NEW Year Resolution ??

By Howard Borrell

I suspect there never will be such a thing as happiness and resolution amongst football clubs because everyone wants what's best for them but doesn't really know how to go about achieving it.

Short-termism has caused untold damage to our country and, in my view, has done serious damage to our national game but we're probably stuck with it. If Manchester United could turn back the clock maybe they'd have found a way of avoiding the current ownership battle. Then again maybe not because several individuals made a great deal of money out of floating the club that they wouldn't have walked away with otherwise.

Football clubs are too important to their communities to be played about with. Here at Chesterfield we can only sympathise with the recent Wrexham problems and thank our lucky stars that we came out of our recent troubles less scarred than others. Barnsley, our recent visitors have had their own problems that took some resolving but hopefully their bucket rattling days are now over and stability has returned.

The Wrexham situation where Alex Hamilton bought the club for a knockdown £200,000 and subsequently purchased the land freehold for a similar fee only to immediately transfer the ground into a separate company epitomises football's woes. The Football League brought in a "fit and proper person" test only for Hamilton to use a front man as a decoy. There needs to be legislation to enshrine the sanctity and safety of grounds and deter predators - no such deterrence currently exists.

Asset stripping, unfortunately, is legal if done well (or badly if you're on the receiving end) and shows no signs of abating. The reality is that people will not regulate themselves and if a person with malevolent intent can legally acquire an asset worth millions of pounds by play acting for a few months - they'll do it !

Fans everywhere have been hoodwinked by smooth talking charlatans (most Spireites would admit to that) and the solution must lie elsewhere. The government doesn't always get it right but it tries to implement solutions in the financial sector; well it's about time it recognised the loop-holes in football and linked that with its own community attitude to sport.

My personal aim would be to see CFSS own the land that the club is sited on; there'd be no opportunities then for Hamilton look-alikes to come plundering our club. In the meantime we just need to attempt to start making us a little more viable.

Last month a survey of football fans found, unsurprisingly that 82% of supporters wanted a new system of redistributing television money more equally. More than half of the fans thought that the domination of the rich clubs will increase. Hardly a surprising conclusion since the Coca Cola League is told to be grateful for scraps off the big boys' table and the smaller brethren in the Premiership are treated similarly.

Not that long ago clubs in England used to receive a percentage of the takings when they played away from home - really the ending of such an egalitarian practice started the rot and ensured that greed won the day and now thrives unabated.

In Italy competitive balance has virtually disappeared because their internal distribution is probably the least equitable in Europe whereas in Spain competitive balance has shown no sign of ending (Deportivo, Vigo etc) simply because the big two have failed to win their avaricious arguments.

We know we have to solve our own problems but it would be great if we got the occasional helping hand.