Are we witnessing the death of one of non-league football's most famous names?

Blyth Spartans no longer have the staff to be able to stage their home matches, so what happens next seems next to inevitable.

Of the milestones that come in the run-up to the folding of a football club, the point at which matches start getting postponed is often the most significant. Talk of financial trouble will inevitably get under the skin of those with the most interest in said club, and even entering into administration can feel abstract when the most obvious indication of it all is the club shuffling a few places down a league table and some players leaving in a fire sale.

But the failure of a club to actually be able to put a match on is of a different magnitude. It’s the final point at which shit gets real. There are supporters who don’t pay any attention to social media, who simply check when the team is playing and turn up on a Saturday afternoon. For those who may not understand what ‘administration’ is and why it is in and of itself a near-death experience for any business that enters into it, the postponement of matches may be the first time they realise how severe within a club a situation actually is.

In the case of Blyth Spartans, a mass resignation of matchday staff left little alternative. In a statement put out by the Northern Premier League, it was confirmed that, “After discussions with the club and the local authority, the league had concerns over certain operational requirements not being in place for these games.” In other words, without the appropriate staff in place, matches simply cannot go ahead and this is the trap into which Blyth have stumbled.

And it’s worth pausing a moment to reflect upon that. In the overall scheme of things, the most basic purpose that a football club can have is to be able to put on matches, and the grim truth of the matter is that Blyth Spartans were deemed to be unable to do so. To be in this position feels like a humiliation, and no less.

This came just a day after an open meeting of supporters at the club after the announcement that the club was up for sale, at which it was confirmed that, “We are aware that a lot of the remaining volunteers have this week resigned from their roles. A skeleton crew of staff likely have to man turnstiles and do everything else required to put on a match”, and that, “We’ve been told that at present, the internet is down at the club (confirmed by a member of the audience)”.

There was some good news to come from this meeting. The supporters are forming into a Trust, which will shift focus as a supporters group from protest alone to looking towards the future of the club. But the following day came the announcement that these two matches. At least it seems to have been confirmed that there should be no sanction for these two postponements, though how long the League’s patience will hold should home matches continue to be called off is very much open to question. There are, after all, 21 other teams in their division.

The next potential bright spot came at the weekend, when the Green Army supporters group posted a statement regarding a meeting that they’d had with “a group of local individuals who are currently in the process of putting together a deal to purchase the football club”. The site was coy over who they are, but did say that, “the group in question have our full trust and backing”, which is a reason for some degree of optimism, at least.

Of course, all of this means that the race is now on to get that sale over the line. If the internet is no longer connected at Croft Park, it seems like a reasonable assumption to make that money either is or is starting to severely run out. Their next home game is scheduled for the 16th November, against Matlock Town. Can they get this all suffiently resolved for the volunteers to have returned and the match to go ahead? And what might the Northern Premier League’s attitude be if they can’t? They’re unlikely to remain as sympathetic as they have done for long.

So, has Irfan Liaquat pulled any funding into the club upon putting it up for sale? How long do they have? It is to be presumed that those on the inside of the matter have a better idea of what expectations are and three weeks without a home game is a stroke of luck in some respects, as it may buy the club some precious time. A few days likely wouldn’t have been enough to get such a precarious position back on its feet again. Three weeks offers a window of opportunity to get Liaquat out of the club, his same scrubbed from the record, and new owners in who will hopefully see this football club as something more than just another asset to be rinsed and spun.

These postponements were, in a sense, a point of no return for Blyth Spartans. The club being put up for sale was one thing, but being unable to even stage matches is another altogether. It’s a matter of the highest urgency, because if this situation continues the club will quickly be at risk of expulsion, which would surely only lead to closure and reformation at a lower level to be the most financially sensible option to take.

Blyth Spartans, of course, should mean more than that. We’ve already established that the company is effectively worthless as a business, and that if it is to have a future then this future needs to be in a place in which the profit motive is irrelevant. They are one of the most famous names in non-league football, and it should be incumbent on those who run the game to ensure that such names are protected from being treated in this way. Now the race is on to save the club and revitalise it, and it is to be hoped that there is sufficient time to do so.