Dover Athletic Chairman on costs of keeping club going
16.02.2021
Clubs in the National League were handed grants to get them through the opening three months of the season and were expecting them to continue. Those funds haven't been forthcoming and it's meant the likes of Dover have been shedding thousands on wages without sponsorship and gate money to balance the books.
With around 85% of the club's outgoings spent on player and staff costs, the only thing Mr Parmenter felt he could do was to cut that expense out. He hopes they will now survive the crisis and fans will have a club to support next season.
He said: "I am just a local guy trying to keep his town club going and I have done it for eight weeks nearly, in previous years I have done it too, but I just can't keep doing it.
"It has been heartbreaking but it was a decision where there was no other choice really, we had to do it.
"We have carried on for nearly eight weeks now with nearly no funding at all and we have managed to keep the club going but we have simply run out of resources.
"We think we can remain solvent by taking this action, that is the key driver to doing it."
Mr Parmenter, whose business is in fruit and vegetable distribution, admits the last year has been "an absolute nightmare" as he faced dealing with his own company and the impact of Covid, as well as Brexit.
He said: "I am affected by Covid as much as everyone else, my business is affected, all of the other businesses are too. We get goodwill sponsorship as a town club but you look around Dover and the businesses are not operating. If they are, they are not doing very well, so you cannot expect those businesses to come forward with sponsorship.
"I have had all the trials and tribulations that everyone else has with Covid and the football club on top of that. I feel very let down by the authorities, by the league and by the government because we would never have started this season if we hadn't been promised funding. I feel let down that money has not been forthcoming. We should never have started this season."
The club could face sanctions for pulling out of their fixtures.
Source: Luke Cawdell and KentOnLine
