[Argylegames]

Last year L1 was a bit of a farce with Bury gone, so each team had two bye matches.

Next season may well be a bit farcical with no/reduced crowds.

How odd would it be if 2 or three (or more) clubs in each league went bust and were thrown out like Bury? You could even have the oddity of 2 extra teams from L1 to Championship and 4 extra from L2 to L1 to fill up the numbers. Or just run shorter leagues.

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I would suggest that there are just too many lower league professional clubs in the Greater Manchester area. Their fan bases are too diluted, meaning they are heavily dependent upon big money owners, and many of their biggest successes were achieved in the pre-Premier League era. Are many of these towns still geographically distinctive these days with settled long-term residents who identify with the town in which they live, or are they increasingly Manchester dormitory towns? Pumping more cash into Manchester will probably only make things worse.

It’s surely no surprise that Oldham, Bury, Stockport, Wigan, Bolton have all struggled over the last ten years or so when so few locals actually follow their local clubs. Many of these clubs were once successful, but memories of these successes are fast fading. Salford have essentially been bankrolled to achieve theIr current standing and will need to greatly develop their club infrastructure if they are to defy gravity for any length of time. The NW region was a hotbed of footballing talent in pre-professional days, when talent was shared among the clubs. Today these clubs are heavily dependent upon Man U/Man C loan signings or drop-outs.

I can’t see how many of the Greater Manchester clubs can survive on a break-even, cautious basis, as their on-pitch offering can’t hope to compete with that of their superstar neighbours. This is certainly one problem that Argyle are not faced with. Could this be a rare case in which our relative geographical isolation actually works to our advantage, rather as it does for Norwich?

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I would suggest that there are just too many lower league professional clubs in the Greater Manchester area. Their fan bases are too diluted, meaning they are heavily dependent upon big money owners, and many of their biggest successes were achieved in the pre-Premier League era. Are many of these towns still geographically distinctive these days with settled long-term residents who identify with the town in which they live, or are they increasingly Manchester dormitory towns? Pumping more cash into Manchester will probably only make things worse.

It’s surely no surprise that Oldham, Bury, Stockport, Wigan, Bolton have all struggled over the last ten years or so when so few locals actually follow their local clubs. Many of these clubs were once successful, but memories of these successes are fast fading. Salford have essentially been bankrolled to achieve theIr current standing and will need to greatly develop their club infrastructure if they are to defy gravity for any length of time. The NW region was a hotbed of footballing talent in pre-professional days, when talent was shared among the clubs. Today these clubs are heavily dependent upon Man U/Man C loan signings or drop-outs.

I can’t see how many of the Greater Manchester clubs can survive on a break-even, cautious basis, as their on-pitch offering can’t hope to compete with that of their superstar neighbours. This is certainly one problem that Argyle are not faced with. Could this be a rare case in which our relative geographical isolation actually works to our advantage, rather as it does for Norwich?

Think you’re spot on here. Too many clubs and not enough paying customers. Clubs around London and Birmingham seem to avoid the problem though.

Just announced. A possible 12 point deduction will put them bottom as it stands and in serious danger of playing us next season.

Just announced. A possible 12 point deduction will put them bottom as it stands and in serious danger of playing us next season.

Our news is delivered by ship at the moment.

Yes. The clubs around London and Birmingham are rather different though, I think.

Wolves, Villa and Birmingham have a large following from outside their immediate local communities, as do most London clubs—even lower-league clubs like Orient. Although the Dons’ flight from the capital was essentially about increasing revenue, despite the smokescreen of ground redevelopment.

In the current model of football capitalism, it seems that many clubs’ prospects of rising up the pyramid increase where they have no Premier League neighbour within 30 miles. The exceptions are London, the NE and Birmingham (although Coventry have been on the edge for a while).

If the NW lower-league clubs were normal businesses, they would probably have merged by now rather than churn out an inferior and over-priced product for another decade. The argument against this has always been that football clubs are a vital focal point for their local community. However, these local communities are increasingly walking away from these clubs. Clubs could still support their local communities in the non-league structure and may actually be better at doing this at a level below League Two.

The Football League really need to start thinking quickly about how L1 and L2 can be remodelled for the future, if this grade of professional football is to survive for another 100 years. The current model is broken and it is obvious that a number of clubs won’t be here in a decade.

Wigan and murky going ons it seems.

Wigan Athletic: Administration is a 'major global scandal' says MP -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53261368

An interesting thread doing the rounds on Twitter titled - How Wigan Athletic have been victim to one of the greatest sporting scandals of all time.

https://twitter.com/marksparko/status/1 ... 6335836163

[PL2 3DQ]

That's a scandalous story.

Bishop International are still a mystery and were very nearly our new owners back in 2011. They were also registered as an offshore business.

The twitter feed link refers to the club being sold on and the subsequent owners have disappeared, if I read it correctly, presumably after the rumoured bet was placed.

Surely the efl should change their own rules and not make a 12 point deduction, so the bet can’t succeed, and to discourage others in future. Speaks volumes for the efl’s due diligence process. Also, if the club is now ownerless as the tweet suggests, what’s the club’s legal position I wonder?

This is quite an incredible story. There have always been bad owners but to have one that purposefully puts the club into admin in order to financially benefit form their relegation is something else. If this doesn’t cause the EFL to reform their ownership test then nothing will. I really hope Wigan stay up so that the bet is unsuccessful.

On another note to the mods, I really wish this kind of thread could stay on the main board. I know it’s not Argyle related but things like this prompt a good discussion and they tend to get lost on the football forum. The main board is being taken over by the same old suspects arguing all the time which is just depressing. I don’t think allowing the occasional non Argyle thread to stay on the main board would mean that there was too much stuff on there either, particularly at the moment when there is little to talk about.

[Argylegames]

BBC reporting the administrators have appealed against the 12 point deduction.

Whatever the truth in the whole saga it is difficult to see how an appeal from Administrators against a deduction for going into administration can ever succeed.

This would seem like the perfect fit:

RL club aims to buy football club: Wigan Warriors in bid to save Wigan Athletic