National league and North and South

[Hasta]

Dominic Samuel just signed for Ebbsfleet at the age of 29.  Scored for them on his debut last weekend.

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Hasta

[Oldgregg86]

1 hour ago, Hasta said:

Dominic Samuel just signed for Ebbsfleet at the age of 29.  Scored for them on his debut last weekend.

 

Always thought he was  as playing above the level he should be . Was never good enough to be a rover

[LeftWinger]

On 17/11/2023 at 21:00, Oldgregg86 said:

Always thought he was  as playing above the level he should be . Was never good enough to be a rover

Absolutely. The spell at Rovers and a few England U19 caps are definitely out of keeping with the rest of his career.

[RoverCanada]

I weirdly recall Samuel being a lone bright spot during our shaky start to the L1 season.

Looks like my memory is correct: https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=65490&season_id=150 4 goals in 6 games (include 1 goal in 2 EFL Cup games). He then went pretty quiet (and I think the lore is that Mowbray had to crack Dack and Graham's heads together after their "less than committed..." start to the season before things took off)

He played more than I remembered that year: 41 appearances total, mostly relegated to a sub role as the likes of Armstrong, Graham, and Antonsson surpassed him.

Edited November 23, 2023 by RoverCanada

[philipl]

Mad money in the lower leagues (as both Rochdale and Torquay face oblivion)

New York Times looks into the 6th tier of English football-

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/24/world/europe/england-soccer-wrexham-buying-teams.html?smid=url-share

[Rogerb]

It would seem that Chorley have had the best part of half a million quids worth of debt to the owner written off in their latest accounts.

[Rogerb]

Morecambe on the brink of expulsion from the national League. First three games postponed next meeting 20th August could see the club thrown out.

[arbitro]

8 hours ago, Rogerb said:

Morecambe on the brink of expulsion from the national League. First three games postponed next meeting 20th August could see the club thrown out.

Here is some background to the situation at Morecambe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c860979gg64o

Once again the EFL have failed with their due diligence to protect a club through their laughable Fit and Proper test.

Who knows where Morecambe will now end up as it seems unlikely they will play in any league next season.

[Lancaster Rover]

In fairness to the EFL there is not a lot they could do, the current owners took over prior to the Worcester Warriors debacle,  and the information on Goldrings involvement only came to light after initial takeover. The dissolving of companies is commonplace and the compulsory striking off isn't as severe as it sounds. You can't bar someone on the basis of having been involved in lots of companies. I would guess if you looked across the EFL there are lots of 'good' owners who have similar number of appointments as directors to companies, etc. It's the nature of business creating shell companies and group companies to shield business people's personal wealth if the shit hits the fan. 

There are a lot of things I don't feel sorry for with the EFL however on ownership I do feel their hands are often tied in terms of removing owners. Football clubs are privately owned businesses, the EFL don't have the power/right (nor should they or any other membership body) to start telling private businesses how to operate. Whilst football is a very different business, it still has to operate within company law and the minute we start saying a membership body can start dictating to businesses how they operate we open the floodgates to all manner of things in the wider business world. 

As someone who has spent a lot of time at Christie Park and the Mazuma it's looking very bleak, I employ couple of lads who are scholars in the U18's/21's and they're playing their last game today having not been paid for 9 weeks!

The only viable option now is a phoenix club operating in NW Counties from 26/27 onward

Edited Tuesday at 10:08 by Lancaster Rover

[benhben]

13 hours ago, Rogerb said:

Morecambe on the brink of expulsion from the national League. First three games postponed next meeting 20th August could see the club thrown out.

My local club. A real shame. Was once a family club that overachieved and competed well in League 1. Taken over by a dodgy bloke with a history of running businesses into the ground and even liquidating other sports clubs. Absolutely terrible the amount of dodgy owners with alternative motives in the English leagues.

Its not just Rovers that suffer with this. 

[wilsdenrover]

2 hours ago, Lancaster Rover said:

In fairness to the EFL there is not a lot they could do, the current owners took over prior to the Worcester Warriors debacle,  and the information on Goldrings involvement only came to light after initial takeover. The dissolving of companies is commonplace and the compulsory striking off isn't as severe as it sounds. You can't bar someone on the basis of having been involved in lots of companies. I would guess if you looked across the EFL there are lots of 'good' owners who have similar number of appointments as directors to companies, etc. It's the nature of business creating shell companies and group companies to shield business people's personal wealth if the shit hits the fan. 

There are a lot of things I don't feel sorry for with the EFL however on ownership I do feel their hands are often tied in terms of removing owners. Football clubs are privately owned businesses, the EFL don't have the power/right (nor should they or any other membership body) to start telling private businesses how to operate. Whilst football is a very different business, it still has to operate within company law and the minute we start saying a membership body can start dictating to businesses how they operate we open the floodgates to all manner of things in the wider business world. 

As someone who has spent a lot of time at Christie Park and the Mazuma it's looking very bleak, I employ couple of lads who are scholars in the U18's/21's and they're playing their last game today having not been paid for 9 weeks!

The only viable option now is a phoenix club operating in NW Counties from 26/27 onward

Surely this already happens?

A few examples:

These businesses are told when they can and cannot sign players (transfer windows).

They’re told how many players they can register for the league (squad lists).

They’re told what financial restraints they must operate within (FFP).

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 12:09 by wilsdenrover

[Lancaster Rover]

I'd argue financial fair play rulings (which I don't agree with in their current form) are slightly different to a membership body stepping in and ordering someone to sell a club, sell it at a loss or who to sell it to.

[wilsdenrover]

15 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

I'd argue financial fair play rulings (which I don't agree with in their current form) are slightly different to a membership body stepping in and ordering someone to sell a club, sell it at a loss or who to sell it to.

As far as I’m aware the EFL can’t force anyone to sell a club (as you said earlier they’re privately owned businesses).

What they can do is say if the club isn’t sold it will be expelled from the league.

I appreciate this could be viewed as one and the same thing as the owner would usually sell to protect any remaining monetary value the club has.

I say usually as I could see our muppet owners saying ‘fine, we’ll keep the club and go non-league then’.

I forgot to add to my last post, I hope the lads you referred to (and their colleagues) get the money owed to them and find new club’s to fulfill their ambitions. 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 12:45 by wilsdenrover

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, benhben said:

My local club. A real shame. Was once a family club that overachieved and competed well in League 1. Taken over by a dodgy bloke with a history of running businesses into the ground and even liquidating other sports clubs. Absolutely terrible the amount of dodgy owners with alternative motives in the English leagues.

Its not just Rovers that suffer with this. 

Where's Tyson Furey when you need him?

He's always banging on endlessly about his home town of Morecambe etc.

Be chump change for him to keep them going for a bit until alternative arrangements could be made.

[benhben]

45 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Where's Tyson Furey when you need him?

He's always banging on endlessly about his home town of Morecambe etc.

Be chump change for him to keep them going for a bit until alternative arrangements could be made.

I think something like that would be the only saviour. The club is never going to be big enough to climb the football ladder like Wrexham etc, so its never going to get into the big money leagues. Always likely to be a loss maker. The only viable buyer would be if a fan of some sort took it over. Must be a similar story with most lower league teams. 

[wilsdenrover]

@Lancaster Rover do you know anything about this consortium?:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwy399dr3g3o

 

[Lancaster Rover]

17 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

@Lancaster Rover do you know anything about this consortium?:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwy399dr3g3o

 

I know they seemingly have lots of money but it's taken them 18 months to pass the EFL test, it's also unclear as to where any of their wealth comes from. Again, lots of dissolved companies and live companies with no obvious earnings. I can make guesses as to where the money comes from or their reasons for wanting to buy a business that you could argue was easy to hide/introduce money into, but neither of those guesses would I be willing to share on a public forum though if you catch my drift.

The phrase frying pan and fire springs to mind

[wilsdenrover]

3 hours ago, Lancaster Rover said:

I know they seemingly have lots of money but it's taken them 18 months to pass the EFL test, it's also unclear as to where any of their wealth comes from. Again, lots of dissolved companies and live companies with no obvious earnings. I can make guesses as to where the money comes from or their reasons for wanting to buy a business that you could argue was easy to hide/introduce money into, but neither of those guesses would I be willing to share on a public forum though if you catch my drift.

The phrase frying pan and fire springs to mind

Very interesting, thank you.

There appears to be no end to the number of people who want to own clubs but (seemingly) shouldn’t.

[Lancaster Rover]

1 hour ago, wilsdenrover said:

Very interesting, thank you.

There appears to be no end to the number of people who want to own clubs but (seemingly) shouldn’t.

Lower league and non-league clubs are one of the few places that still take large amounts of cash on a weekly basis

[Rogerb]

Morecambe stop all first team football operations due lack of insurance 

[Upside Down]

42 minutes ago, Rogerb said:

Morecambe stop all first team football operations due lack of insurance 

Not long to go until that sentence will have Rovers at the beginning of it.