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Are non-league clubs sustainable?

Announcing this week that Bostik Premier Staines Town for sale, chairman Matthew Boon said: 'Non-League, especially at this level, is completely unsustainable. Unless there is help from above, I can't see how it can be sustainable. The outgoing costs, as they always have been in Non-League football, far outweigh what is coming in. But I think that gap is growing.'

To some extent it does depend on whether a club is run prudently or whether caution is thrown to the winds in pursuit of promotion. Worcester is a growing and prosperous city and should be able to support a top level non-league club, as it once did. Worcester City are now in the Midland League and could be forced to go 'fully amateur' next season. They dropped two levels at the end of last season to cut costs.

Club accounts revealed losses of £290,000 in the financial year to May 2017. It wiped out more than half the club's cash reserves. It is estimated that there will be £150,000 available at the end of the season which may not be enough for the homeless club to fund a new stadium at Parsonage Way. There was a £65,000 increase in payments to players in 2016-17 which, when added to the figures reported for the previous season, totals £350,000.

In contrast Leamington, now in the National League North, have been run on a prudent basis. When car park revenue from National Grid was unexpectedly lost in January 2017, the board of directors stepped up to the plate to purchase £29,000 worth of shares to cover a projected £24,000 loss.

It was anticipated that promotion to the National League would yield £74k in additional revenue and this has been realised with increased attendances (there are far more away fans), sponsorships and grants. The club has a total of five commercial sponsors, with Phillips 66 having the stadium naming rights.

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