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Stadium row pits club against club

23/12/2004

HORNETS' rent problems with Spotland Stadium Company is putting huge pressure on Dale to make ends meet, according to football club vice-chairman Graham Morris.

The director, who plays a major role in the club's financial dealings, believes a resolution to the current wranglings between the clubs would lessen the weight of responsibility on the Dale board members and possibly allow the club to add to the first-team squad.

He told Observer Sport: "I would like Hornets to be successful. They are a Rochdale club and I would like to see them supported by the town. But equally I would like them to pay their share of what they've agreed to pay."

The two parties have fallen out over £7,500 rent allegedly owed for Hornets' 2004 campaign. Dale want stadium company chairman Allen Brett to take action, while the rugby club believe they have settled up.

Hornets chief executive Paul Reynolds said: "We had a very difficult season this year and many people didn't think we'd survive. We managed it, but recently there's been all sorts of attempts to bring Hornets down. I suspect there's an undercurrent that's got nothing to do with the stadium company. There is something else to this."

Reynolds also argued Hornets were the least contributing factor in the stadium company's poor financial situation.

"It's not us who have caused this situation, we've contributed least to that," he said.

But Morris countered: "The football club is throwing in around £57,000 to £65,00 a year. It would be nice if Hornets threw in £25,000. If one party falls behind it puts pressure on the other to dig deeper to make up the difference.

"The shortfall of £7,500 is a relatively small amount, but the £79,000 from the previous two year might have helped us strengthen the squad."

"We budget every year to lose £250,000 because we can't put a competitive team out for less than that. We have to take that gamble and hope something turns up, and usually it does. We could take a bigger gamble if we hadn't had to put more money into the stadium company."