Tony Mitchell
Tony's recent articles
- Retention of Title - 34 years Old and Counting
19th August - Taxing Times For Dodgy Directors
17th June - Right First Time
15th April
When Business Meets Fantasy
18th February 2010 14:19
It seems that a month does not go by without another tale of woe for those who own and manage our football clubs. It has long been thought that owners of football clubs appear to switch off their business brain and engage their football brain when it comes to investment decisions involving the beautiful game.
Notts County’s new owners are under no illusions as to the mountain that needs to be climbed and the eventual purchaser of Portsmouth is going to have a long hard road to recover from, no doubt, the Championship. Nearer to home, Coventry City have stabilised the position and after a bit of a wobble earlier in the season are now looking upwards and not downwards which is really good to see. The big success story of course is Leeds United who after a financial disaster has emerged fitter and stronger and are now really challenging for promotion to the Championship.
HM Revenue & Customs has shown that it will not be drawn to the often fantasy business world that is Football and are no longer prepared to tolerate clubs failing to pay their tax liabilities. In addition to Portsmouth, this month has seen two other league sides feel the long arm of HMRC reach out, both being served with petitions for winding up. The problem is that once HMRC issues a petition, lots of other creditors jump on their coat tails and the whole situation becomes that much worse.
I think we are going to see many more casualties as clubs continue to believe that they can enter into contracts with players with little or no possibility of ever being able to pay the bills but believing that somehow it will all be OK before the final whistle blows.
