Orient
https://colemoreton.com/2017/04/22/farewell-to-the-orient-why-its-almost-a-relief-to-say-goodbye/
Someone else posted this on Facebook but it's such a good read I thought I'd post it here for those who don't have a Facebook account.
Sad news and for us a terrible alternative history.
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Comments
Very sad, and wonderfully written. If some of these unfit-and-improper owners could see the trail of heartache they leave when they rob communities of their historical assets, surely even they would think twice?
It's tragic what's happened to that club in such a short space of time. Proves the fit and proper tests aren't worth the paper they're written on. For all our very obvious financial limitations, I'd choose our current set-up and club runners over a billionaire promising us the world every time.
I must admit...if I had the money knowing...fans as I do...owning a football club would be well down my list of things to do with it! Far too much grief even if you love the club...so why do these loonies do it? Hearn still owns the ground in this case doesn't he? So it's not even a shark-like thing to be doing to get hold of the real estate. Very sad and I hope the O's survive.
Really does make you wonder what the point of the EFL is really, particularly when they come up with stuff like this:-
"There has been significant comment in recent days about the EFL’s Owners’ & Directors’ Test in the context of the ownership of Leyton Orient. It is important that supporters understand that the Test governs the eligibility of who is able to own a club - it does not also ensure that those individuals have the capability to manage it properly.
The role of the EFL is one of a competition organiser and the management of clubs is a matter for their Directors, as long as their conduct is not in breach of any of our Regulations. There are any number of actions the EFL might wish to take, but it can only ever act in accordance with those Regulations."
Read more at http://www.efl.com/news/article/2016/efl-statement-leyton-orient-3691375.aspx#L57xtj321loDXCSy.99
It's all very well blaming the EFL, but surely Barry Hearn has to take the major blame. He professed to be an Orient fan and was in a better position to assess the suitability of his successor.
What a brilliant piece that was & could be written about most clubs in our division and the one above. I shudder remembering the trudge down to Torquay for the wake of our last L2 match & still think that could be us.
BH still owns the ground. Is he looking to start a Phoenix club and relocate pocketing a tidy profit. The writer said the demographics have changed and most supporters live out of the area, pure speculation of course .
Once again the EFL fit and proper test is a joke and not fit for purpose in any way.
But hey as fans we are just customers passing through. If it impacted Sky or BT then the shit would hit the fan.
Hard to see how it could be improved in such a way as to stop Becchetti though. He had the money, he had no previous negative record as far as I know. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the time unless private (or overseas private) ownership is banned altogether, what could they do at the time of hs purchase?
Plenty of decent overseas owners; a good few terrible homegrown ones.
I am not sure how any test would have barred Bechetti from taking over Orient when looking at his wealth etc. He had founded a television channel in Albania in 2013 by investing 40m euros. He had also some years ago owned a championship winning volleyball team. On arrival at Orient he pumped a huge sum into the club.
Yes he has turned out to be an idiot, but how can any test realistically ascertain this when the application is made?
Indeed, you cannot always legislate for unstable, if wealthy, owners.
There should be clauses put in place so that activity such as his during tenure as owner results in termination of ownership.
Clubs should be sold to owners on a franchise basis, with all assets ultimately owned by fans trusts. If the franchisee fails to fulfill their obligations, they get their club taken away with no money returned.
Please don't confuse my use of the word franchise with the idea of relocating clubs or inserting newly created clubs into the pyramid.
Whilst I would hate the principal of franchise for football ownership maybe any new buyer has to lodge a performance bond with the EFL to at least support club employees when this kind of shit kicks off.
Also an on going governance test would not be too far out of line. That could pick up something like inter-company or inter-personal loans that puts a club in jeopardy should that other party have a tantrum.
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub - A substantial performance bond would be a very good idea, the only problem would be supporter owned clubs being unable or at least have difficulty in obtaining one.
When our Trust took over we were in a severe financial state for some time. If we had not received windfalls such as the Ibe money, we might well have gone under with players and staff not getting paid.
Talking of Jordon Ibe, I wonder if he would benefit from a loan spell with a League 1 or League 2 club?
You can't be serious....?
@mooneyman I would hope that the EFL would be a champion of fan ownership and therefore a caveat could be put in place to exclude what has to be the ideal business model for leagues 3 - 5.
With the money sloshing around in football at the top of the filthy pyramid I'm pretty sure the football 'family' could afford to **** off most of the rogues and hand the clubs back to the poor sods who will be there with buckets in their hands when these scum bags do what they always do.
Do we think they'll reduce their sky high gate fees for the non league?
Surely they can't be expecting fans there to be shelling out £25?
Assuming that your comment is directed at me, of course it wasn't serious - just a wry reflection on Jordon's apparent fall from grace at Bournemouth.
As the governing body shurely the FA and EFL should run some kind of due diligence checks on any prospective buyer/owner of clubs to ensure they are capable and not cashing in and must in the future (for all clubs) introduce penalty clauses to ensure any old stupidly rich loon can't just buy a club because they can and walk away when bored or run in to ground without leaving in a reasonable/stable position
@crabbie The trouble is that as far as I can see its a day 1 assessment and that's it. There are plenty of examples where owners have come in as saviours and turned out to be charlatans or even arsonists. The process needs to be reviewed every year to ensure good governance and ethics continue in the best interest of fans, the community and (business hat on) suppliers / other stakeholders.