It can only be a month or so ago that I wrote on this page about the revolution at Leigh RMI after new chairman Dominic Speakman took over the club in June 2008 and totally rebranded them Leigh Genesis. Speakman ploughing a load of money in that allowed a full-time playing staff to be brought in, all on average crowds of 150. Well, like nearly all of these non-league investment stories, the plug has been pulled although four and a half months is pretty quick even by the usual standards. A statement on the official club website at the end of October seeing Speakman blame all manner of reasons for his departure. The main one though seemingly being Speakman's assertion that the council and the health and safety advisory committee were going way over the top on stewarding requirements for the new Leigh Sports Village ground that was to be shared with Leigh Centurions Ruby League club. The almost completed stadium will hold 10,000 fans all-seated and Leigh Genesis were apparently being presented with a council proposal to open a quarter of the stadium for attendances of no more than 200. The health and safety advisory committee judging the need to have in place on a matchday 45 stewards of varying degrees of seniority, costing £3,000 per match, along with five people to run the control room. As always players are disappearing fast through the exit door now that Speakman has pulled his funding for a full-time operation at the club. The Leigh Genesis Supporters Association now seemingly left holding the baby after Speakman said that him resigning doesn't mean that the club will necessarily fold. Although he also says that when he took over it was days away from running out of cash and there was nobody else to keep the club going. Looking back at that Conference table Leigh aren't the only the club to have had entertaining times since crossing swords with Carlisle in the 2004-05 season. Halifax Town, Scarborough, and Farnborough all having gone bust and started afresh as new clubs. Meanwhile Gravesend and Northfleet have changed their name to Ebbsfleet United and and Northwich Victoria continue to limp along year by year from one financial crisis to the next, the Vics so far having avoided falling over the edge of the cliff. Canvey Island were another club that many Blues fans will remember and they managed to avoid the ignominy of going bust by voluntarily resigning from the Conference in the summer of 2006 to drop down three levels to the Isthmian League First Division North. That coming after owner/manager Jeff King had left the club to take over Isthmian Premier League side Chelmsford City, where his financial backing, and average crowds of 1,354, now sees the Clarets riding high at the top of the Blue Square South table. Halifax Town have long been Football League adversaries but they now find themselves, under the inventive new name of FC Halifax Town, playing their trade six levels below that of Carlisle in the Unibond Division One North. The original Shaymen having gone to the wall in May 2008 after new figures revealed an insurmountable debt of £814,000 to the taxman and over £2million in total. One good bit of news for the Calderdale club though is that work has at last recommenced on finishing the East Stand, the half-built stand having being mothballed in construction as long ago as 2001. That is better than Scarborough however, who, after being wound up in June 2007 with debts of £2.5 million, have reformed as Scarborough Athletic and now play their home games at Bridlington's Queensgate ground thanks to a long running battle over the ownership of the McCain Stadium. The current stand-off seeing Scarborough Council refuse to lift a covenant on the ground that says the venue can only be used for sporting purposes. Liquidators of Scarborough FC, Begbies Traynor, currently own the McCain Stadium and they have made attempts in the past to get the covenant lifted in order for a suitable buyer to come forward, the derelict ground having repeatedly fallen subject to vandalism and arson since it became disused. Finally come Farnborough Town and the Conference looked it might be easy when we hammered them 7-0 at Brunton Park in our fourth game of the season. Relegated in that campaign they were deducted ten points in the Conference South in 2006-07 for going into administration. The Hampshire club eventually going into liquidation in May 2007 before reforming as Farnborough FC, the name being chosen by their fans who currently see them sitting second in the Southern League Premier after being champions of the Division One South and West in their inaugural campaign. |