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?
