12:51pm Friday 21st March 2008
By Simon Parker
The saddest thing about clubs going into administration is that we are no longer shocked.
Last week it was Halifax; now it’s Rotherham.
Forget the fight to stay in the Premier League, when clubs in the lower divisions talk about survival, they mean the balance sheets as much as the tables.
With City fans, you are preaching to the converted. Now Rotherham, like the Bantams, carry the stigma of administration for the second time in the space of a few years.
The Millers were on the brink two years ago with debts of £3.5m. They managed to push the wolf from the door by getting creditors to accept a penny for a pound.
Now they are back to square one again. Boss Mark Robins talks bullishly about
recouping the ten-point penalty and still making the play-offs. But the real fight, as always, is off the pitch.
The creditors will once more have to be persuaded to cut their losses – something, they will again be told, is
better than nothing.
But it cannot go on forever.
There seems to be this myth that no club would ever be allowed to go to the wall.
Brinkmanship has become an almost accepted part of the administration process.
But it will happen. Somebody, somewhere will say no and a team will be no more.
And once one goes, others will follow as the shock factor disappears.
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