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Clubs in Administration

lordromfordlordromford
edited March 2012 in Other Football and Sports
Maybe I'm being harsh here, but I just don't understand why people in the media are talking about Portsmouth's and, particularly, Rangers' respective plights as if they're talking about some vast tragedy.
Of course, I appreciate that there are job losses and people will be suffering as a result of this and other effects of administration. I also appreciate that these football clubs are extremely important to their fans - to those individuals it probably feels almost like a genuine tragedy. But the fact is, it isn't a tragedy. It's a business that has messed up.
When businesses mess up, there are job cuts and heartache and people suffer and it's awful. Individuals are affected and I have real sympathy for them. But this is not a tragedy in the true sense of the word. People will get by whether these two clubs exist or not. Just like when any other business gets wound up.
Some people are passionate about their club and they'll find a way to continue to show this. You can't tell me that there aren't enough Portsmouth or Rangers fanatics out there to be able to organise a new, independent club to carry the name of their once great club into the future? Just ask Wimbledon fans. They were notorious for not having many fans even at their peak - yet, look how well they've done.
I would hate it if this happened to Charlton, of course, but I wouldn't change my view on this. If we had to start supporting an afc Charlton or similar, then so be it. My opinion is that those clubs that enter administration have effectively cheated - if they can't afford to run their players' wage bill, they shouldn't have taken on those playing staff that have allowed them to perform at what is effectively a false level. I know that the 10 point deduction is supposed to address this, but look at the situation in Scotland - Rangers, who would probably have finished second, are now probably going to finish...er...second. Where is the punishment?
Also regarding Scotland, I appreciate that the Celtic/Rangers rivalry is the big draw and the big money spinner in football north of the border - but is it right to let a club get away with this just because they are one of the big boys? What's to stop it happening again? (Like Portsmouth) How many times will it be allowed to happen?
I think it's time football clubs stopped getting bailed out for their excesses because the more times they are allowed to survive this sort of mismanagement, the less incentive there is for clubs to run their affairs correctly.

Feel free to put me right on this, I'm happy to be corrected, but it just seems fundamentally wrong.

Comments

  • se9addickse9addick
    The Rangers and Portsmouth situations are slightly different. Portsmouth’s tax problems appear to be simply that they haven’t been paying taxes. Rangers appear to have been underpaying taxes because they thought that they were using a completely legal tax efficient “vehicle” which was recommended to them under financial advice. Indeed it also appears that a number of other clubs across the UK have been using this method and could also find themselves in trouble.
  • lordromfordlordromford
    Ok, that's a fair point and maybe 'blame', for want of a better word, is not so cut and dry, but to be honest, my real gripe is with the mass hand-wringing and mourning that seems to accompany any story of football clubs and administration. It just isn't the end of the world.
  • iaitchiaitch
    You would think that before using this tax efficient device that they would get clearance/confirmation that is valid from HMRC so that this situation would not arise?
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