What fate for League One clubs like Shrewsbury?
Today at 04:46 AM
Almost all Premier League clubs are now American owned and some foreign investors have seen the Championship as a cheaper route to the riches of the top flight. In time the franchise owners will question whether their investments can be relegated which does not happen in the US.
Charlton fans, admittedly among football's leading moaners, sometimes assert that League One is a pub or crap league, so it was interesting to read in this week's Football League Paper what two newly promoted managers think.
Gareth Ainsworth forged Wycombe Wanderers into a League One force and indeed, somewhat to my surprise, they are currently chairing the division.
Ainsworth has now taken on the unenviable task of reviving Shropshire's finest and he made a first rate start against moneybags club Birmingham City on Saturday.
Ainsworth says: 'Over the years, this division has probably run away from the smaller clubs. League One has got stronger and stronger over the years. Some of the money that's in League One now .... [it] has really gone crazy with its finances.'
The new Shrewsbury Town supremo says that outgoing owner Roland Wycherley has been priced out of League One. Wycherley made his fortune in the vending industry before buying the club in 1996 and is now selling up to a mystery bidder.
Ainsworth says: 'Roland's a local businessman. The fans shouldn't expect him to shell out all his money just to keep up. That's why I think a takeover is brilliant and some of their plans for this club are what made the job so attractive.' He is confident that he has a good group of players and can get out of the relegation zone. If anyone can, he can.
Shrewbsury could be the Norwich of Shropshire, except that the west of the county, although very beautiful, is also sparsely populated.
Mansfield's Nigel Clough is approaching 1,500 games as a manager. He has noticed the jump in standard from League Two. 'It's exactly as we thought it would be - a step up from last season without a doubt. There are some very good teams. It's the quality of the players, especially the forwards, it's the quality of everything.'
So is the third tier now a 'rich man's playground' as the FLP claims? And what does that mean for run of the mill clubs? Do they need a Kuwaiti owner like Bristol Rovers?
