100 Owners: R.W. (Dick) Stoley - Argonauts FC

The story of the man who tried to take an amateur football club into the Football League... and almost pulled it off.

In the name of “progress”, we continue to be reminded about the dangers of franchising in football, and we continue to be right to stay vigilant against attempts to parachute clubs into the Football League or senior non-league football. The fundamental principle is that, subject to concerns over the health and safety of large crowds, newly-formed clubs should start at the bottom and work their way up. 

But the history of the game is littered with such attempts to circumvent this, and they haven’t always been unsuccessful. Idle dreams of fame and riches mixed with rampant egotism means that there will always be people seeking a quick route to the top of English football, from Chelsea being formed to make use of the then-vacant Stamford Bridge right through to the enforced relocation of Wimbledon FC.