Last night Luton Town won their FA Cup game against Notts Forest and so their players are expected to receive some of the money they are owed. However it is still likely that the club will stay it very difficult even to stay in administration.
Ron Liddle summed up their predicament in the Sunday Times.
Luton’s collapse has been both spectacular and catastrophic - a catalogue of quite the most epic maladministration uncovered by a whistle-blowing manager who is now suing them for three million quid.
Luton are not alone. This website has reported on several other clubs who might not be around in their present form much longer.
Liddle summed it up.
Within the past two weeks four more clubs - two from the Championship, two from League One – have announced administration is about the best they can look forward to. Cardiff City, FA Cup winners in 1927 and more recently winners of the annual ‘Who’ll Get Peter Ridsdale As Chief Executive’ Trophy, is hamstrung by a court case against Swiss creditors which, if they lose, will send them into administration. Coventry will find out (today) if it’s administration for them, with debts of £38m. In the Championship, the relegation battle could be decided by early January. It’s no different in League One. Aside from Luton, two other clubs are embracing enforced relegation or annihilation. Bournemouth have debts of £4m and reportedly cannot afford to sack the manager Kevin Bond; they will find out next week if administration is the answer. Swindon may well pass administration and simply evaporate; they have been in administration twice before and so, according to the rules, it’s not an option. In Swindon’s case the problem is another failed takeover bid. The club is for sale for £1.
A spokesperson for the Football League told Liddle that it was pointless that clubs like Cardiff and Coventry should dream about being in the Premiership. It's unrealistic they say.
Yet Cardiff, with a £24m lawsuit hanging over them and still paying Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler a total of £30,000 every week.
Liddle finishes his article with this thought.
The clubs which are being choked out of existence by the exorbitant wages paid in the Premier League are the clubs that provide our national players. The 72 lower league clubs are the lifeblood of the English game; if there is not a more equitable redistribution of income and some sort of control on wages, more and more will go to the wall.
One of the responses to the article came from a Barnet supporter.
I follow my local team Barnet, a prime example of how money is made at the top and stays there. Although the Bees have a fantastic chairman who personally bankrolls the club, and it has recently been granted long-awaited permission to redevelop Underhill, it is still in need of finance to survive. In order to break even Barnet needs crowds of 3000 but on a good weekend attracts a total of 2200.
Money needs to filter down, but a start would be from Leeds United, who still owe Barnet £200,000 for the 'purchase' of Tresor Kandol. It also lost players in the summer because the club were unable to give them long term contracts, with some going for vastly cut prices. The sooner the FA realises that there is teams struggling financially at the other end of the 92 the game will be all the better for its attention.
Dan Raywood, London,
Liddle's article is on the Times on-line website.
Text at top (next game etc)
Next Game: Scarborough In The League At Edgar Street On Tuesday 19th November At 7.45pm