Written evidence submitted by Runcorn
Linnets Football Club
INTRODUCTION
— This
submission is on behalf of Runcorn Linnets Football Club.
— Our
submission refers mainly to Question 4 (Supporters' Trust Model)
plus Question 3 (Debt) and Question 5 (Government Intervention).
In the spring of 2006, the supporters of North West
Non-League club Runcorn FC held a public meeting to discuss the
future of the club. At this meeting it was decided that if the
club was to survive, the fans would have to form a new club from
the ashes of the old one. This has become an all too familiar
story in the world of football. Our submission to the committee
would like to relate the background to our story and thereby attempt
to cast some light on the governance of football and why we feel
it must change. Our story is not unique but shows how fans have
an important role to play in governance as the only constant at
any club.
SUMMARY
— A brief
history of our club.
— The
formation of a limited company.
— The
local club in the community.
— The
onset of financial problems.
— The
move out of the town, spiralling costs and falling attendances.
— The
old club ceases to trade.
— Formation
of the Trust.
— Decision
to re-form.
— Planning
the return home.
— Working
with the local council.
— The
pros and cons of the shareholding model.
1. A brief history of our club
Runcorn FC was founded in 1918 at the end of the
Great War. The town and ground had previously played host to a
successful rugby team. The club was closely allied to the social
arm of the local tannery and was seen as a community facility
to allow locals to play football at a reasonable non-league level,
in our case the Cheshire League. The club enjoyed varied degrees
of success throughout the 1920s and 1930s, culminating in an appearance
in the Third Round Proper of the FA Cup in 1939 against the then
holders Preston NE. The war years in the early 1940s interrupted
normal football life but post-war the club resumed its life in
the Cheshire League. We were a typical north of England non-league
team that attracted good crowds in those pre- televised football
days and before the huge marketing of football by the large league
clubs
2. The formation of a limited company
In 1953, the club took the decision to become a Limited
Company, in line with many other clubs of the day. This, of course,
resulted in shareholders buying into the club. At this level of
football, the shares represented little more than a donation to
the club as there was never any real prospect of a return on them.
Many fans and local businessmen purchased varying numbers of shares
to help the club. From this point onwards, the club was run by
a Board of Directors. The number of shares was significant, as
they gave the holder more voting power and the board tended to
comprise of groups of local and often influential businessmen.
The Chairman tended to be the local greengrocer or confectioner.
It was assumed and expected that board members would "dip
into their own pockets" to help ensure the bills were paid.
As a limited company, regular annual accounts would be produced
showing mostly that the club lived from hand to mouth.
3. The local club in the community
By the 1960s, post war Britain was undergoing immense
social change and football was part of that change. The local
football club in the community was now under increased pressure
as people's wealth increased and the range of social activities
and venues started to increase accordingly. At non-league level
this was an era of substantial change in the structure of the
game. Up to this point, the league structure had been generally
regionalised but by the late 1960s, Runcorn FC had joined the
newly formed Northern Premier League, which covered much of the
North of England and took us away from our mainly local North
West roots. This in turn meant higher costs and the desire to
attract better quality players from a wider area. The Limited
Company model was even by this stage becoming questionable. Clubs
at this level were becoming increasingly reliant on local businesses
to provide financial support and many had local benefactors who
dug deep into their pockets. The model was flawed. Clubs started
to live and spend beyond their means. Travel became easier but
increasingly expensive and the advent of televised football and
access for more and more fans to the league game was impacting
on the game at this level. Supporter involvement at our club was
limited to the "Supporters Club" whose sole purpose
was to raise funds to help the club, which they did very successfully.
There was no influence in terms of a seat on the board although
occasionally a nominal seat was offered to placate the supporters.
However, the amounts required to run a club at this higher level
were becoming beyond the means of these hard working fans. They
raised hundreds when thousands were needed. Gate receipts were
no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the club as they travelled
wider, paid higher expenses to players who were travelling from
farther afield and generally had higher running costs. The burden
increasingly fell to local businesses and benefactors to produce
the finance. The model was always doomed to eventual failure.
That said, the club continued to function and enjoyed success
in this higher league throughout the 1970s and by the end of the
decade, non-league football went national and we became part of
that change, when we joined the Alliance Premier League (now the
Conference) and indeed won the tournament at our first attempt.
Wembley appearances followed in the 1980s and 1990s but even by
this stage, the trend was showing signs of going downwards. The
travelling costs alone to southern outposts like Weymouth and
Dover were draining finances. Players demanded ever more to play
at this level. A north / south divide started to occur as the
poorer northern clubs could not compete with their wealthier southern
rivals. The championship success at the start of the 1980s was
to prove to be the last at that level and despite three Wembley
appearances in FA Trophy finals, the club was on the downward
slope
4. The onset of financial problems
One local businessman had followed another as Chairman.
The power in the club lay with those who held the shares. The
fans were seen almost as a necessary evil at times. The change
from a local regional set up to the eventual national non-league
set up had stretched the club to the limit financially and attendances
had gradually decreased as competition from other sports, other
social activities and league football increased. Various disasters
hit the club to compound this. A wall collapsed at an FA Cup tie
involving Hull City fans. The main stand was burnt down and high
winds blew down another covered area. The club was forced to play
out of town for a period for the first time since its formation,
Valiant efforts were made to rebuild the ground and eventually
the club was able to return home but the costs had taken their
toll. The true picture of the debts was slowly starting to emerge.
By the end of the 1990s the then Chairman and remnants of the
board took the decision to move the club out of the town to play
across the River Mersey in Widnes, a Rugby stronghold, where a
new Community Stadium had been built.
5. The move out of the town, spiralling costs
and falling attendances
The fans were outraged by the decision. A fans' group
was formed to fight the decision but it had no teeth and the Chairman
was not for turning. He held the shares and the power. Many fans
took the decision to abandon the team and not to follow it out
of the town. By this stage the club had been relegated for the
first time in its history and further relegations followed. The
move to the community stadium proved to be disastrous as spiralling
rental payments and falling attendances compounded the problem.
Despite repeated requests from fans, the club failed to produce
adequate accounts to allow the true nature of the financial situation
to be assessed. When the club could no longer afford to pay its
way at the Community Stadium, a further move ensued to play at
Prescot, even further out of the town. The club hit an all-time
low and by the end of season 2005-06 it had become apparent the
the situation could not be sustained. No true picture of the debts
could be ascertained and estimates ranged from £150,000 to
£500,000. Even to this day no-one is aware of the true scale
of those debts. A last ditch attempt by the Chairman at that stage
to involve fans by asking them to find £60,000 for the following
season failed. The fans wanted to know the true financial picture
and this was not forthcoming. To have tried to take on a club
with apparently immense debt would have been both foolish and
reckless in the eyes of the fans.
6. The old club ceases to trade
The season 2005-06 was to be the last one for Runcorn
Football Club (renamed Runcorn FC Halton when it moved to Widnes).
The fans were aghast. They had already formed a small Supporters'
Trust in an attempt to win some influence in the old club but
this had proved futile. However, the formation of the Trust was
to prove decisive in what happened next.
7. Formation of the Trust
When the Trust was formed it had not been the intention
of the small group of fans to do anything other than try to win
influence within the club and to this end had purchased 400 shares
as a starting point. However, when the old club ceased to play,
the Trust was the ideal vehicle to move forward towards the formation
of a new club, but this time not as a limited company but as a
co-operative, as an Industrial and Provident Society, whereby
Trust members would have one vote and the Trust Board would be
an elected body. The fans would in our case run the club! We were
indebted to the help we received from Supporters Direct in all
this and indeed for the ongoing support and advice we have received
from them since our formation. We are not alone in saying that
without such help and ongoing support and encouragement we would
have found the whole process much more demanding. This organisation
has been crucial in moving the whole football agenda forward.
Their advice in the setting up of the Trust was vital and there
is a crucial ongoing role for them to play in ensuring the development
continues.
8. Decision to re-form
The decision to re-form the club was taken by a group
of fans at a public meeting on 28 April 2006. An interim committee
oversaw negotiations over the next three months which saw us find
a league to play in (The North West Counties League Division 2)
at Step 6 of the pyramid, set up a ground share agreement at Witton
Albion FC (there was no facility within the town at the right
level), appoint a manager and find a team! All this was achieved
and a good pot of money was donated by committed fans to help
the club establish itself. Within the next few months, Board elections
were held and the first elected board was put in place. Amazingly
the team achieved promotion in the first season and the attendances
proved to be the best in our league by some margin.
9. Planning the return home
The new board had promised the fans and Trust members
that they would do all within their power to return the club back
to Runcorn within a reasonable time-frame. Running a football
club was a steep learning curve and at the same time we were holding
negotiations with various funding bodies including the Football
Foundation and Halton Borough Council to ascertain the level of
funding we could achieve. Our own fundraising efforts hit a target
of £30,000 over a period of 18 months. With great support
from our local council and two local MPs, we eventually achieved
our funding goals and our new ground was built during the early
part of 2010, and we played our first game back in the town on
17 July 2010, some nine years after the old club had left the
town. The ownership model that we presented to the council was
undoubtedly a crucial element in obtaining their financial support
for the project. The grant of £100,000 together with a similar
grant from the Football Stadium Improvement Fund allowed us to
build our stadium.The model clearly reflected shared agendas with
the local council in terms of community targets and no risk of
private gain.
10. Working with the local council
As fans, we had watched dismayed as our club had
reeled from crisis to crisis. We wanted to learn the lessons from
this. We produced a development plan for our local council to
ensure that our vision was for a community club at the heart of
the local sporting community which would encourage local youngsters
to aspire to play football to a good level and provide good facilities
for the town. The development of the stadium was the first phase
in this and the second phase involves the development of a multi
sport all-weather pitch. The formation of a good open working
relationship with our council was crucial to our success. We wanted
them to see our vision and how it fit into their key targets,
likewise with the local County FA. The first part of our plan,
to return the club home, has been achieved. Other key elements,
such as establishing reserve and youth teams have also come to
fruition. Our aim to involve the local community is progressing
and we have taken a junior club under our umbrella providing 10
junior teams. We will continue to work with the council to develop
our plans further.
11. The pros and cons of the shareholding
model
The Limited Company model for the old club simply
did not work for us as a club at this level and with our supporter
base. There was no real sense of ownership. Allegiance to a football
club is invariably passed down through the generations, but clubs
cannot depend on a blind allegiance any more. For us, the fan-based
Trust model provided a perfect vehicle. It provides an opportunity
for annual elections to the board; is a one vote per member model,
so is not dependent on the acquisition of large numbers of shares;
the constitution is reasoned and will not allow the club to spend
beyond its means; fans have ownership of the club. We have to
build our own revenue streams and this in turn compels the club
to grow at a sustainable rate.
We are a small club in the wider picture but the
lessons we have learnt must apply across the football community.
We are not unique in seeing our club fold and neither are we unique
in re-forming our club but football cannot live with ever increasing
debt. Clubs who spend beyond their means are cheating the fans
and other clubs who live within their means. We need to create
a fair playing field. Aspiration needs to be kept alive at all
levels of the game. There is a case for treating community clubs
differently. As an IPS we have no tax concessions, even though
we are a non-profit distributing organisation. We are not treated
as a charitable organisation. Changes here could help clubs to
ensure financial stability which is a must for the future of our
game.
This is an opportunity to change the game for the
better. The surge in Football Trusts and fan involvement must
not be lost. Football needs to return to its roots and needs to
be returned to its fans.
January 2011
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