Goodness knows how many English non-league football clubs are in serious financial difficulty - but few can find themselves in a worse position than Ilkeston Town, of Conference North.
Ilkeston are one of many clubs who have been financed by a wealthy benefactor, and are now paying the price. In their case the benefactor was Chek Whyte. Whyte made his fortune in the construction industry, but a year ago he was declared bankrupt with debts of over £30 million. At that stage his financial support for the club dried up. Their commitments, however, continued, and for the last twelve months the new owners have been trying to clean up the mess that Whyte left behind.
As so often in these cases, one of the major creditors was HMRC: Ilkeston are currently facing a winding-up petition for unpaid taxes. It gets worse.
The club is under a transfer embargo, meaning it can't recruit any new players - they aren't just prevented from buying players, they can't even offer contracts to unattached players, though they are allowed a squad of 16 professionals, enough for a starting XI and full bench of substitutes.
It gets worse, again.
Now they are seriously hit by injuries. For their most recent game -against Gainsborough Trinity, on Monday,
Ilkeston were able to name only one substitute; two of their stating eleven were carrying injuries and, under normal circumstances, would not have played. One of those - the club's best player, Amari Morgan-Smith,
was unable to play in the second half. Gainsborough won the game, 5-2; they had won only one of their other five games played so far this season.
On Saturday, Ilkeston play at home to Eastwood Town, who haven't started the season well with just one won and five defeats so far. All those six teams are currently in the top ten, and they have a 17-6-6 record in their other games this season. Eastwood's most recent game was at Boston,where they lost 1-0 but gave a very good account of themselves.
I've already placed a bet with Skybet on Eastwood, at 6/4; best odds now available are 11/8, from Corals.
*I'd previously placed a bet on the game mentioned in my previous post: Concord Rangers to win at Croydon Athletic, 10/3 with Skybet; that price was cut and the best price remaining is now 3/1, with Corals.
Bets will be recommended on a scale of 1-10 points, so recommended bets so far for this weekend are:
Eastwood to beat Ilkeston, 6 points at 11/8;
Concord Rangers to beat Croydon Athletic, 5 points at 3/1;
Both with Corals
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