In Focus: Cash is king
The news that Ilkeston Town was wound down last week over a measly £50,000 shows that there’s not much time for sentiment in football. That’s what Wayne Rooney earns for something shy of three days work, after all. It also shows the fine line that the region’s football clubs tread the fine line between simply staying in business, and plunging headlong into the hands of the liquidators.
The blame game has been played out quite rapidly at Ilkeston, with the current owner blaming the previous owner. The previous owner’s name? Why, Chek Whyte, of course. And we’ll leave that line of investigation right there.
Over at Nottingham Forest, and Neil Doughty, the club’s benefactor, is getting miffed by reports that he refused to bankroll further signings this summer. Manager Billy Davies is telling all and sundry that he asked for players, but that Doughty wasn’t forthcoming with his chequebook. Doughty’s not standing for this, and has threatened to take his ball away.
Mansfield Town is up for sale after the owners’ admitted they’d taken the club as far as they can (as far as hosting a Westlife concert, then), and a decent start to the season has been overshadowed.
The continuing rumblings at Notts County about the ill-fated Munto Finance days make for squeamish reading on nearly a weekly basis, as Ray Trew and his team of forensic beavers uncover more and more financial horror stories.
Derby County currently sit in the bottom four of the Championship, and, as a source told me the other day, one of the reasons the current investors are sitting tight is because of the excellent TV revenue the club receives alongside ticket sales from its army of loyal fans. Will they dare sack a Clough family member if results don’t pick up?
And Leicester City has changed hands again. Or has it? Milan Mandaric has said he’s selling to a consortium of five Asian businesses, but the whole thing is about as clear as mud.
Where this leaves the East Midlands’ football clubs is open to conjecture. But if it can happen to Ilkeston Town who owed just fifty grand, then it can sure as heck happen to one of the bigger clubs in the region.
Doughty, for example, has invested £60m into Forest in shares and loans over the last decade. Last year alone he pumped £13.4m into the club – that’s more than twice as much as gate receipt money.
That’s a pretty eye-opening statistic, and you can almost understand Doughty’s displeasure at hearing his name chanted in vain every Saturday afternoon. But still, it’s also one that should leave every Forest fan wondering just how much he or she is relied upon these days.
Which all leaves the club pretty much dependent on one man, just to stand still. Twas perhaps ever thus, of course, as rich Chairman certainly aren’t a Premiership-era only thing. But is it a good thing? Ask the fans of Ilkeston Town.
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