Any relegation is difficult for a club. It’s a blow to morale and a big financial setback as well. But the costs of relegation from League 2 to the Conference are particularly heavy. Just look at the clubs who have found it difficult to return to the Football League: among them Grimsby, Lincoln, Luton, Mansfield and York (who have had the longest stay at the lower level).
Any relegation is difficult for a club. It’s a blow to morale and a big financial setback as well. But the costs of relegation from League 2 to the Conference are particularly heavy. Just look at the clubs who have found it difficult to return to the Football League: among them Grimsby, Lincoln, Luton, Mansfield and York (who have had the longest stay at the lower level).
With one automatic promotion place and well-funded up-and-coming teams like Fleetwood challenging, it’s not an easy league to get out of. Luton have just sacked their manager because an automatic promotion place is effectively beyond their grasp.
The financial price includes the immediate loss of the £250,000 Premier League solidarity payment. TV revenue and sponsorship at £430,000 is halved for one year and then goes. Youth development funding of £180,000 a year is halved for two years and then disappears. It’s a big contrast with the generous parachute payments clubs relegated from the Premiership receive for three years.
Luton who went down in 2009 calculate their shortfall to be £1m. Nick Pomery, financial director of Cambridge United told The Football League Paper about their experiences when they were relegated in 2005: ‘Attendances fell by 15 per cent. We had to drop gate prices. Also, away fans dropped off and in our case we had to cut down on staff. Matchday sponsorship fell too. All in all, it cost us between £500,000 and £600,000 in lost revenue.’
If you look at the clubs in the relegation zone in League 2, only two are relatively big clubs. Plymouth have been through a very difficult period financially and are only starting to recover while Bradford are locked into cheap season ticket deals that have decimated their income.
However, teams like Hereford (average gate 2,301), Barnet (2,107) and Macclesfield (2,082) are invariably in the mix. Indeed, it has been argued that there should be an attendance test for joining the Football League. However, the relationship between attendance and results is not a perfect one. Accrington Stanley are currently mid-table and they had a crowd of 1,627 on Saturday.