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YOUR TOWN YOUR TEAM; HAMANN OUT; GANNON RETURNS

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Evans disappeared after the Telford game in mid September with him and his un-named consortium consortium being unable to agree a deal. (He did show up at the FA Cup game at Southport where, in a bizarre display, and surrounded by a fawning entourage, he held court in the stand). Hamann had effectively lost the support of his main protagonist, and with results poor the terrace criticism grew by the game. But it wasn’t only performances on the field, but a growing knowledge that financial matters off it and a seeming lack of direction, that caused the dissatisfaction. It culminated in a meeting in one of the hospitality suites under the Cheadle End after the Hayes game, (another disappointing draw after conceding a late equaliser).

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As far as I was concerned, this was a group of fans wanting to back the club, but hard cash was never a realistic proposition. It led to a strength of feeling and Hamann, knowing that there was no Boardroom support, and more than likely realising that his vast football experience didn’t really sit well in the 5th Tier, walked a couple of days later.

The presence of Gannon at the meeting, (and more than likely in the knowledge that the Administrators decision to make him redundant 30 months previously), left what was by now the remnants of a Board with little alternative. Gannon came back as Director of Football. But it was to take a number of weeks before we saw his impact, as the ‘social loafers’ were wheedled out.

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THE ARRIVAL OF THE EAST STIRLING ‘SAVIOUR’

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With the Evans episode having come and gone, and resignations from the property connection of Mike Clark and Ken Graham, the Club entered 2012, not only struggling on the pitch, (being without a League win since beating Barrow at the beginning of November), but the Board was comprised solely Peter Snape and Kevan Taylor. Two weeks into the new year they were joined by Spencer Fearn. He immediately became the largest shareholder, (with 95k shares in Stockport Community Leisure, the holding company), following an increase in the share capital from 375k to 490k. Other shareholdings acquired at that time were by Robert Turner, (15k), and Jonathan Bell, (5k). His advent at EP was one of the key moments that defined the short to medium term future of the Club.

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Fearn had an interesting background. Based in Sheffield he had set up a company, Lifeskills, a company that aimed to give disadvantaged young people the skills to get the jobs they wanted. But in terms of the sports arena, it was his involvement at East Stirling that most interested County fans.He had got involved with them, and with his backing Scottish football’s eternal strugglers had thrived reaching the play-offs in two consecutive years. In the summer of 2010 Fearn left the club, requesting his shares be left to the supporters to turn East Stirling into a fan-run club. County fans welcomed him, hoping that he could trun the Hatters round in much the same way.

It was a short lived honeymoon. Appointed in January 2012 any off the field problems were masked as Gannon fashioned a new look team. County and began to inch away from the relegation zone. Fearn had clearly looked at the finances and workings of the Club and must already have reached some conclusions.

What was common knowledge by early February was that Stockport Council had made a loan to the Club. The security was provided by the cash still due from Huddersfield which had accrued after Anthony Pilkington had been sold to Norwich. When he was sold to Huddersfield, in early 2009, a 20% sell on clause had been negotiated. His subsequent departure to Carrow Road for £2m left County with the sell-on proceeds of around £320k.

Part had already been received, but it was suggested around £140k was outstanding, but not due to be paid until later in 2012. The loan from the Council was reported to be £180k. The information publically available from Companies House confirms that a charge was placed on the Club by Stockport MBC on 28th February.

It does not specify the amount, (which is hidden away in the detailed documentation), but certainly confirms the fact that a loan was made. It clearly provided a cash inflow to the Club at a point where things were getting rather more than tight. This charge was not satisfied until October 2018. Effectively cash flow over the period from 2012 was so poor that when the cash did arrive from Huddersfield it was used to prop up the business rather than repaying the loan.

Former Chairman, Mary Gibbons, (still at this point a shareholder in the holding company, Stockport Community Leisure), was reported by the Manchester Evening News as saying: “I’m annoyed that the club has been allowed to get into this state”. Some might say that this was a bit rich, given that she was a member of a Board, and Chairman for part of the year, in which an £865k loss, a huge contributory factor, was racked up………

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A SEASON’S FOOTBALL FOR £100 (+ VAT OF COURSE)

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The financial results for the year 2010/11, (the 12 months after administration), were finally published in early March 2012. They told a sorry tale; an £865k loss; £811k creditors, (amounts owed by the Club); £85k debtors, (amounts owed to the Club); £49k cash and next to no assets, (£33k).

Fearn had played no part in that financial performance, but his influence in terms of finances was demonstrated in early March 2012. An eye catching announcement that season tickets for 2012/13 would be £100, (£120 in reality after VAT was added), generated plenty of publicity. A game of football for not much more than a fiver, even if it was going to be in the 5th tier, (and to be honest at the time of the announcement a drop to the 6th level wasn’t yet out of the question), was more than fair value. But as with all offers that look too good to be true, it was the fine print that demanded a glance.

Fearn stated, “We are offering some amazing season ticket deals for the 2012/13 campaign”. Not wrong there but there were conditions!. He went on to say that these prices only held as long as they sold season tickets to a value of £660k. Even if all takers were adults this would require 5,500 to be sold. For a Club which had seen average gates fall by 30% in three years, and when the average crowd at that point in 2012/13 was 3,406 this was a pretty steep ask. Attracting another 2,100 on top of this to watch a team which had fallen out of the League, and wasn’t doing particularly well even at Conference level, was a laudable, if completely unachievable, objective. And naturally so it proved. The season ticket deal disappeared, (even after a reduction in the target), prices returned to the old level, and the task of getting cash into the business returned to that old faithful … the begging bowl to shareholders.

At much the same time news emerged that the Club’s Centre of Excellence and Youth Scholarship programmes were at risk with the shortfall in the costs involved in running these programmes, (after a reduction in FL support), no longer affordable.

It had also been announced that Sale would be leaving EP to become the ‘cuckoo in the nest’ at Salford Red Devils new ground at Barton. It finally happened in mid-July and was of course great news – it was their advent which set us on the slippery slope. County were given free rein to do what they wanted with the ground – but Kennedy was still the landlord, and with that relationship came rental obligations, (widely touted as being £175k pa in the original deal), and of course the associated maintenance. At a YTYT meeting one of the comments from the top table, which comprised John Fitzpatrick and Jim Gannon was that, “Since they have known they are going, Sale have lost pride in EP & allowed it to deteriorate”. What that implied was that much work needed to be done, and that wasn’t wrong – the place was looking more than tired. It could have been incredibly costly, but over the years Help the Hatters have certainly stepped up to mitigate and minimise costs in this respect.

With the cheap season ticket deal dying a slow death Fearn turned his attention to other income generation. The idea of selling “naming rights” to the ground, now it was back under County’s control, was floated, but the attraction proved insufficient to generate any meaningful interest. Effectively, Fearn’s ideas, good in themselves, had been singularly unproductive in terms of hard cash. The season had ended; Conference status had been preserved, and Gannon was looking to build a new team.

Off the field the summer news was that Fearn had been appointed Vice-Chairman. When the Board was only three people, and one of those, Kevan Taylor, was seemingly a peripheral presence, it was a formal adoption of the role that he had played for time since the turn of the year. Fearn said on his appointment, “It is a great honour to be appointed Vice-Chairman of our wonderful club, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at County and look forward to contributing more in the years to come”. That was in July 2012. “…years to come” concluded that sentence. Within 10 months he had walked away, but it was a 10 month period which saw the advent of McKnight; the sacking of Gannon; the appointment and departure of Kalezic and relegation into regional football. A lot happened and not much of it could be described as good.

After the flurry of eye-catching, (but failed), initiatives in the spring and summer not much was heard from the Boardroom for months. But with knowledge of a thumping great loss in 2010/11 public knowledge, and with the 2011/12 financial year done and dusted the Directors will have been well aware that the results for that year weren’t going to be much better.

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SNAPE’S WOKING RANT

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But as 2012 drew to a close there were clear signs that all was not well in the relationship between the Board, (fronted up by Snape), and Gannon. Mark and I made the trip to Woking on 8th December. By that point 20 league games had been played and we had only won 6 of them. At Kingfield that afternoon we went down to a very late Woking winner, and dropped into the bottom six. John Keighren was summing thing up on Pure Radio when Snape came into the media area, snatched the microphone and went into a rant. Summarising things he said words to the effect that he was singularly unhappy with the job Gannon was doing. Mark and I didn’t hear this, being on the road, the thick end of 200 miles from the transmission area. But Yellow Board was soon buzzing with it, and Mark relayed what had gone on. My response was that “Gannon’s days are numbered”. Thirty eight days later I wasn’t wrong. Little could we envisage the scale of the debacle that was to unfold.

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Previously: Beyond Administration – 2011 Next: Beyond Administration – 2013