[maccawozzagod]

the crux of the problem I would say was that ASFC grew too fast too quick. The off the field set up was unable to keep up with the on the field set up. All of a sudden we found ourselves in the Football League pretty much quite by accident!

At this point we had:
the smallest crowds (and still dwindling) in the entire League
the poorest facilities in the entire league.
the poorest paid players in the entire league (which goes hand in hand with the first two)

One of the advantages that goes with joining the 'Professional' League is that you get a massively bigger pay out from sponsors and TV (£70k as opposed to £400k) but much of this goes towards things such as Youth Academies and Football in the Community teams. Other clubs in the league already have these set up and have had for years. Once they are established they start to become marginally profitable with sell on fee's for developed youth etc. But setting them up is slow and expensive.

As I said earlier we came too far too quick. We had six full time staff when we left the Unibond in 2003 and six full time staff when we joined the Football League in 2006. Under Eric Whalley there was an attitude of spending money on players rather than the backroom set up - we needed the better players in order to compete on the field and carry on reaping the benefits! But we didn't compete, results dipped so crowds dipped. The sponsors didn't come forward as anticipated (or were lost due to incompetence).

The straw that broke the camels back was when Fraser Eagle went to the wall early this year. They still owed us £100k at that point and as you could guess that left a huge hole on our limited budgets.

The large debt we have now is majoritively down to 2006 when we joined the Football League. This debt has slowly reduced over the last three years but late payment charges and interest have crippled it. The losses suffered last season (Fraser Eagle etc) meant that we were unable to pay it at all.

So that brought us to June. The high court and HMRC claimed the debt must be paid in full over the next 12 months and adjourned for 2 months to see what happened. The club made no payments in that period as they hadn't actually been told (but the money is in the bank to pay them). They had budgeted to pay 18k a month plus lump sums as and when. Playing budgets were cut, and huge restrictions everywhere else were made in order to find the extra 18k.

Then this week at the 2nd court hearing the HMRC claimed the full amount to be paid over the next eight weeks as they weren't happy with the clubs attempts to make sure the debt could be covered.

It may transpire that provided we can make a substantial payment (at least half?) then they will allow us to revert to the 12 month plan. But they could certainly play hard ball and wind us up for being even just a few thousand pounds short.

Football is a funny old game as they say. Nobody went out with bucket collections when a national institution such as Woolworths was in the mire did they? But football is different - even if you are not a fan. Football clubs give hope and inspiration to their many fans. They help to prop up local economies and they provide focal points for 'tourism'. They provide venues for the many and varied activities that communities need and they of course provide employment (over 100 people are actively paid a wage by ASFC).

General public generosity in helping to save Accrington Stanley is not sent to the current or previous owner or Chairman, it is sent to the 'club' which is and hopefully will be there to transcend generations. Unfortunately ASFC hasn't always been this way because in 1962 it was allowed to fall for an, even then, paltry amount of £62k. A generation or two of football fans grew up without having a notable Football Club at the heart of its community. With your help, and of all those around us, that won't happen again.

There is no certainty that these problems will never arise again. But what does need to happen (and has been happening for a couple of years tbh) is that ASFC needs to get back into the community and re-establish what I believe are core values. Love your community and it will love you. But time has conspired against us this time and that core value has to go the other way around.


Thank you all for reading and I hope you agree with my understanding of the situation.


Rob Russell
Chairman, ASFC Official Supporters Club