Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
THE financial storm clouds gathering over the world of professional football seem to be growing by the day.
Scottish giants Rangers and Championship team Portsmouth recently went into administration and last week League Two club Port Vale were served with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs over an unpaid tax bill.
Vale have failed to pay their players' wages for February and Stoke-on-Trent City Council have been asked to help the Staffordshire club enter administration, which would result in a 10-point deduction.
The club, who are under a transfer embargo, are behind on their loan repayments to the council.
Manager Micky Adams said: "I'm massively disappointed with what's going on. I think it's going to get worse before it's going to get better.”
And the Rangers situation has had an impact on fellow Scottish Premier League outfit Dunfirmline who have not paid full February wages to players and staff.
Dunfermline are still waiting for £85,000 from Rangers for tickets sold by the Ibrox club to their fans for a match at East End Park last month.
Things are so bad at Portsmouth that administrator Trevor Birch has admitted that he is 'worried' about the club's situation, repeating concerns that Pompey may not have enough money to get through until the end of the season.
“We're down to the wire now, I've got a meagre amount of money to try to get us to the end of the season. I'm very worried.”
Things look pretty grim as he went on: “The club is in a default position. It is left with a foot-print around the stadium that they don't own, they don't own the training ground and they don't own the academy. It leaves you asking 'where has it all gone?', and I can't answer that question."
In the Premier League, Aston Villa claim they are satisfied with the club's financial position despite announcing annual losses of almost £54m.
This figure does not include income from the sales of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing last June and chief financial offer Robin Russell said: “Given the challenging economic environment we're pleased with positive trends in our financial performance."
He added:”The board are confident that the actions taken since the end of the 2010-11 financial year have galvanised the long-term sustainability of the club and have also given us a better financial platform on which to build for future success. “
We shall see...
Two Championship clubs Coventry City and Birmingham City, have been placed under transfer embargoes for failing to fail their accounts on time.
And finally, down at the other end of the football world, Conference side Kettering Town say they have made payments to football creditors and their players in a bid to avoid a three-point deduction.
Kettering are set to face a winding-up order in the next few weeks after an initial attempt to close the club by HM Revenue & Customers was deferred.
There is a growing feeling that the era of reckless spending by football clubs in Britain is coming to end – unless you are Manchester City or Chelsea of course.