IT WASN’T too long ago that Oldham were in the Premier League.
Maybe just clinging on to their status, but they were among the founding members in a revolution back in 1992 that transformed English and even world football.
Today, the Latics are struggling in a painfully different way, half-bust and near the foot of League Two.
A batch of once-proud Prem members now populate the lower two leagues.
Ironically, one of them, Sunderland, were previously dubbed ‘the Bank of England’ club as they were so willing to spend on star players.
Those days are long gone but support remains resolute.
It will be a surprise, should their average attendance fall below 30,000 and they hold the record for the highest League One attendance at 46,039.
Asking the question, ‘Why aren’t they back in the Premier League?’ is irresistible. Huge support, Wearside devotion and big potential earnings.
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Other stranded former members of the elite league have been up to their necks in money trouble, with three more associated with HMRC than the Bank of England.
Wigan, Portsmouth and Bolton clung on to their League places, owing more to the loyal support of their fans than basic accountancy.
I promise you running a football club is very exacting work. Owners and directors are usually treated with suspicion by their public, some with good cause.
However, it is of critical importance new boardrooms learn the business early on because it is like no other.
There are many intangibles, not least that, day by day, they are not in control of ultimately the only thing that matters – results on the field.
Increasingly, our football clubs attract short-term buyers under the illusion they will make a killing. That takes persistence and patience.
Leagues One and Two have been rare starting points for fortune-hunters, but if I was tempted to take a risk it would be with Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday and, less invitingly, Portsmouth and Ipswich – now owned by ORG, an Ohio investment firm.
What is it about US investment companies? Michael Eisner, ex-Disney chief exec, used his to buy Portsmouth from their supporters’ trust, a route previously travelled by Swansea hopefuls.
Pompey had quite a record on the field, winning the FA Cup as recently as 2008, then plummeting to the fourth tier after going into administration twice, a record for which there are definitely no cups.
If Portsmouth, now in League One, escape to the Prem, Disney’s old boss will surely make a film of it.
The Owls, too, have a great history – four times champions, three times FA Cup winners, they have a huge residual support.
But their finances ran out of control in 2010 amid tax and VAT winding-up orders.
A deduction of six points for breaking EFL spending rules led to relegation last season.
There are plenty of ways a careless or over-ambitious club might fall divisions in a rush. Poor governance is to blame.
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