JIBES? AMMIES HAVE TO COPE
BUT THE CLASS OF 92 CAN USE ENVY TO UNITE
SCHADENFREUDE. It was a word much used during the World Cup when Germany were eliminated at the group stage. Its meaning embraces a delight in the failing of others and it sprang to mind again when checking Non-League message boards and social media in midweek. All looked well for Salford City when they took the lead at Gateshead through huge signing Adam Rooney from Scottish Premier League Aberdeen, only for Luke Armstrong to strike twice and sink the big spenders. Cue the mockery. I suspect Salford are going to have to get used to it at every slip, and there could be a few, especially early on as they gel and players such as Rooney and Danny Lloyd get used to the frustrations and limitations of the National League after what they have been used to. Indeed, it is the same for all this year’s crop of moneyed clubs – and you’ll always find one at pretty much every Step – whose income is more to do with investment and sugar daddery rather than revenue. While there is sympathy and an admiration for some traditional big clubs who have fallen on hard times but still generate their own income – a marvellous 4,577 attendance at Stockport on opening day and 5,777 at Wrexham in midweek – there remains a resentment towards new money.
Wealthy owners
Often it is based on envy. Many would enjoy it at their own club – though many would not, fearful of the consequences should wealthy owners walk away. They have seen too many grand old clubs burned. I certainly had experience of it in the first season of Salisbury FC, where I was vice-chairman, at Step 5. There was, understandably to a point, a reservoir of resentment that the old club had gone bust owing creditors. And a perception that we were now Bertie big-timers. We worked hard not to be, but couldn’t deny we had the biggest wage budget in the division. It was because we were generating it through the gate and fans deserved the best team possible. We actually made a profit that season. All we could do was endure others’ Schadenfreude when we lost and continue with our plan of re establishing a community asset. Ahead of the season, Gary Neville, piqued by criticism of the Ammies’ spending, justified it by saying that his fellow Class of ‘92 co-owners were simply Salford people looking to put something back into their community. He cited what Jack Walker did for Blackburn. It is very plausible and laudable in many ways. They have certainly improved facilities and infrastructure at the club. It will be, though, eventually about legacy and sustainability. For now, they just have to cope – like Fleetwood and Forest Green before them – with that perennial conflict between old money and new, traditional clubs and the modern minted.
Common cause
Neville and Co should be used to it all. It is part of footballing nature that it is not enough to succeed, your rivals must fail. And they played for Manchester United, where they were almost hated everywhere they went. (And yet, Sir Alex Ferguson once told me, they would arrive and be expected to smile in the face of it and sign memorabilia anyway). In fact, were I City manager Graham Alexander, I might get Neville, Scholes et al in to talk to the players about how you use that resentment and envy to unite in a common cause. If it was good enough for Sir Alex…