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Jul 21

Financial Disparity

Republished, courtesy of the Halifax Courier:

“Halifax Town Chairman David Bosomworth believes non-league clubs are being given a raw deal by the football authorities in comparison to League Two teams.

Bosomworth is frustrated that clubs in the Conference receive less money than those in League Two, despite both being a national league. Conference clubs actually receive more money for winning their league, £75,000, than the winners of League Two, who only get £25,000. But League Two clubs are believed to receive around £650,000 from TV money and Premier League solidarity payments each year.

Conference Premier clubs, however, have reportedly been receiving £35,000 per season in solidarity payments from the Premier League. If a League Two game is broadcast live on TV, the home side are given £30,000 and the away side £10,000. Under the deal with BT Sport which expired this summer, for a Conference game, the home team got £7,000 and the away team £1,000.

“We’re in a national league,” said the Town Chairman. “Our first game was against Dover, we travelled to Torquay on a Tuesday night. “We did thousands of miles last season, which is exactly what a League Two club would be doing. “But they have almost £1m coming in through various grants and TV money. “We get an absolute pittance compared to that. “I would compare it to Halifax rugby club. “They could potentially earn something like £400,000 if they do really well this season – we’re on a tenth of that. “Our starting point is £40,000 and then you get some additional increments from sponsorship – it doesn’t cover our accommodation. “We have to have about 12 overnight stays in the season because you can’t have lads getting off a bus from a five hour six hour journey and go straight into a dressing room, put their kit on and go and play football. “You’ve got to be able to travel down. You can’t risk it with the motorways – one serious hold up and you’re not turning up for a game.”

Bosomworth admits the disparity is even greater at the elite level of the game, whose prosperity can still harm the finances of non-league clubs. He added: “If anyone looked at the non-league structure and the league structure, there is just so much money going in at the top. “Congratulations to everyone involved with that. “But they’ve got to recognise that the minute they did Monday night football it opened the floodgates. “Now it’s Friday night football, European football – it’s wall-to-wall.

“Nobody need move from the sofa in their living room, they can just stay at home in the warmth.””

Jul 20

Non League Magazine

Non-League

We managed to get a fantastic offer for our clients and contacts, with the soon to be launched, ‘The Non-League’ magazine.  This working with former County, Commercial Manager, Phil Brennan

An estimated 20,000+ copies will be distributed throughout the North West football hierarchy and interested parties from August 2015 via clubs, online sales and selected retailers.

We’ve seen the first copy which looks great and for a massive reduction in cost compared with the rates card, we think this is well worth a punt. We have negotiated every option to become less than half price!

There is a superb team of writers and photographers who will provide articles and images from all aspects of our area’s football teams.  The first edition has been prepared and is astoundingly good with ‘household’ name celebrities and big name supporters!  .

With attendances on the up at the majority of our non-league grounds, with more and more football fans turning to their local club for their football fix, the hunger for more information about grass roots football increases and The Non-League will be looking to satisfy that need.

It will hopefully be a limited edition copy of what will become a household publication in the football industry. We wish a fellow Stockport business every success.

Jun 20

Stockport Volleyball

On the volley

It seemed unacceptable with Stockport voted the happiest place to live in the North West, that we shouldn’t have a local club for the wonderful sport of volleyball.  I’ve grown to appreciate it in our many trips to Turkey with sister company, FC Sports Marketing LTD.

The neighbouring authorities in Greater Manchester all had representation, but our Borough was simply not on the map, yet.

What  better a place to launch a pastime that would create opportunities from grass-roots and pure amateurs to aspirations of joining the elite.  With no apology for plagiarism, I took the famous quote of Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, and adapted it for our territory, “Stockport has everything you need except a beach”.

Well here it is wait no longer, I bring you, Stockport Volleyball Club.

There’s nothing more to add, other than come and try out, for fun or fame, the joy is in both participation and winning with Stockport Volleyball – “The S’PORT”. See: www.stockportvolleyball.co.uk

May 10

Up and Down the Pyramid

So County have remained in its League – well that’s some saving grace of stability. I am not one of those fans that claims always to be ‘in the know’ but after several years of loss making we are believed to be getting closer to that holy grail of ‘break even’. The stark reality now and witnessed by my Company for sometime is that the elusive ‘White Knight’ is a prerequisite to sustainability in lower league football with a few exceptions.

Alan Lord had moved upstairs to be DOF. The grapevine suggests interested incumbents might include those from TNS, Halifax and Bermuda (the latter of ‘Feed The Goat fame’. Of course, someone with a track record of promotion at least to Conference Premier would be best fit. Even with re-ignition of school-based and community initiatives, better football and bigger crowds are a necessity. I fear for the long term patience of the phenomenally loyal Stockport County fan-base if improvements and guarantees aren’t forthcoming.

David Thomas, from Western Morning News has reported on the difficulties that Torquay United face as a result of losing league status. Tranmere Rovers will face some home truths now after a similar fate. Hyde United will move to supporter-owned. Just me picking a few examples, there are many more with uncertain futures.

Torquay United lost more than £500,000 after dropping out of the Football League in 2013-2014. The ‘Gulls’ latest balance sheet, shows that the Gulls had a deficit of £542,724 for the year ended June 30th 2014. That‘s double the previous year’s offset by an injection of £570,000 from transfer sales.

At the other end of the pyramid, promotion to the EPL will be worth £120M to both Watford and Bournemouth, according to leading football finance experts.

The novel penned by Author, Charles Dickens, for my interested level of football, as a fan, comes to mind “BLEAK HOUSE”.

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