RalphC Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Truro City Football Club has gone into administration, it has been announced. The club has been in disarray in recent months with repeated court appearances, unpaid wages and uncertainty over who is in charge. City's former maverick chairman Kevin Heaney stood down from his position last Friday and was made bankrupt on the same day. Chris Webb, who took over as chairman, issued the following statement today. He said: "Due to the club's continuing financial difficulties, it has been reluctantly decided that we have been left with no option but to place the club in administration, and I confirm that this process is to begin immediately. "After their training session and meeting last night, the first team players informed us that unless the club took this course of action they would not turn out for the Boreham match tomorrow, in view of the non-payment of their wages for August and the continuing uncertainty over the club's future funding." The West Briton revealed two weeks ago that wages at the club were being paid by CGA Holdings, a company owned by Salisbury City chairman, William Harrison-Allan. Last week it emerged that the Football Conference was investigating a potential conflict of interest arising from those payments. Mr Webb said: "Our clear understanding at present is that arrangements which were agreed earlier for funding to cover the players' wages through to at least September 15 no longer hold good. Obviously, this is an extremely difficult time for the club, but I can assure everyone concerned - players, supporters and staff - that I and my colleagues are working tirelessly to ensure that every possible effort is being made towards securing the survival and long-term success of the club." Leading TCFC player Andy Watkins said on the social networking site, Twitter: "Not great news for Truro. Into administration but it's the only way the club can go forward." Dennis Strudwick, manager of the Football Conference - the league in which TCFC plays - said the club would have ten points deducted once it had formally gone into administration. Mr Strudwick said: "I'm extremely saddened because we have got a number of initiatives which we hope will help clubs monitor their finances and help them understand that expenditure is governed by income not the other way round." Mr Strudwick said he believed Truro's financial problems had developed before they were promoted to the Blue Square Bet Southern Conference for the 2010-11 season. He said: "I would like to think our initiatives helped the club enormously but they hit a wall somewhere along the line." The club also faces its next hearing at the High Court in London on Monday in its ongoing battle with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs over allegedly unpaid taxes. http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhodes Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 According to today's Non League paper Truro City's proud 123 year history will come to a bitter end on Thursday, very sad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mayor Of Simpleton Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Seems that way, sadly. They were desperate for players to play last weekend - even fielding some South West Peninsula players. Unless Steve Massey changes his mind, Truro City will have to restart at Step 7 next season in a new guise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missunderstood Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Seems that way, sadly. They were desperate for players to play last weekend - even fielding some South West Peninsula players. Unless Steve Massey changes his mind, Truro City will have to restart at Step 7 next season in a new guise. I feel more sad for the people owed money by Truro City FC who lived way beyond their means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cup of tea Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I hope that Truro can rebuild themselves properly and live within their means next time around and that anyone that has profited out of this is held accountable. It is about time that football clubs are run like other businesses - it's sad for the fans and the community if a club is completely wound up but it might make people think twice about spending money they don't have or getting involved with someone who doesn't have the best interests of the club at heart and sees it as a means to an end. With falling attendances, I think that we are going to see more cases like Truro unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mayor Of Simpleton Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I agree, Cup of Tea, it does not bode well for non-league in the long term. Kevin Heaney has the blood of the club on his hands... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missunderstood Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Very rarely when I visit a non league ground do I see a significant number of the next generation of supporters in attendance, because almost without exception the football is of a much poorer quality than the kids can see on TV, the stadiums are all to often fairly unpleasant places to visit with hardly any atmosphere and just a load of old men swearing and smoking, the catering is usually unimaginative greasy hamburgers and if dad want a drink in the bar he will be expected to pay sky high prices. Unless the majority of clubs start to realise that football is a business and they cant spend money they don't have, and think of initiatives to increase revenue, then more and more clubs will find themselves in the same situation as Truro, sooner rather than later. I find it difficult to understand why anyone with large amounts of money would wish to put it into a football club, because as soon as the cash runs out, or if the club achieve a couple of promotions they can no longer afford the extra money needed to sustain their higher status, they just end up being vilified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mayor Of Simpleton Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 That's a very good comment, Alan, and it seems to me that a lot of clubs are like that. They are apart from the community rather than a part of it. Clubs need to capture the imagination of the younger fans - without them there is no future for them. We can harp on all day about how Sky and Murdoch and Corporate Football has killed the beautiful game, or we can fight back and make non-league an attractive proposition. Ironic that it is Non League Day on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missunderstood Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 That's a very good comment, Alan, and it seems to me that a lot of clubs are like that. They are apart from the community rather than a part of it. Clubs need to capture the imagination of the younger fans - without them there is no future for them. We can harp on all day about how Sky and Murdoch and Corporate Football has killed the beautiful game, or we can fight back and make non-league an attractive proposition. Ironic that it is Non League Day on Saturday. Agreed, until clubs accept that being part of the community makes perfect business sense, and stop taking potential supporters for granted then this downward spiral will continue. I still believe though that there's far too many clubs chasing not enough supporters so if a few clubs merge, or go tits up its not such a bad thing. I personally don't travel to many away fixtures these days, and have found that going to a local match, (Dagenham & Redbridge in my case) when I don't really care who wins can be far more enjoyable. If clubs offered incentive's to supporters of other teams, that could be a way of increasing attendances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cup of tea Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I also agree but the problem with changing to a different philosophy is that it will cost money that the clubs just haven't got. Word of mouth isn't going to work either, changes like that will need to be advertised over a period of time which will again cost money. It's fairly inevitable that some non league clubs are going to disappear, hopefully some of the others will be able to adapt. As for Sky, I don't think that people can keep on affording the prices that Sky charges and I believe that Sky will eventually close the loophole of pubs/bars showing Premiership games on the cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missunderstood Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I also agree but the problem with changing to a different philosophy is that it will cost money that the clubs just haven't got. Word of mouth isn't going to work either, changes like that will need to be advertised over a period of time which will again cost money. It's fairly inevitable that some non league clubs are going to disappear, hopefully some of the others will be able to adapt. As for Sky, I don't think that people can keep on affording the prices that Sky charges and I believe that Sky will eventually close the loophole of pubs/bars showing Premiership games on the cheap. Much to my shame, and on my wife's insistence we have the full package from Sky, and its not really that expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastside Urchin Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Instead of non league fans constantly moaning about th state of the game,food,prices etc etc,how about some of them doing something about it. Part of the problem with non league is that everyone has an opinion about what should change but hardly anyone seems to get off their backsides and do anything,except to type on their keyboards If the non league community pulled together they may just be able to change things. Here is. List of problems /areas that need changing,Alan and others hav already covered some 1/ family stand,every club should have one,and it should be located as far away from the singing/boisterous section as possible. 2/food review at all clubs,not just traditional crap like burgers,hot offs,tea coffee but pies,rolls,sandwiches,other stuff 3/ drinks prices in clubhouse and other outlets 4/ avoiding clashes with big local clubs,may mean changing dys games are played 5/ non league to regain its "amateur status" this should apply to every club outside the conference national,no non league player should receive any payment apart from expenses. 6/ not everything should be about profit,sadly it seems this is all too common with clubs,mainly due to high rent but also because of the wages some clubs pay 7/ Clubs should eventually move to be run by he supporters,although this at the moment is probably the least of the requirements set out. 8/ Admission fees conf nth/sth maximum £8 adults,no minimum meaning a club can barge as little as they want £2 under 16's over 65's max charge again,no minimum Ryman perm level £6 maximum,£2 kids,u65's etc Ryman north level £5 maximum £1 kids u 65's Senior level £3 £1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missunderstood Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Agree with everything except returning the non league game to amateur status, as all it would mean is going back to the days of brown envelopes, and a lot of talented players who need the money and see football as just a job could be lost to the game forever. That IMO would make the non league game even less attractive. Surely the best way forward would be to have more regionalization which would cut down expensive travelling costs and provide more local derbies. The downside of that though would be promotions could become more problematic, although that could be counter balanced revenue wise by bringing the bigger clubs into the FA cup much earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastside Urchin Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Do you really think brown envelopes don't exist in non league football still? I think the non league game is regionalised ok at the moment,because of the geography of the island it is never going to suit everyone,I would actually split the conference north/south into 3 sections,effectively having a north section which covers anywhere north of stoke/Nottingham and then two southerly sections a west and east,basically the west covering Cornwall upto Birmingham and eastern Kent to Hampshire upto Leicester etc,still some travelling but may cut it down a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cup of tea Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Like the 3 section idea - that would have suited Truro for a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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