A few years ago a football club that was struggling to make ends meet was a common thing in Ekstraklasa and stories about financial problems, delayed payments and even having electricity cut off were something fans simply had to get used to.

Despite the global financial crisis it seems that last season was good for the league as wages and transfer fees have risen, while those that run football clubs now seem more capable of doing so than in the recent past. But there is an exception to this satisfying rule, a club that is a sign of those old, bad times in Polish football – Polonia Bytom, the last dinosaur alive.

In the fourth season since their sensational promotion to Ekstraklasa and after twenty years spent in the lower divisions, not a single month went by at Polonia without problems regarding finances, the stadium and their license. As you will see, some of those stories are absurd and hard to believe for a club that is aspiring to play in one of fastest growing leagues in central Europe.

Their comeback to Ekstraklasa football was a promising one – for the first time in the club’s history they played their home games under floodlights, while to conform to license regulations under-soil heating was also installed at Bytom’s stadium. However, despite their best efforts, the ground still looked like a ruin and not much has changed since – the changing rooms are containers, the club’s building is in danger of tumbling down and the most laughable thing in the stadium is a tunnel cage that leads the players through the stands and onto the pitch.

They’ve got through the first license process but since then it has been a struggle and Polonia are having the rules bent for them so that they avoid relegation. First came problems with the roof, or rather the lack of it. When nobody was willing to build one at short notice before the season, and for the money Polonia offered, plans had to be changed. Now they have a roof that covers fans’ only in theory and looks more like a wind-catcher than something that may stop rain or snow from falling on supporters’ heads. The same story applies to the away stand and Polonia really took their time in making it accessible for visiting fans.

Of course, there were plans to build a new stadium, or at least make the best of the ruins that are Polonia’s current ground but, as always, a lack of money stood in their way. The city’s budget is tight every year and there were no resources for serious investment.  There were some hopes in 2010 that forty million Polish Zlotys would mean that the license process was not an uphill struggle for the club. But as local elections were incoming the money was rescheduled for 2011 as Bytom’s president decided that the city has more important things to invest in – or maybe the votes of the fans were in the minority to those of other Bytom citizens?

What to do if the current authorities are not willing to help the club with their depressing stadium matter? Polonia’s president, Damian Bartyla, decided to take part in the election, win it and make sure that the club would get enough money to make their dreams of a new ground come true. He counted on fans votes, put the future of the club in doubt if he didn’t win and…was arrested and accused of taking part in a match-fixing process that was a huge problem in Polish football a few years ago. Elections were lost, the old president also became the new one while the funds rescheduled for 2011…were rescheduled again. Bartyla and Polonia are now almost certain that they have no chance when the time to face the license committee comes in the summer – if they even stay in the league.

It’s a big ‘if’, as financial problems affect what happens on the pitch. Until now Polonia have battled hard to remain in Ekstraklasa but after another transfer window that saw them letting go of their best players and filling holes with those unwanted at other teams, it may be even tougher than the infamous license process. When a few months ago Cracovia came in for their manager, Jurij Szatalow (the longest serving manager at Polonia since they were promoted, at 18 months in charge) the club did not hesitate in allowing him to join them to raise the money that could pay Polonia’s wages that month. In Bytom, everything’s for sale – which is more down to necessity than reasonable thinking.

It must be said that Jurij Szatalow was a patient manager given the constant financial problems he faced. Others left, unwilling to accept the tough reality they had to cope with in Bytom. Two previous managers stayed in the job for around only six months as Michal Probierz went to Jagiellonia, where everything was and is better organized, and Marek Motyka was sacked following a series of bad results. When Szatlow went to Cracovia, Jan Urban was appointed but lasted only few games.

Why? The former Legia Warszawa manager was amazed that a club so badly run could compete at a professional level – under his wing Polonia forgot to apply for a work permit for one of their players, meaning that the Zimbabwean Clarence Matawu - one of their best players - had to miss several games. There was a danger of Polonia’s game with Jagiellonia being declared an automatic loss when Matawu played without a valid work permit but the League Board decided there was no need as they lost 0-3 anyway.

Winter came and Polonia revealed an even bigger surprise – Robert Goralczyk, former women’s national team manager, was given his first serious job in men’s football – quite a gamble when the club’s future depends on it, right? He didn’t have an easy start as he found himself faced with terrible training facilities and players who were ready to go on strike after delays in the payment of their wages, but he declared himself ready for the challenge. He got his team together without the aid of any transfers and did his job in preparing them for the second round of Ekstraklasa football – not to be the last one in Polonia’s history.

Not an easy start, eh? The following story about their trip to a training camp is true and just another saddening fact of life at Polonia. Their bus had to stop at a gas-station just a few miles from Bytom as a hotel director refused to welcome the players until all of the delayed payments from previous visits had been made. The players waited a few hours for the club to gather the money before the bus driver protested and demanded the same thing, as it turned out Polonia owed him huge sums as well. Several hours later they finally reached their destination and could focus on training – many with the aim of getting out of the club as soon as possible, rather than save Ekstraklasa for Bytom.

The first game of the spring round came along and Polonia Bytom faced GKS Belchatow. A bore draw did not help their situation as everyone knew that they needed wins at home, where much bigger sides struggled against the hard-fighting Polonia. ‘Blue Reds’ are just a point above the relegation zone and surviving may be their only argument when tougher a battle comes in the summer – fought not on the football pitch but in the league’s office.

Polonia Bytom is the only dinosaur left alive in Ekstraklasa, reminding all of us how badly managed Polish football clubs were. Even their stadium, a ruin where grass is growing high on the stands, looks like Jurassic Park among the beautiful grounds built for other clubs competing in the Polish top division. As history shows us, dinosaurs have no chance of surviving – although ancient creatures aren’t badly missed, fans standing behind Polonia through good and bad will argue that relegation and further struggle is what their dinosaur deserves…