As promised in the Freebie Friday piece I picked this topic being that it was contentious at the time it happened and while I think about writing this piece more comes my way to be given writing time, I need more hours in the week and so will you to read them all!
Last week saw the anticipated release for some of Gate Money, a documentary featuring the uproar over the distribution of £10 million to National League clubs when the pandemic hit, enough to keep them afloat for a three-month period once the season began in October that year.
I say uproar, maybe not quite the right word as not every club was up in arms about it at all. For those who didn’t follow the story closely two years ago National Lottery money was ‘gifted’ to the league to ensure the clubs in all three divisions started the season with more to follow, well that’s what they were led to believe.
You can watch the full documentary here https://t.co/lGYd5abbB1
The content below was originally paywalled.
The government promised it would be to cover the loss of gate receipts from no fans being allowed in to watch Step 1 and 2 at the time, why they gave that assurance and then told the National League it’s their jurisdiction to do what they wanted with, bizarre.
Now, that model in itself was possibly the best way of dividing up the cash, still flawed mind you given the basing on average attendance. There’s no way to say that attendances might have gone up for some or all had supporters been inside the stadium during those times, the year before might have been a poor one on the pitch for instance and lower crowds watching.
Clubs were hosting games so the same utilities were being used and still needed a certain number of stewards for those inside the stadium should something else happen within the stadium, they still needed paying as did the bills and no income apart from streaming when it came into effect a few weeks in.
The dividing up was carried out by the board of the National League which I believed contained mostly chairmen of member clubs, in which if you read their rules on constitution, they were all in breach of having a vested interest.
What it came down to was Step 1 clubs to receive x amount and Step 2, the North and South, to receive far less, no gate receipt model intended to be used. While that may sound sensible in terms of the competing level, we all know some clubs at the lower step have better average attendances than those at Step 1 and on the suggested model should have received a better pay out. There also clubs with a lower average attendance level at Step 2 who were better off this way than using the suggested model, clubs who saw the problems incoming despite them ending up better off as a result.
Basing it on that model as well, clubs in the top division should have received more than others and that didn’t work out either. I believe had the North and South clubs known before the season kicked off how the cash was going to be distributed many wouldn’t have kicked a ball at all that year.
Indeed, it’s probably far too late for anything to be done over what happened, the independent review were not allowed to publish their report once they were invited to go through the workings, that to me coupled with the reluctance of the National League board to offer any comment suggests they knew what they were doing wasn’t right and aren’t prepared to give an explanation as to why it happened the way it did.
Some clubs did benefit below the top division but others it almost sent to the brink of collapse; the game pretty lucky not to lose a high-profile casualty at the top of the non-league game.
Not surprisingly the season didn’t finish for the North and South clubs, especially once it was announced no further ‘free’ cash was coming, only a loan saddled with a club for ten years I think despite the generous repayment terms, why struggle on and then burden a club you might not be part of within that ten years just to appease all?
I for one wasn’t surprised by the mess created, to have a board with very few independent suitors to take a different view away from club matters isn’t great and then when you ask someone unconnected to view things you don’t like what they say.
My view has been the game needs a regulator from top to bottom as per the Tracy Crouch MP review, literally because the FA seem to have no control or an out-of-date mandate as how to run the game. The Premier League are that, a league, but they seem to dictate how things go and where the money goes, completely wrong.
It might well have made a big difference in the outcome of what happened here and for time to come, the game is much bigger than just 20 clubs fighting over more riches, it was before 1992 and will be for many more years to come, you can guarantee that they won’t like it and will fight it tooth and nail because they know it dilutes their influence on the game.
Hopefully, we’re never stuck in another situation where the bones need to be picked over when it comes to money distribution but judging by the reaction to the National League streaming launch over the weekend just gone there’s going to be yet more disgruntled fans and clubs up and down the country, certainly is no shortage of blogging material ever………..
You can follow Gate Money on Twitter: @gatemoneydoc
You can watch the full documentary here! https://t.co/DisXHb4rz7
