Financial deja-vu by Carol Vorderman

So what do we know of the current crisis at Penydarren Park?

Not a lot really as the current Board still remain silent on the financial reality at Merthyr Town FC – we’re owned by the fans by the way so it’s even more frustrating.

We've had a further 4 directors resign this week which makes 9 in twelve months, it’s hard to keep tally so I may be wrong there but I’m sure we’ll have 4 more friendly faces co-opted to agree with the Chairman very soon.

Any debts though will surely be due to the simple failure to tackle the issue of no income but increased costs (mostly due to staff) at the amazing new facility. We’ve covered the lack of fan engagement many times so why bother again? But are we really employing someone to set up events such as Bands at the ground when our town has more musical talent than at any time in our history?

The staffing levels at Merthyr Town will surely be reviewed now which although long overdue will be a shame as there is still a lot to be proud of at Penydarren Park. The question will be asked surely as to how the staff have been managed, supported and appointed.

Don’t forget though that we also of course face an employment tribunal in February (?) instigated by our former CEO but let’s park that one for now.

So this is our best guess from the info available at the moment;

There is possibly a debt to HMRC and maybe £60K worth of debts so it's not insurmountable by any means. We’ve done this before of course and we can do it again.

Sadly though according to Twitter messages from our players it seems that they were blamed in some way for the budget deficit that has resulted in a slashing of their funding so possibly 80% of them have allegedly walked out in disgust, probably not at the finances, but at being made a scapegoat for the Board's continued failure.

Gavin Williams, Team Manager, has already shown more leadership than our beleaguered Chairman – a calm and measured response was issued to reassure the fans that we will field teams and be competitive for the remainder of the season. We would expect many of those disappointed players to return to the fold over the next week or so as the fight back gathers pace off the field so all is not lost.

To move forward though we need the current Chairman to leave otherwise the current anger will turn to apathy very quickly. No one can be expected to raise money to hand over to the same people who have created the current issue. 

The supporters group Park View Martyrs have a meeting on Sunday to discuss solutions whereas the Board will wait until Monday to confirm the issues (the story broke on Tuesday evening as many of us travelled back from the Wales v Panama match).

I’m sure all Merthyr Town fans will also be discussing the current situation over the weekend but at present we are all still searching for answers for what could be a catalyst to a positive outcome but at present we know nothing. Deja-vu indeed.