The crazy world of football club ownership is alive and well in EFL League Two
Sometimes it seems that further down the football pyramid, the crazier the stories become about who the owners of our local football clubs are.
This week, Gary Neville, former Manchester United and England defender, TV pundit, entrepreneur, author and all round polymath, has taken full control of Salford City FC, and he’s one of the normal ones.
As it stands in EFL League Two, before the start of the 2024/25 season this weekend (9 August 2024), the would be purchasers of local clubs include Donald Trump’s lawyer eyeing up Tranmere Rovers, and a very persistent teenage drinks “tycoon” who has no business track record that anyone can see, who is touted as the saviour of Morecambe.
But, to be honest, they won’t exactly be the odd ones in the corner at league meetings when you take a look around the room as this final wrap up of the financial pre-season will demonstrate.
Relegated Fleetwood Town have changed owners after Andy Pilley was sent to prison for 13 years for fraud in July last year.
Jamie Pilley
The EFL have accepted that his son Jamie Pilley is now the legal owner, despite being issued with a suspended three-month ban from acting as a club director prior to the ownership change, and that he passes the EFL’s Owner’s and Directors’ Test.
There is still nothing for adoration for Andy Pilley at Fleetwood Town, even as a statement from the club confirmed the ownership change, they couldn’t help themselves from adding: “All at Fleetwood Town Football Club would like to place on record their overwhelming thanks to Andy Pilley for an incredible 20 years as owner of the club.”
Pilley junior still has to adhere to “certain undisclosed financial requirements” and to agree to Peter Murphy joining Fleetwood Town’s board, as an “Independent Director”. Murphy is chairman of the Club’s Community Trust.
In his own statement Pilley uses the word “sustainable”, frequently cited by optimistic club owners.
“It’s been well documented how much my family have backed the Club financially in the past, and while I have committed to do so in the short term, my ultimate dream is to build a football club which is self sufficient and sustainable in the future,” he said.
Up the coast at Morecambe, the first relegation in the club’s history in 2023 has left the Shrimps in an ownership quandary.
While owners Bond Group Investments keep the lights on with significant cash flow injections each month, they only do so because they want to sell the club as a going concern, and not walk away and force an administration.
Talk of a sale price of between £5m and £10m are however described by the articulate voices of the fan group Shrimps Trust as unrealistic.
Their ideal scenario is a sale, but in a useful document shared for their members they recognise the risks associated with a change in ownership. “We have seen parties come along with interest in taking over the Club, but with unproven funds. Selling the Club to an inappropriate party does not solve the issue, and could raise further problems later down the line.”
In May the remaining directors pleaded with Jason Whittingham of Bond Group to sell.
In June he was insisting there were four credible bidders in the running. “There remains interest from a US buyer and conversations are ongoing,” he told a Trust meeting.
“Further to this we are engaged with four credible buyers, details of whom have been shared and discussed with the board,” he insisted.
Since then, nothing. Unless millionaire boxer and local resident Tyson Fury steps up and runs it as a passion project on the side, the alternatives aren’t worth thinking about.
Andy Holt, Accrington Stanley chairman
The same dilemma faces Accrington Stanley, who were relegated in May 2024, and chairman Andy Holt put the club up for sale.
An outspoken commentator on Brexit, immigration, policing and the local council, Holt speaks a great deal about the finances of football and maintains the club is in as good a position as it ever has been under his ownership.
Holt fervently believes that an independent regulator for football is needed. But he also recognises that Stanley need to raise income and reduce footballing costs.
“My guess is you’ll still be stuck with me in [the] next years. This doesn’t concern or worry me.
“Whilst I own the club, I will keep doing my best and trying to improve it for the town and community.
“Our club is losing money and has debt. The debt is only to my business and my intention is to clear it via a share issue, as previously mentioned. This still leaves the issue of underlying losses. There is no golden bullet on this. We need to return the club to stability and to do this there are tough choices. The reason for stability is this: the club is wholly dependent on my business,” he said.
Nicola and Mark Palios
Two of the more popular club owners are Mark and Nicola Palios at Tranmere Rovers, but reports have been circulating that Donald Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina has done a deal to buy a stake in the club.
He has owned a string of Italian clubs over the last ten years, and attended a Rovers game last season.
In a piece on the Post website, it was claimed they are simply waiting on approval from the English Football League (EFL).
None of this confirmed by the club, indeed, Nicola Palios replied to a fan on social media saying she had “no idea why it was posted”.
Change is in the air in Salford City too where Gary Neville has bought Peter Lim’s stake in the club after the Singaporean’s 10-year tenure ended. Through Lim’s partnership, the club achieved four promotions in the first five seasons, reaching the English Football League in 2019 and claiming the EFL Trophy in 2020, the first major trophy in the club’s history.
The club’s remaining shareholders, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and David Beckham (the Class of 92) remain committed to the club and continue to have ambitious plans for future growth.
They have issued the following statement: “We cannot thank Peter enough for his support, friendship, belief and loyalty to us for over 10 years, not only in Salford City but in other projects that we have worked on together. Peter has been integral in helping to create a legacy at Salford City that we are now determined to build on.”
CEO Nicky Butt added: “Peter’s support has allowed us to become an established League Two club with a unique ownership. We are committed to the future growth of this club in the best interests of the supporters, stakeholders and the local community.
“We continue to explore options to potentially work with additional new strategic partners to assist us in achieving our ambitions for the club. We are as excited as ever about the new football season and remain focused on strengthening our playing squad and achieving future success on the field alongside the continued development of the football club.”
Given that any deal to relocate to the bigger AJ Bell stadium is no dead in the water, and Salford remain hemmed in at the small Peninsula stadium, it’s questionable where that development will go.
Crewe Alexandra, who were almost promoted last season through the play offs have always been promoted as a club with local people at the helm who are committed to the community and who’s constitution was set up to prevent a single owner taking over.
However, in a shock move in July, chairman Charles Grant wrote to fans to say his ambition is to push even harder to help our Club rise up the pyramid by appointing an agent to hawk the club around investors, though Grant said only the right investors would be considered.
“This will help maintain our heritage, further develop our successful academy model, and exploit the significant opportunities open to us.
“The time is right to seek additional financial support. We have appointed General Sports Worldwide (GSW) as our exclusive representatives in this process.
“It will take time and will not be rushed.
“And rest assured; the Directors have worked hard to protect Crewe Alexandra’s values and commitment to the community and that will not change.
Famed for its academy, according to the last accounts available, covering the “disappointing” previous season of 2022/23 Crewe made a loss of over £1.49m on turnover of over £4.08m.
Then there’s Cumbria clubs, who will be facing one another this season.
It was pointed out when they met for a “Cumbria Derby” in the 2022-23 season that Barrow and Carlisle United aren’t even technically in the same county, as Carlisle is now in Cumberland, while Barrow is in Furness and Westmorland. Pedants also point out that when they were last faced one another in the Football League in the 1960s Carlisle was in Cumberland and Barrow was in Lancashire. Plus, a derby isn’t really a derby when it takes so long to travel between them. Though it is on the same direct train line.
Carlisle United’s American owner Tom Piatak will have got a rude introduction to English football as he watched the club come straight back down after a disastrous season in League One, winning only seven matches.
However, he has a vision. He wants to develop the Sheepmount Athletics stadium in the city as a community and training facility, while at the same time modernising the Brunton Park stadium.
He said: “This facility will not only elevate our training standards, but also serve as a beacon for community engagement and sports development in Carlisle.”
And Barrow? It almost seems like a throwback, a curiosity, that the newest regional member of the 92 has a board made up of local businessmen Tony Shearer, Paul Hornby, Kris Wilkes, Mark Hetherington, and the Bluebirds Trust, who have been in charge for five years.
In a statement to the fans marking five years in charge last season they noted: “From inheriting a club which had just avoided relegation to the National League North, to then being promoted to the promised land of the Football League only 19 months later was something truly special, and something we could only have dreamed of five years ago.”
However, it isn’t quite the local rooted success story one might have hoped. The players live and train in Manchester and only travel to Barrow for home games. Another sign of the bizarre times and the crazy world of EFL League Two football.
