You're Not Famous Anymore

“You’re not famous anymore,” one of the infamous chants that lower league clubs fans love to chant. Wolves, Coventry, Sheffield United and even Portsmouth are all on the receiving end of this chant when they travel for an away game in the Sky Bet league 1 or 2.

Granted other big name clubs have been through the ups and downs or the re-branding of the football league since the emergence of the Premier League. Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, are all clubs who have languished in the third tier of English football. But all managed to get back into the Championship within three years. .

Of course, the likes of Bradford, Oldham and Swindon had a brief stint in the Premiership, but neither would be considered a “Goliath” fixture in today’s game. Even with their record of being promoted to the top division and back to the basemen in nine years Northampton Town are not a team that are feared.

Like an A-list celebrity that has gone into disrepute and looking for their next comeback, will these clubs ever going to make it back to the top, or has the financial gain of the premiership and television rights spoilt any chances of that?

Relegation is the biggest fear for chairmen who have recently been promoted to the premiership. Even with the parachute payments that their club receives from the premiership; the wage budget, television right and other expenses that come with the fame of playing on in the premiership greatly disappear with relegation. What turns into a season of excitement in England’s top tear often results in the next four to five years struggling in the lower leagues.

Sheffield United the biggest sufferers of the financial reckonings that playing with the big boys brings. Compensated with £5.5m for the Carlo Tevez saga the club has never recovered from that heartbreaking relegation on the final day of the 2006-07 seasons. With sales of promising stars such as Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker, the club has never quite found it’s feet again when it comes to getting back to the top.

Carlos Tevez playing against Sheffield United in 2007 

And this is just one example of clubs coming down from the top division and not being able to make it back. Financial rewards are what the chairmen are looking for, they don’t care about the fans they just want their stadiums full so they can make as much money as they can.

Tranmere Rovers chairman Peter Johnson is a culprit of this. After a successful era under Ronnie Moore, Johnson decided bringing in the big name reputations of John Barnes and Jason McAteer with the hope to put “more bums and seats.” The thinking that this tactic would work is medieval and something that many clubs in the lower leagues do to try and bring financial success.

The thinking behind running a club has to change however. If a club is going to be run like a business then the least you could do is follow business 101 rules. To gain money from something you have to put money into it. In lower league cases it’s by not selling the young players at the first possible chance. Or sell them and give the manger the money to spend on loan player’s wages. Every player has his price, it’s about knowing when to sell and not look for the quickest possible financial gain.

Johnson’s biggest mistake was sacking Ronnie Moore for what was nothing more than a P.R stunt. A survey done by economist Stefan Szymanski showed that between the years of 1974-2010, Moore was actually the eleventh best manager for what he had achieved with the wage budget he had available. Somewhat of an overachiever Moore was still shown the exit.

Jason McAteer and John Barnes on being appointed Manager and Assistant at Tranmere 

Lower League chairmen need to realize that if they were going to run the clubs like a business then they need to treat the club how they would treat any other business. Instead of trying to find a quick fix look at the long-term plan, results and success in the league bring the fans in, not ex professional players. By giving the managers the resources to succeed on the pitch will bring rewards for more cucumber sandwiches and bottles of white wine in the directors box. For those who are also unaware of the business world of football contracts are sent between clubs via fax…. Yes a fax machine!

Will the chairmen start giving their managers the financial backing to succeed in? What they need to do is give their managers time and not look for a quick fix. Oxford United’s Chris Wilder and Leyton Orient’s Russell Slade are the football league’s third and forth longest serving managers, Arsene Wegner is leading the list. If you look at all three of those teams right now where do they sit in the league? At the top. 

Chopping and changing managers every other year or not putting in the financial backing for wages and players transfers will only see more clubs like Wolves, Sheffield United linger down in the depths of football for longer. Give the manager time and money to build “his” squad over two to three years and the success will come both on and off the field.