A long interval since my last post.
I finished that by saying that nobody was happy at Rushden & Diamonds or Kettering Town. Rushden folded during the summer; Kettering moved into their home at Nene Park, and things haven't gone well. An ill-advised scheme to sell season tickets at a huge discount gave the club not very much money during the summer and has severely affected their cashflow as we approach winter; manager Morrell Maison departed; Mark Stimson came in; players started picking up red cards in huge numbers - including one each for JP Marna and Moses Ashikodi for fighting each other towards the end of a crushing home defeat to Bishops Stortford; eventually almost all the playing staff were made available for transfer.
That left punters expecting a massacre of Weymouth v Rushden proportions for this weekend's game against Grimsby - but in the event Kettering were able to put out quite a competitive team, free of youth players; Grimsby did win, but only 2-1, and even then Kettering very nearly scored seconds from the end.
Kettering aren't the only BSP team in trouble. Wrexham remain in difficulty, though there are signs that the protracted deal to sell the club to the Wrexham Supporters Trust may be about to be concluded. May be.
Wrexham's messageboard has pretty well always reminded me of Labour Party conferences during the time of the Thatcher government, with people arguing among themselves with what looks like more energy than they use to put a bid together. I fear that, should the WST succeed in taking over the club, the infighting will continue, both inside the WST and between some members of it and the general run of Wrexham fans who don't belong to the Trust. Wrexham are, currently, top of the BSP though the word on the streets on Nonleagueland is that their budget is unsustainable, unless they happen to reach the FA Cup 3rd round and draw a plum tie.
Darlington are having their problems, too. The vast stadium they moved into in 2003 is a drain on their resources, and they seem to be paying too much money to their players. Chairman Raj Singh has invited them to take a pay cut; unsurprisingly most have refused; as has former manager Mark Cooper, who is holding out for full settlement of his contract having been sacked earlier in the season.
Truro City have had a brush with HMRC: they owe the taxman an amount in six figures, and have managed to get a winding-up petition adjourned until January.
Truro managed to get themselves into difficulty using method No. 2 that I posted in my handy "How to ruin a non-league club" guide fourteen months ago. They had been doing it for some years before then, and sympathy for the club - as opposed to with its fans - is in short supply.
Farnborough have had an eventful few months, with some cash problems last season, delaying the opening of a new stand behind one goal; a defeat to Ebbsfleet in the BSS play-off final; the departure of thier manager, Steve King; the recruitment of a new, mostly young, playing staff, who were put on full-time terms; the recruitment of anew manager, Hayes & Yeading's Gary Haylock, who was later sacked; and, in the past couple of weeks, the arrival at the club of Spencer Day, previously owner-manager at Chertsey Town, and
much previous to that and under a different name, closely connected with Aldershot.
I finished that by saying that nobody was happy at Rushden & Diamonds or Kettering Town. Rushden folded during the summer; Kettering moved into their home at Nene Park, and things haven't gone well. An ill-advised scheme to sell season tickets at a huge discount gave the club not very much money during the summer and has severely affected their cashflow as we approach winter; manager Morrell Maison departed; Mark Stimson came in; players started picking up red cards in huge numbers - including one each for JP Marna and Moses Ashikodi for fighting each other towards the end of a crushing home defeat to Bishops Stortford; eventually almost all the playing staff were made available for transfer.
That left punters expecting a massacre of Weymouth v Rushden proportions for this weekend's game against Grimsby - but in the event Kettering were able to put out quite a competitive team, free of youth players; Grimsby did win, but only 2-1, and even then Kettering very nearly scored seconds from the end.
Kettering aren't the only BSP team in trouble. Wrexham remain in difficulty, though there are signs that the protracted deal to sell the club to the Wrexham Supporters Trust may be about to be concluded. May be.
Wrexham's messageboard has pretty well always reminded me of Labour Party conferences during the time of the Thatcher government, with people arguing among themselves with what looks like more energy than they use to put a bid together. I fear that, should the WST succeed in taking over the club, the infighting will continue, both inside the WST and between some members of it and the general run of Wrexham fans who don't belong to the Trust. Wrexham are, currently, top of the BSP though the word on the streets on Nonleagueland is that their budget is unsustainable, unless they happen to reach the FA Cup 3rd round and draw a plum tie.
Darlington are having their problems, too. The vast stadium they moved into in 2003 is a drain on their resources, and they seem to be paying too much money to their players. Chairman Raj Singh has invited them to take a pay cut; unsurprisingly most have refused; as has former manager Mark Cooper, who is holding out for full settlement of his contract having been sacked earlier in the season.
Truro City have had a brush with HMRC: they owe the taxman an amount in six figures, and have managed to get a winding-up petition adjourned until January.
Truro managed to get themselves into difficulty using method No. 2 that I posted in my handy "How to ruin a non-league club" guide fourteen months ago. They had been doing it for some years before then, and sympathy for the club - as opposed to with its fans - is in short supply.
Farnborough have had an eventful few months, with some cash problems last season, delaying the opening of a new stand behind one goal; a defeat to Ebbsfleet in the BSS play-off final; the departure of thier manager, Steve King; the recruitment of a new, mostly young, playing staff, who were put on full-time terms; the recruitment of anew manager, Hayes & Yeading's Gary Haylock, who was later sacked; and, in the past couple of weeks, the arrival at the club of Spencer Day, previously owner-manager at Chertsey Town, and
much previous to that and under a different name, closely connected with Aldershot.
