Articles
Taking Silk
I have a confession to make; I am a football supporter. There. The truth is out – albeit my passion for football (and real football at that, none of your overpaid egotistic Premier Division stuff) is for the downto- earth "proper" football. I am a fan of The Silk Men, Macclesfield Town FC to some.
This state has occurred only recently in that, whilst I have played sport for as long as I can remember, sometimes to a standard as high as mediocre, and although I can still name the Spurs "double" team of the early sixties, I have become disenchanted with the game of football. As for the area of the Second and Third Divisions, I knew little of it save for the occasional flash of interest in the exploits of some side during a Cup run. I did not understand how football, particularly at a lower level, is so much an integral part of the local community.
Mine was no conversion on the road to Damascus, but arose through business interests. Cheyney Goulding had been recommended by a London accountant as Guildford lawyers who specialise in businesses, including sales and acquisitions of private companies and as a result we had acted in the recent acquisition of a majority stake in a Conference football side. Long term clients of mine who have a deep interest in football had decided that they too wished to have an interest at Club level. I arranged for enquiries to be made as to football clubs which were looking for financial support. After some abortive negotiations for other clubs, the name of Macclesfield Town was put to me. I asked my clients, who are based in London, whether this would be of any interest. By a lucky coincidence they had a deep interest in Macclesfield Town, knowing the area well and having contact and relatives there.
I have always, in the past, been sceptical as to why people should want to make such an investment. I now understand the decision. It is simply the love and pull of football. As a Director of another club said to me during a conversation about the need to run sports clubs on proper commercial lines and endeavouring not to spend money that the club did not possess or was likely to have, he replied "somehow you can never divorce the game from the business". In the final analysis, no matter whether the club is run in a business like fashion, whatever happens on the pitch is of primary importance. Ultimately that is the measure by which most people will judge the success or otherwise of the venture. In fact, as our due diligence showed, Macclesfield Town is run on very business like lines. However, the additional financial support, and I think it is fair to say, the commercial acumen that my clients have brought to the Board has been welcomed by the existing directors. I think it is clear to all that football has been, and is continuing to go through a very difficult period, but ultimately it is necessary to balance the books no matter how much television money is available for each individual club. It is clear that if you have an expensive facility you must look to use that to its optimum as an integral part of the income of the club, not merely relying on ground receipts for watching the match. Despite the many concerns and obstacles for clubs going forward, I do believe that there is a real opportunity for football clubs run on business like lines to succeed, but they must not lose the goodwill and association they have with their community and local supporters.
The partners and staff of Cheyney Goulding continue to enjoy the particular slant that football poses in business law interests. The principles are the same as ever, but some of the questions are unusual, coming, as it were, from left field (pardon the pun!). On that note, I am signing off – I can’t wait for next season!
Julian Goulding