Eighty million quid - if only we had that in the non-league game!

Sunday 28th June 2009

TONBRIDGE ANGELS boss Tommy Warrilow has condemned the £80m transfer that Real Madrid have paid for Manchester United star Ronaldo, writes Stephen McCartney.

ARTICLE INCLUDES PIECES ON OTHER CLUBS, NOT JUST TONBRIDGE ANGELS, SO PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

The Portuguese superstar has finally sealed a move to the Spanish giants, on a six-year deal, although £80m could solve plenty of financial woes of hundreds of non-league football clubs up and down the country.

Warrilow, who is, like many other managers, working with a reduced playing budget this season, revealed to www.kentishfootball.co.uk yesterday that he has eaten away his playing budget on between 10-12 players, and needs to raise extra funds through selling transfer listed pair, striker Carl Rook and defender Leon Legge.

The Ryman Premier League club are also in talks with a potential new sponsor, and Warrilow wants to know how much of that deal will be made available to him to increase squad numbers.

Elsewhere in Kent, Blue Square Premier club Ebbsfleet United were forced to offload two contracted players last week, in striker Michael Gash and highly-rated defender Darius Charles, to an unnamed club for £80,000 to enable boss Liam Daish to work with a £6,250 playing budget next season, although the Fleet would like to increase that figure to £7,000 per week.

Daish has only two senior players that have escaped the cull, with contracted goalkeeper Lance Cronin and recently appointed player-coach Paul McCarthy still at Stonebridge Road.

The first club to be wound up over an unpaid tax bill was Blue Square South side Fisher Athletic, but the south Londoners reformed after thirteen days and Fisher and look forward to playing Bulmers Cider Kent League football in August.

Fisher have appointed their former assistant Paul Lisney as their first manager and have lined up pre-season friendlies against Romford (at Aveley, 26 July), Lewisham Borough (28 July), Coney Hall (1 August) and Thamesmead Town (4 August).

Sadly, Newcastle Brown Star, a Unibond League club founded in 1930, are no more.

A club statement said, “Following on from a meeting in Soho Square, London, where Bob Morton met up with representatives from the Football Association, the FSIF (grants) and a member from the financial regulations department of the FA, Bob submitted mitigation as to why the club should be shown compassion with regards to the claims for full payment of £61,000 which the club received towards development of the Wheatsheaf Sports Ground.

“Bob Morton pleaded with the members to forgo their claim of the full amount of this money and allow the club to continue with their progression and keep the club in existence, however it was to be fruitless as the FSIF were demanding full payment prior to the 2009-10 season commencing.

“Club secretary Jim Anderson stats that although all parties confirm and endorse that the grants which were awarded and have been correctly utilised over the period 1999-2004 in which they had been claimed, it is the fact the senior club no longer play their games at the Wheatsheaf ground that has instigated this claim even though their relocation to Kingston Park was urged and commissioned by the same authorities.

“Taking this into account, Newcastle Blue Star would like to confirm that they are officially withdrawing from all competitive football, having announced at the end of the 2008-09 season their concerns over their future, both Bob Morton and Jim Anderson have worked vigorously in an attempt to prevent the closure of such a great club attempting to attract investors in what is an unstable economic climate.

“Finally Jim Anderson would like to thank all of the support received from all since the club was founded back in 1930, there have been many folk associated with this club and I am sure they will have fond memories that they will cherish.”

Here in Kent, meanwhile, Folkestone Invicta, of the Ryman League Division One South, may be forced to go into administration tomorrow morning if they don’t find £70,000 and on Wednesday, Ryman Premier League side Margate could be wound up at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London over an unpaid tax bill believed to be £50,000.

Warrilow hopes both Kent clubs survive and he spoke about his affection to the Cheriton Road club.

“Cugs (Folkestone Invicta manager Neil Cugley) was at my wedding the other week, I’ve got a lot of mates down there,” he said.

“My main two years in non-league football as a kid was at Canterbury, I used to go down Folkestone every weekend, I’ve got a lot of mates down there, still have and at the club. I just hope things pick up for them.”

But the Tonbridge Angels boss admitted the current economic climate is a wake-up call to semi-professional footballers that they can no longer command high wages as football clubs struggle to make ends meet.

“Not just in our football, even Man United with £80m and things like that for Ronaldo is just ridiculous,” he said.

“I think non-league football is having a reality check. The money some of these boys in our league, not necessarily at this club, is good money and I think a lot of players have taken it for granted over the years.

“Now it’s a little kick in the proverbials to say we haven’t got it any more and you’ve got to have a realistic amount in your mind what you’re playing for.

“I think the finances have been the decision for a lot of people when they join club’s sometimes. I think that’s the wrong decision, if it’s an outstanding amount, a life changing for you and your family, that’s fair enough, but not for some of the figures some of the boys are chasing, around £30-£40 here or there.

“If your at a club your happy with, you get looked after, you know you’re going to get your money week in week out, the club is going to push on, the most important thing is to be playing week in, week out and playing well and enjoying your football.

“That’s why these boys are here, other club’s I can’t talk about.

“I think it’s hard a reality check and I think it was needed because club’s can’t run on the gates they get with the money they’re paying.

“I think it’s common sense (to cut playing budgets) and hopefully, I just hope, there’s not too many casualties.”

Tonbridge Angels' highly-rated defender, Scott Gooding, 27, meanwhile, is staying put at Longmead Stadium.

"Things have changed this year," he told www.kentishfootball.co.uk following his first pre-season training session yesterday.

"Me personally, I know I'm on contract for this year so I'm just here to do my job. What's happened, happens at the club, if we can keep as many of the old boys as we can and hopefully bring in some new players, other than that, we've got to do our jobs.

"You've got to weigh up the options and see what's best for your family and see what the club's are doing. Football's just a weird game, sometimes you've got to move on, sometimes you stay where you are. Different things dictate.

"The chairmen have gone so it's affected some of the lads, I'm just here to do my job. I'm here for another season."

Cray Wanderers, a club that will be playing Ryman Premier League football for the very first time in their 149-year history, have issued a rallying cry for more supporters to support their monthly lottery - the 100 club.

Chairman Gary Hillman, who was unavailable to comment today, unveiled yesterday that the club have persuaded strikers Leigh Bremner and Michael Power to re-sign for the club.

Manager Ian Jenkins has already made three summer signings, brining Rob Quinn (Welling United), Tommy Tyne (Tonbridge Angels) and long-serving Dartford defender Tommy Osborne to the club.

Seven members of last season’s promotion winning squad, Aaron Day, Scott Kinch, Lewis Wood, Mark Willy, Dean Standen, Colin Luckett and Steve Aris, have all re-signed.

The Wands appear to not have a goalkeeper at present, as last season’s number one, Glen Knight has not yet re-signed, and teenage goalkeeper Jack Bradshaw has signed permanently for Erith Town, where he was on loan throughout last season.

One Kent club, that have experienced boom and bust are Dover Athletic, who are now enjoying the boom period under chairman Jim Parmenter and manager Andy Hessenthaler.

The former Gillingham player-boss has clinched back-to-back titles and has taken the Crabble club from Ryman League Division One South to Blue Square South.

In an interview with Justin Allen on www.doverathletic.com, chairman Mr Parmenter insists the club will not be adversely affected by the collapse of TV broadcaster Setanta.

The Irish broadcaster had a deal with the Football Conference to televise games - and the money was distributed throughout the league's three divisions.

But Mr Parmenter was quick to reassure supporters that the collapse of this deal will not cause Dover Athletic any problems whatsoever.

He said: "We were due to get about £15,000 from the deal - but have not included that in our budget.

"To be perfectly honest, I think it's very risky to budget on extras such as TV deals. You never know how that is going to pan out long-term.

"Of course, had we banked the extra revenue that would have enabled us to do something extra, which we can't do now.

"But, in terms of the running of the club and our plans for summer signings, it doesn't cause us any problems at all. The club is being run sensibly."

Boss Hessenthaler is currently on holiday and returns next week.

The chairman says that Hessenthaler will be monitoring a number of trialists in training and pre-season friendlies, which begin against Barnet at Crabble on Saturday, 11 July.

He said: "I'd say we're going to sign two more players. We've some interesting names coming down and should be doing some business during the pre-season, but unlikely before."

As mentioned earlier in this article, Ebbsfleet United are picking up the pieces from losing their Setanta cash, which is worth at least £60,000 per season for the Stonebridge Road club.

John Moules, the club’s acting chief executive, told www.ebbsfleetunited.co.uk, when the news broke on 23 June, “All Blue Square Premier clubs will be financially effected, in our case a loss of central funding of around £60,000 this season.

“Given the size of the club’s budget this season, the loss of revenue will have a major impact in all areas of funding including the playing budget, which is already at an all-time low.

“ESPN, who ironically were owned by Setanta at one time but sold to Disney to help fund their Premier and FA contracts, are unlikely to pick up the Conference coverage and BSkyB will have no capacity to broadcast.

“One encouraging piece of news is that I did speak to an FA representative about the FA Cup and FA Trophy prize funds which could be affected by the loss of Setanta but he was of the opinion that there would not be any significant impact in that area.

“The loss of television coverage will, in my opinion, also have an impact on our sponsorships income in terms of programme advertising, ground boards and match days. While we can hopefully minimise this with a lot of hard work and in some areas reduce prices to attract new sponsors and keep existing ones, the overall impact could be greater than the initial sum of £60,000.

“In overall terms it means that the club will need more than ever fans and MyFC members to maximise fundraising through every possible source to balance the books this season.”

Meanwhile, Bulmers Cider Kent League side Beckenham Town have appointed two former players as their reserve team management team.

Adam Heaslewood and Jason Clews have been appointed as the Eden Park Avenue club field a second string side for the first time in four years.

Beckenham have raided Kent County League side Orpington by signing four of their squad. Striker Gary Gorman and his brother, defender, Danny, along with goalkeeper Nicky Blue and midfielder Charlie Hawkes have been snapped up.

Beckenham boss Jason Huntley was hugely impressed with what they saw when the players appeared in an end of season cup final at Eden Park Avenue.

"They are talented lads and we are delighted to have them on board for next season," Huntley told www.beckenhamtownfc.co.uk.

Huntley has also signed Ryan Hillary from Blue Square South newboys Staines Town.

And VCD Athletic, preparing for their inaugural Ryman League Division One North campaign, have confirmed that on Saturday 18 July the club will be hosting Tonbridge Angels in a friendly.

Spokesman Brian Norris told www.kentishfootball.co.uk: “They are also playing Ebbsfleet at home on the same day and are playing a mixture of first team/reserves in each fixture.”

Mr Norris confirmed that Vickers’ home friendly against Bridon Ropes on Tuesday, 21st July, has been switched to their opponents ground.