Not Fit For Purpose

Nailswortholdbull feels more could be done to help teams like Hereford United increase their income. He explains how he thinks it could be done.

Tonight is yet another night where our club, and every other club in the Skrill Conference, will be hit in the pocket by the multi millionaires of European football, and the combined power of the television companies. Gates are dropping weekly, and not just at Hereford United. It seems hardly a month goes by without news of another Conference outfit experiencing financial difficulty. And what does the Conference board do to help? Why, they manage to schedule tonight’s matches up against the attractions of European televised football!
We’ve just had the news that Wayne Rooney has signed a £300k per WEEK contract at MUFC. Clubs in the Conference, ourselves included, have faced winding up orders for less than ONE DAY of Rooney’s wages. It’s an outrageous situation, although we shouldn’t expect Rooney to turn his back on the deal. But this Club, and all the other Conference clubs, should be beating down the Conference board’s door, and demanding that, if Prem clubs can afford to hand out salaries of that type, shouldn’t they be made to face an obligation to the roots of English football and be made to show some form of support for non league?
You might ask, why should they? The answer is that, very simply, it is them, together with the TV companies, who are steadily draining the life out our lower league clubs. Chances are, if it’s raining tonight, there are those of you reading this who might opt for a comfortable seat in front of the telly, to watch the overpaid prima donnas that “grace” our TV screens, instead of going to ES and putting some much needed cash into the coffers of your own football club.
Isn’t it time that the board of the Conference fought our corner a bit harder? I’m sure that all of their clubs pay a levy to the board, and don’t we all deserve better? Might it not be time for the chairmen of the Conference clubs to get together at their annual bunfight, and discuss withholding the levy until they get something POSITIVE for their money? Like, for instance:
* TWO automatic promotion places up from Conference to L2, plus a third place via playoffs?
* Scheduling of midweek matches so that they do NOT clash with televised football?
* If that can’t be done, the TV company to pay affected Conference clubs say £5k per match for loss of income?
* A more robust approach to the FA, who appear to be allowing the footballing gods of the Prem to treat the lower league clubs as if they are of no importance.
If things are allowed to carry on as they are now, it may well be that full time Conference football, unless bankrolled by millionaires, will cease to be. In which case, the choice you might have tonight, will no longer exist!
Time for the Conference board to earn their money, and press hard for a better deal for their clubs. They should be ashamed that they have let their league slip into it’s current state. If they can’t, or won’t, take action, they should resign en masse, and hand over the reins to PEOPLE WHO CARE.

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