Cricket scandal leaves Croydon Athletic in a fix
The first manager Tim O'Shea heard about his employer's "spot" of difficulty was when a mate phoned him in a restaurant late last Saturday. One minute O'Shea was mulling what could be learned from a 0-0 draw against Billericay Town, the next he was being told about .
What's that got to do the Rams? Don't they realise we've got away on Monday?
O'Shea went home and spent the rest of the night watching the early stages of the unfurl on rolling news channels. He nodded off in front of the TV (they have the same effect on me and I work for one) but it was not a great night's sleep.
That Carshalton game, a 2-1 away win, could be the last time his surprisingly talented squad play together.
I use the word "surprisingly" cautiously, because the quality of O'Shea's players is another facet to the remarkable story that broke when the News of the World revealed it had caught in a very compromising position.
I won't waste words on the details of that position as I believe the only person in Britain not to have at least seen parts of the paper's video is the (and if you wait a couple of days I'm sure there will be fresh delights to enjoy) but I will try to explain the connection between Majeed and O'Shea's team.
"Maz", as everybody connected with Croydon Athletic calls the owner (who isn't actually listed on any official document as the owner), bought the south London club in the summer of 2008.
The Rams were bumping along near the bottom of English football's eighth tier, the , and struggling to find direction and leadership following the 2007 death of their co-founder Keith Tuckey.
Majeed, , seemed to provide the former (he wanted the club to climb the non-league pyramid as quickly as possible and challenge for a Football League place) and very probably the latter too, although for reasons unknown he installed his 29-year-old sister-in-law, Jenna Manji, as the club's sole director.
- a former Ireland U21 defender who played for a number of clubs including Spurs, Orient and Gillingham - was the newly-appointed head coach at Grays Athletic at the time of Majeed's Croydon takeover. Having risen rapidly themselves, Grays were a Conference National side (now known as the ) with ambitions.
But when the manager's job came up at the Rams, three divisions below, O'Shea applied, along with 40 others. The final choice came down to him or and O'Shea got the nod.
Having served his gardening leave, O'Shea took charge of a Rams team second from bottom. And they had just lost to the bottom club.
O'Shea, with former Gillingham and Grays colleague Neil Smith as his assistant, immediately improved the team's fortunes, although it was still largely the squad he inherited.
That started to change the following season, as O'Shea and Smith used their contacts books to recruit players not usually seen plying their trade in the eighth tier. Or that was certainly the post-match talk in club bars throughout the Ryman League.
Gossip about the quality of their squad would grow throughout the 2009/10 season for three reasons. One, it was clearly improving despite no obvious rise in the Rams' meagre attendances. Two, . And three, Croydon's then chairman, Dean Fisher, was in the process of being convicted of fraud.
Fisher's antics included stealing more than £500,000 from his employers, a London-based media company, and pouring half of it into the team.
This pilfered bonanza looked like a clear case of QED to rival fans but Croydon Athletic strenuously denied they benefited from Fisher's fraud, claiming he was regularly repaid the sums he put through the club's books.
Nevertheless, the chatter surrounding the Thornton Heath-based outfit attracted the attention of the Football Association's investigators, who have spent much of this year keeping a close eye on the Rams' financial dealings. As have Ryman League officials, which is hardly surprising given Croydon Athletic's promotion to their top flight.
The upshot of this scrutiny was that O'Shea's men were given a clean bill of health as they began this season's Premier Division campaign. A few more players were signed (most notably ), the team sailed through pre-season (getting a 0-0 draw against Gillingham and battering Eastbourne Town 7-1) and a solid start was made to the league season.
And then the News of the World happened and the fallout for Croydon Athletic is still coming down in clumps around their ears.
New chairman , who struck up a friendship with Majeed when he solved a pest problem at one of his properties, told me on Thursday the club was "in crisis" and "living from one moment to another". He sounded an awful lot like a man in shock.
O'Shea, undoubtedly a talented young manager, did not sound much better either. Like his players, the gaffer is waiting for August's pay cheque to clear. Unlike many of his players, O'Shea does not have another wage to fall back on.
Both Le Cluse and O'Shea are adamant that Croydon Athletic's players are not being paid fantastic sums and suggest the claims otherwise are motivated by jealousy and sour grapes.
And the idea somebody has been laundering millions through the club, as has been suggested in national newspapers, leaves them stunned. It is also an allegation that has been flatly denied by the Majeed family.
But the facts remain, officials are investigating the club, Majeed is on police bail for possible fraud and money-laundering charges and he did tell an undercover newspaper reporter that the "only reason" he bought Croydon Athletic was to rinse his cash.
None of this makes sense to O'Shea, though. Who told me he would "stake his life" on the fact that his playing budget was nothing out of the ordinary for the division and that his players had come to the club because they liked the set-up and sensed something good was happening.
He now wonders if many of those players will ever play in a Croydon Athletic shirt again.
I don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings but a even a cursory glimpse at the parent company's recent accounts will tell you that things could be about to get pretty grim for the Rams.
As a relatively small business, Croydon Athletic Sports and Social Club Limited only has to file abbreviated annual accounts, so details are conspicuous by their absence. But in four years from 2006, the club has moved from being £46,000 in the black, to £382,000 in the red. That last figure is now over a year old. The trend is not very encouraging.
As O'Shea says, "The players are desperate to carry on but it's out of our hands."
Hi, I'm Matt Slater and I try to shed light on what's happening behind the scenes in sport - so everything from football finance to Olympic squabbles. You can also follow me on . 
Comment number 1.
At 3rd Sep 2010, brider wrote:His name is not listed on any official document - how is this possible? How much was the club bought for? Who is responsible for the 300K deficit?
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Comment number 2.
At 3rd Sep 2010, Alhosk wrote:"Majeed did tell an undercover newspaper reporter that the "only reason" he bought Croydon Athletic was to rinse his cash.
None of this makes sense to O'Shea, though. Who told me he would "stake his life" on the fact that his playing budget was nothing out of the ordinary."
If he's 'rinsing cash' he's not likely to put more in than he's going to get out is he? Otherwise it would be called 'wasting cash'.
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Comment number 3.
At 4th Sep 2010, Colin wrote:#2 - With money laundering people are prepared to lose some cash in order to make it look clean.
Not much different to people getting change from dodgy £20 notes.
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Comment number 4.
At 4th Sep 2010, Graham Newsom wrote:nd a playing budget in the Rymans Premier League is unlikely to be more than £5-6k a month at best. Wonder what Mr O'Shea thinks nothing out of the ordinary is?
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Comment number 5.
At 4th Sep 2010, Matt Slater wrote:Morning all,
First things first, the Rams' official site is saying today's game is definitely ON, so that's good news. Any latent Croydon Athletic fans out there, this is your chance. Get yourself to Thornton Heath. I think it's only £4 if you have a season ticket to a FL club, so there's no excuse for local fans of Palace or Millwall, or Charlton/Gillingham fans not up for their long away trips. Not sure if PL season ticket holders get a discount too, but I don't see why not.
bri_der (1) - I perhaps overstated when I said 'official documents', as I clearly haven't seen all of them, but his name isn't on any docs listed at Companies House. So he's not in the accounts, lists of directors and so on. The only connection to him I could find is that the parent co's address was the same as his Blue Sky property development business, although that's now changed to an accountants' office, and his sister-in-law is the sole director. It is a bit unusual for an owner not to be a director of the club he/she owns but not unheard of - Roman Abramovich isn't a director at Chelsea. As for how much he paid for the club, no idea: and there is no obligation for him to make that public. The club's debt, however, should ultimately be his responsibility, although these things are never as straightforward as they should be due to parent companies, ownership vehicles, shell companies etc The exact picture at Croydon Athletic, however, is not immediately apparent. But I should stress that that isn't particularly unusual with football or at all illegal/suspicious.
Allhosk (2) - As Colin (3) points out, money-laundering is a bit more complicated than that....not that I'm suggesting money-laundering took place. It's just an allegation at this point and we'll just have to wait for the investigations to finish. But in very general terms, Colin's point about a reduced amount of clean money being better than a full amount of dirty money is true. But that's only one way a football club can be used to launder money. Here's a very detailed report from an inter-governmental body called the Financial Action Task Force, the relevant bits are about halfway in
akabarrington (4) - I didn't get into specifics on money with either Tim O'Shea or David Le Cluse, but O'Shea described the budget as "competitive" with the league's bigger spenders. According to the official site, CAFC have 17 first-team players. Now if they were all on £100 a week that would add up to more than your £6K max a month. I think it is fair to surmise that the Rams are paying more than that, as they very probably have a few players on considerably more than £100 a week. But both Le Cluse and O'Shea assured me the numbers bandied about are way off, and that at this level the difference between a big earner and an average earner could be £50 a week. They also said many of their players had much better offers elsewhere but chose to play for CAFC. O'Shea was adamant about this and offered to put me in contact with the likes of Jermaine Wright, Gareth Williams and his other leading lights. Of course, how you define "competitive" and "not out of the ordinary" is up to you. Ryman League rivals have also pointed out that it's not necessarily the wages CAFC are paying, it's the fact that their gates cannot possibly sustain those wages. Which brings us back to why Majeed's present difficulties are so worrying for O'Shea, his players and fans of CAFC.
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Comment number 6.
At 4th Sep 2010, JoC wrote:Great article Matt..shame it hasn't recieved the attention and feedback it fully deserves from fellow blog contributors - as I'm sure the problems facing Croydon Athletic are mirrored throughout much of our other non-league clubs up and down the country? Finance at the grass-roots level of the game is just as if not more important to the long term health of the sport than many realise.
Do you think it's time the F.A. relaxes ownership rules on 'pro-clubs' adopting local teams as nursery or feeder clubs to bring them under some sort of umbrella of protection/stability and accountability? When you look at the average monthly expenditure of say a Ryman's League club and compare it to the weekly wage some elite clubs pay some individuals a week it's criminal that our local teams are left to flounder around, living on scraps and are at the mercy of bottom feeders using them for their own dirty corrupt intentions.
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Comment number 7.
At 4th Sep 2010, calydon_road wrote:this is investigative journalism of the very highest standard. the attention to detail and statistical references indicate substantial research. well done
regarding the laundering aspect, a NL club is a completely viable vehicle. but i wouldnt judge Croydon at this moment in time.
i believe this raises once again the "Fit and Proper Person Test". But this is not a football issue, first reference is to company law and the role of a director. football woud have to innovate in this legal field in order to create a more stringent test for club ownership.
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Comment number 8.
At 4th Sep 2010, kasbah wrote:I am surprised to hear that Abramovich is not a director at Chelsea FC, I find that hard to believe and would be interested to see where that piece of information came from, but you will more than likely find that he is more than likely a shareholder (and probably the only shareholder) of Chelsea Football Club Limited.
With regards to "The club's debt, however, should ultimately be his responsibility" that is clearly not true. The club is a company, so the company is responsible for the debts. Also, he is not a director, which means he has no responsibility for the club (even if he is a shareholder) at all. The sole director is responsible for the running of the company and could face criminal charges if she has deliberately run the company into the ground.
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Comment number 9.
At 4th Sep 2010, deas wrote:Croydon Athletic have announced after this afternoon's game that they have gone out of business.A real shame for a fantastic club.
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Comment number 10.
At 4th Sep 2010, keeperotf wrote:Brilliant article. We all thought "oh dear" as soon as we heard this guy also owned a football club. The sad thing is that this is unlikely to be an isolated incident. The finacial affairs of many non-league clubs would not stand up to close scrutiny.
My guess is that that vast majority of non-league clubs, certainly in the higher levels, are only surviving because of large cash injections from individuals. In many cases they are no doubt legitimate businessmen wealthy enough to be able to do it, but some.... well you do wonder don't you?
The list of non-league clubs that have enjoyed some success before a collapse following the withdrawal of private funding gets ever longer. Sittingbourne, Boston Utd, Lewes, Weymouth, Kingstonian, Hornchurch, Grays, Fisher Athletic to mention just a few.
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Comment number 11.
At 4th Sep 2010, GillinghamWill wrote:Matt: A very good, clear and evidently well researched article that overshadows any generic blog on England's performance in the football. Well Done!
#9. It would appear that there is no clear evidence about what is happening at Croydon. The club website reports that the manager and assistant manager have left; Wikipedia states that both the management team, and the players have left, and you state-possibly correctly that they've gone out of business. Until I hear otherwise, I will assume that the club's website is correct and that only the management has left, although that will probably be followed by a swift exodus of players, which could result in them being penalised anyway.
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Comment number 12.
At 4th Sep 2010, Matt Slater wrote:deas (9) is that right? I see Tim O'Shea and Neil Smith have announced their departure Was there an announcement about the club's future too? Le Cluse and O'Shea told me the Rams would fulfil their fixtures with kids from the youth team, which is I think what Weymouth did when they hit hard times. Terribly sad for all involved with the club if that's not going to be possible. Because regardless of what may have been going on at the top Croydon Athletic is no different to every other non-league team, a labour of love for a very loyal band of supporters.
kasbah (8) - Here's a link to Chelsea's official info Abramovich definitely isn't a director of Chelsea FC. And there's actually another holding company between Chelsea Limited and the club. Like I said, these things can be quite complex/opaque.
keeperotf(10) - That's a depressing list, isn't it? And you can add Chester City and King's Lynn to it as non-league clubs that have actually been liquidated recently. Too many teams living the dream. I believed O'Shea when he assured me his players weren't getting way more than anybody else in the division but what I could scarcely believe was how much money players in the 7th and 8th tiers were getting at all. This really should be amateur football we're talking about. Good amateur football. But amateur.
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Comment number 13.
At 4th Sep 2010, PaoloRossiJohnson wrote:Great article, Matt, and a real shame for the loyal fans of CAFC.
But here's a 'good news' story regarding non-league football, specifically, Lewes FC (as mentioned in post no. 10):
and
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Comment number 14.
At 4th Sep 2010, JoC wrote:#12 Matt wrote: "I could scarcely believe was how much money players in the 7th and 8th tiers were getting at all."
I agree Matt...don't know where the money comes from at so-called 'amateur' level. This links somewhat To Paul Fletcher's recent excellent blog 'The hopes and fears of football's free agents' where several people suggested the intoduction of 'salary caps' may help in making sure teams acted 'within their means' depending on the level they operated at. More transparency is needed.
I also mentioned in Paul's blog an old 91Èȱ¬ report:
...which showed 5 years ago 'Championship players earn an average salary of £195,750, League One players £67,850 and League Two £49,600'..to which another contributer pointed out the case of Lee Trundle who was signed by Welsh Premier side Neath on a higher salary than many football league clubs could afford...amazing heh?
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