Gary Andrews

Over at Soccerlens: A quick bit from me on the probable demise of Leigh Genesis.

It’s never nice to see fans suffer, and in this case it’s really hard seeing how the club can survive, but it’s really not a massive surprise they’re now in such a massive financial mess.

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: Leigh Genesis, Leigh RMI, Soccerlens

Toddle on down to your newsagents and pick up a copy of When Saturday Comes and you’ll fine a piece from me on Leigh Genesis in there (don’t think it’s available online, soz).

Also, had I got time I’d have liked to have done a quick bit of comment on the Rotherham situation. However, Ian at Two Hundred Per Cent has written a fantastic piece, which would put anything I had to say to shame:

“Next, they have to make a firm promise that they will move back in Rotherham, even though they have no money to build a new stadium (they are completely reliant on council plans for a new community stadium for this to happen).  Knowing the speed at which local authorities move and considering that we are in the middle of a property crisis that we haven’t seen in a generation and that Rotherham’s financial straits are such that, in the current climate, they would never find funding themselves for such a project, they’re going to have make a promise that they surely know that they can’t guarantee. They must be back in four years. This is the same Football League that, ultimately, allowed Wimbledon FC to be uprooted and moved to Milton Keynes, even though they voted against it, isn’t it? It is the same Football League that routinely allows clubs to demolish their town centre stadia and move to out of town sites that are only accessible by car, isn’t it? I can’t think of a single good reason for insisting on this when they have only moved four miles in the first place.”

Sorry if this has all been very football centric in the past few days. Incredibly busy, mostly with football-related work stuff as well. It’s invading my head, badly. I had a dream last night at Dean Windass tackled the feral youths of South London using nothing but a snooker cue.

I could probably do with getting out more, I know…

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: football, Leigh Genesis, points deduction., Rotherham, When Saturday Comes

At Soccerlens. The evolution, if that’s the right word, of Unibond side Leigh RMI into Leigh Genesis.

Having read back the piece this morning, if it seems a little more cynical than usual, it’s because I’ve seen this scenario all too many times. New chairman takes over at small, often non-league, club. Pumps loads of money in an effort to achieve their vision, whatever that may be. Pulls out when vision fails to be reached or cash runs out. Club goes down the shitter.

I don’t know whether it’s the Abramovich effect that’s seeped down into lower levels or, as has usually been the case, businessmen with a bit more money than sense like being a big fish in a small pond for a bit and proclaimed as a hero around the town.

I’ve got nothing per se against Leigh Genesis, Ebbsfleet, or any of the other teams in similar situations. It’s the people who build up the dreams and expectations only to pull out when the going gets tough. Hopefully Genesis and Fleet with prove to be the exceptions to this rule, but it’s happened time and time again and it’s always the fans who suffer most when everything goes tits up. Perhaps I’ll be wrong here, but I can’t see Leigh being any different.

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: Leigh Genesis, Leigh RMI, Soccerlens