It's been a fucking shit decade so far for County fans in general. On the morning of January 1st 2000 we were sat in the Playoff places of Division 1 (or "the Championship as it's now known), undefeated at home (or away) so far that season and were due to play Crystal Palace at home (or away, whichever one it was we were undefeated in). Since then we have just spiraled.
A succession of managers (Kilner (Fins), Palmer (still makes me shiver), McIlroy (midgets), Turner (crap)) saw the club finish in a lower position each year for 6 seasons; Well actually that trend had started after the 97/98 season but that's not the point. Boxing day 2005 saw County reach their lowest point; stuck to the bottom of the Football League, seemingly without a prayer, and about to be royally humped 6-0 by Macclesfield (our 2nd 6-0 defeat that season and against a club we had never played in a League match before). The supporters trust (who had taken over the club less than 5 months earlier) moved quickly to remove Turner and (in what my brother described as a sign of desperation) appointed a fan favourite former player Jim Gannon as interim manager.
The appointment of Jimbo (whose contract was extended 'till the end of the season and then made permanent) coincided with a huge upturn in fortunes for the Cheshire club and, whilst only achieving it on the last day, they managed to pull off an incredible feat and survived with a 2 point gap over relegated Oxford (who were to be replaced by Accrington, the club whose original closure led to Oxford being granted a Football League place in the first instance). Despite a great deal of pessimism (I seem to remember discomfort at the lack of "experienced" signings and a dependence on Youth/lack of strength in depth being the biggest bugbears of fans on the infamous Yellowboard) Gannon continued to work wonders and the 06/07 season proved to be the first improved season in 9 years for the Hatters who, on the way to a finish just one place outside the playoffs on goal difference, manage to break a Football League record and smash several club records; continuing the clubs tradition of doing well in seasons ending in 7. But 06/07 was nothing compared to what happened next.
County's 2007/08 season started brightly but stuttered from the end of August until the end of December with that word "inconsistency" being the key. However with the sale of top scorer Anthony Elding in the January window Gannon breathed new life into his squad and, with a revitalised Liam Dickinson and a versatile 4-5-1/4-3-3/4-1-2-2-1 (whatever) formation, the Hatters shot up to the table eventually finishing 4th just behind Hereford and top of the Playoff places.
After an eventful semi final clash with Wycombe County made it back to Wembley for a tie against local rivals Rochdale. That damned Wembley that had broken County hearts 4 times some 15 years earlier. But this was a new Wembley and, more importantly, a new County; run by its fans, a stable ship and with a club hero leading the players onto the hallowed turf of our national stadium. It was a typical British day, raining, but County shone and this time it was the opposition whose hearts would be broken as the Cheshire club pushed aside their neighbours to the North to win 3-2 (despite an early scare). There really is nothing quite like seeing your clubs players walk up to the Royal box and see them lift a trophy; especially in an anniversary season, Stockport County's 125th year as a football club. Although I felt a great deal of sympathy for the travelling 'Dale supporters who haven't seen their club promoted for longer than any other professional team.
08/09 brought yet more optimism. Yes Liam Dickinson, one of the heroes of Wembley had been sold but Carl Baker (who had single handedly torn County apart the prior season) had signed from Morecambe, Owain Fon Williams (a promising young Goalkeeper) had joined from Cheshire rivals Crewe and Peter "Pistol Pete" Thomspon (an apparent goal machine) had arrived from Northern Ireland; all for fees and the Supporters Trust were reporting break even budget reports and even small profits. As Jim Gannon entered his third full season as Stockport County manager everything seemed to have fallen into place. But there was a terrible secret waiting to appear from beneath our feet.
Rumours began appearing over the summer that not all was as well as it seemed at Edgeley Park: where had the money come from to pay for these players; why had the Manor Farm training ground been allowed to reach a dreadful state of disrepair; why had we still not secured the buy back to Edgeley Park; was the "Ground for a Pound" (a scheme based on the work of an American self made Millionaire) money being used to pay wages; had the "rainy day fund" money been spent; and why on Earth was there a loan from a company called David Farms, amounting to £400,000, which gave the company control of the clubs bank account. Then, in January, it was made apparent that we owed the Taxman a large amount of money as well.
Quite what had gone on behind the scenes remains a mystery with many different stories and rumours corroborating and contradicting each other, but what is clear is that the club was in deep trouble and was selling off players left right and centre to try and deal with it. By the 30th of April 2009, when an apparent rescue package was being prepared, the club was forced into administration for the first time in its 126 year history; by the aforementioned David Farms.
What followed was a summer of misery: first Jim Gannon, Peter Ward and the majority of the club staff were made redundant; then yet more players left for peppercorn prices; then the apparent 'favourite' of the consortiums pulled out; then Jim Gannon took the Motherwell job ending any hope of his return to Stockport County as manager; then more players left. Eventually, however, it was announced that a saviour had arrived and the club would be leaving Administation following the agreement of a CVA, Gary Ablett was announced as the new man to take the club forward and we were told no more players would be leaving. It seemed we were out of the woods.
Unfortunately this is Stockport County and things are not so clean cut. It is apparent that at least one of the men who is allegedly responsible for the mess of the last few years (and the self confessed lies that leaked from the club's core) has been used as a consultant to the new men in charge and then today (o.k. it's yesterday now) it was confirmed that the club has still not left administration, even though the alloted time for objections to the CVA to be logged has expired. On top of this no new signings have been made (except for David Poole, Adam Griffin and Gianluca Havern returning, three players who were deemed not good enough to begin with and Paul Gerrard, even though goalkeeper was one of our stronger positions and his primary job is as goalkeeper coach) and it seems as though more players will leave before the consortium complete their takeover; which is odd.
So as the new season begins we have an inexperienced manager with a paper thin squad of youngsters and no idea how many more will leave before the take over is "confirmed" and we officially leave Administration.
It's been a pretty shit decade so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment