From Leigh RMI to Leigh Genesis
‘Visionary chairman’, when in a football context, is a troubling little phrase. It’s widely accepted that chairmen know if not absolutely nothing about football, then next to nothing. Stick the word ‘visionary’ in front of them, and it’s panic stations time. Football has been around a long time. Most of the important revolutions and evolutions have occurred – crossbars, substitutions, the balti pie: what’s left is just tinkering. Yet these supposed visionaries come in, with their mad-cap ideas and hair-brained schemes, and mess everything up for everyone.
You may think this is the view of a footballing Luddite. A sporting Cro-Magnon man sheltering in his cave, terrified of progress. But it isn’t. Change is good. I crave change. But change for the sake of change is crap. Undeniably a bad thing.
In the past, backing up my point, have been visionaries such as Pete Winkleman. He decided to up and move Wimbledon to Milton Keynes? Why? Because he was a visionary and that’s what visionaries do. Then there’s John Batchelor, who bought York City, changed the team name, the kit design and the badge to reflect his own ego, and then left the club virtually bankrupt, while he made a tidy little profit. And for what reason? Because he was a forward thinking revolutionary who craved and demanded progress. He surfaced again recently when he attempted to buy Mansfield Town, and rename them Harchester United, the fictional team from Sky TV’s ‘Dream Team’ series. Harchester had a greater television presence, and therefore a greater chance of making him loads and loads of money.
So yeah, you’ll excuse me if the words ‘visionary chairman’ fill me with a mixture of dread and perverse fascination. What the devil will these idiots think of next?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Leigh Genesis.
Last week, Leigh RMI, formerly Horwich RMI, finally dropped the RMI suffix and re-branded as Leigh Genesis. I wont go in to the complicated and long history of Horwich RMI, but it’s out there in wikipedia if you’re interested. But in 1995, they moved the seven miles from Horwich to Leigh to give themselves a better chance of making it to the Football League. 13 years on, they still haven’t. In fact they’re worse off now than they were when they made the move. It was a move caused many fans to retrospectively call the team ‘the original MK Dons’. It was change for change’s sake.
RMI, a rather splendid little suffix, stands (stood?) for Railway Mechanics Institute. It hung round the neck of the new club like a train shaped albatross. “There isn’t even a train station in Leigh” whined the fans, as if this somehow not only precipitated the need for change, but justified it. Well, I hate to break it to you, my Leigh dwelling chums, but neither is there a Phil Collins prog-rock act. But we don’t see you going off on one about that.
The press release announcing the change made for incredible reading. The opening gambit alone had me falling off my comfortable, blue, swivel chair in shock and awe.
“Recently appointed, visionary Chairman Dominic Speakman, 32, explains the thought process behind this radical move to give the club an all-embracing brand for the future.”
An all-embracing brand for the future? What does this even mean? It didn’t stop there, however. Filling the press release with terms such as ‘ideas of colour’, ‘core of the new brand’, ‘The alignment of football to fashion’ and ‘a contemporary edge and is unique in the world of football’ gave the impression that the unspeakable Speakman knew exactly what he was doing. But even a casual read revealed that the whole thing was meaningless. It was a classic puff piece of spin and hyperbole. Nothing had any substance. The whole thing was vapid and, frankly, offensive.
I was obviously furious. Speakman was essentially trampling over history and removing any trace he could find of the previous club, Horwich RMI. By creating a new club, in a new stadium, in new colours, he has formed a new team half way up the pyramid. The only thing that links Leigh RMI and Speakenstein’s Monster, is the town in which they’re based.
Initially people, thankfully, seemed as up in arms about this I as was. As far as I could tell it was seen as a travesty, and another case of football eating itself. Message boards (OK, maybe I was naïve taking Internet forums as proof of anything other than there being a scary, scary world outside my front door) were full of debate and comment about how this was a terrible thing. I posted a blog entry about it, expecting messages of condemnation for Speakman and Leigh Genesis, but instead got something rather different.
It seems the people of Leigh are fully behind this move. Not one ‘Genesis’ fan I have spoken to has anything other than a good word for Speakman and his new club. Apart from those who have a very bad word for me. A very bad word indeed. They are genuinely excited by the fresh start, and the opportunity to progress. They have been blinded by the promise of a better future, and perhaps, aren’t thinking critically enough about it.
Leigh Genesis, apart from the re-branding, will be playing professionally next season. They are, as far as I know, the lowest placed team in the football pyramid to be doing so. I can think of two other teams who attempted this at Northern Premier League level, Grantham Town and Colne Dynamoes. Grantham have only just regained a sound financial footing a decade later, and Colne Dynamoes folded in 1990. There just isn’t the fan base and money at that level to support a professional team. But what does history know when up against a ‘visionary chairman’?
Leigh will take to the field in August, and everyone will be rosy-cheeked and optimistic about the future. And while I hope Speakman gets his legs kicked out from under him – let’s not forget he’s the real bad guy in all this – I don’t wish any ill whatsoever on the fans. I’m disappointed they’re so thoroughly behind this abomination, but hey, that’s the beauty of football. Differing views, personal choice, it’s all part of the rich tapestry of life.
No. What I’m really angry about is that this is another example of football being allowed to destroy itself. We’re stuck in a vicious circle with this type of name changing and club moving. The more common place it becomes, the more acceptable it will appear to people. And the more people accept it, the more it will happen in the future. And while Leigh fans may be delighted with Speakman and his new start, others in the future probably wont be so lucky.
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Wait, they’re building a 12,000 seater stadium for a team in the unibond premier?
Hahaha.
It appears to be all the rage, Alex. Bradford Park Avenue are planning to build a stadium with a minimum capacity of 20,000.
I think the capacity at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium reflects the fact it’s also being used by Leigh Centurions Rugby League Club. I imagine they’ll fill the place slightly better than Leigh Genesis.
“Not one ‘Genesis’ fan I have spoken to has anything other than a good word for Speakman and his new club.” If you feel you’ve spoken to anything like a representative sample, then I would say that perhaps the change was not for change’s sake alone, and has genuinely energized the fans. As a fan of the club Sam Hammam wanted to rebrand Cardiff Celts and to alter the colors and badge in some doomed effort at pan-Britannic popularity (after gutting Wimbledon and leaving it to the vultures, I might add), I am sympathetic to your point of view, but everything in this piece after the sentence I quoted comes off as a bit paternalistic and even bitter.
Anyway, Newton Heath Football Club, anyone?
Bitter is a possibility. I wont contest that.
But Leigh RMI offered to merge with FC United days after they formed. They applied to become the plaything in MyFootballClub. And Leigh remains the only place to ever vote against the setting up of a Supporters’ Trust (for the RL team). Clearly there’s something about Leigh I don’t fully understand.
And it’s all well and good galvanising and energizing the existing fans. But the idea, I would have thought, would have been to attract new fans. And everyone else thinks it’s crap. But we will see, I suppose.
A well thought out piece that is bang on how I see things! Even the replies strike a chord with me. The only thing I would say is Leigh RMI were not formally Horwich RMI…at least not to us! Although the latter use of former club later on saves you.
“The more common place it becomes, the more acceptable it will appear to people. And the more people accept it, the more it will happen in the future…”
Bang on:
FRANCHISE FOOTBALL – NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET!
What an absolute joke, what difference does he think the name will make, non-league football is’nt about branding its about the passion of the fans and real footballers playing football in its purest form
I dont think its the fact that its fair to have a pop at the fans who are ‘all for it’. Ive been following leigh for around 6 years now and the last 5 of those have been a nightmare to say the least.
Due to the club having no history in the town beforehand and also the diehard rugby element of Leigh hating having them share ‘their ground’.Its made it very difficult for the club to bring in new support. Not only that,the past managment of the club has been utter shit. With no attempt at PR to attract in families or get in teenagers off the streets.
I was all for a name change as not only did the RMI thing not fit with Leigh not having a train station,but the fact that Leigh is the largest town in Britain without a train station is a little ironic dont you think………………………..But, i do agree that the Genesis ‘brand’ is a bit of a joke. It certainly is commercialising[Americanising IMO!!!]
I do agree with some of the negatives but please dont have a pop at the fans,Unless you have been a follower of Leigh in the past its hard to explain how dissapointing it has been. Dominic Speakman has offered us a bright future which personally i am very sceptical of. At the end of the day he is a businessman. If it goes tits up he’ll be off and will leave the pieces firmly behind.
But i can understand why the fans are backing him. It may now be a risky future ahead but before he came Leigh didnt have a future atall.
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In response to the last comment:
“I do agree with some of the negatives but please dont have a pop at the fans,Unless you have been a follower of Leigh in the past its hard to explain how dissapointing it has been.”
I dont, have never, and will never support Leigh…but I did support Horwich Railway Mechanics Institute Football Club before they were stolen and died in 1995 against the wishes of ALL the fans…Am I allowed a pop? ‘It’s hard to explain how disappointing it has been’…try being a battling lower end team in the Northern Premier League with little prospects of promotion to the Conference (except the late 1980s and then the manager went to Chorley taking most of the players with him and the rest is as they say history. Watching a club whose ground was not the best of standard, but lots of character, a team who played for the love of it but always struggled but seldom won, but not caring as that was your team, that is what supporting a team is about. Or at least it was till it was stolen in a similar fashion to the way in which Wimbledon were subsequently taken from their community and transplanted to Milton Keynes. MK Mongs and Leigh Exodus have everything in common, both are bastard clubs with no legitimacy who have taken the place of another team, another town…and now with the “rebranding” have finally cut all ties with the former club and completly undermined the reasons given for the move…I wonder how long before MK drop “their” ‘Dons’ tag also. Dont come on here explaining how disappointing it is to support a struggling club when clearly you have no idea what it means to do so, especially when that club isnt even yours!!!!!! Or rather I should say, that league position is not yours and you should not have a team at all unless you start from the bottom a la FC United of Manchester, AFC Wimbledon and now AFC Liverpool!!!
Christ Ste,you may aswell finish it off and youtube yourself bursting into tears over the matter. Im just stating how it has been for the following Leigh fans. I personally couldnt give a flying fuck about Horwich RMI. And theres no point having a pop at me for thier misfortune of being taken over to Hilton Park all those years ago,it wasnt the people of Leigh who made that decision. Perhaps its the runners of Horwich RMI you ought to vent your anger over,rather than the Loyal fans that have followed the club since its move to Leigh.
Although im not a fan of this ‘Genesis’ and commercial approach,i have to agree that the ‘RMI’had to go. Everyone i spoke to in the past regarding watching Leigh quoted they wouldnt watch ‘RMI’ as they were not a Leigh team. Unfortunately for the Horwichites this rebranding is long overdue to give the locals a feel that Leighs football team is their own.
How the hell can you bring in new support and progress if the clubs ignored by the towns population. Id love the support of Leigh launch their own club aka FCUM.If nothing else just to silence the dinosaurs that have been holding the club back for the last 6 years,but that simply isnt going to happen.
So my verdict is,no im not all for the commercialism and fancy websites etc etc etc……….but,i am all for a fresh start.
Oh and Leigh RMI where my team just as much as any other fan.
“I personally couldnt give a flying fuck about Horwich RMI.”
SAYS IT ALL! Your (sic) own club’s history and you dont care about it. That’s fine, but they should stop claiming 1896 and start claiming 1995 or 2008.
As for venting angers, I do…with the likes of Chris Healey and the other majority shareholders of Grundy Hill Estates who voted to sell up and buy Hilton Park. The council also who allowed the move on the condition the name was retained and a link to the town…as soon as it was granted and the bulldozers had moved into Grundy Hill, the name, colours, badge were all changed a la MK Dons, only the RMI retained (slap in the face) with no connections made to the local area from which the club came. If Leigh was to be incorporated surely Horwich & Leigh in the name would have been best and mitigated it and drawn support from 2 towns, but the total change shows it was a new club, the only thing the same apart from the owners being the County FA registration number. New team, new colours, new name, new badge, new town…
Dont get me wrong I’m glad the RMI has been dropped, it should have been done sooner, and I’m sure the “Dons” tag windes up Wimbledon fans who go to AFC, there’s only 1 Dons and there’s only 1 RMI! It proves all along that our suspicions in Horwich about the move were correct, it was all about a property deal hence why no effort was ever made to maintain the link with the old area…in fact every effort was made to cut it so they could blend into Leigh. The ironic thing is, here it is seen as a Leigh club, whereas you lot see it as a Horwich club…YCNMIU.
Anyway the point I was making is they should have started from the bottom or given support to Leigh Athletic and then they could have applied to join the NWCFL and work their way up, just as AFCL, FCUM and AFCW are doing. You cant claim there was no football in the town when there was Lancashire Amateur League being played (1 tier below the North West Counties). It’s no different from the Milton Keynes situation, even they had MK City on their door in the Southern League, the only difference between Leigh/Horwich and MK/Wimbledon is one team was well known and the other was a little non league club that nobody cares about. If you legitimise Leigh, you legitimise MK Dons and if you do that 150years of British footballing history is turned upside down if you allow franchise football.
The sooner Leigh die the better, then maybe they can start properly from the bottom of the pyramid like any normal and legitimate club…until that day I will continue to hate both the club and what it stands for…epitomised by “BRAND GENESIS!”
“but the fact that Leigh is the largest town in Britain without a train station is a little ironic dont you”
Dudley is in fact the largest town in Britain without a train station – it has two that bear it’s name, but these are both in neighbouring Sandwell.
I’m not a train geek by the way, I just live near Dudley. Just wanted to point that out.
“Everyone i spoke to in the past regarding watching Leigh quoted they wouldnt watch ‘RMI’ as they were not a Leigh team.”
But ‘Genesis’ are still ‘RMI’ . It’s going to fool nobody.
Visionary, ha. Ive never met a footbal chairman with a vision thats been realised..
Hey, very interesting post.
My written English is not so good so I write in German:
“Lieber den Spatz in der Hand, als die Taube auf dem Dach.”
Yours sincerely
Schlauchboot
Is Mr Speakman still known as “visionary”!? Hahaha.
I always found that football teams had weird names, why genesis? No explanation?
Maybe I find it weird because I’m from Canada and am not used to the popularity of soccer.
Lack of money hurts. It’s the abundance of money that makes a good Football team because money is indeed power.
I totally agree with you Neil. Getting back to the basics and love of the sport is what non-league is all about!
nice article
thanks this article is great
Premier League Good Walk x)
Leigh are moving the newly built Leigh Sports Village along with the town’s Centurions rugby league team and the Harriers athletics club… The team shirt will not carry any sponsorship on the front this season but will display the Genesis name instead…