The World Cup is only five days away with teams being flown out to Qatar to prepare for the World Cup and despite the excitement building for everyone around the country, clubs lower down in the English pyramid are facing a crisis with more fans travelling down to their local pub to watch and support their nation.
League One, League Two and even leagues further down the English pyramid are preparing for the incoming difficulties that they will have to endure for as long as the World Cup is roaring on.
The financial pressure for these clubs is certainly going to be felt with the increasing prices for fuel and energy it means that the economic stability of some clubs to slowly break down with attendances getting smaller and the days getting colder it’s only going to become more of an issue.
Along with Winter approaching and darker nights mean that clubs are having to spend more money on the likes of floodlights and heating which is being incredibly detrimental, and prices will only be going up so we may start to see the fall of some clubs who won’t be able to deal with the increase in prices.
We’ve already seen this with clubs such as Lincoln believing they will see an increase of 200% in the cost of floodlighting, £200 to £600 per game, and with the World Cup being on it’s going to be increasingly harder to pay that amount on a consistent basis as there will be less fans in the crowd, less merchandise being bought and will even affect the local business’s surrounding the club.
However, there have been attempts to aid lower league clubs to save money by bringing kick-off forward by a couple of hours but even that has a knock-on effect on the fans that will still come to see their club play.
Lincoln forward Anthony Scully had this to say, “’There’s no compelling economic sense and moving the kick-off forward by a couple of hours to one o’clock, and it makes it harder for fans, with a knock-on with hotels and travel costs.” (Quote via the Daily Mail)
As seen from Anthony Scully it doesn’t just affect the fans and the owners of these clubs but the players as well as it may start to see some players wages not being paid as the clubs simply won’t be able to afford to.
Furthermore, owners of lower league clubs like Shrewsbury’s CEO had this to say on the energy crises and World Cup: “I can’t see any benefit for L1 and L2 in a winter World Cup,” said Scully. “It shows the power in the hands of so few.” (Quotes via the Daily Mail)
Unfortunately, this is the reality that many clubs are facing now even before the World Cup has started and with the ongoing energy crisis, it will be interesting to follow these clubs closely through this difficult period.
