Merger is a normal reorganisation device in business, although most mergers are not the coming together of two equal partners but the acquisition of a weaker firm by a stronger one. However, football is a business not like any other and mergers are rare events, although they do occur sometimes, e.g., Hayes and Yeading.
Merger is a normal reorganisation device in business, although most mergers are not the coming together of two equal partners but the acquisition of a weaker firm by a stronger one. However, football is a business not like any other and mergers are rare events, although they do occur sometimes, e.g., Hayes and Yeading.
There are a number of cities outside London that support two football clubs when a merged club would be able to compete more effectively at a higher level. However, supporting a club is a fundamental part of the personal identity of a keen fan and many of them would not back a club formed from a merger with a rival. Fans will make tremendous efforts to revive a club that has failed as a phoenix club.
It has been suggested that Rushden and Diamonds need £250,000 by the end of next week to survive and that is not the sort of money you can raise with small donations from fans. Kettering chairman Imraan Ladak has suggested that the Poppies should move to Rushden’s modern stadium at Nene Park and form one club. Kettering face being homeless in two years with their Rockingham Road lease expiring and no council backing for a new stadium.
Ladak argues that it would not be a merger as such because Rushden and Diamonds has so much debt that it cannot continue. He is, however, relaxed about changing the name of Kettering (whether the club’s fans feel the same way is another matter). Given that the Rushden and Diamonds name is the result of a merger of Irthlingborough Diamonds (the stadium is in Irthlingborough) and Rushden Town, it is difficult to see what the new name could be: perhaps KRD (Kettering Rushden and Diamonds).
This part of Northamptonshire has a number of small industrial towns that are relics of the heyday of the virtually disappeared boot and shoe industry (someone made a movie about how one firm converted itself into selling ‘kinky boots’ and other sex aids). As one commentator remarked, it is ‘minimum wage country’. There are jobs in warehouses connected to the A14 and the Weetabix factory. Interspersed with the Victorian boot and shoe towns are attractive villages not that different from those found in the Cotswolds, but commanding lower house prices because of their location.
Rushden and Diamonds reached League 1 (for one season) because of the deep pockets of benefactor Max Griggs. When his money ran out, the bubble burst, although the club has been through a number of incarnations since then. The basic problem is that the money coming through the gate and from other sources cannot sustain it. Revenue and Customs are knocking at the door over a debt of £110,000 and they are likely to be unforgiving.
There is a long-standing and intense rivalry between Kettering and Rushden. It is difficult to see them coming together. But it is also difficult to see the way forward for Rushden and Diamonds. Although the club may have started as a wealthy man’s dream, it does have genuine supporters.