining players and staff were let go and the gates locked.  How could this happen?  Bad financial management, and waiting until it is too late to do anything about it.

The fans will ultimately suffer.  Hopefully the players and staff can move on, but being unemployed in this uncertain economic times could see the end of their careers in the football business.  The  firms that the club has debt too could also never see a return on their investments.  

129 years, I keep saying that in my head over and over.  That is over a century old. Instantly you think institution, bedrock of stability.  Could that happen to Man City?  Maybe, maybe not.  We cannot tell the future, if we could Darlington FC may have had better luck.  The turmoil in the boardrooms of cut costs, increase profits and ambitious plans of top flight football can probably take down more clubs. How many clubs have we seen drop into obscurity because of bad financial management?  So many I need more fingers to count with.  

Football in England is theoretically tiered so that any club that keeps winning leagues can make it all the way to the top, but in reality that would never happen.  The reality is you need steady income, increasing profit to spend to get there.   Darlington have a huge stadium for a club playing in Conference National and that is ambitious enough for a club that was hanging in the Football League 1 and 2 for some years.  

I want them to survive. The upper crust of football should want them to survive. It's never easy to see people lose their jobs.  That is what it boils down to.  How many people relied on the club being there to make a living.  Manchester City have money now, but what if that all were to go away.  They certainly would have to offload contracts with players, cut out services that fans are now enjoying.  The club could get deducted points like Darlington did and be subject to falling down the football ladder.  

 The hope is that the clubs are honest with the fans, but how much do we really know.  I am sure the fans in Darlington thought things would work out. I know they are gutted and hopeful that things turn around fast and hopefully something positive does happen.  

Please help support Darlington FC:     http://darlo.georgi.co.uk/