A Quick Guide to England's Financially Stricken Clubs

As the 2009/10 term draws to a close, we can look back on a season that has been riddled with financial difficulties at all levels of English football. Here is a quick guide to how financial struggles have left the most pertinent clubs and how it all might have been so different:

Premiership

Portsmouth

Probably the most recognisable current case of club mismanagement that saw Pompey have a bittersweet season. Deducted 9 points for entering administration and facing relegation from England's top division as a consequence, the Avram Grant led side miraculously reached a second FA Cup final in 3 years. They now await a decision on whether they are to be granted a European Football License from governing body FIFA (which seems improbable) which would allow them to see Europa League football at Fratton Park whilst mounting a charge for promotion from the Championship next season.

Championship

Crystal Palace

The Londoners sit 2 points above the drop in the Championship having had 10 points deducted for their financial faults. Before entering administration the then Neil Warnock managed team were challenging for a playoff spot. Since, their experienced manager defected to cash-rich London rivals Queen's Park Rangers, with Paul Hart now taking the reins.

League One

Southampton

Like their fellow Southern rivals Portsmouth, the former Premiership

stalwarts have had increasingly worsening finances since their relegation from the top-flight in 2006, after 27 years in England's premier competition. They now lie in 8th place in England's third tier having had 10 points deducted for entering administration before this season began. Without the point penalty they would be at 6th in the league, pushing for automatic promotion with a playoff place guaranteed.

League Two

The only professional English division not to have a club enter administration this season, but has still seen one of the most controversial financial stories of the year. Notts County sit top of the league with 2 games to play thanks to their early season policy of attracting otherwise unfeasible targets with imagined riches and ungrounded promises (Just ask Sol Campbell). They will most probably pay the price perhaps by entering administration next season whilst in League One, having robbed a worthy club the chance of promotion this term. Without County's financial aberration you could move everyone around them one place up and offer Rotherham a duly earned promotion after their own financial turmoil that saw them deducted 17 points last year.

Blue Square Premier

Chester City

Thee Cheshire club have paid the ultimate price for their financial problems, having been expelled from the league for failing to attend fixtures and ultimately liquidating as a result. Chester now look to create a new football team for the city under the guidance of a group of dedicated supporters; City Fans United. Chester's affect on the league is that all results involving them have now been expunged, despite some protestation from aggrieved clubs who beat Chester, and one less club will be relegated.

Blue Square North/South

Farsley Celtic

 

Like Chester, the Yorkshire club are now defunct as a result of financial inadequacies with all their results in the league expunged. Farsley, who once boasted Micah Richards as a youth player on the books, dissolved in March this year owing £750,000 in unpaid taxes. Like the BSP one less club will be relegated from BSN as a result of Farsley's expulsion. The Southern section, however, remains conspicuous in its relative financial security with no clubs facing point deductions.

Love thy Neighbour, You Don't Know What You Got Til It's Gone.

As a lad born and raised in Wrexham, North Wales, I should be rejoicing and laughing at the financial turmoil over the border at Chester City, that has seen their 125 year history obliterated by a High Court winding-up order. But I can't help but feel compassion for them.

Local football rivalries are what make the game we love so special. What would Liverpool's fixture list be without the annual trip over Stanley Park to Goodison? Local bordering village clashes at amateur level are always heated and the most enjoyable to be a part of.

The reason the local derby is so exciting is because they are played and observed with equal passion, but ultimately played with sincere respect for each other, despite certain chants you may hear on the terraces.

Every club wants to beat the local enemy, to ensure bragging rights until the next meeting. And every fan withholds their undying hatred of the old adversary, but when asked alone, without fear of castration - I believe that every single right-minded fan would hate to see their local derby vanish forever.

It's a little like the Bond villain who thinks he wants to kill 007, but when it comes down to it, he wants to preserve Bond's life, so he can enjoy the pleasure of defeating him for as long as possible.

So, as Chester City fans stand amongst the debris of their broken club, they must realise that they do not stand there alone.

Here at Wrexham, we know the perils of financial instability all too well, after our own 10-point penalty that saw us relegated from League 1 in 2005. We can empathise, if somewhat reluctantly, with our English foes and can wish them a speedy recovery.

And by whatever name they chose to play under once they reform - all Red Dragon's supporters can relish the possibility of seeing the Racecourse scoreboard flash Wrexham 3-0 Chester Tigers Saracens United FC PLC.

You can vote your choice for Chester City's new name here. (Don't be too harsh Wrexham fans) Or choose in my poll in the sidebar.

Should Loyal Fans Suffer for Board Level Incompetence?

So, we have now officially witnessed the first Premier League level point penalty, with Portsmouth's dire financial state surely costing them their top-flight status. But is this fair to the Pompey faithful?

Watching their team lose 4-1 to Liverpool on Monday, the Portsmouth fans could still be seen rallying behind their team, full of passion and tattoos, many shirtless, all blameless. Whilst the men that leveraged unfair deals, and borrowed finances they never intended to return, sit impervious another world away.

Having witnessed Pompey's most colourful fan John Portsmouth Football Club Westwood (pictured above), who legally changed his middle name by Deed Poll, it could be easy to state that a ten point penalty for teams going into administration serves only to punish the dedicated fans that care. The powers that be would only be concerned that Championship level TV rights do not compare with Sky's vast Premiership deal.

But it is now clear that Portsmouth's 2008 FA Cup win was based on buying and paying players with money that they did not have. By any definition, in any sport, that is cheating.

Unfortunately, we are seeing this trend continue throughout the lower levels of football too. It looks as though Notts County will achieve promotion from League 2 this year on the back of absurd salaries and vast debt. Stockport were similarly guilty when they won promotion to League 1 two years ago.

By achieving success in this way, clubs are depriving a smaller, more earnest club the chance. It is a new, intricate form of cheating, but cheating nonetheless. The worrying trend of owners attempting to "live the dream" without the concrete funds to support it, is killing the spirit of more fans than just their own.

What about the Cardiff fan-base who, now facing their own financial turmoil, could have tasted FA Cup glory themselves against an honest Portsmouth side? Or Bury, Chesterfield or Rotherham fans who would be in the race for an automatic promotion spot if not for the conceited overspending of Notts County?

So, although I have huge respect for fans who stick by their clubs despite their board's ineptitude, I have much more sympathy for the innocent clubs being deprived a merited shot at success. To give these grasping owners some perspective, maybe a 10-point deduction doesn't come close to what is merited. Perhaps a yacht burning sanction would suffice?

Watch John Portsmouth Football Club Westwood and other Pompey fans' reactions here (courtesy of ITN Sport):