Thetownend.com

hmm Fitton says 15 clubs will go bust by September. I think this is unlikely with new shirt money, season ticket money etc but can see mid-next season teams being fucked., believe we had this ion another thread (cant find it) I know Stockport, Cheltenham, Yeovil, Darlington, Lincoln, and I think Watford are in some sort of trouble. Can see Southampton and Charlton following after their plummet from the Premier League

FROM THE ADVER...


ANDREW Fitton insists he has the right man for the job in Town boss Danny Wilson, as he refuses to contemplate the thought of League One relegation.
Swindon are hovering above the drop zone on goal difference alone following a disappointing campaign which has seen a managerial change fail to kick-start their rise up the division.
And while Wilson has only recorded three wins since his arrival over Christmas, Fitton believes the formula is correct to equal eventual success at the County Ground.
“I think some of the football has been very good and nobody could deny that,” Fitton told the Advertiser.
“The games against Leicester and Millwall were incredibly frustrating because we played great football and came away with next to nothing - just a point in both games.
“Danny very quickly got them playing better and even though the results have been mixed I don’t think his confidence in his own ability ever wavered.
“Danny is an easy guy to work with because he is so confident. He knows exactly what he is trying to achieve here and how he wants to go about it. He’s doing things in a sensible way.
“I believe Danny is the right man for this club and relegation is not something I even contemplate.
“We might have contingency plans in place, but our focus is fully on getting the 15 more points that should guarantee our survival.
“We now have a run of lower half teams coming up and, if we can put together a string of three wins, then we will be having a very different conversation.”
Fitton revealed he can see up to 15 clubs could going out of business between now and the start of next season as the economic climate takes its toll on the beautiful game.
And the chairman believes he and his fellow board members have been right to exercise caution when it comes to spending.
He said: “Football is in deep financial trouble in my opinion, all the way from the halfway down the Premier League to the bottom divisions.
“It’s a loss-making industry and there aren’t the people out there who are prepared to fund those losses any more.
“There will be up to 15 clubs who will go bust before September. I don’t know who, but there will be a surprising amount who just cannot continue at this current rate. And I don’t think any club should be complacent because there are hard times still to come.
“It is something that we expected to happen and we are pleased in a way because it will force some proper behaviour.
“Is it right to throw money at it? You cannot buy success any more.
“We would rather be remembered for doing a good job than just throwing money at it. We’ve all got to be conservative owners.”

You have to speculate to accumulate though. If we don't invest in players who are much better, then we will struggle. Then fans will stay away, sponsorship won't come in etc...

Sounds like to me he's reluctant to open his wallet.

Andrew Fitton makes perfect sense.

Yes what a stingy bastard its not like hes cleared millions of debt.

If the 15 clubs that go bust are all above us in League One, we might even reach the playoffs  :soapy tit wank:

Spend above your means though and we know what happens. I'd rather us be stable. Teams have secured promotion without spending fortunes. Many of those who did spend money the club couldn't afford are now struggling.

He cleared loads of debt from the old regime and bought Cox, hardly someone who is reluctant to open his wallet. Also had £150,000 bid for Mulgrew accepted in the Summer... again hardly someone who is reluctant to open his wallet. Money will no doubt be available just not stupid amounts. Makes perfect sense really. AF has previously said though if we can get someone (like Cox) who would change the dimension of the team and sell on for a profit in the future we would do it.

So we have to live with that forever?!

I think he definately needs to get his wallet out in the summer, whatever league we are in.

"There will be up to 15 clubs who will go bust before September"

Now that is a prediction and a half, over 20% of league clubs to go bust by September (I'm assuming he's talking FL clubs as non-league wouldn't affect us).  Interesting quote that.

Exactly! Do our fans have very short memorys or something?

I'd rather live with that forever having Fitton at the helm than face the possibility of being one of the potential 15 clubs going under.

My point is that we need to spend money in the summer to replace the shite we've got now. Be that £5 or £50k. Reading the above, I get the impression he won't do that.

I imagine at least 10 of those are in the Conference - probably a maximum of 5 in the league itself - and NONE in League 1

He says "up to 15" not "15 will definitely go". And he's right - been saying for a while now, the next two-three years will see around 30 clubs at the very least go close to going bust, and not just in the lower leagues, there'll be some Prem clubs in there as well. Not administration, but actually ceasing to exist.  Football is going to have to start cutting its cloth a bit more appropriately, and about time. In those circumstances, properly run clubs that are largely free of external debt, will be well-placed to do well. Basket cases like we used to be not very long ago will probably not survive.

People have been saying this for years, and plenty clubs go into admin but not many have folded.  Don't get me wrong I'm 100% behind Fitton's spending strategy, in fact he's probably surprised me to a certain extent by coughing up the money for Coxy, although I'm sure the return on this investment was what AF had his eye on, bit of a odds on gamble that one.

But live to your means, it's defo the best way to run a club/household.  If we can gain from other clubs adventurous financial policies then so be it. 

We reportedly bid £150k ish for Joe anisyah(?) who chose to go to Carlisle (whre he had a loan spell) in jan as well.

Fitton will pay money for clearly talented young players who have a decent track record at our level and so do not represnt that much of a gamble.

I'm comfortable with that. I wouldnt want us spending that sort of money on 29 year olds.

But there's reasoned speculation and mindless-gamblers speculation. Our level of Football is pretty much always going to be mindless speculation because there are few players, who we could sign, that could increase a gate/fanbase/sponsorship in any noticable way. In my opinion, it's just money down the drain.

I'll bet you £500 Fitton will spend at least £5 on players this summer.

When we point out that Fitton has spent a lot of money, let's not forget that this was pretty much all pre financial meltdown, which didn't really impact until Q4 last year.

I agree with pauld , 'up to 15 clubs' is the key phrase. Many of us are facing unprecedented financial situations, personally and in business and it's reasonable to expect that the previous 'miracle escapes' for ailing football clubs are much less likely than before

What this will mean is that we will be in a strong position moving forward with regards to signing players, and Fittons stance on agents and fees (though frustrating at the moment) will probably prove to be a masterstroke going forward.  As players come to realise that Swindon are now a stable well run club, and there aren't as many other stable options out there for them we will become a very tempting prospect, regardless of whether they have an agent or not.  If they want a job they will do whats necessary.

Good point sir.

Andrew is becoming more and more of a doomsayer of late.

I can imagine 15 clubs will go out of business before next season only most of them will be pottering around the lower echelons of conference football as people no longer want to subsidise “the dream” as spare cash starts to dry up.

I can’t see there being any high profile league casualties.  Despite the doomsayers most clubs are now either well aware that they have to cut their cloth accordingly and anyone attempting to spend what they don’t have is found out fairly quickly and damage limited.

I think Southampton (who have had troubles for years) and Charlton (who plummeted down the leagues since being relegated from the Prem (quicker than Leeds) could be the biggest name casualties. Charlton must still be paying decent wages. Whilst they didnt go stupid like Leeds they will still have silly wages in L1 next season unless they can sell players... Watford I think were in a bit of trouble?

West Ham are teetering on the brink as it stands, with their current owner about to go bust. He has to sell them by a June deadline set by the courts. But in that case, I think there'll be enough interest to find a buyer, just not at the price he needs to avoid going bust personally

Why thank you kind sir!

I think Gary's mention of Southampton is very apt and exactly what Fitton is trying to get at. Southampton have been affected on and off the pitch through instability.

Which is the major point of the article. I know the headline focuses on the clubs going bust, but essentially what Fitton is doing is answering the calls for Wilson to be sacked and for cash to be thrown around in the summer. Conservative ownership is mentioned, that doesn't suggest either way whether they'll spend money or not. I interpretted that as the owners will continue to run the club as they have been - spending money where it is considered to be a good overall investment and creating a stable management on and off the field.

The team as a whole has been bad this year. It seems some people think if Fitton had spent money on one or two more players we'd be a top 10 team. Unfortunately the facts suggest otherwise, as we've tried out our whole squad and we're still only just avoiding the drop zone. To clear out half the squad and replace them would have taken millions and the majority of the fans even thought we even had an outside chance of the playoffs before the start of the term.

Now contracts are up a clear out will be easier. Wilson seems to know what he wants in a player, more so than Malpas ever did.

Have to agree with you Si. I don't think AF has done much wrong since saving the club with the exception of his maybe admirable but flawed loyalty to Malpas. Some shared responsibility for our current plight must come from the players and coaches too !

Having seen what Leeds managed to come through would the likes of Southampton or Charlton ever really go belly-up even in these hard times?

I would think that even in the current climate there would be people with sufficient clout to bail out clubs of that size and resource.  The first real casualties if any will be the smaller league one and two clubs who are still paying for the hangover of chasing success in the glory years and simply don’t have the infrastructure to re-structure and cut cloth accordingly.  Darlington springs to mind but even then these clubs all seem to come out through the other side when the financial grim reaper is reportedly at their door.

Fully agree with the comments on Fitton's prudence.  She's a lovely woman and it's the best way to run the club.

Whilst the league clubs seem to be scraping through difficulties at the moment, let's not forget the likes of Halifax and Scarborough, who've both dabbled in the league fairly recently, but have since gone under.

I think the economic woes may be coming home to roost in football, that's the problem.  Once upon a time creditors feared trying to wind-up a football club and banks offered ever ongoing overdrafts.  The last 12 months has changed that completely.  Commercial credit is more expensive, oddly, if it's available at all.  Football clubs are bad payers, bad credit, so now will be finding it ever more difficult to tide themselves over.  Some owners will have seen their personal wealth shrivel (West Ham's for a start) and will beign questioning the constant drain on the available cash - most of their wealth normally being tied up in assets that are tumbling in value, so cash needs to be held onto.

It's not that football has changed so much, it's that the outside world is finally beginning to make football live in the real world.  We had 3 teams get points deductions start of this season, another 1 take one in the season and a couple making very public noises about problems.  We have clubs abandoning ground developments, others agreeing settlements to try and get the club sold.  Panic does seem to be gradually setting in.

And then what if we spend loads of money and don't go up? We'll leave ourselves in the shit... again.

I dont think we need to splash the cash.

We just need to address certain areas and improve.

Id start with the coaching of the goalkeepers and reserve teams.

How many football league teams have ever gone bust and folded? Its not many as far as I'm aware, the last being Maidstone and I think you need to go back a good few years before that for the previous one (Accrington Stanley or Bradford Park Avenue?). The chances of this happening again are remote and if it does it will be a crap team from a small town which no one except the fans give a shit about (eg Maidstone).

If Charlton are joined by Southampton in League 1 next season, I'd be surprised if they didn't go in to administration, but someone will buy them out of it and they will continue. The same for any big teams - there will always be someone willing to put some money in as they will always be worth something.

Unfortunately clubs still haven't learnt their lessons and continue to spend money they might not be able to afford in the future. You only have to look at the clubs that still go in to administration each season, until that stops the problem will still be there. The authorities really need to put more financial controls in place, primarily in the Premier League to stop clubs that are relegated getting in to the shit.

They've been talking about putting something in place for the Champions League, along the lines of if a club isn't financially stable (which they would have to prove) they won't be allowed to participate. Would be a good way to stop some of the big clubs gambling like they do at present.