Dan Levy gives us his thoughts on the FA Cup
It gives me great pleasure to welcome the players, supporters and officials of Staines Town to Edgeley Park this afternoon. On behalf of the owners of Stockport County, the fans, I hope you enjoy your visit to Cheshire.
The FA Cup in many ways still represents the best of football.
It gives fans days out to grounds they normally wouldn’t visit. It gives smaller clubs the opportunity to pit their wits and skill against the bigger teams, and occasionally there are still upsets. It is a competition which can prove financially lucrative for clubs that otherwise would never get big paydays, particular now that receipts for league games are kept by the home team. All clubs outside the Premiership dream of getting their tie at Old Trafford or the Emirates, not just for the glamour but for the cash. It is worth bearing in mind that clubs like Arsenal take more in gate receipts for one league match than most clubs in our division take in an entire season, so it is no wonder that a trip to Old Trafford can save a club as it did with Exeter City a few years ago.
It is precisely because the FA Cup does give opportunities to smaller clubs that it stands so starkly against the way that the bigger clubs have restructured football to help themselves and their increasingly overseas owners. The Premier League teams are owned by a group of owners who are playing for big financial stakes, and they have made sure that only they will be the winners in this game. They have changed the rules to keep more of the gate receipts, to take advantage of huge TV deals and to build up huge squads which mean they can usually outgun any smaller teams they come up against. Clubs which fall out of the Premiership are given an enormous parachute payment to ensure that they can come straight back up again. And although everyone knows that the premiership will be won by one of four clubs, we are told that it is the best league in the world. To cap it all, fans are shunted around for the benefit of TV audiences, and there is even talk now that fans should lose one of their home matches so that a game can be played in the USA.
I am proud of the way that Stockport County, under trust ownership, has committed itself to financial prudence and to putting fans first. It is our ambition to rise back up the divisions but we won’t do it by mortgaging our future or letting a sugar daddy pretend to invest in the club while he really builds up its debt. Don’t forget the County bond scheme which will pay out a cup bonus if we should get super-income from a cup competition. Details are on the trust website. But of course before then we have to get past today’s visitors, and I wish both teams the best of luck.