The Lower League Week – Michael Knighton’s awful poetry

Blackburn – One of the clubs with ‘kind’ owners

FFP vs Kind, Selfless Owners

A survey sent around the national media this week suggests that Financial Fair Play rules could incentivise owners to leave the clubs they back. The tone of the reporting covers this as a crisis, but it should be a positive sign to see the Football League move away from the benefactor model, and hopefully put more pressure on redistributing money from the Premier League – there’s certainly enough to go around.

In fact, given that Cardiff, Blackburn and Coventry, amongst others, have been owned by speculators who’ve invested wages and fees the club can’t afford while in the Championship, in the apparent hope of reaching the ‘promised land’ and selling up for a profit, there’s an argument that it’s the right move, even without the Football League taking a greater share of the Premier League TV money.

Morally, given that Swansea and Blackpool have tried new things in the Football League, went up and brought a fresh attitude to the Premier League; Rodgers, di Matteo and Martinez are among the managers to have learned their craft in the Football League; and key talents like Gareth Bale and Joe Hart got their start lower than the Premier League, the moral case that the Football League contributes to the Premier League’s entertainment value and therefore economic success is undeniable.

Unfortunately, the political case will probably be harder, with the Premier League likely to continue their ‘we don’t want to and we don’t have to, so we won’t’ attitude.

Trust the Supporters

There’s been a proposal discussed this week to make it a requirement to consider bids from supporters’ trusts, and possibly waive a points deduction on exiting administration if the fans have taken charge.

The last part seems to have been inspired by Luton Town, who were mismanaged by owners who didn’t have the club’s best interests at heart, then deducted 30 points because of that deliberate mismanagement when the supporters took over. Another idea is a legal ‘right to observe’ – for a supporters’ trust representative to attend any board meetings held by the club.

All of this is only a suggestion of the Labour Party’s co-op group, so is a long way from even becoming party policy, never mind law. But it’s good to see someone with some small amount of authority take these issues seriously.

Football League Admit to Serious Errors

That seems like a pretty smooth place to segue into discussion of Coventry City. This week the Football League admitted to ‘serious errors’ over past handling of Coventry City’s finances, allowing them to keep the ‘golden share’ and the players’ registrations in separate companies.

While I’m no financial expert, my understanding of the mess is that the ‘golden share’ was registered to Limited, the players to Holdings. The recent stories that the club were about to go bust centred on national media misunderstanding of Limited, which is the company that was in administration.

The fact that only Limited were in administration and up for sale meant that potential buyers wouldn’t know exactly what they were bidding for.

Insolvency practitioner Alan Limb has said that

“Had all the assets including players been in the company for which Paul Appleton was administrator (CCFC Ltd), the outcome could have been very different because he would have had the ability to sell the club as a whole.

“It raises questions as to whether people might have been prepared to bid for all of those assets at a price the administrator could accept.”

One of the bidders, Michael Byng, expressed the same worry. In theory, with the club in administration, the owners weren’t in control of the fate of the football club. This is rarely the case, with administrators often being unduly loyal to the people who appointed them, but it seems the deck was stacked even more in this case. It seems bizarrely possible that had the administrators sold Limited to another buyer, SISU would still own the players’ registrations and all that goes with that.

Of course, that c*ck-up, one that’s a little technical and difficult to wrap the mind around, doesn’t explain why Coventry were allowed to move so far away from the city.

Justifying this, Football League chairman Greg Clarke has said that he “feared for Coventry” and that “We sailed so close to the edge with Coventry City there were times I thought there’d be no Coventry City.” In a different interview he’s said that “Sisu Capital have the assets to run this football club for as long as they want to. They are not short of money,” so presumably by ‘close to the edge’ Clarke means close to the opening of the season.

Three divisions lower, Farnborough were prevented by the governing body from playing their opening fixture, as they were too busy whackily renaming their players and redesigning their kit to carry out all the requirements laid down for acceptance. (But apparently the fault for this lies at the door of the ‘Conference Fun Police’.)

If worst came to worst, it seems to me that the Football League could have done the same, pushing back the Sky Blues’ start to the season until an acceptable deal to keep the club in the city was reached. Apparently starting on time was considered to be more important than starting in the right city.

Coventry’s Serious Successes

Coventry fans have a message for the rest

While things have been poor off the pitch, on the pitch it’s been an excellent week for Coventry.

Though it’s not quite as shocking as the 5-4 victory over Bristol City last week, Coventry went 3-0 up by half time for the second time in seven days. The uncontested nature of the first half continued after the break, when Kevin Feely stumbled over the ball, which moved about half a foot away from his feet, allowing Leon Clarke to race through and complete the scoring.

While it’s an impressive week for Coventry, Carlisle’s league start has been unbelievably poor, as clearly audible booing when the second goal went in makes clear. In their three games, they’ve lost by four goals to Leyton Orient, Bradford and Coventry… even though they have knocked Blackburn out of the League Cup.

In Lee Miller, Carlisle have an outstanding centre forward, and a few more talented players, Liam Noble and Matty Robson amongst them. They’re not as inept as their results suggest.

Carlisle had to make cuts during the summer, reducing the budget from £4m to £3.5m. Abbott’s understanding of finances may be what’s keeping him in the job. Managing Director John Nixon had previously said that Abbott “has a greater understanding of the money side of football, and the budgeting side, than any of the previous managers I’ve worked with at this club since 2006.”

He’ll need to start turning results around soon, regardless of how well he balances the accounts.

It Could Be Worse…

Although Carlisle fans aren’t the happiest at the moment, things could be much worse. A bit of media spotlight was focused this week on their former chairman Michael Knighton, the egomaniacal and financially incompetent boogeyman that just about every Football League team seems to have an equivalent of in their semi-recent past.

For those who aren’t aware, in 1997-98 Knighton sacked promotion winning manager Mervyn Day six games into the season and appointed himself as manager. The side were relegated, sold several key players for knock-down fees, and were fourth from bottom of the Football League in December of the following year when Knighton stepped aside as manager - this was the year Carlisle needed Jimmy Glass to keep them up.

Around this time, he tried to avoid paying money his companies owed in taxes, probably ran the club while being disqualified from acting as a director, and almost sold the club to a barman in an Indian restaurant, who at the time was living in an old folks home.

Anyway, this…character is now publishing a book of his own poetry, including the following:

“Did you know that man came from a serpent’s tooth?

“Don’t look aghast I swear it’s the real gospel truth.

“I heard it first from Jacob’s Mother – the biblical Ruth.”

That’s from Selected Poems Volume I – Volume II is due out in May. You can also buy a book of his selected artworks in January if you’re highly committed to the concept of irony, or visit his blog,where recent topics have included ‘China Will Win the World Cup’ and ‘Take me to a Haven – So Long as it’s a Tax Haven!’

Sadly, I’m not making any of this up.

Shrewsbury v Swindon Town

At the weekend Shrewsbury players robbed Swindon defenders on three separate occasions on their way to a 2-0 victory, suggesting that Swindon’s fire sales have led to some sloppy attitudes among the playing squad.

It was caretaker manager Mark Cooper’s third league game in charge, winning one of the three – there seems to be a sense of anti-climax rather than enthusiasm or anger when he was appointed as permanent boss during the week.

Cooper’s record is strangely mixed. At Darlington, for example, the side that he led to FA Trophy success but lingered in the bottom half of the Conference until a late run of form, were reported to be one of the more expensive sides in the division. The bad form resumed at the beginning of next season, resulting in his sacking, the chairman withdrawing his backing and the death of that incarnation of Darlington.

His first job at Tamworth was similarly cup-focused, reaching the 3^rd round of the FA Cup in successive seasons with the Conference side, but only survived relegation because of Canvey Island’s resignation from the league. His record at Peterborough was plain bad, winning one from 13 in the Championship before being sacked.

However, he won the Conference North in his first season with Kettering Town, and had them challenging for promotion again in his third season, when he walked out for Peterborough. There does seem to be something to Cooper as a manager, but there may be a flaw in his management methods, which has generally prevented him from achieving the kind of consistency in the league which Swindon will need more than anything else.

This Week’s Transfer News

Nile Ranger makes his move, after making a case

Nile Ranger has moved to Swindon, who’ve signed up the former Newcastle man even before a new manager’s appointed. Ranger has been given the number nine shirt, despite his unproven nature (four goals in 65 games by the age of 22), an upcoming rape case, and being an outside bet for the next Celebrity Big Brother.

In more conventional transfer news, Fleetwood’s Steven Gillespie has returned to Cheltenham on loan, five years after leaving. Gillespie, who was transfer-listed in May, has always been an eye-catchingly creative player, and seems to have been brought in as a direct, if stylistically different, replacement for the injured Jamie Cureton.

Meanwhile, the new Scunthorpe chairman Peter Swann has hinted that Brian Laws will be allowed to spend the sell-on fee the club have recieived from Gary Hooper’s move to Norwich, estimated to be around £500,000. Though it’s getting late in the transfer window now, even a quarter of that would be enough to significantly strengthen a League Two side.

The Kitman Runneth

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably worked a few jobs that start with a probationary period of a few months, just to check things work out. Oldham’s kit man was on one such contract… but this week crashed the club minibus, managing to hit three players’ cars at once.

For whatever reason, he decided not to stand his ground and apparently disappeared, not to be seen again.

Given that one of the cars belongs to the son of Brendan Rogers, Liverpool probably won’t be the next place he applies to…

Stanley to Make Do Without Heys

A decision has been made on the gambling charge laid against Accrington Managing Director Rob Heys – he’s been banned from working within football for 21 months, effectively until the end of next season. Given that he’s been with the club for 11 years since the reborn side were in the UniBond League, Stanley will be forced into the uncomfortable position of replacing a long-serving employee.

Unlike the Rangers player Ian Black, there doesn’t seem to be any accusation that he tried to create a negative result for his own side, though he did gamble against Accrington as part of accumulator bets.

But given that four Accrington players were convicted of throwing a match just five years ago, Stanley should have been working to make sure the club avoids even the appearance of scandal, with Heys himself among those most responsible for managing the club’s reputation.

It’s a shame that a long-serving employee will effectively lose his job for a bit of bad judgment that didn’t actually harm anyone, but the inability to make these sorts of bets is one of the conditions of being involved in professional football, and an experienced administrator like Heys should have known this.

Bobby Moore, Leyton Orient Legend

One of the minor pleasures of away days is scanning through the home team’s programme to get a sense of how well the opposing club knows your current team and your history. Leyton Orient fans travelling to Stevenage at the weekend will have been surprised to see a feature on “former Leyton Orient favourite” Bobby Moore, who never represented the club.

Yes, Stevenage somehow managed to devote an entire feature to Orient ‘legend’ Bobby Moore, without checking that he actually played for them. He did attend secondary school in Leyton, so you can understand… no, you can’t, really.

I’ve been giving this a bit more thought than I should. You can imagine the writer, having pitched the article idea to his editor, writing up the big moments of Moore’s career – winning the World Cup, that tackle on Pele, Escape to Victory, so on. Most of it’s so well-known that any English football fan could reel through it from memory.

But surely the writer would look on the internet, to find out if there’s any colourful stories from his time at the club they’re convinced he played for. I can only assume that a desk somewhere had a series of forehead marks struck into it the day after deadline.

Oh, and this isn’t what Stevenage’s £4 cheesy chips look like; though the picture was spreading over the weekend, the club took to twitter on Monday to refute the accuracy of the meme.

They’ve not yet commented on whether or not cats can have cheesy chips.