BRITISH SOCCER CLUBS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19376, 14 July 1937, Page 7

BRITISH SOCCER CLUBS

FORCED TO REDUCE STAFFS LACK OF MONEY LONDON, May 14. It is probable that many of the balance-sheets of Football League Clubs to be published within the next few weeks will reveal that last season was disastrous from a financial point of view. That is the only deduction to be drawn from the reduced number of players who have been re-engaged for the 1937-38 campaign. This reduction is not noticeable in the case of First Division clubs, but Second Division clubs certainly have not enough on their books to carry on with, and several members of the Third Division have not signed on sufficient players to field an eleven. Inquiries reveal that the reason for this big reduction is lack of money. There are no resources from which money can be obtained to pay summer wages to a big staff. The entertainment duty has crippled clubs unable to attract big crowds. It is estimated that the aggregate amount paid in entertainment duty by League clubs last season was in the neighbourhood of £300,000, and that a large portion of that represents money taken from the wage fund, with the result that re-engagements have not been offered to hundreds of players,-