72
QQQ Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019@ianherbsLower leagues wilt
due to power of elite
Football
Bury are
kicked out
of Football
League
were lodged. It is thought that
one English-based group which
had no prior experience in
football was among those
involved. Insiders claimed the
group showed EFL officials
proof of funds and promised to
settle debts this morning. But it
was not enough to convince
the EFL board.
Meanwhile, Bolton’s future
moved closer
to being
secured on a
turbulent day
for two of the
country’s
oldest clubs.
A deal to buy
the Football
League
founder members and former
Premier League club collapsed
over the weekend.
With no progress made by
5pm yesterday, the EFL were
set to trigger a 14-day
expulsion notice. However,
Football Ventures, the
interested party, continued to
seek a resolution with outgoing
Bolton owner Ken Anderson
(above). All parties returned to
the table and there was hope
that a deal for the 145-year-old
institution could be reached.
Bolton, also in League One, are
in administration and have so
far fielded youngsters in the
four league matches, losing
three and prompting questions
over the competition’s
integrity. They also postponed a
home match against Doncaster
Rovers last week.
Hundreds of fans gathered at
the homes of each club
yesterday. At Bury, supporters
were hopeful that Gigg Lane
would this weekend host the
club’s first fixture but as night
drew in the harsh realities
became clearer. Some fans had
protested against owner Steve
Dale outside the ground.
The EFL confirmed that League
One will now consist of 23
teams for the rest of the season
with just three relegated.F
OR Sky Sports
News, it was a
heaven-sent oppor-
tunity for theatre.
The broadcaster
provided a dismally mis-
judged Deadline Day ticker
for Bolton and Bury’s
countdown to a possible
5pm date with oblivion.
The fate of the odd small club or
two is apparently immaterial
when you’re throwing £5.1billion
at the Premier League.
The Bury management’s judg-
ment was little better.
Before the desperate news late
last night that the 134-year-old
club is being expelled from the
Football League, they made it
their priority to issue a statement
warning supporters not to attempt
to gain access to the stadium, on
threat of CCTV evidence being
used against them.
The early 21st century history of
Bolton, who last night remained
on the same treacherous path as
the club eight miles up the A58,
demonstrates that drama like this
is not inevitable. Bolton were a
superbly run outfit in the 1990s
when the Warburton bread-
making family saw that a modern
stadium could help make the club
profitable. They were beating
Manchester City to hospitality
box clients just before Abu Dhabi
money washed in down the road.
Bolton found an on-the-up
45-year-old manager Sam Allardyce
and he scoured Europe for cheap
or loan players — Youri Djorkaeff,
Jay-Jay Okocha and Ivan Campo.
Chief executive Alan Duckworth,
an ex-Umbro chief financial officer,
covered the risk of those deals by
building in heavy relegation
clauses. But dependency on a
benefactor is a risk that can’t be
negotiated away, as Bolton havediscovered. They won’t be the last
Lancashire club facing this threat.
There but for the grace of God go
Morecambe and Oldham.
Allardyce’s staff remember him
attending a fund-raising event for
Burnley, also on their uppers while
he was at Bolton.
‘All clubs in the lower two
leagues are struggling and 90 per
cent depend on benefactors,’ one
chief executive told Sportsmail.
‘The saying in the game is “every
club is for sale”.’
Clubs are clinging on, in a sport
where the money increasinglycoalesces around the elite, whose
vast digital appeal makes new
fans increasingly hard to attract.
No fewer than 31 of the 48 clubs
in the bottom two leagues
averaged crowds last season
that were less than half their
stadium capacity.
There are stories of revival which
demonstrate the game is not up
for clubs who accept more strait-
ened times. Stockport County
attracted crowds of 5,500 last sea-
son again as they were promoted
back to the National League,
where they have started welldespite their top earners making
no more than £550 a- week.
Allardyce’s Bolton players didn’t
get bonuses when they reached
the Europa League but the envi-
ronment was so life-affirming that
Stelios Giannakopoulos turned
down a move to Liverpool to stay.
‘There’s no bad organisation.
People make them bad,’ said a
former senior Bolton executive.
‘You need good innovation and
fiscal responsibility. You can’t buy
your way to the next level.’From Back PageEnd of the road: Bury fans suffer on a
terrible day for their club, while
volunteers clean seats (top) and the
Gigg Lane gates are shut PA/GETTY IMAGESBlow for Gbamin
EVERTON have suffered a
setback with £25million
signing Jean-Philippe Gbamin
out for at least eight weeks
after suffering a thigh injury
in training.
The club are consulting with
experts across Europe for the
next steps — and surgery has
not been ruled out for the
Ivorian midfielder, 23.
‘It’s something we didn’t
expect after we saw a muscle
injury,’ boss Marco Silva
said ahead of tonight’s
Carabao Cup trip to
League One Lincoln.
‘But the scan gave this
feedback for us and now it’s a
matter for us to try and get
the player ready again as fast
as we can. For the moment
we can talk to you aboutbetween six to eight weeks.’
The sides met in the third
round of the FA Cup, a much-
changed Everton labouring to
a 2-1 win in January.
Moise Kean and Alex Iwobi
could both make their first
starts, while Fabian Delph
has been declared fit.By DAVID KENT
LINCOLN CITY
v EVERTONKick-off: 7.45pm, Sincil Bank.
TV: LIVE Sky Sports from 7.30pm.
Referee: Darren Bond.
Draw for round three
follows live on Sky SportsRising star: Matty Longstaff ÷
(left) with Lascelles GETTY IMAGESLongstaff junior set for debut
By CRAIG HOPE
STEVE BRUCE did not know Sean
Longstaff had a younger brother on
Newcastle’s books until five weeks
ago — but is ready to start sibling
Matty against Leicester this evening.
The 19-year-old midfielder is in line
for his debut after impressing on the
training ground and in pre-season,
where he scored a screamer with his
first touch after coming on against
Saint-Etienne.
‘I didn’t know anything about him
until five weeks ago,’ said Bruce
ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup tie at
St James’ Park.
‘I saw this bright red face running
around China — I thought he was
going to burst! I thought, “Is he
all right?”. He’s the way I used to go
when you’re red like that in the heat.‘But Matty has got bounds of
enthusiasm. He’s impressed me
enormously over the last four,
five weeks.
‘He’s been training with us all the
time so I think it could be a good
time to give him his debut.’
Bruce added: ‘He’s bright, he’s
tenacious, can score a goal — he’s
got all the stuff you need to succeed.
‘He’s got a huge desire to do well,
like his brother.’
Matty is likely to come in for his
brother as one of around six changes
from the side that won 1-0 at Spurs
on Sunday.
LAST NIGHT’S CARABAO CUP
«ACTION: PAGES 70-71L f P o W 5 s e F i s B ( t t i B iCOMMENT
by Ian
Herbert
Deputy Chief
Sports Writer