One of the teams that my lad played for when he was very young - Woolton FC, now have this the biggest amateur set up in the whole of Europe, right through from five year olds to Vets teams.
There`s no semi pro teams ( yet ), but it`s growth in the past twenty years has been incredible.
From the very start they`ve had people who are total anoraks in real life, involved in all the admin and day to day running and most of them either have kids that are adults or don`t have kids, so there`s never been a conflict of interest with the people who are running it all and the many teams.
It`s almost run like a military operation it`s that strict and rigid.
A for instance, one year my lads team sponsor bought them a white kit, to mirror the signage and logo of his business. Within a matter of weeks, they were ordered to play in the clubs regulation colours ( red or blue ) or face an immediate termination for breaching the code of conduct / contract that every team signs.
However, there`s never been any " coups" or teams folding due to behind the scenes shenanigans and no allegations of misuse of funds.
When amateur football clubs become this big they`ve got to be almost run like a company to keep control of things and from reading that statement from Widnes, it seems that there were too many vested interests, agendas and vendettas that should have been stamped on and weren`t.
