Roman Abromovic may have publically declared that the credit crunch will ultimately devastate Chelsea Football Club’s chances of investing in new players come the January transfer market, but it is without doubt the smaller clubs that are feeling the full weight of the crunch.
League 2 side Notts County are the league’s oldest club, but one their fansites are in danger of going into liquidation and is currently very close to permanent closure due to a lack of funding.
The site, YouPies, set up and maintained by avid Notts County supporter, Paul Edgar, relies on income from sponsorship and donations from loyal supporters, but due to the impact the credit crunch has had on companies and consumers in general, neither of these has sources of revenue have produced enough to keep the site running once its annual subscription expires.
“I have been looking for a sponsor for the site and I even set up a Paypal button for people to donate. I did not want to stop the site, but with the way of the world at the moment, I just cannot afford the hosting renewal.”
With supporters finding it increasingly difficult to find enough funds to pay for their season ticket to every home game, donations will hardly be high on the agenda of most. In addition, with companies feeling the crunch eating into their profits, sponsorship deals are being cut back to reduce outgoings and this has inevitably had a ripple effect, with Paul in the epicentre of this time of financial cut backs.
“It is becoming very hard nowadays for the independent fans’ sites to keep going. You have to put in hours per week just to keep the site updated to keep the fans coming back and with the normal day to day routines, people just don’t realise what hard work goes into running an independent site.”
“I am gutted. I love all that is Notts County Football Club. I have followed them since I was a kid, so running my own site felt fantastic. I felt that I was giving something to the fans who could not get down to The Lane, or [who] lived in other parts of the world.”
The site has been running almost nine years now, with it being established in 2000 and has become an integral part for many fans, who cannot afford to travel to every game, to interact with each other prior to a match week in week out.
Click here to visit YouPies >>>
By Jamie Bradley
