Bury and Bolton Wanderers | Vital Football

Bury and Bolton Wanderers

Apart from the usual anti-Tory, anti-Brexit propaganda the Guardian article is spot on with regard to Footy Finance.

As the article says the "right and proper" test for people proposing to run clubs is laughable. Locally Pools and Darlo fans know full well the sort of people who can be allowed to run clubs. Darlo went under and we managed to escape by the skin of our teeth.

As with other clubs that have got into financial problems HMRC is one of the biggest creditors. Bury FC owes the tax-man over £1M. And over £4M all told. It is obvious there is no chance of them being able to pay that off. Small clubs are allowed to run up debts to the tax-man they have not a cat in hell's chance of every paying off. Anybody who has tried to run a "normal" small business will know that HMRC comes down like a ton of bricks if you owe a few pounds. How do they allow football clubs to get away with owing more than they can pay back.

What the article doesn't say is that supporters are complicit in the problem. At Pools we regularly have supporters saying (on this message board and elsewhere) "The owners aren't ambitious. They need to spend money on some decent players". But, realistically, in strict business terms, what the owners can afford to pay out is very little. That can lead to massive unsupported loans.

Then supports of small clubs like Pools don't turn a hair at players being paid far more than any ordinary working person could hope to earn.

Although my heart goes out to the supporters of Bury and Bolton I really hope that a Club goes out of business sometime soon. It seems like that's the only thing that might bring some reality to Footy Finance.
 
My sympathy is with the Bolton and Bury fans also, hopefully a "White Knight" will rescue the clubs even at this eleventh hour.
What I find hard to understand is why the EFL have allowed the new season to start without resolution of the financial issues surrounding the two clubs. If, ultimately, Bolton are expelled from the league those teams who have already beaten them won't be content to have points removed; and what about fans who've paid to watch meaningless games will they be compensated?
Surely, the EFLs failure to resolve these issues, which go back to last season, is further demonstration of the EFLs incompetence along with the laughable "fit and proper persons" test.
 
I am pretty sure there will be a last minute saviour for both clubs. Can anyone think of a club in the EFL while still in the EFL that has actually ceased to exist? I cant. One or two have gone bust while in the conference or below but they always come back as a phoenix club. Newport County as was are now AFC Newport for example. Something similar with Portsmouth maybe? Even Accrington Stanley who really did cease to exist as a Football league Club back in the day are doing very nicely in League One. Bury and Bolton will survive though they may have to face relegation sooner rather than later.
 
Just remembered Darlo. Relegated went bust but are now just below us in the National league North. Could end up playing them next season.
 
Maidstone United went bust while a League2 club in 1992, I believe. From memory, so probably inaccurate, I think Barry Fry was manager at the time.
 
Bury expelled! I have to put my hands up and say I was wrong. I feel so sorry for the all who have any connections with Bury footy club. I very sad day.
 
A sad day indeed.
Hopefully, though unlikely, the EFL will start to implement proper scrutiny of Owners and club finances to stop this happening in the future.
 
100% agreed. Lets hope Bury will rise again. There certainly seems to be enough support for this to happen but it will be long road.
 
Looks like Bolton Wanderers have been saved.
I wonder how much due diligence the EFL has done on the new owners?
 
Bury now threatening to take the EFL to court for not considering some 11th hour take over bids. One of which, allegedly, from a Brazilian billionaire who is a friend of Burys goalkeeping coach, Adriano Basso (name sound familiar?).

You couldn't make it up; still I'm sure a few members of the Legal profession will be in for a good payday!
 
Agreed. Bury are no longer an EFL club they now need to manage the situation rather than trying to reverse it.