Stranger Than Fiction - Mansfield Town FC

Easter may have come early this year and taken many people by surprise but Mansfield fans would have been far more alarmed to discover this morning that April Fool's Day had not followed suit. Fans were up in arms that plans for their club, unveiled this morning in a leaked email, were not some newspaper hoax and in fact might be about to turn Mansfield into the biggest joke of all.

For fans of the Stags and football fans in general there is nothing remotely funny about this potential takeover with consequences seemingly too far fetched for any April fool’s day. Last week a Derby Fan humorously compared the goings on at his club to Harchester United, the team in the Sky One football soap Dream Team. I’m about to explain how, in the case of Mansfield Town FC, being compared to a fictional TV soap is one joke that’s about to go too far.

Mansfield Town are seven points from safety in League Two and play a vital match against local rivals Notts County tomorrow. A game where defeat could leave them ten points adrift with eight games to go. Not only do the Stags face a momentous struggle to hold onto their Football League status but news emanating from the club today suggest that their fans should also hold on to their hats and enjoy any last ounce of dignity as they prepare for a very bumpy ride.

As an Exeter City fan I remember the heartache of relegation. That season of turmoil and trauma was amplified by the antics of people at the club who seemed set on shredding any reputation the club had left. ‘Luminaries’ such as Uri Geller and Darth Vader, turned our club into a laughing stock and are now thankfully now just a distant uncomfortable memory, but the experience has meant that I have a lot of sympathy for any club in the same situation.

In the case of York, and now possibly Mansfield, the man in question is Mr Jon Batchelor. A man who once changed his name by Deed Poll not only to ‘John B&Q’ but also ‘John Top Gear’ to attract sponsors. He when one better by changing York City’s name to ‘York Soccer Club’ to attract interest from across the pond and under his ownership only the supporter’s takeover of the club saved them from financial meltdown. (and changed the name back…)

Batchelor initially became interested in taking over Mansfield as part of a consortium but then decided to try and takeover the club on his own. Even without any more details this takeover already seems ominous.But it’s the unique selling point in this takeover bid that brought the club to the nation’s attention this morning. Batchelor’s key idea is not to stem the club’s debts, buy back the ground, or even try and boost the club’s attendances for a survival bid and hope for the best.

Instead Batchelor has stunned the football world with his plans to rename the club Harchester United after the fictional team in Sky One’s Dream Team. Plans so concrete that he was already contacted the film company which owns the rights to the programme! It is also believed that actors from the show would be asked to go to Mansfield as part of any sponsorship deal, just one of a host of other questionable ideas to link the club with the show that was axed last year.

Batchelor explained his commercial thinking behind the re-branding saying, “Fans have to accept that to have a professional club, it has to be done on a commercial basis and be profitable - Harchester is easier to promote than Mansfield. It is as simple as that.” He went on to say how “One club has been on the television for 10 years and the other one hasn’t.”

Batchelor openly admitted to the local paper Chad that he is only at the club for the money, saying “the only reason that I want it (the club) is to make money, the only reason that I want to do that is to look after my immediate family. I can only do that by making it work on the pitch and as a result making it work commercially.”

By commercially he means turning the club into a cash cow, hoping to profit from the 20,000 registered fans on the Dream Team fan site. With this Harchester United idea a distinct possibility the question must be asked what other ‘ideas’ for making money can we expect to see from Batchelor? How many more harebrained schemes does he have up his sleeve?

Wasn’t the FA’s ‘fit and proper person’ test set up to protect fans and their clubs from characters like Batchelor?

The potential for disaster at Field Mill is huge as the club waits to see if his late bid to takeover the Stags is successful. I think I speak for not only Exeter City fans but also football fans everywhere when I hope the club can survive as Mansfield Town and not as Harchester United and some businessman’s cash cow and wish the fans at the club all the best.

Oh and did I mention the Anglo-European Cup which was also suggested today? Featuring Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade at Field Mill and possibly Chesterfield….

PETER EVANS 

Comments

[Superstagsadam]

Thanks for sticking up for the club like so many other fans have done via other sites today. But im afraid its looking like another 15 years of hurt for mansfield town fans as we move from being one mans cashcow to another.

[Jon V]

I'm from Mansfield, born and bred, and while i try to escape the place, support a different team and everything else, I cannot begin to imagine the anguish from the genuine fans ofthe club. This individual is an absolute disaster in the making, and should never be allowed near a football ground after his previous antics, let alone purchasing one. Yes stags may be an unsuccessful team, on the verge of relegation, but that is as ridiculous a suggestion as I have heard - you may as well rename Torquay as Macclestown, or Leicester as Southbury. And so much for the conference bosses - you may equat it to the merging of Gravesend and 'fleet, but at least they don't have a moronic name of a fictitious place/team. Put it this way, if it were ever allowed through, I think I would have completely lost faith in any football system in this country - professional, international or otherwise.
Come on with common sense, decency and reality. This man lives in a different world! Does he not realise that whilst a web based fan site has 20,000 members, they will never turn up to this small clubs matches, and neither would the true supporters either. Its not liek the 'actors' would be playing, providing some sort of attraction to those gullible individuals - the only actual link would be the name, and the 6 months of promo before all was forgotten, and a proud clubs reputation destroyed.
This would be perfect for 'disgusted of Tunbridge wells'!