(THE EVANS ERA – IF 10 WEEKS IS AN ERA….)

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PROPERTY DEVELOPERS HOVER

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The article from 200% reproduced at length in “Beyond Administration … 2010-11” picked up on the story from the close season in 2010. It highlighted how the original Board formed back then had changed out of all recognition, and that there new ‘bidders’ on the scene, with what appeared to be a ‘development profit’ at the heart of their interest. It was no secret that the land on Edgeley was valuable in terms of development, certainly for housing. The prospect of cashing in on this, (despite it still being in Kennedy’s ownership), and taking County to a new ground on a brownfield site, would have been attractive.

Any suggestion of this provoked a lot of debate, and not inconsequential criticism, from the County support. Some thought a new ground would be a good idea. EP was looking tired, and Kennedy had done little to improve things. Others, vehement in their opposition, asserted that this had been County’s home since 1902, and was where we should be stopping. I fell more into the latter camp. A town centre ground with character, and somewhere that had been my spiritual home for 50 years or so, was infinitely preferable to these out of town flat-packs. We had been to many of them on our travels over the last decade.

I offer you Glanford Park; The Bescot Stadium; The Deva Stadium; the new Dean Court; the Colchester Community Stadium. All of them soulless; devoid of any character; and merely a monument to the manufacturers of breeze blocks. They were for the smaller clubs like us. Even the bigger structures, (The Riverside and St Marys), failed to inspire. In all my travels with the Hatters there was only the Stadium of Light and, (whisper it) Stadium MK, which I liked. Yes I’m a traditionalist, but do recognise the need to update things, and take advantage of the commercial opportunities which would be afforded by a new design. But why, for heavens sake, can’t the architects show a bit of imagination.

But whatever the feelings of the public, the Board Room changes pointed to something like this. Alwyn Thompson and Sean Connelly long gone by the time relegation finally happened. The Board had been ‘bolstered’ by Mike Clark and Ken Graham, whose interests were more in the development area. Adding to this Stewart Vann was elected onto the Board of the controlling company, Stockport Community Leisure Ltd. He was into commercial property, but it was a short lived association with his directorship ending only a month later.

Mary Gibbons took over as Chair from Thompson and was the Boardroom public face of the Club in the run up to relegation. She did herself few favours amongst the supporter base with some of the statements she came out with. Word had it that she received precious little support from her fellow Board members in the day to day running of the Club. Having been without a Chief Executive since Connelly departed the previous September, Graham Shaw, (a former pro-footballer was brought in in April 2011. It was a short lived appointment, as he moved on to GT Law within 8 months.

Which, coincidentally or maybe not, brings us to the Evans affair. With talk of new grounds rife, but coming to nothing, relegation to the Conference confirmed; and yet another financial fiasco unfolding, (albeit not yet public knowledge), Mary Gibbons and husband, Tony, resigned in mid-May 2011. (It didn’t take both of them much time to resurface though. The self professed life long fan, although her true allegiance was with Spurs, had inveigled herself in at Hyde within days. That didn’t last long before she hopped over the hill to Bower Fold, and got involved there!).

The finances were in a poor state. A year of trading had gone by since the new Company was formed. Those in the know would have been privy to what turned out to be a loss on the year of £865k. Quite staggering for a Board that had inherited a clean slate. And it wasn’t going to get any better. Relegation to the Conference might have been cushioned by parachute payments, but still without any revenue streams of consequence the likes of Ebbsfleet; Dartford and Bath visiting with literally a handful of supporters could only mean that gate receipts, (the only meaningful source of cash), were going to be reduced. (As it turned out the average crowd in 2011/12 was around 500 less than the previous season – at say £10 a head, after deducting VAT, this reduced income by £120k). Then a ‘saviour’ appeared. How little do people learn??

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BIG WORDS BUT NO SUBSTANCE … THE TONY EVANS EPISODE

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The season had ended and Ray Mathias went away on holiday understanding that he would be the manager who would lead us in the Conference. There had been an improvement in his temporary tenure at the end of the 2010/11 season. His knowledge not only of football generally, but of players in the North west, gave County fans some assurance that we could put up a decent show. By the time he arrived back from his vacation things had changed. A take-over was in the offing.

I never fail to be surprised at the gullibility of some County fans. Perhaps its the fact that I worked in a fairly high pressure business environment for my whole working life. My approach has always been to be sceptical about things that seem too good to be true. Do a bit of research, and then come to an informed view. It happened in 2015 when Neil Young was appointed. It didn’t take me long to work out that here was a short-termist; that we could look forward to different players every week; and from what I read that it wouldn’t be too engaging.

I knew at that point that the Club had to rebuilt from the bottom. Two seasons of regional football were evidence of that. I said as much on the message boards, and got flayed for it. It gave me little satisfaction to see that this reign lasted but 5 months. It had been on the cards from Day 1.

In the summer of 2011, tales emerged that a Liverpool businessman had put some kind of consortium together. He was looking to take over the Club, with promises of big money. I took a step back; had a root around and rolled my eyes.

Tony Evans was the name. News of his interest in County emerged, and with it further news that he had appointed Didi Hamann as manager. (This of course meant that Ray Mathias was unceremoniously pushed aside). The Liverpool Echo published an article which set my alarm bells ringing. Reproduced here in full it said:

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But administrators continue to look into the collapse of his former Kirkby-based call centre firm Anthony Donald Evans (ADE). The firm, which traded online at seeus2save.com, owed a total of £1.2m. In the latest report from administrators CLB Coopers, Mr Evans is listed as owing the company £94,963. Mr Evans said he was in dispute with the administrators as to whether the £94,963 was a dividend payment or a directors’ loan. He said if it is established he should return the money, he will pay it back.

The firm had moved into Deacon Park, in Kirkby, towards the end of 2009. Mr Evans, then 26, had ambitious growth plans and had planned to increase his 100-strong workforce to 150 within months. However, it had just 10 staff when it stopped trading on November 23. About 40 people had been laid off at the end of October.

He said: “I set up the company with little over £1,500 and it was a success story. We fought tooth and nail to keep it afloat. The company bore my name. From a personal point of view, it was very disappointing”. He blamed the administration on a deal with a firm of solicitors that had turned sour after it breached Solicitors Regulation Authority rules. He said the company had been owed £4m and it had been hoped it would remain solvent.

Mr Evans said he was confident he could turn around Stockport, which dropped out of the football league last season. He said: “I started Anthony Donald Evans from scratch and built it up. I have confidence in my own abilities that I will be able to make a difference”. Mr Evans, an LFC season ticket holder who knows Hamann through a friend, said: “If he turns out to be a successful manager, like I believe he will be, from my point of view I will be able to take credit.” Hamann, who has been working as first-team coach under Sven Goran Eriksson, at Leicester City, consulted the former England manager before accepting the job. But, despite the Swede’s misgivings, the German said he could not pass it up, saying: “You’ve got to start off somewhere when you go into management.”

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The whole sorry episode that unfolded lasted 70 days. Evans, who despite the statement in the Liverpool Echo article, was never a Director. If so, it was never reported to Companies House). Staggeringly he was put in as Chairman by the Board for a period of six weeks. The Board at this time, (from Companies House records), was comprised of Snape; Clark; Taylor; and Graham, (one long time County fan; two property people, and Kennedy’s eyes and ears). The holding company Board, who should have been involved in this kind of decision, featured Clark; Graham and Taylor.

Herein lies the issue – other than Snape there was no history of or involvement with County. Evans words were little more than seductive whispered nothings. (To be fair his connection with GT Law did provide a shirt sponsorship). He purportedly was heading up a consortium which rejoiced in the name Sports Investment Management Limited.

Social media is a powerful tool and Evans used it cleverly. Yellow Board was full of people saying how they’d ‘talked’ to him on Twitter. He got these onside, despite the misgivings that were being floated around. He talked big signings, and we did acquire Sean McConville from Accrington, (I heard a fee of £50k mentioned). There were also rumours of paying £100k for Ryan Lowe who had been prolific for Chester and Bury since his short loan spell at EP three years earlier.

All this nonsense on social media might have amused me were the whole thing not clearly heading to be another fiasco. It was summed up by him asking fans on a Twitter poll which striker should be signed. Either George Donnelly, (who had shown up well the previous season) or Jamie Vardy, (who was on the verge of signing 12 months previously until Simpson decided otherwise). The poll decided that Donnelly was the man. It turned out to be neither as they both ended up at Fleetwood….

We started the season with Evans still in this position of power without responsibility. There were 7 draws and a win in the first 9 games, and then he walked away. Purportedly the deal he was putting forward required the existing Directors to stump up £200k. He felt these were debts they had incurred during their custodianship. Peter Snape disagreed, saying that these were costs associated with the day to day running. There was also a suggestion that Evans’ failure to disclose the identity of other members of the consortium was a deal breaker. He left after the Telford game in early September.

It had been a complete shambles, and a costly diversion to boot. A season in which a return to winning ways, and targetting a return to the FL, should have been the prime objective. Instead we had in place a manager with no experience, and I would hazard a guess, no knowledge of the non-league scene; a squad which would be labelled ‘social loafers’ only a matter of weeks later; a four man Board which would be reduced to two by December; and a Chief Executive who had been in place only a matter of months and would leave at the turn of the year.

At the same time the Club was still haemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate. On top of the £865k loss in 2010/11 there was to be a further loss of £401k in 2011/12. I still cannot get over the fact that, after starting with a clean sheet in 2010 this kind of performance happened. Yes, Kennedy still had the ground; and the revenue flows from the Conference and Banqueting operation, and was charging rent. However, a loss equating to £12k a week was something to be agog at. It was something that had to be addressed … and addressed it was in due course. Sadly it was in the most catastrophic of ways, ending not in a return to the FL but rather a six year journey around the highways and byways of non-league football in the North.

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GIVING EVANS THE RIGHT OF REPLY

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I am hugely critical of the events in that 10 week period. They lost us the opportunity to put the Club back on an even keel. I will be charitable and describe Evans as a “wide boy”. Reports on the 200% site, (The Vaughan Effect and Stockport County), suggested that he didn’t keep the best of company in terms of football administration. (As at March 2024 the 200% site is no longer available on the web). However, Evans clearly felt that he should tell his side of the story, which he did online in 2014. It can be found at https://tony-evans.tumblr.com/post/79456794795/setting-the-record-straight-about-my-stockport and is reproduced here, without comment:

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Setting the record straight about my Stockport County bid

It’s almost three years since I tried to buy Stockport County and since then there has been a lot of inaccurate speculation about the deal and why it collapsed. I feel it’s now time to set the record straight.

The reality is that in July 2011, the club was in a huge financial mess and it was agreed in principle that I could purchase the club. I was keen to pursue the deal for personal reasons and believe I had the passion and business acumen, to drive the club forward. It was a deal of passion rather than a commercial deal. I had the fans onside because I wanted to rescue the club and give it what it needed.

A formal bid was then put together to buy the club and there were people who expressed an interest in investing into my long term plans. At this point I also introduced the board to some significant people who shared my vision for the club.

The facts are that the club had just been relegated and there were too many back-office staff. One of the first things I did was to see where money could be saved. For example, there was someone who was employed to make tea for the players, salaried at £19,000 a year, when the players were only there two days a week. By putting her on a wage, we saved a good few thousand pounds. At the very outset, I made many other decisions that saved the club a substantial amount of money. I put my heart and soul into the club and ran it as though every penny was my own. I didn’t break any banks.

My work as an independent consultant with GT LAW meant I was also able to secure a 2 year kit sponsorship deal worth £50,000 a year which wasn’t dependent on whether or not my bid was successful.

I’d told the club I wanted Didi as manager beforehand. I was a young lad, putting his money where his mouth was.

This was a club which had no assets, was in debt and didn’t own its own ground. I also intended to buy and had started discussions with Brian Kennedy about buying back Edgeley Park.

Everything was moving along nicely, or so it seemed.

My team wanted to put every penny it could into the club regardless because my heart was in the club. I had a genuine enthusiasm and excitement to try to push the club forward as much as I possibly could.

I had a statement of intent – and my generosity and passion was basically taken advantage of.

I know now they were stringing me along and speaking with somebody else the whole time, while I profiled the club in the media. Results were up, everybody was talking about them. There was a real feel good factor about the club.

Let’s contrast that with the situation now. There are 14 shareholders who are local businessmen and while I can appreciate that they’re loyal to the club and have always loved it, they have over the last couple of years run the club into the ground. They’re mid-table in the Conference North league. They’ve got no assets and no clear leadership on or off the pitch.

People are saying “At least they know what they want to do with the club” as if I didn’t have a clue. I had clear long and short term goals for Stockport. I did all I could for the club myself, as well as getting a high profile manager in like Didi (Dietmar Hamann).

We spoke every day but when I left basically no one answered the phone to him. Didi signed every single player, I didn’t approach any of them. Didi made every decision and signed every player. I didn’t get involved – that’s not my area of expertise – no decisions were made on any personal alliances of mine. I also want the fans to know that the club had agreed a fee and personal terms with Jamie Vardy, who’s currently playing and scoring goals for Leicester in the Championship.

It all came to a head the day after the Telford game where the chairman Lord Peter Snape had winked at me at the game and practically told me it was a done deal and then said 24 hours later “No, we’re not prepared to do it because we don’t believe it’s a fair deal.”

If it wasn’t for incompetent individuals and certain board members and if they had simply trusted me and left me to my own devices, the club wouldn’t be where it is today, I guarantee it.

Long term plan

My long term business plan for the club was to get an ex-premier league player to pay Stockport County to let him manage them. (Ex-players have the money so it makes sense for them to pay to get on the ladder, giving them something to do). I strongly believe that’s what will happen in the future of football anyway.

Also, Stockport is geographically in the vicinity of Manchester Utd, Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton, so it would be pointless to have a youth academy. However, I wanted to set up an academy for 16+. Anyone released from any of those clubs at 16 would automatically be offered a place, because we would deem them good enough. We’d essentially pick up their scraps because they will have had all that training (and money spent on them) in their previous academy. We’d train them up to be of first team and reserve team quality; Crewe Alexandra has a reputation for it and we wanted to have similar. The majority of revenue gained by the club would have gone into the academy and we’d then sell the players on for a profit at a later date.

But I apparently didn’t have a business plan because I never shouted our business plan from the rooftops. I hope people understand that we couldn’t share our ideas or somebody else would have taken it as their own. I’d like to have run the club, given my all to the club, I had a team in mind with some high quality players in particular.

The future

Looking back in a short space of time I had generated a big fan base for them and gained national media attention for the brand. But for what? People criticised me for refusing to reveal my investors, suggesting I was involved with some dubious characters, but the truth of it is that there were no investors to reveal.

I still have the interests of the club at heart and last season, I rang the chief executive because I knew of a top-class footballer who could do wonders for Stockport. I knew they couldn’t afford him, so I said ‘I’ll pay his wages, for him to come and play for you because I don’t want to see you go down.” Nobody ever got back to me. This particular player went to play for Accrington Stanley instead.

I want to make it clear, I’ve no interest in getting back involved with the people who run the club. I was just trying to help out where I could. I don’t see any of it as a personal failure.

However I admit, it was hard to let go because I got so into it.

That was that and since it all unfolded the club has gone down and down but the fans still support in their thousands. It’s them I feel most sorry for.

There’s no way I’d go back to Stockport County now, unless every single existing shareholder left.

In the future, I would like to get back into football, if the right opportunity came about. But not now, that’s not why I’m doing this. I just need to get my version of events across and draw a line in the sand. I had serious and genuine long and short term plans for Stockport County and it’s a shame I wasn’t able to put them into action.

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Previously: Beyond Administration – 2010/11 Next: Beyond Administration – 2011/12