A FORMER club chairman has called for a more positive, planned and dedicated approach from directors to take local non-League football into the millennium.

And, as well as demanding better leadership from the top, ex-Nelson chairman Ken Broom stresses that players must be more realistic about money and accept there is no "pot of gold".

For those clubs who do adapt to modern-day needs, particularly regarding facilities and sponsorship, Mr Broom believes the future will be bright.

He cites enterprising Ramsbottom United as the benchmark for all local non-League clubs but warns that those who continue to live in the past face only one thing - extinction.

Reacting to our article about the crisis among our non-League clubs, Mr Broom says: "With the current wave of discontent amongst football fans, sick of high admission prices being charged to watch prima donna players whose only dedication is to their own bank balance, you would think that clubs in the non-League scene would be quick to cash in on the market for grass roots football. "The market is undoubtedly there, so why are the fans not filling the grounds? The price is right.

"Yes, we do have the mercenary element among players, but if all clubs refused to meet their often outrageous demands, we may get back to common sense.

"Clubs who fall for this type of blackmail are digging their own graves.

"Yes, it has been proved that you can buy success, but at what cost? Are we not better having a good club providing entertaining football in the North Western Trains or the Unibond League, with a secure future, and sound base of local talent, than a club with false and unaffordable ambitions that give rise to mounting debt and eventual closure?

"What is needed is a complete rethink on the part of the clubs as to where they can improve. "People are no longer prepared to put up with 1950s conditions. Litter-strewn grounds with filthy toilet facilities, near-derelict buildings and kitchen-bar areas that look like a health inspector's chamber of horrors are not only a turn off, they reflect the attitude of the people running the club.

Mr Broom added: "Clubs have got to get out there and fight for survival, get out in the community and into local business and industry, make your club an attractive proposition for sponsors.

"Remember though that sponsors only want to be associated with organisations that reflect the image of the company. It really is a case of matching sponsors to clubs.

"Fortunately, we do have examples of how it should be done.

"Ramsbottom United should be used as the benchmark for all non-League clubs.

"From the moment you enter the ground you feel the pride and enthusiasm in the club, every job is done with 100 per cent dedication. The presentation of the ground is first rate and you really feel that you have had value for money, win, lose or draw. The club are a credit to the town and the league.

"I realise that, for the most part, non-League clubs are run by volunteers but the maxim has to be, voluntary but not amateur. "The only way a club will survive is to be run like a super-efficient business.

"Targets have to be set, long-term plans laid, continual improvements made and marketing strategies carried out."

"For those clubs that live in the past, or whose directors are not 100 per cent dedicated to the club and the future, extinction is just around the corner," he added.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.