Lonely Stranraer need company to survive as day of reckoning looms

THERE may be a 138-year precedent involved, but history is unlikely to count for much on Wednesday as the very existence of Stranraer Football Club comes up for serious discussion.

A club which has historically been run by a committee, put in place by up to 100 members, finds itself having to re-organise its statute in order to survive. And even then, there are no guarantees.

The midweek vote should formalise the set-up of Stranraer Football Club Limited, therefore moving the club into company status for the first time. Clearing as much of a £250,000 debt as possible by the release of shares is the underlying aim of the Stranraer board; they are hopeful "three or four" major players will supply the bulk of that money in order to protect Scottish League football in the town. As it stands, they are a club sinking fast.

Of the money owed, around half is a bank debt with the remainder made up of unpaid bills; the most notable for new floodlights, a balance which stands in excess of £50,000. With nowhere seemingly to turn, the chairman Nigel Redhead and his committee are pleading for significant investment and a new ownership structure. There will be little opposition from the floor.

"Hopefully lots of people will be interested, but how much we can raise, we really do not know," conceded Redhead. "The debt situation has built up over a number of years; we are hoping people out there with a love of the club will do something to keep it going.

"And it is not just the football club; we have under-14, under-16 and under-17 teams, a youth development structure which is important to the town of Stranraer. If the club goes, that all goes as well."

By the chairman's own admission, potential investors are highly unlikely to realise a short or medium-term return on their share purchase. One crumb of consolation for beleaguered Stranraer supporters is that, given the club do not own their Stair Park home, anyone looking for a quick buck on a property deal is unlikely to use the club for those means.

But the fact that home fans have been so unwilling to attend matches at all is a more serious concern. "As it stands, what we raise through the turnstiles every fortnight doesn't cover half of our wage bill," added Redhead. A sizeable Ayr United support in a crowd of 1,003 last weekend was a welcome tonic, previous attendances having slumped to 304 against Stirling Albion and 279 for Brechin City's visit.

Such harsh realities are certain to impact on on-field matters, and duly have done. Stranraer sit bottom of Division Two, with four points from their opening six matches.

Derek Ferguson's team are far from adrift – there is merely a single point between them and seventh-placed Queen's Park – but the manager has little room for manoeuvre. In a hard-hitting interview in the aftermath of last month's defeat to Raith Rovers, Ferguson alluded to "a lot of crap going on at the club" before claiming that the Stranraer committee did not want him in place.

Redhead disputes such a notion. "It is untrue to say we do not want Derek here," he said. "We are happy with Derek. I spoke to him about his comments and he admitted he was just letting off steam after we lost a late goal.

"We said to the players in recent weeks that they were free to go if they could find another club. None have taken us up on that; they are happy to work with Derek and happy to stay together as a group. They respond to the manager and some of our football has actually been very good; things are just going against us on and off the field at the same time."

Ferguson and his squad are taking steps to attempt to ease the predicament, though. The team bus for today's game in Peterhead will depart Stranraer at 5.45am, they may just make it home before midnight. Far from insist on an overnight stay amid such a lengthy journey, the manager has even ordered players to pack their own sandwiches rather than forcing the club into subsidising a pre-match meal.

Ferguson had also suggested cutting training sessions from the routine two to only one session a week. "That has not happened, we couldn't allow that," explained Redhead. "We felt that, if we did that, we would just become the whipping boys of the league."

They are far from that at present. However, if the cashflow which is so desperately needed to maintain Stranraer's league status is not forthcoming beyond Wednesday, some of the chairman's worst fears might not be far from being realised.