With the demise of Bury and Bolton Wanderers and now Wigan Athletic in trouble, do we have too many League clubs chasing too few paying fans - given that TV money is less of a factor outside the top flight?
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Too Many Football Clubs? Soccer
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The post raises an interesting question about the sustainability of lower league football clubs, though it could benefit from additional context or statistics to support the argument. Overall, it's a relevant and thought-provoking contribution to the community.
No, there isn't. There is just have far too much of the available money concentrated on the Premier League. Although it's worth noting that even league two clubs get a million a year in TV money.
Prune juice economics. Madness that some clubs pay out more than 100% of their total income in players' wages as they chase the dream and fail to cut their cloth accordingly. And don't get me going on all the money that is frittered away on agents' fees, even outwith the English Premier League
I think the idea of deducting points from clubs going into administration is very stupid. The "football industry" should be trying to help clubs encountering financial problems, not make their situation worse - as it would be if deduction of points leads to relegation.
But I would agree with anyone who suggests that many of the "top level" players are grossly overpaid -and transfer fees are excessive. Murdoch & other satellite/internet TV companies must take a lot of the blame by paying billions for TV rights.
But I would agree with anyone who suggests that many of the "top level" players are grossly overpaid -and transfer fees are excessive. Murdoch & other satellite/internet TV companies must take a lot of the blame by paying billions for TV rights.
A big part of the problem financially for lower division clubs is excessive wages have crept down to that level too.
This link suggests the average wage for a league 2 player in 2018 was £68,000 per year with a few clubs averaging over £90,000 per year. Admittedly it's a tiny fraction of Premier League wages but still, a higher annual salary than most people will (in real terms) ever earn at any point in their working life and it's been paid to sportsmen who are by and large are a long way short of even being in the top 1000 players in England. In any other sport in Britain competitors at that level would be at best semi-professional, or far more likely full amateur.
By way of comparison, the 4th tier in Italy and Germany along with the 3rd tier in Spain are all semi-pro leagues split on a regional basis.
This link suggests the average wage for a league 2 player in 2018 was £68,000 per year with a few clubs averaging over £90,000 per year. Admittedly it's a tiny fraction of Premier League wages but still, a higher annual salary than most people will (in real terms) ever earn at any point in their working life and it's been paid to sportsmen who are by and large are a long way short of even being in the top 1000 players in England. In any other sport in Britain competitors at that level would be at best semi-professional, or far more likely full amateur.
By way of comparison, the 4th tier in Italy and Germany along with the 3rd tier in Spain are all semi-pro leagues split on a regional basis.
How else would you discourage a club from getting itself into major financial difficulties by overspending?
No, we don't have too many clubs, the league structure has been in place for many, many years without major issue. Problems have arisen more dramatically ever since 1992 when the Premier League and Sky saw fit to ensure that the top clubs got their hands on all of the money.
It was predicted a few years ago that the structure would change soon because money wasn't filtering down to the lower leagues and I think COVID-19 may just speed that up as we see L1 and L2 edge towards a semi-professional status.
Equally, the EFL have their part to play in the mess that some clubs find themselves in. They claim to operate a 'fit and proper persons' test to ensure prospective owners are suitable and have the funds to operate a football club and yet we continually see frauds and con-merchants being allowed to take control of football clubs. The OP mentions Wigan as an example - Wigan had £9 million of debt in their latest figures which is a lot of money to the average person but in terms of football debts it is relatively low particularly as they have a player earmarked for a £10 million transfer at the end of the season. The administrators have apparently stated that they are one of the best-run clubs they have come across and yet they are in administration. Why? Because the EFL allowed a sale to go through 4 weeks ago that involved the seller loaning the buyer £28 million to buy the club and it appears that all parties know each other very well. Rumour is that the new buyer was to asset strip the club on behalf of the seller and then sell the land the ground is on to developers - fortunately, the local council have come out to state that they will reject all forms of planning permission for the land.
The EFL sanctioned this sale just 4 weeks ago and still have the audacity to immediately hit Wigan with a 12 point deduction.
Other examples of this sort of thing would be Bury, Charlton and Birmingham - all of whom have suffered from dodgy ownership in recent years
It was predicted a few years ago that the structure would change soon because money wasn't filtering down to the lower leagues and I think COVID-19 may just speed that up as we see L1 and L2 edge towards a semi-professional status.
Equally, the EFL have their part to play in the mess that some clubs find themselves in. They claim to operate a 'fit and proper persons' test to ensure prospective owners are suitable and have the funds to operate a football club and yet we continually see frauds and con-merchants being allowed to take control of football clubs. The OP mentions Wigan as an example - Wigan had £9 million of debt in their latest figures which is a lot of money to the average person but in terms of football debts it is relatively low particularly as they have a player earmarked for a £10 million transfer at the end of the season. The administrators have apparently stated that they are one of the best-run clubs they have come across and yet they are in administration. Why? Because the EFL allowed a sale to go through 4 weeks ago that involved the seller loaning the buyer £28 million to buy the club and it appears that all parties know each other very well. Rumour is that the new buyer was to asset strip the club on behalf of the seller and then sell the land the ground is on to developers - fortunately, the local council have come out to state that they will reject all forms of planning permission for the land.
The EFL sanctioned this sale just 4 weeks ago and still have the audacity to immediately hit Wigan with a 12 point deduction.
Other examples of this sort of thing would be Bury, Charlton and Birmingham - all of whom have suffered from dodgy ownership in recent years
But if you don't have a sporting penalty for what is, essentially, cheating, then everyone may as well do it. Spend what you want, if it works then brilliant and if it doesn't then who cares, administration will sort it.
Bury blew a fortune and won the league just before they went bust. Other clubs, who spent what they had and no more, failed to win because of that distortion. Financial prudence should be rewarded, not punished.
And most notably Coventry, whose reward for their owners treating everyone like scum has been two promotions in three years.
Coventry should have been booted out of the league for what their hedge fund owners did. If they won't play in Coventry, they can play in the non-league. But no, the Football League just rolled over and had its tummy tickled, just like they always do.
£68k a year sounds like a lot of money, but it's not really that much, all things considered. It's a comfortable wage but nothing exuberant.
I would not describe it all as "cheating" - more often it is a case of incompetence or misjudgement, and the loyal fans suffer by being left with "lower quality" or "zero" football to watch.
Although I admit that some vociferous fans are not blameless. They need to recognise that promotion and relegation are facts of life, and that sacking managers and/or unwise spending to try and "keep up with the Jones's" do not often solve the problems. It often takes at least 3 to 5 years to turn round an unsuccessful team, and things may get worse before they start to get better. But, all too often, managers are sacked after one year or less, and the improvement programme has to start again.
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