The Political Economy of Football V2

National League clubs having voted to declare the Tier 2 competition null and void, 18 of them want a special competition to decide promotion and relegation from Tier 1.   They are a rather mixed bag of clubs but they include Football League aspirants AFC Fylde and one time Football League clubs Boston United and York City. They also include Havant & Waterlooville who have just reported big losses.   12 of the 18 are from the National League South where commercial and sponsorship incomes tend to be bigger, e.g., Dorking Wanderers are reported to have an annual income of around £500,000 from these sources in normal times. They advance a number of arguments in favour of a special competition, the strongest being maintaining the integrity of the relationship with the EFL.  The chairman of the EFL, Rick Parry, has said that he wants consistency in this respect and a healthy period. I do think it is stretching a point to talk about the impact on the mental health...

Dover Athletic are on the brink of collapse after players refused to take a pay cut.  If a solution or new investment cannot be found, the club is likely to be declared insolvent at the end of the month:  https://www.kentlive.news/sport/football/dover-athletic-on-brink-collapse-4394874

There is a particular type of club owner, often with a rather colourful past, who buys a non-league club in the hope that this offers a relatively cheap route into the Football League. Billericay Town lost £122,000 in the final full year of ownership by controversial Glenn Tamplin, taking total losses to nearly £1.4 million. 'Ricay are currently third from bottom in the National League South. Their average attendance is 773. In the National League, Dover Athletic show that non league clubs can lose money hand over fist too as they rack up £487,000 of losses in 2018/19 and need big director loans to cover the losses. Under threat of relegation to the National League, Stevenage lost £144,000 in 2018/19. The club generated £273,000 from share issues in 2018/19 and have made a further £310,000 since the end of the season.