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DAGGERS DICTIONARY "Leberl" A player rated highly by a coach or manager for reasons entirely lost on the fans.

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Wages over £100k! The Press Take An Interest In Urchins Finances by Hardy on 06/09/2004 Sunday's Observer carried a very interesting look into the finances at our neighbours, Hornchurch FC. Press interest in the "Non-League Chelsea" The Observer yesterday carried an interesting article looking at who is bankrolling Hornchurch FC's rise up the leagues and was unable to put its finger on who is the mystery figure behind the clubs phenomenal spending in recent seasons. The club finally seems to have found its stride after a slow start in the Conference South and beat early leaders Basingstoke Town 6-0 at the weekend, Steve West (left) getting two and Kirk Jackson (below) two more. The article indicates that ex-Daggers boss Garry Hill is on more than £100,000 a year compared with a wage of around £76,000 at the Daggers, however Hill is quoted as saying "I came here because I needed a fresh challenge and that challenge is to get this club into the Conference," while dismissing suggestions that the move was all about the money. With a wage bill estimated at £1.2million and an income from the gate last season of an estimated £60,000 there are big questions how the wages can fit within the Conference wage cap rules of 65% of turnover. This rule has been in force in the Conference proper since last season, and does not yet apply to Conference North and South but will come in to effect should Hornchurch clinch promotion. This issue is being downplayed though as, despite the expenditure, Hornchurch apparently made a profit last season, and Conference chief John Moules is happy that the club are acting within any rules. Moules is quoted as telling the Observer "We've no objections. During the past 18 months, every club in the Conference leagues has had at least one visit from the FA to check on finances and if there were any anomalies in Hornchurch, they would have picked them up." So who is bankrolling the club? Carl Williams and Brian Eagling are both associated with the Bryco double glazing company which is now marketing itself under the name Coldseal. Bryco are a subsidiary of The Carthium Group, which is also developing a sports complex for Wealdstone FC. Bryco became the clubs shirt sponsor three years ago and the pair are believed to be the ones that are stumping up the cash for the clubs incredible spending. No one will confirm this though and Hornchurch FC is apparently owned through offshore companies. Chairman Gary Calder told the Observer "'There's not one person putting money in. Carl Williams is a fan of the club. He doesn't own it. Two off-shore companies own the club, but I'm not going down that route." One passage in the article will have observers outside of the club wiping away tears of laughter. In it Calder is reported as having denied the rumours that Hornchurch have had a huge cash injection from a benefactor. "'It's a myth,' says Calder. 'There's not been that much of an increase.' He even says that the club's expenditure has not grown significantly in the past few years." Ah well, whatever!! Meanwhile the Daggers will continue to soldier on on the realistic budgets that are set by the committee as a Members club, which Hornchurch used to be up to 2001. While that may frustrate a lot of our fans who would love to see the big name signings that are being made at our neighbours, it is likely to mean that the Daggers will be here in 10, 25 and 50 years. What will happen if Hornchurch's mystery backers pull the plug!