As the continued mismanagement of the British economy sees property values fall, so do the principles and values of Lewes FC facilitated by the continued mismanagement by the board of directors. They blow up and float of to the land of Failure.
I could write a long essay and expand on the above claim but let us keep it simple.
Having survived a financial scare in 2008/9, the newly formed Lewes FC Community Club promised the membership this was never going to happen again and we were to be self-sustained. 13 years on and having run the finances so badly into the ground we need bailing out by a new corporation, Mercury13, we can no longer be self-sustained. This core value at the heart of the club has now been rephrased as sustained.
Let us be clear on the difference.
The original aim, self-sustained is the ‘ability to support oneself or survive without assistance from others’. Run financially of our own backs.
The newly branded sustained is to be ‘able to be maintained at a certain rate or level’. Cross our fingers and hope we can scrounge money elsewhere to exist.
Let’s be honest there is no sign that the board can even maintain a sustainable income stream.
Lewes FC is famous for the creation of Equality FC. Our men’s team was so cheap to run we were able to pay our women the same amount. It was maybe gimmick but a brilliant piece of branding and it worked. It is what has kept us in the public eye. As a club value it is something to be proud of. No matter why it came about it is something the architects Ed Ramsden and Charlie Dobres can be truly proud of as a brake light to the systemic battering of women’s football and footballers over recent decades. Women’s football needed a voice and Lewes FC helped provide that.
But now the board are trying to desperately bludgeon through the involvement of a corporate sponsor who have declared they will not fund the men’s team and another core value is shelved and Equality FC is to be dropped.
We are a 100% fan owned club and this deal will see the investors take a 51% stake in the Lewes FC Women. Whilst the club still declare we are in theory still 100% fan owned they have also told us we can buy their stake back if circumstances arise. Sorry I am rolling on the floor laughing. What we buy something we 100% own?
So three sacred values we hold dear have all been flushed down the pan, all in the name of covering up for appalling financial mismanagement over the years by the board of Lewes FC and the name of progress
The Rights of Fans. 