Ripple Effect With Smaller Clubs

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I wrote a post last week about the impact of gate closures would have on the smaller clubs. Today we see a report about Barnet Football Club having to let go everyone that isn't playing in their main squad.

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It has only been two weeks and they are having to get rid of 60 personnel. The club is solely relying on gate receipts to survive it seems and are expected to lose in excess of £100,000 per month.

Depending on how long this continues they will be the first of many that may have to close their doors permanently. I suppose it is one way of getting rid of the week, but it is also the end of an era that has seen these clubs supported by many generations before us.

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The balance of payments made to the big clubs is so out of sync with the rest of the football leagues it is plain stupidity. The clubs who are in the Premiership are expected to receive in the region of £100 Million per season from the television rights.

Last season clubs received paltry amounts compared to the clubs in the Premiership. If we look at the Championship which is basically the Second Division or one league down from the Premiership each club received £4.7 Million which is less than 5% of the next tier up.

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These clubs are small in comparison to the Premier League giants, but they are what football is about and entertaining their local community.
We know get down to where the money really matters in the Third and Fourth Divisions. The Third Tier received £700,000 each and the Fourth division /Tier received £470,000 per team for the year.

The problem i have is this is where the grass roots football is and if you don't have a strong feeder system for players turning professional or semi professional then your top tier suffers because of this. Players do sometimes make it through the ranks form division four right up to the Premiership. Jamie Vardy was one such case that I know off the top of my head. He was playing Sunday League Football at one stage.

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Nothing glamorous about the small clubs as everything is on a shoe string budget.

The lower divisions are just as important as the Premier League teams and they also need to be looked after. The way it is currently set up what chance do they have of ever improving. I would like to see more funds trickling down to the bottom clubs so everyone benefits from the television rights.

Premier League Clubs can afford to receive 20 percent less freeing up much needed funds for all the other clubs. I would say £1 Million per club per year should be the absolute minimum as anything less is just pure greed. These clubs in the lower leagues can only by players depending on their gate receipts as per the FA rules. They will not abuse any extra funds as they are more careful than the top teams who are at best debt ridden themselves yet they have all the money.

Only when the clubs start closing their doors and the Leagues start shrinking will the FA realise what they are doing is wrong and by then it is too late.