A Blackpool fan rightly pointed out in a comment on one of our pieces the other day that there is no automatic correlation between a town’s size and its prosperity and the success achieved by its football club. That is right, although in the long run the size and wealth of the catchment area of the club is one of the most important factors. One factor that can offset this relationship is the strength of competitor sports such as rugby. And a benefactor can allow a football club to punch well beyond its weight: think about the creation of Rushden a
A Blackpool fan rightly pointed out in a comment on one of our pieces the other day that there is no automatic correlation between a town’s size and its prosperity and the success achieved by its football club. That is right, although in the long run the size and wealth of the catchment area of the club is one of the most important factors. One factor that can offset this relationship is the strength of competitor sports such as rugby. And a benefactor can allow a football club to punch well beyond its weight: think about the creation of Rushden and Diamonds formed from a merger of two clubs serving small towns.
In the short run, the chemistry between the owner and the manager is crucially important and if it goes wrong there can be serious consequences. Nottingham Forest is an ambitious club. They have a great past, are the more highly placed club in a big city and are hoping to move out of their ground for a new stadium to be built for the World Cup.
But they have been treading water for a while and have had a poor start to the season. They went through a period of financial turmoil and then acquired a new owner in the form of Nigel Doughty who is estimated to be worth £128m: not mega-rich, but rich enough. But now there appear to be tensions between him and his mercurial manager Billy Davies.
It’s pretty much the opposite of the situation at Blackpool. So the Tangerine Army need to enjoy the good times, as they are undoubtedly are, and Forest fans will be hoping that their bad patch is soon over.