What defines a football club?
Location?
There is a subtle difference between a team and a club, as a team of players represents the club, but what defines the club? Maybe it’s the geography and location, but when one considers the multitude of relocations, does that mean that when a club moves to an out of town stadium the cease to be the club they once were? Perhaps if they stay in the borough of there core support then they stay true to those roots, fans of Wimbledon F.C might argue this when their club was “relocated” from there Merton home of 85 years to the National Hockey Stadium some 63 miles away in the new town of Milton Keynes. Indeed this long distance relationship was a step too far and the emergence of AFC Wimbledon certainly holds more resonance with most football fans than the cuckoo known as MK Dons now residing in its plush new nest in Central Milton Keynes.
History?
But what of a clubs history, surely that holds some sway? As clubs teeter on the brink of extinction, the loss of history is oft cited, but you cannot lose history any more than you can appropriate it to any particular entity; it cannot be owned or sold, it is a recollection that grows or wanes as it is retold or forgotten. The club records, it appears, will be arbitrarily allocated by football authorities, bound by legalities to justify whatever position is taken at the time, but ultimately of what import are they, when for any fan it is all about the present, or if that is less palatable a hopelessly optimistic view of possible futures.
The Team?
Of course it can’t be the players, possibly the most transient element of any football club, with the possible exception of the manager, some will be heroes, legends in their own lunchtime for a year or two before moving on to pastures new as befits any employees trying to carve out a career for themselves
The Owner?
Forget the definition I hear some of you mutter, the answer is in the title, whose club, the owners of course, it’s their money and their ball it’s their club. Forgive me for suggesting a caveat, but once again owners are transient and most when they first step in all smiling, glad handing and seducing the fans will be keen to stress they are merely custodians, safeguarding its future before handing over to the next. Should the club therefore lose its name status and history therefore with each owner?
It's Us, Stupid
We are therefore left with one constant, the supporters, generally considered as the lifeblood, but he ones with least influence of all, but what makes it their club, location will play a part for many history for some as the follow in family footsteps, the reasons are as varied and complex as why we have any relationship, for a relationship it is. We invest our money our time and our emotions into the club we support. So it's our club surely, but how can it be when we have no control?
The Fans's Stockholm Syndrome
There are times when we argue and storm out slamming the door, but generally return, kiss and make up and look forward to the next season, but what if the differences are reconcilable, your partner has betrayed you and moved deliberately out of reach to find new friends with more money (maybe from SW London to Milton Keynes). Do you hang on to their shirt tails following them up the M1? After all they are yours or at least were, as they take your money while flirting with their new friends, slowly dropping all vestiges of the relationship that once was. Some will move on and find another love, some will never love again, finding other diversions for their time and money while some will forge their own brave new world with a club they can feel is completely their own a la AFC Wimbledon.
This is the dilemma that has been faced by too many supporters over the years, increasingly in recent times. Some Manchester United fans felt that “their club” bought by an American owner but financed through the profits of their club was too much and forged a love of their own.
Currently on the horns of this dilemma are the supporters of Kettering Town FC, a club with a proud 140 year history in the upper echelons of what is conveniently labelled as non-league. Relationships over the last few years have been strained to say the least, and with perhaps a little irony, following the demise of the Griggs vanity project Rushden & Diamonds (another bravely forging a new path with an AFC prefix) their owner took them out of the town to the somewhat tarnished but shinier home of Rushden & Diamonds. For some this move was enough for it to no longer be their club, but others kept faith in the bigger and brighter promised land.
We're Moving, You Coming?
However the same ghost that haunted Rushden haunted Kettering, an expensive to maintain stadium, with insufficient crowds to support it and the wheels soon started to come off. Those who had chosen to stay did as so many of us would, they re-doubled their efforts and time to prop up the failing relationship, whip rounds, volunteer schemes all were embraced as they tried to keep their love on an even keel, it mattered not whether their feelings were reciprocated, just as long as the hope burned eternal.
The White Knight?
What followed was a rather awkward ménage et trois as a third party, previously of Cambridge and Weymouth parishes came calling. He was to make things alright, yes he had a past, but the fans were on the rebound and his comforting, calming words were what they needed to hear. What of the warnings coming from his previous partners? Well he had jilted them hadn’t he? they were bound to be jealous . The CVA that accompanied his arrival, robbing local businesses, colleagues and friends of the money they had earned fractured support even more as increasing numbers felt that “their” club was no longer their own and they forged their own path, Kettering FC. Still however some hung on with the hope that this time it would be different.
Unrequited but still here (allegedly)
Another shock was to come as the football authorities found just cause and impediment why the marriage could not go ahead in the form of 3000 improper betting charges and the relationship was back in limbo. Volunteers came and went as the club seemed inexplicably and inextricably intertwined with the haunted stadium, a property with a sporting covenant of sorts till 2015.The club has failed to fulfil it’s last three fixtures, the electricity has been cut off and the CVA that was the price for the bright new world has not been honoured. But the owner says there is light at the end of the tunnel with a new buyer who wants to buy the ailing club with the stadium thrown in.
Stick or Bust?
The question for the long suffering fans is how do they feel about yet another tryst? Who with the good of the club in mind want anything to do with a stadium that is patently not financially viable for a club of Kettering’s size? To some, those that forged their own path betrayed the club, some now feel that the time has come to end the relationship, but there are still those who at the whisperings of a possible new dawn will wash down the buckets, iron the new shirts and turn up on the Saturday. They will cast off the betrayal of the players and businesses that didn’t get paid as regrettable but that was then, and with the new dawn a new club, but to the origina question whose club is it anyway?
