After their promotion to the Unibond Premier last season, Blue Star now cease to exist.

It says a lot really while Real Madrid are splashing out millions on a handful of players, Blue Star have gone to the wall over a matter of a petty £61'000

Here's the press release

http://nonleaguezone.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=65410

where has the grass roots support gone? - i'll tell ya... off to the pub to whatch football italia, spania , africana, united nations,agh and premier leagueagh

choice = warm boozer with a pint, a pisser amd a sausage at half time or a wind swept field in stanhope with 1 man and his dog ...........no brainer...........for most

Indeed, its the low attendances thats killed them, despite their success they rarely managed to get 3 figures (they had an average home crowd of just 153 after checking, only one club got less) and looking through, 11 local clubs got better attendaces despite being in lower divisions (South Shields being one of them)

Lots of stuff can be blamed for it, the lack of coverage in the Chronicle of their games for a start, infact the only time they got some decent column inches was when they got to the final qualifying round of the FA cup, otherwise the local press were far more interested in the exploits of Durham City.

Plus like you said, for most people in the north east, i've started to notice a lot more Man Utd/Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool shirts around than before, i guess the call of SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL TEAM is not that popular at the moment, sadly

Only just got promoted as well

Does that mean the Welsh side will go up instead?

RIP Blue Star. Its shocking, all over the same amount Alan Smith earns in a week

Alan Smith should just donate a week's salary then.

What she said, then Barton as well for next season.

I'll shed a tear. I remember watching them with my old man in the 60s when they were still the Newcastle Brewery team and played at the Wheatsheaf. I've never had the chance to watch them recently.

Nope, their downfall came after the league's AGM so the Unibond Premier will stay at 21 clubs. but i'd imagine there will be some very angry people at Curzon Ashton, the team NBS beat in that playoff final

Oh aye, the Welsh side was the semi

Aye, that was Colwyn Bay

But still though, i would'nt be suprised to see Curzon Ashton put in an immediate appeal.

Its sad and a shame that maybe one of our overpaid twats couldnt maybe do a decent thing and donate a weeks wages to help out a local side.

On the other hand the club obviously was living above its means to get into debt - in that sense i dont have much sympathy, at the end of the day if I took a loan from my bank or whatever id expect to have to pay it back and football clubs should be no different.

Its the same with these league clubs that dont pay the tax man and then seem suprised when they get hit with a tax bill and want sympathy.

Surely there are plenty of examples for clubs at all levels to start looking after the finances better?

They had no debt, they just had to make a re-payment to the stadium improvement funding group (due to moving to Kingston aprk rather than redeveloping their original ground, the Wheatsheaf) when their backers withdrew all financial support with immediate effect, Dave Thompson was a co-owner and he withdrew his support to help save the Newcastle Falcons, without that, they simply couldn't afford to pay back the FSIF.

It also shows exactly why north east clubs are so unwilling to move up the football pyramid unless they have backers with deep pockets. We've had that problem at South Shields for years, the ambition is there, the money simply isnt.

Ah right I suppose thats slightly different and unfortunate - however surely if the 61k hadnt been spent on what it was for then it should be there to pay back, if it isnt then surely that means they are 61k in debt as its been spent on other stuff??

Well with the original ground in the ownership of Gosforth RFC now, then they thought they didnt need to pay it back and that money would be spent by Gosforth in bringing the Wheatsheaf up to good nick, i guess though its more a mis-understanding of the rules when it comes to stadium improvement grants that got them in this mess.

If the backers had stayed, then paying back the £61k would'nt have been a problem, yes it would have meant a few players having to leave to balance the books but at least they would have survived.

Cant believe there was nobody out there that could have helped them out, id love to have the money to be able to help a local club.

So what is happening, is there going to be any reincarnation of Blue Star or not do you know?

None that i know of, there might be one in the pipeline by some disgruntled fans but nothing concrete yet

But some of the people that helped out there are now helping out at North Shields, we've got a pre-season friendly against them next month so i'll ask wots happening with NBS if i bump into a few of them there.

So 4 days of Michael Owen's wages would save that club? This just makes me even more sickened by the way football has gone over the last 10-15 years. Part of me wants to walk away from it. Either they sort the distribution of money out or I may well do just that.

Even if NUFC get back on their feet, what's the best we can hope for? 4th or 5th in the Premier League? What's the point? All my Arsenal mates think their the dog's bollocks becuase they finished 4th. Since when did coming 4th become a definition of success?

I agree, call me daft if you like, but part of me is glad we wont be in the PL to basically be cannon fodder to the gloryhunting big 4.

I agree General that it is quite sickening although in the interests of fairness I would point out that most of our first team squad could have saved the club with a week or twos wages and not just Owen

The whole topic of money distribution is a difficult for me. Totally agree that its not good seeing some clubs going to the wall where the big 4 constantly milk the cash cow from Tv etc. However i dont agree with some suggestions that were discussed on here a while back about the prize money distribution effectively being flipped on its head with the league winners getting the least etc - at the end of the day for me the league winners deserve to get more prize money than a crappy team that finishes bottom of the league.

I think a good basic start would be scrapping the god awful transfer windows and going back to how it was when it worked fine - this restriction on movement clearly has negative effects on the finances on the smaller clubs who effectively survive on developing and then selling players.

Other than that im not too sure - something needs to be done but at the same time I dont want to see the game americanised with wage caps etc and I dont want to see teams being rewarded for being crap.

As for 4th or 5th being the best any club can hope for I dont agree - I think the top 4 is still an attainable target - a tough target but still an attainable one because one thing that will never change in football no matter who has the money is the fact that it is possible for a well drilled and organised team with good players to beat a group of players who may be the best in terms of skill but are not a team.

I dont think any of the top 4 were untouchable at any point this season, yeah Man U as ever were pretty solid and put together a fantastic run mid season but the likes of Fulham showed that they are not unbeatable. Villa should have probably beaten Arsenal to 4th place but for me made 2 big errors in not strengthening their squad enough and also effectively forfeiting their Uefa Cup place. Villa lost 4th really rather than Arsenal "winning it".

Its gonna take something special to break in there but I personally dont think its an impossible task or a closed club.

So you think we could win the league? That's what I'm saying, not finishing 4th (which I think is the best we could aim for). It is unattainable for clubs now. 2nd, 3rd and 4th is nowhere. You've won nowt. But clubs think they are doing well by losing these days. Even if they have billionaires willing to put in hundreds of millions they can't necessarily get a club to the top of the league. And even if they did it's propogating the filthy, money-driven game that is European football these days. Ambramovich got his timing right and got Chelsea in the top four before it was closed off. You could argue he pushed Newcastle out and now look at us.

As for money distribution, no way should the bottom teams get more. Personally, for the Premier League, I think that the TV contract money should be shared evenly and teams which get more games on TV should get a bit more for each game so the top teams still can do well but it is a bit more fair. More money should be filtered down the league but I assume because it is run by the Premier League as an entity and not the Football League then the Prem will just vote to keep all the money for themselves? Champions League money needs to be shared round (somehow).

Of course we couldnt win the league at the minute

But seriously I dont see why any team that got their act together and made some decent buys couldnt make a go of winning the league. That might sound stupid but I generally believe that - obviously it would be tough but like I said in the previous post being the best team in football isnt simply about having the 11 best players - it obviously helps but look at Real Madrid over the last few years as a perfect example. I know they won the league last year but considering the players there and the the money spent over the last 5 or 6 seasons the trophy return is pretty pathetic in relative terms.

Like I said I dont think any of the top 4 this season were untouchable and had some of the other teams maybe got their acts together then maybe there could have been a challenge from somebody else. At the moment with their financial muscle they are obviously going to be near the top but if us or any other team put together a good project and built a good strong team I dont see why the likes of Man U could not be challenged.

Exactly. I've had this conversation with a mate at work (a Watford supporter) for the last 3 years or so. On the whole, I enjoyed football more when we were last in 2nd Division. I always said as long as we didn't go to the wall I wouldn't be that gutted at getting relegated (and this was 3 years ago). What's the difference between supporting you club in one league than the other, at least when you don't win the league you're in? You might as well finish 41st in the league as 2nd. We finished 2nd in the league twice and I've never seen more grown men bawling their eyes out in my life. People will argue about Champions Legaue but that doesn't really interest me, it's just more commercial crap.

To get to the top of our league would be a minor mirable these days. You have to compete with the clout of Man Utd for a start. That's the budget and status (not to mention lure CL football) to get the players in in the first place. It's not like 15 years ago when we last got promoted, it justn't work like that anymore. I hope one day any clubs can get turn this situation on its head but I don't think they will. 4th or 3rd in the league for a season or two is maybe possible but they'll not win it.

Hmm cant say I agree with those sentiments General, I understand what you are saying and its a fair opinion but not one I share.

Whilst I dont think a season or two out of the Premier League may be a massively bad thing for me id rather my team was finishing 2nd in the Premier League rather than 41st or whatever in the football league. Id rather be watching us against Man U than the likes of Scunthorpe and thats no disrespect to Scunny.

Its about your team being challanged and striving to finish as high as possible, even if you dont win anything for it id rather say my team was the 2nd best in the country than the 41st best.

In terms of the Champions League, yes it mostly centered around cash but its nice to see your team pitting their wits against Europes finest - it was fantastic being in the Chamnpions League seeing the likes of Nedved, Figo and Buffon playing at St James and getting the chance to go watch the toon in the likes of the San Siro.

You're right, of course, and it was a bit of post-pub ranting from me but football was better when there was some innocence about it pre-Premier League. Finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th or is still losing but apparantly you're successful if you finish 4th these days. It's daft.

I heard, and it is purely a rumour that money they were given for ground improvements went on players instead, there is little sympathy for them amongst the non league fans at my work. I still think it is a shame but concede they may have made the issue worse themselves.

That sums it up really and i'd heard something like that. The club has been poorly managed and has paid the ultimate price by ceasing to exist.

Shit happens sadly and i don't really have any sympathy, same goes for the likes of Gretna. Cut your cloth accordingly and this wont happen.

Blue Star are not alone, after getting into trouble with the taxman, Farsley Celtic face extinction too after the HMRC will attempt to prevent the club going into administration

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/e...onf/8123914.stm

Add another to the list, Livingston are seemingly doomed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ton/8124040.stm

Farsley Celtic kicked out of the conference for going into administration (yep the punishment for that is certainly more severe in non-league football)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/e...onf/8132775.stm