….go together like peas & carrots.

The more you look the more it holds true.   This is Pop has a wonderful summary of football clubs and administration statistics from the last 25 years. My favorite quote:

The problem is that we can’t treat football clubs as other businesses – the emotional bonds mean that some lifelong fan is almost always willing to step in at the last moment and take on the £300,000 tax debt run up by the previous administration rather than let the ‘essence’ of the club die.

Given the number of club blowups (implosions?) it is hard not to come to the conclusion that football clubs are either very poorly run, exploited for personal gain at the expense of the supporters, or simply bad business models.  Surely the truth lies somewhere in a combination of all three forces.

But it brings up a worrying point, the first two (untalented or greedy management) are able to be regulated, the third is not.  Our dilemma then is the recurring theme of this blog, how do we balance business with entertainment?  What is the solution to allowing clubs to have flexibility in their operations but to fail without injuring supporters who have devoted themselves to the cause? When I come up with the solution I will let you know.

Comments? Ideas?