Lots of rejoicing today at Wrexham, where the Supporters Trust has announced that it is ready to buy the club.
This has, a little prematurely, been interpreted by most Wrexham fans to mean that the WST has bought the club; and suddenly, everything in the garden is rosy.
Colin Poole's interest in the club has ended, a turn of events probably not unconnected with a visit to Poole's country house by some Wrexham fans. You'd call that, I suppose, "Direct Action;" all' I should point out, entirely legal. Poole's wife Michelle didn't do herself, or her husband, any favours with her reference to Stephanie Booth as "That man-woman thing," let alone her "I said you should bankrupt them, Colin" remark.
Wrexham fans are delighted with the latest turn of events, but I would urge caution.
Leaving aside the fact that nothing has yet been finalised, there is the question of what the WST will do should it gain control of the club in the next couple of weeks.
First, there's the question of the Racecourse Ground itself. Will they take it over? And if so, when?
And then, there's the club's recent history of loss-making. The fans' perception that, following Tuesday's news, gates will soar, seems to me to be remarkably optimistic; should the WST have the long-term interests of the club at heart (which they clearly do) and should they act to bring costs under control, the team probably wouldn't compete for promotion from the BSP in 2011-12. I hope the rank and file supporters - by no means all of them WST members - will understand.
****
I'd promised to write something about Burscough, but nothing much seems to have happened there since last week. To summarise what has happened over the past year or so: Burscough started last season in the Northern Premier League, Premier Division; they were bankrolled largely by a single owner, Chris Lloyd. He fell ill last season, and was unable to continue financing the club; he eventually sold out to a property development firm, Chequer Properties.
Chris Lloyd died earlier this year.
Just after the end of the season, Chequer Properties fired the club's chairman and secretary (i.e. two different people) and agreed with the NPL for Burscough to groundshare next season at Skelmersdale - whose ground Chequer also own.
Burscough fans were outraged; now they are considering forming a rebel club.
Quite what this would mean for the current Burscough FC is unclear. They finished in a relegation place in the NPL in 2010-11, but have been offered a reprieve because of the closure of Ilkeston Town. I simply don't know what Burscough FC will do next season; it seems likely to me that they won't play in the NPL in 2011-12, but we could well have a situation akin to that of Bromsgrove Rovers last season.
In that case it became clear towards the end of the season that Rovers would not be able to compete in 2010-11; supporters formed their own club, hoping to take over at Bromsgrove Rovers when it closed and carrying on at step 4 in 2010-11. Rovers didn't close, but said they would play at step 4, even playing some pre-season friendlies; but they never even started the season, leaving the Southern League South & West Division with just 21 clubs. The new club, Bromsgrove Sporting, had to start in the Midland Combination, Division Two - at step 8.
There's another case of a 'rebel' club, and it's always trotted out when the issue arises elsewhere. Enfield were one of the country's most successful non-league clubs - winners of the Conference a couple of times, including in the last season before automatic promotion to the Football League was brought in - but they fell into the hands of an owner who appeared not to have the interests of the club at heart. A rebel club, Enfield Town, was formed while the old one still existed; the old Enfield struggled, went into liquidation and reformed, as Enfield 1983.
The two clubs shared a ground in the season just finished; but Enfield Town now have a new ground - and they have left, taking temporary stands they had built and paid for with them. Meaning that Enfield 1983, who won the Essex Senior League last season, now have to pass a post -season ground grading to allow them to take up their place at step 4 next season.
It's all been very rancorous, and it's all so unnecessary.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Back!
Well, it's been a while - but I'm back, with the blog now retitled. Has much changed since February?
Yes.
And No.
Towards the end of the previous post there was a reference to Wrexham, saying that they had been taken over. It appeared to be true at the time I wrote it . . . but in Wrexham, even more than in the rest of Nonleagueland, things are never quite straightforward.
The people fronting the takeover were Rob Bickerton, Tony Allan and Jon Harris, who had previously been connected with Macclesfield, Chester City ans Shrewsbury, respectively. Chester City - now just Chester - are Wrexham's nearest and bitterest rivals, and their name is forever connected with that of their former chairman, Stephen Vaughan.
Bickerton, Allan and Harris were the public face of an investment vehicle, Van Morton Investments, but they didn't know who the people behind VMI were, having been put in contact with them by Geoff Moss and Ian Roberts, the current owners of Wrexham. Vaughan then admitted that he had been part of a team making a bid for the club.
Vaughan has a background in professional sport, including spells with Barrow and Chester City
and it's not difficult to see why fans of Wrexham - or anyone else - wouldn't want him anywhere near their club.
There were other bids, too. One came from local hotelier Stephanie Booth, who largely communicated with the fans through a dedicated facebook page. It emerged quite early on that she was subject to a disqualification from acting as a director, something that a member of Wrexham's fans' message board, red passion, raised on facebook - much to Ms Booth's annoyance. She does seem to get annoyed quite easily - I was left with the impression that she had no understanding whatever of the relationship between a football club and its fans.
The other bid came from Steven Cleeve, another businessman with a past. Goodness knows why Wrexham attracts such oddballs and ne'er do-wells.
But there were more to come. It emerged that one of the people involved in the VMI bid was "controversial businessman" Colin Poole. Poole knew Jon Harris from Shrewsbury Town; he is subject to a directorship ban, too - it will expire in 2008 - following his involvement with the ambulance-chasing firm, Claims Direct; and last week it was announced that he had been struck off as a solicitor.
The directorship ban means that Poole - who still owns just over 5% of the shares in Shrewsbury Town - can't have an active role in running any sort of company.
This week, Geoff Moss announced that the new owner of Wrexham FC was to be Jon Harris, and it was acknowledged that Poole had given some advice during the takeover talks. Where the money to back the bid - or cover Wrexham's debts - came from is not clear, but Wrexham fans fear the worst.
While all this was going on, Wrexham managed to swat away a winding-up petition from HMRC, to whom the club owed something like £200,000. That amount was raised through a mixture of donations and loans, mostly, I understand, interest-free. The petition was to have been heard on May 11th, just after the second leg of Wrexham's play-off semi-final; they hadn't secured their place in the play-offs at the time the petition was served and the whole issue set the Football Conference into a panic - I guess that their rules didn't cover the possibility of a club being in the play-offs while being under the threat of being wound up, something that I am sure they will change at their next AGM.
The solution that the Conference found was to insist that Wrexham paid off the whole of the debt before their last match in the regular season, which they managed to do.
So, what now?
Well, the sale of Wrexham - but not the Racecourse Ground - to Jon Harris hasn't yet been finalised. It's caught the attention of local MP Ian Lucas, who may refer it to the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, citing the background of Colin Poole.
There's much discussion about it on the Wrexham fan's messageboard, red passion which is a terrific read. It reminds me of the Labour Party in the 1970s and 1980s - lots of people shouting at each other and being rude about "the party opposite" but, if you look closely enough, you'll see that they all care deeply about their club. The Wrexham Supporters Trust (WST) play the role of the Parliamentary Labour Party, finding themselves on the end of all sorts of invective, most of it unfair. The WST was set up with the specific purpose of buying equity in the football club. They are a properly-constituted body, with their own rules; they have been not so much courted as flirted with by all the potential club buyers. The Harris team have said that they will offer the WST 25% of the shares in the club. At a price, obviously. And I'd guess that that price will be more than the £1 that Harris paid for the club.
They have had a meeting with Supporters Direct, discussing issues surrounding a club run by its fans. Some have, wrongly, interpreted this as a "phoenix" club; it isn't. A phoenix club is one formed out of the ashes of a failed club - like AFC Telford Utd. Some, I believe, are thinking about forming a rebel club - something like Bromsgrove Sporting, or Burscough; I'll discuss Burscough in the next couple of days.
The takeover has been cautiously welcomed by Wrexham manager Dean Saunders, and he has taken some stick from red passion as a result - though he could be forgiven for not saying "I don't like the look of this lot! I'm offski!"
Take a look, though, at this photo from the press conference where Saunders made his remarks. Jon Harris is on the left, and Geoff Moss in the middle.
I can't help but be struck by Dean Saunders' facial expression - he doesn't exactly look fired with enthusiasm. Add to that the fact that he is sitting a little way away from the other two - and close to the door . . .
I'm sure I'll return to the subject of Wrexham before too long!
Yes.
And No.
Towards the end of the previous post there was a reference to Wrexham, saying that they had been taken over. It appeared to be true at the time I wrote it . . . but in Wrexham, even more than in the rest of Nonleagueland, things are never quite straightforward.
The people fronting the takeover were Rob Bickerton, Tony Allan and Jon Harris, who had previously been connected with Macclesfield, Chester City ans Shrewsbury, respectively. Chester City - now just Chester - are Wrexham's nearest and bitterest rivals, and their name is forever connected with that of their former chairman, Stephen Vaughan.
Bickerton, Allan and Harris were the public face of an investment vehicle, Van Morton Investments, but they didn't know who the people behind VMI were, having been put in contact with them by Geoff Moss and Ian Roberts, the current owners of Wrexham. Vaughan then admitted that he had been part of a team making a bid for the club.
Vaughan has a background in professional sport, including spells with Barrow and Chester City
and it's not difficult to see why fans of Wrexham - or anyone else - wouldn't want him anywhere near their club.
There were other bids, too. One came from local hotelier Stephanie Booth, who largely communicated with the fans through a dedicated facebook page. It emerged quite early on that she was subject to a disqualification from acting as a director, something that a member of Wrexham's fans' message board, red passion, raised on facebook - much to Ms Booth's annoyance. She does seem to get annoyed quite easily - I was left with the impression that she had no understanding whatever of the relationship between a football club and its fans.
The other bid came from Steven Cleeve, another businessman with a past. Goodness knows why Wrexham attracts such oddballs and ne'er do-wells.
But there were more to come. It emerged that one of the people involved in the VMI bid was "controversial businessman" Colin Poole. Poole knew Jon Harris from Shrewsbury Town; he is subject to a directorship ban, too - it will expire in 2008 - following his involvement with the ambulance-chasing firm, Claims Direct; and last week it was announced that he had been struck off as a solicitor.
The directorship ban means that Poole - who still owns just over 5% of the shares in Shrewsbury Town - can't have an active role in running any sort of company.
This week, Geoff Moss announced that the new owner of Wrexham FC was to be Jon Harris, and it was acknowledged that Poole had given some advice during the takeover talks. Where the money to back the bid - or cover Wrexham's debts - came from is not clear, but Wrexham fans fear the worst.
While all this was going on, Wrexham managed to swat away a winding-up petition from HMRC, to whom the club owed something like £200,000. That amount was raised through a mixture of donations and loans, mostly, I understand, interest-free. The petition was to have been heard on May 11th, just after the second leg of Wrexham's play-off semi-final; they hadn't secured their place in the play-offs at the time the petition was served and the whole issue set the Football Conference into a panic - I guess that their rules didn't cover the possibility of a club being in the play-offs while being under the threat of being wound up, something that I am sure they will change at their next AGM.
The solution that the Conference found was to insist that Wrexham paid off the whole of the debt before their last match in the regular season, which they managed to do.
So, what now?
Well, the sale of Wrexham - but not the Racecourse Ground - to Jon Harris hasn't yet been finalised. It's caught the attention of local MP Ian Lucas, who may refer it to the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, citing the background of Colin Poole.
There's much discussion about it on the Wrexham fan's messageboard, red passion which is a terrific read. It reminds me of the Labour Party in the 1970s and 1980s - lots of people shouting at each other and being rude about "the party opposite" but, if you look closely enough, you'll see that they all care deeply about their club. The Wrexham Supporters Trust (WST) play the role of the Parliamentary Labour Party, finding themselves on the end of all sorts of invective, most of it unfair. The WST was set up with the specific purpose of buying equity in the football club. They are a properly-constituted body, with their own rules; they have been not so much courted as flirted with by all the potential club buyers. The Harris team have said that they will offer the WST 25% of the shares in the club. At a price, obviously. And I'd guess that that price will be more than the £1 that Harris paid for the club.
They have had a meeting with Supporters Direct, discussing issues surrounding a club run by its fans. Some have, wrongly, interpreted this as a "phoenix" club; it isn't. A phoenix club is one formed out of the ashes of a failed club - like AFC Telford Utd. Some, I believe, are thinking about forming a rebel club - something like Bromsgrove Sporting, or Burscough; I'll discuss Burscough in the next couple of days.
The takeover has been cautiously welcomed by Wrexham manager Dean Saunders, and he has taken some stick from red passion as a result - though he could be forgiven for not saying "I don't like the look of this lot! I'm offski!"
Take a look, though, at this photo from the press conference where Saunders made his remarks. Jon Harris is on the left, and Geoff Moss in the middle.
I can't help but be struck by Dean Saunders' facial expression - he doesn't exactly look fired with enthusiasm. Add to that the fact that he is sitting a little way away from the other two - and close to the door . . .
I'm sure I'll return to the subject of Wrexham before too long!
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