The Shaming of St Albans City

On Friday, after almost one hundred and three years of existence, St Albans City made their first official trip to Wembley. There was no silverware at stake, only a reckoning with the Football Association’s disciplinary committee over financial irregularities dating back to the 2008-09 season. The verdict was brutal: an immediate ten-point deduction and a £7,500 fine.

The punishment sinks the club to the very bottom of the Blue Square South table, turning a difficult season into a seemingly impossible one. With just eighteen matches left to play, City are now stranded on eleven points. The FA’s statement was terse, confirming the club had breached rules C2(b)(ii), C1(b)(viii) and C2(b)(iii) in relation to payments and expenses to players.

In essence, the club was found to have made undeclared payments to uncontracted players, failing to subject them to PAYE and National Insurance, and not keeping proper expense records. The Chairman of the Regulatory Commission noted his “serious concerns” and declared that such irregularities gave the club an “unfair sporting advantage over others within the League which is simply unacceptable.”

An Unfair Advantage

The irony of gaining an “unfair sporting advantage” will not be lost on the club’s long-suffering supporters. Even with these illicit payments, St Albans City could only limp to a twelfth-place finish in the 2008-09 Blue Square South season. The severity of the penalty, which many expected to be between five and seven points, hints at the scale of the wrongdoing and serves as a damning indictment of those running the club.

The silence from the club itself has been deafening, though its website did correctly acknowledge the outcome as an “horrendous and shameful blemish on the good name of St Albans City Football Club”. Manager Steve Castle, who was also in charge during the season in question, said he was “gutted but defiant”. This response may leave some wondering if the club’s hierarchy is remorseful for cheating, or merely for being caught.

The Gibson Question

To the great disappointment of many fans, chairman John Gibson has not been barred by the FA and remains in his position. His tenure has been a grim one, marked by perpetual financial difficulties, stagnating on-pitch performances, and dwindling crowds. An air of apathy now hangs over Clarence Park, where just two or three hundred people can be relied upon to turn up while others leave the city on Saturday afternoons to watch football elsewhere.

Whispers abound as to Gibson’s continued interest in a loss-making club that plays at a council-owned ground. Rumours that players’ wage cheques have been bouncing this season contrast starkly with the affluence of the surrounding area. A city of 120,000 people should be able to sustain football at this level. Many supporters would have accepted the points deduction and the probable relegation if it had meant the removal of the chairman. The clamour for him to leave and allow someone else to pick up the pieces will surely now reach a new intensity.

His position has long been untenable.

A Long Way Down

Relegation from the Blue Square South now seems a near certainty. It was back in 1986 that City beat Lewes 7-1 at The Dripping Pan to win promotion to Step Two of the non-league pyramid. They have been there ever since, even enjoying one disastrous season in the Blue Square Premier. A drop back into the highly competitive Isthmian or Southern Leagues would make an immediate return anything but a foregone conclusion.

The worst-case scenario, one that comes a step closer with this penalty, is a decline similar to that which befell old rivals like Aylesbury United, Slough Town and Enfield. The possibility of joining them on the scrapheap of football history is very real.

For St Albans City to arrest this decline before it becomes terminal, a change of guard is needed. Bridges must be built with a community that has become alienated from its local club. Whether the Supporters Trust is ready or able to take over is an open question, but the alternative is to simply watch the club fade away.