Kettering Town chairman resigns after FA charges

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Is This How It Ends For Kettering Town? With A Benny Hill-Esque Chase?
There sometimes comes a point at which a football club in trouble passes beyond parody and into what we might at a cursory glance even consider to be satire. That moment, we would contend, came yesterday morning for Kettering Town Football Club when several of the clubs players, who had requested a meeting with the clubs owners over – and there is more of a hint of inevitability about this – unpaid wages, found themselves involved in a chase reminiscent of a sketch from The Benny Hill Show in an attempt to get answers about their non-payment in a piece of behaviour from those running the club which not only seems to demonstrate a level of disrespect for their players which surely crosses a line into being no more than outright contempt.
This, however, is Kettering Town, a club at which, for the senior management at least, “doing the right thing” seems to have become a thing of the past quite a while ago. After the clubs misguided move to Nene Park during the summer of 2011, a subsequent two division relegation into the Southern League Premier Division at the end of last season, the involvement and subsequent banning from all football of George Rolls, and a ten point deduction from their new league for entering into administration and an announcement that even though they had only just declared their own insolvency they would be turning full-time for this season, it might have been hoped that at least – at the very least – Kettering Town might, under the watchful eye of new manager John Beck, be able to get back on track on the pitch.

Some hope. Kettering Town are twelve points adrift at the foot of the Southern League Premier Division table at the time of writing, having failed to win any of their opening eight league matches, meaning that the club would be bottom of the table even without the deduction sanctioned against them during the summer. Crowds have plummeted accordingly. Just 399 people turned out for their last home league match against Cambridge City (by way of comparison, their home league match on the corresponding weekend last season against Tamworth in the Blue Square Bet Premier drew a crowd of 1,955 people), whilst a pitiful 231 people turned out for a recent home FA Cup replay against Wisbech Town.

All of which led to the farcical events of Monday morning. By all accounts – and for a glimpse into what was going on the Twitter time-line of player Ben Gerring is well worth a read – some players were due to be holding a meeting with club officials on Monday morning. However, with the players en route to the agreed meeting place, this meeting was moved to Cambridge and then, with just twenty minutes before it was due to start and with unpaid players having spent money that they in all likelihood couldn’t afford on petrol to get there, the meeting was called off. Gerrings comment on the matter – “That’s enough for me I’m done. Moved my life up here for them to treat it as a joke. Thank you for the support from the supporters” – was another damning indictment to layer upon all of the other damning indictments that have come from this club over the last twelve months or so.

That the meeting was moved to Cambridge was certainly of interest, if for no other reason that this particular city happens to be where one George Rolls lives. Now, at the time that Rolls’ ban from football was announced, the club stated that “Kettering Town FC confirms with immediate effect Mr George Rolls has withdrawn from all footballing activities for the club,” but it has strongly suggested that he has far from “withdrawn from all footballing activities for the club”, to the extent that the Kettering fan site PATGOD has even reported that Rolls “has received another letter from the FA recently reminding him that he is indeed banned from football in any way shape or form, from non-involvement in footballing administration down to complete non-attendance at games.” Their suggestion that, “the next time he is swanning around the place, with a wad of Klondike tickets and a smug look on his face we ought to grab a photo and send it across to the FA” might well be an astute one.

A large proportion of the clubs support now seems resigned to the next few days, weeks or months being the death throes of this club and there is a sad irony that all of this is happening in the year of its one hundred and fortieth birthday. The take-over of the club which was promised as being “imminent” hasn’t materialised, players aren’t being paid already (in spite of the fact that the CVA agreed during the summer effectively gave the club a clean financial slate) and there is now a possibility that in the foreseeable future the club will be able to raise a team for matches, and this – as been seen elsewhere before – is often the last act of a football club before its demise. It has been suggested elsewhere that the bulk of Ketterings team for this season were brought in on a non-contract basis, which would mean that there would be little to prevent them from walking away from the club, and the truth of the matter is that even few of the clubs own supporters would blame them for doing so. If Imraan Ladak and George Rolls hand the club, lock, stock and barrel over to the supporters trust there is a chance that it can be saved. For as long as they stay at Nene Park, though, it is impossible to predict where a happy resolution to the clubs current problems might come from.

Sad to see what has happened to a once prestigious club.

Kettering lost 7-0 at home v Bashley today, reported that they started the game with 10 men in what could be their final match in their 140 year history.

The Lights Go Out At Nene Park

The twitching corpse of the club remains with us for now, but death rattle is now clearly audible. Kettering Town were due to travel to Leamington this evening in the Southern League Premier Division, with the club having apparently given assurances that they can raise a team for this fixture. We found out this morning whether such assurances were worth as much as the paper that they are written on. At half past ten this morning,the match was postponed. It is doubtful that it will ever be played. It would, however, have been something of an overstatement to consider so much as the fulfillment of this fixture as being some sort of “victory” for the club. To turn up for a match with eleven players and complete ninety minutes of football is the absolute bare minimum that any club should be able to manage in order to justify its existence.


As frequently happens in situations such as these, Kettering Town Football Club is now involved in a fire-fighting exercise, but the blaze that has been caused by not turning up at Leamington tonight wont quickly fade from memory as another uphill battle rears it head on the horizon almost immediately. Failing to fulfil a fixture is at the upper end of disciplinary offences that a club can commit, and Ketterings dismal admission that they have only had six players available for this match needs no further comment. On Saturday afternoon, though, Kettering Town are due to be playing at home against Bideford Town in a Southern League match, and the small question of how that match might go ahead after, in another act rich in the symbolism of tending to the dead or dying, the electricity at Nene Park was cut off yesterday morning after non-payment of the bill, an act which casts a shadow over whether this match can go ahead, even if manager Alan Doyle can raise a team to take to the pitch in the first place.

After a couple of weeks of relative radio silence, however, at least Imraan Ladak finally spoke publicly yesterday, although little of what he told BBC Radio Northamptonshire was a great surprise to supporters of the club. According to his interview, the fact that the clubs players have not been being paid this season is the fault of this years sponsors, who have not paid his club yet, while he claims that he will shortly be meeting with DRC Locums (former sponsors of the club whose ongoing dispute with Ladak over money has been covered on these pages before), although there will be no legal action forthcoming against them for the time being because of the cost. In addition to this, he claimed that there are three investors looking to buy the club and Nene Park.

This is a bold claim to make – after all, who would want to buy a football club in this sort of state whilst playing at a ground that is turning out to be the graveyard of two clubs in a little over a year? – and, as is familiar in this sort of situation, those “investors” wish to stay “anonymous”, a stock response which only provokes the twin questions of why any new investors would preserve such anonymity to such an extent that no-one seems to even have the faintest idea of who they could possibly be and why the grounds owner Keith Cousins would have any desire to sell it. It’s worth pointing out that at this point that, while Ladak talked about the possibility of this sale, he’s not its owner and that Cousins hasn’t indicated any inclination to sell it. Cousins inherited a ‘clawback’ clause when he acquired Rushden & Diamonds and Nene Park in November 2006. This ensures that the commercial value of the real estate realised from any sale would be split 50/50 with the Griggs Group (who had passed the club over to its supporters trust and held Nene Park in trust) if it is sold prior to 2015. Such a clause makes the idea of Cousins selling the ground prior to its expiry seem fanciful, to say the least.

So, as ever, nothing to do with the Nene Park car crash is in anyway Imraan Ladaks responsibility. No great surprises there. Kettering supporters, however, have long since given up on believing anything that he says nowadays and a story emerged from the clubs supporters forum which, if true, offers a hint as to why. It can be seen here and, if it is true as stated it paints an almost staggering level of disingenuity that, it might even be argued, borders on being perjurious. Ladak has been responsible for the running of that club for some considerable time, now, even if the situation there has become muddied in recent weeks and if the comment on what Ladak said is as it has been painted, it wouldn’t be difficult to reach the conclusion that he was seeking to mislead the court in order to get the electricity switched back on at Nene Park. Without confirmation, however, we can only speculate. Merely the fact that it seems so believable doesn’t say a great deal about many peoples opinions of him.

Meanwhile, at least the chaotic events of last weekend are starting to raise public consciousness of the situation at this club. What effect this may or may not have is debatable, but at least this story of mismanagement is starting to be reported in the media. Kettering Town, meanwhile, remains on a life support machine, and the Southern League and the Football Association have kept their views perfunctory on the subject of how the future of this club may be secured. At the moment, Kettering Town Football Club – or, rather, the people in charge of its custodianship – are bringing the game into disrepute in a way that Ashley Cole could only dream of at the moment. Meanwhile, at Leamington, the floodlights could be left switched off this evening. What passes for Kettering Town continues to slide towards its grave and, as has so frequently been the case at this club over the last fifteen months or so, any result on the pitch most likely would have proved to be considerably less significant than what happens away from it anyway. Nobody could pretend for a moment that this won’t hurt like he’ll, but it’s time to turn off the life support machine.

KETTERING POPPIES ARE READY TO WILT
Daily Express

THE lights have already gone out at Kettering Town. Unless a shed load of money can be found, the club will quickly follow. They have no electricity, no money, few players and even fewer points at the bottom of the Evo-Stick Southern League Premier Division.

The Poppies are the club where Derek Dougan became the first chief executive – he was also their centre-forward and team manager – to put a sponsor’s name on the team’s shirts. They were Kettering Tyres, in 1975. The FA made Doog take it off. But within a year, shirts were never the same again as money began its takeover of football.

Tommy Lawton has managed Kettering, Ron Atkinson was there, and Paul Gascoigne tried, and failed, to revive his life with the Poppies.

Last Saturday they only had 10 players against Bashley, who lived up to their name with a 7-0 victory. Kettering’s midweek game against Leamington was called off because they had only six players and tomorrow, against Bideford...well, it won’t be on unless a generator is found. The irony is that Kettering play at Nene Park, the former home of Rushden & Diamonds, another club that went belly-up.

My missus is going potty. I can’t afford to do it really. That’s the big problem. All I’m getting is my petrol money. I can’t do much unless we get a buyer for the club

It’s a plush ground waiting for worthy tenants, but for their NFA Hillier Senior Cup tie with Peterborough Northern Star, the Poppies had only 34 paying customers, a club worst and the remaining players have not been paid. Imraan Ladak, who took over the club at the time of Gascoigne’s appointment seven years ago, left but is now back again as the club’s only director, said: “The fact is the club has been spending money it hasn’t got.”

Current caretaker manager Alan Doyle, who has succeeded John Beck, is trying to put a team together for tomorrow, despite a transfer embargo by the Southern League.

He said: “My missus is going potty. I can’t afford to do it really. That’s the big problem. All I’m getting is my petrol money. I can’t do much unless we get a buyer for the club.”

After Truro are Kettering next?
So so sad.

kettering safe for now !