ALMOST THE CHRISTMAS SELL-OUT
This piece was published in TTP 40, and was written in early December 1994. We had all known for a long time that Kevin Francis was the Club’s most valuable asset and that a parting of the ways was inevitable and sooner rather than later. The back end of November had seen an unseemly carry-on. It was a case of an on-off-on-off transfer. Birmingham wanted him, but there was much debate about how much they were willing to pay. By the start of December it had come to nothing, and Kevin was out of action. Some suggested that his heart wasn’t in it, and hadn’t been since the Play-Off defeat the previous May. It hadn’t stopped him scoring 12 already in the 1994/95 season though. I reflected on the goings-on, and my take on the Board’s approach to things. Within 3 weeks Kevin came back from injury, (a New Years Eve game against Bradford); came off the bench, and scored. It was the last time we saw him hit the net for County. He left for Birmingham a couple of weeks into the New Year.
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What a week that was!! After nearly 4 years, 193 games, and 115 goals we knew it was likely to happen sometime, but hoped it would be later rather than sooner. It’s Friday 9th December and the news has just come through that the deal is off so maybe it will be later and we can breathe a temporary sigh of relief.
However, the happenings of the last few days, (irrespective of Birmingham’s disgraceful behaviour), have, I believe, reflected badly on the management at County, with plenty enough reason to be indignant and incensed over the destination, fee and manner of payment.
You had to be pleased for Kevin – a move to the team he grew up with, a nice slice of the fee, and probably if pen had been put to paper the kind of deal he wanted at County which the club were unwilling or unable to give. He would have gone to a club with ambition and the financial clout of the Sunday porn millions – but at the end of the day they are in the same division as us!
Dave Jolley talked at the fans forum about running the club as a business – well I’ve never heard of a business that prospers by knocking down its prize asset to a direct competitor. ‘Knocking down’ is the right term – it became more akin to an auction only in this case with each bid the price fell rather than rose. The manner of payment took it into the realms of the absurd – to allow a portion of the fee to be based on appearances and goals given his record was nothing short of an insult.
Birmingham should have been told that it was a fee payable in one go if they were so desperate to have him- and that fee should have been far in excess of the agreed total. There was an abrogation of the Club’s responsibility to the people who pay their money every week.
You could hear the excuses being lined up – “What would we have got it went to tribunal next summer”, “This is a business not a charity”, “Can’t break the wage structure”, “Everybody has a price”, etc etc ad nauseam. Well if they had acted as a business and secured their, and our, best asset by paying his worth then we will be happy when the time for going arrives it will be into the Premier League at the right price – and with that there will no argument.
Sadly, I think that the cost of running County as a business meant that the prospect of a quick deal for the first half decent offer was grabbed with open arms. The total value of it quickly dropped from £1.2m to £900,000 and was purportedly agreed at the lower sum so the only conclusion is that there is a cash flow problem at EP. How much would Danny have been getting for a replacement -remember that after Derby’s cut there would have been only just over half a million left of the initial payment – rumour has it Griffiths was supposed to be the replacement for £300,000 – but whence the balance?
I suspect the more pressing need is to finance this unwanted, and more than likely unfilled, edifice of the Cheadle End giving the alacrity with which the Board accepted this deal and the publicity accorded to it the rest of the League now knows what an acceptable valuation is. So if by the time this appears the deal has been resurrected or someone else has come Christmas shopping don’t be too disheartened. Because next season when you’re paying a tenner to sit down under cover have a look at your ticket. You’ll be a proud occupant of the Kevin Francis Memorial Stand watching Division 2 football yet again – and for me that’s what this whole sorry affair has been about. I’d have joined in wishing Kev all the best knowing that he has never failed to give his best at the Park, and entertained and excited us so much, but I remain despondent that the parting of the ways almost came about in a way which I believe has failed those who love the club.
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December 1994
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