Albion Rovers are in big trouble. The club who held a place in the Scottish football league for 120 years is in a dire financial situation and has recently called on fans to rally round and save them from potential oblivion.
The 'Rovers Return' campaign is looking to raise money amid concerns that, even if they do survive, the club could play the 2025/26 season with players receiving only expenses. This would immediately shift objectives from challenging for the Lowland League title – with the hope that East Kilbride or Caledonian Braves, the two clubs are the top who are believed to spend more than most, make their way out of the division – to fighting off relegation to the sixth tier of Scottish football.
The peril has come about due to a combination of factors relating to their 2022-23 relegation from the SPFL. Parachute payments and additional income from competing in the Challenge Cup are now a thing of the past. And while attendances from the core home support have stayed steady since dropping into the fifth tier, there are a number of opponents who pitch up at Cliftonhill with barely any travelling fans, thereby hampering gate receipts. They also miss SPFL prize money.
On the surface it's a football story as old as relegation: club goes down; club doesn't cut their cloth quickly enough; club runs into financial turmoil. But this is where things get complicated.
A warning of severe financial trouble first appeared in January when former board member Margaret Rizza resigned in protest after Stuart Black, a businessman with a plan to make Rovers a sustainable Lowland League club, saw his route on to the board veto'd by the club's largest shareholders.
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One single person doesn't own Albion Rovers. In fact, there isn't even a majority shareholder. The largest shareholder is Anton Fagan, son of former owner Tom Fagan, who, along with some other shareholders, ultimately controls the destiny of the club. However, he isn't really involved in the day-to-day running of things. This has led to the board and "owners" being at odds with each other, with several letters and statements published on the Rovers' website criticising Fagan and his peers, including an open letter sent out just over a week ago which accused Fagan of blocking new revenue streams.
Membership of the board has changed consistently through recent years with those trying to improve things soon finding themselves frustrated by the set-up. There have been accusations of severe mismanagement, such as Black's claim that it wasn't possible to get access to up-to-date bank statements for three months after he first joined.
Complicating matters further is the problem of dormant shares. There are thousands upon thousands of them. The issue was first made in 1919 and original owners have passed away with their inheritors being untraceable. This helps the largest shareholders keep control, while efforts to have new shares issued in order to dilute the power of those who control the active ones and help raise some much-needed money have thus far been rebuffed.
Muddying the waters even further is the fact that Fagan holds a position at the Scottish FA. He's head of stadium operations.
Fagan doesn't explicitly state his reason for retaining his position of power or why he didn't believe that either of these individuals were right for Albion Rovers. He chooses to remain silent. That silence has created a vacuum which has been filled by the worst fears of the supporters: that those in charge are simply interested in nothing more than letting the club go to ruin and selling the land on which their home ground sits.
Cliftonhill is a good piece of real estate within Coatbridge. It's on the main street and is a ten-minute walk from Coatdyke station, which funnels trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow every day. It's no wonder supporters are anxious and wondering allowed whether the shareholders are only interest e in asset stripping. The timing of this occurring after the club's disappearance from the SPFL only emboldens such conspiracies.
Fuelling the fire further was a shareholder reportedly saying that Rovers should "sell the family jewels" (i.e. the stadium) in order to ward off financial oblivion. It's an approach which teams in the past have taken in order to keep the business going. This doesn't cure the illness, it just stretches things out, especially for a club with an already modest support which is rooted in its community.
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If it was indeed the case that Fagan and his fellow shareholders didn't see Black's vision as being logistically or financially possible, or that they didn't trust his character or whatever other reason, then perhaps one of them should come out and give a clear account of their version of events. It would also help to repair the rift if they also explained why they retain their shares, why they are seemingly against the wishes of the fanbase, and what the plans are for the club.
Unless that happens, and while Albion Rovers remain in peril, the condemnation of an employee within the walls of Hampden Park will continue. It may also hamper Rovers’ ability to survive.
In the meantime, this writer implores anyone reading to this to help support the Coatbridge side and get yourself down to Cliftonhill between now and the end of the season. It’s a charming little throwback ground right in the heart of a housing community and should be experienced by any Scottish football fan — before it’s too late.
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