Archived News from June 2011
|
RUSHDEN EXPELLED FROM BSP / SFU ON MTFC BUDGET
|
 |
|
Official Statement from the Football Conference
footballconference.co.uk, 11th June 2011 At today's Annual General Meeting of the Football Conference Limited, the member clubs unanimously approved the Constitution of the Competition. http://www.footballconference.co.uk/news/details.php?news_id=4773 This followed the unanimous decision of the Board to expel Rushden & Diamonds FC from the Football Conference under Article 5.2 of its Articles of Association. The club had admitted various breaches of the Rules of the Football Conference, including not paying numerous football creditors, failing to respond to correspondence and failing to comply with instructions from the Board regarding its debts and its plans for the future. Based on information provided by the club, it is clear that it has significant financial problems. Among other things, it owes several hundred thousand pounds to creditors, including substantial sums to football creditors and HM Revenue & Customs and in a few days time, faces the hearing of a winding-up petition supported by HMRC. The Board explored matters fully with the club and its representatives in an attempt to resolve issues satisfactorily for the Football Conference and the club and to ensure payment of creditors. The club was given until the last possible moment to make proper arrangements to pay the most pressing of creditors, namely those supporting the winding-up petition and football creditors (understood to be approximately £350,000), but it has not done so. The Board has no confidence in the club's ability to pay its creditors or as to its ongoing viability or its ability to meet its obligations in the forthcoming season, and in order to preserve the integrity of the Competition, it was with regret that the Board considered it had no alternative but to expel Rushden & Diamonds FC. The consequences of this decision for the Constitution are that Southport retain its membership of the Premier Division; Thurrock retains its membership of Conference South and Bishop's Stortford is transferred from Conference South to Conference North on a geographical basis. While Bishop's Stortford's transfer is far from ideal, it is simply the result of the relevant regulation governing such placement. ------------------ 11th June 2011 Meanwhile Stags director and former owner Steve Hymas confirmed on Stagsnet messageboard that the owner of Rushden & Diamonds (until March this year), a certain Mr Gary Calder, enquired about buying the Stags. Calder had previously been at Weymouth when they were in the mess. The Stags Directors at that time (Hymas, Andy Saunders and Steve Middleton) turned Calder down flat, because they knew his history. John Radford bought the club soon afterwards. So it could have been us today, had the decision been different at that time ... --------------------- 11 June 2011, Stagsnet messageboard I have just returned from a very interesting Conference AGM. It was a big shock when it was announced that Rushden & Diamonds had been expelled from the League. This decision was taken by the Conference Board who have the power to expel teams by a unanimous vote. However, Rushden & Diamonds do have a right of appeal to the FA. I do feel sorry for their fans and manager, Justin Edinburgh. Hopefully, they can do a Wimbledon, Chester, Halifax, Scarborough and Ilkeston by reforming in a lower league e.g. Southern League. Thank God we have John Radford or the Stags would probably be in a similar situation. The majority of teams in the Conference lose serious amounts of money each season just like Football League and Premier League teams. The only way to try and stop this is by the relevant league having a financial limit that clubs can spend on players each season but we all know this is difficult to police. Bishop Stortsford were understandably very unhappy about being moved into Conference North but the Conference rules are clear on this matter and it is one of the geographical problems that is thrown up every year by having regional leagues in non-league. Gloucester and Histon are also in Conference North. Darren Shaw Stags Fans United ---------------- Rushden Expelled From The Football Conference June 11, 2011 http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=13242 The non-league football AGM cup had been eagerly awaited, but the early results have still come as a bit of a shock. Rushden & Diamonds were expelled from the Football Conference this morning, a decision that will have ramifications throughout the non-league game. Southport, who finished in fourth from bottom place in the league and were to be relegated into the Blue Square North for next season, will be reprieved and Hertfordshire club Bishops Stortford, in one of those quirks that is always possible in a regional system, seem likely to be shifted into the Blue Square North. Amongst the round trips that they will face next season will include a six hundred mile round-trip to Workington and a five hundred and fifty mile round-trip to play Blyth Spartans. We have reported on the problems at Rushden on this site before, of course. The arrival of Gary Calder (formerly of Hornchurch and Weymouth, hardly a Curriculum Vitae to inspire a great deal of confidence) with the father and son Beasant duo in December of last year brought considerable problems for the club, and a familiar argot of phrases – players unpaid, transfer embargo, HMRC, winding-up order, creditors meeting – has come to encircle the club over the last six months or so, culminating in a farcical meeting which only seemed to exacerbate the tensions that had built up between the club and its creditors. Meanwhile, the supporters had been active, attempting to raise £250,000 in order to be able to put together a CVA to save the club. Twitter and Facebook campaigns had been set up in order to faciliate this, but the question that they now face is whether it is worth continuing with this. The club has a Winding Up Order hearing at the High Court on Monday – how likely is it at this stage that administration can be entered into by the time of the hearing? The alternative – to seek an adjournment at the hearing – seems considerably less likely to be granted than it might otherwise have been had they been guaranteed Blue Square Premier football next season. The courts have been lenient in the past with this sort of hearing (long-time readers may well recall the almost farcical sixty-three day adjournment that Plymouth Argyle were awarded at the end of last season), but such uncertainty only seems likely to make the granting of an adjournment less likely. If we define insolvency as being “unable to meet day-to-day financial obligations as and when they fall due”, then Rushden & Diamonds certainly seem to fit the bill. It is understood that the expulsion of another club was discussed at the Football Conference's AGM this morning, but that this club has been reprieved for the time being. At the time of writing, however (and in the best interests of not wishing to induce panic elsewhere, it is probably for the best not to name the other club at this time), only Rushden & Diamonds' fate is sealed, and they will start next season – if they start at all – in the Southern League Premier Division. We should also bear in mind the knock-on effects that this news brings with it for others. As already mentioned, the effects of playing in the Blue Square North could be ruinous for Bishops Stortford. Travel costs will be immense, and there is also the small matter of how difficult it may be to attract players when so many away matches involve the sort of epic journeys that they will face next season. To this extent, Bishop's Stortford are innocent victims of the mismanagement of another club. Regionalisation was always likely to produce this sort of anomaly, so it is worth asking the question of whether Stortford will be recompensed by anybody for the difficulties that they may face next season through no fault of their own. The decent thing to do would be for somebody in a position of authority – be that the Football Conference, their sponsors, or whoever – to make an ex-gratia payment to the club in order to cover anticipated losses. We shall have to wait and see whether such a scenario plays out, but it seems fair to say that Bishops Stortford have been pushed into a position of effectively having all of the drawbacks of national football with none of the benefits that it brings. It is to be hoped that they are helped out, should they need to be. Meanwhile, it is only appropriate that we should take a moment to pass our sympathies to the other innocent party that has been so hurt by the maladministration of Rushden & Diamonds FC – the supporters of the club itself. They should remember that, no matter what the outcome of the court hearing is on Monday, resurrecting their club can still happen, and that if this is the eventuality that they have to resort to, there is every chance that they will be able to build themselves a football club that says “never again” to the madness of the second half of their season this year. In the meantime, the future of Rushden & Diamonds FC will be played out at the High Court on Monday. It is a crushingly familiar act of deja vu. Follow Twohundredpercent on Twitter here. ----------------- SFU ON MTFC BUDGET Stagsnet messageboard, 11 Jun 2011 It has been clearly stated by John Radford in the media that the budget is £600,000 but could increase up to £2,000,000 if the club can recover the ground. In the meantime, £600,000 is a competitive budget and Paul Cox thinks he can get us in the top 5 with this budget. I spoke to Eric Samuelson of AFC Wimbledon at the Conference AGM today and he confirmed that AFC Wimbledon's budget at the start of the season was £450,000. It did increase to around £550,000 by the end of the season when they made a few additional signings and brought in a few loan players. They then had promotion bonuses to pay which took the overall budget to around £600,000. However, I do think that Terry Brown is a bit of a football genius. Darren Stags Fans United --------- |
Latest | June 2011