For fans, for fun
BEING the Member of Parliament for Stockport had its downside, as my grandfa- ther learned when he had to buy shares in Stockport County Football Club. We must still have these worthless bits of paper somewhere. Every dog has its day, though, and 14 football clubs have now come to the stock market with another half-dozen close behind them. Newcastle United survived a bad-tempered match with London City and are through to the next round. Some of the froth has come off football share prices as the choice widens and the realisation dawns that all these clubs cannot be winners. Until now they have been run as local baronies — the baron's privilege was to behead the manager — and to become accountable public companies is quite a transformation. I look forward to seeing a set of accounts which include the word bung. Where have these cash payments for services rendered been hidden? Did they go down as commis- sion, unspecified, or as stationery — brown envelopes, with contents? How do clubs account for transfer values, now that the European Court's ruling in the Bosnian case has spoilt their game for them? Most of these shares (and for my money, all Of them) are for fans, not for investors. Now where can those Stockport County share certificates have got to?
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