George Rolls, Kettering Town & The Morals Of Insolvency
One of the great conceits of recent years in terms of the way that football clubs are run has been that there is a greater degree of transparency in the way that football clubs are run. There are examples of transparency within the game which are extremely impressive – consider, for example, the decision of Lewes FC of the Ryman League Premier Division to publish their annual accounts online – but, on the whole, this new air of openness often feels like little more than a veneer of democracy in action while business carries on very much as usual otherwise. Clubs continue to live beyond their means, make bafflingly bad business decisions and then walk away from the all too predictable results of their mismanagement, whilst shaking their heads and muttering, “But what else could we do?”, as if their behaviour as businesses is as natural and inevitable as the passing of the four seasons. So it was that last night, for the second year in a row, the supporters of Kettering Town found themselves in a public meeting after the final whistle had blown on their season. Last year, Imraan Ladak was polling supporters over whether the club should leave its Rockingham Road home and decamp eight miles away to Nene Park, the former home of the late Rushden & Diamonds FC. The results of that evening became...
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