Matt (Login blythmatty) from IP address 195.92.168.166
Just a quick question-
How many clubs out there rely on big subsidies from rich benefactors on the board in the form of cash or genourously weighted sponsorship deals?
Cos I know some clubs get bankrolled through the season while others live off the fat of the land, so to speak. I think Blyth's wage bill is £1800 per week for staff and players whereas Worksop's is more like £5000, and I was considering this while looking at the league table. Worth a thought.
So, who is skint and who is rolling in it?
I'll start off by saying Blyth have no outside investment and still have debts of £30,000 to pay off, but these are being slowly reduced. Wages are low but gates rarely creep over 450.
People think cos we have a big name chairman with rich connections (Bernard Manning Jnr is chairman with his dad as President) that we are bankrolled however nothing can be further from the truth.
BM Jnr had the club up for sale 18 months or so ago to recoup his original investment back in the 80's. Radcliffe Borough FC is now self sufficient and will hopefully all the better for it when we do get promotion. New changing rooms with physio area and gymnasium, 250 seater stand, all weather five-a-side pitches are all part of the complex whic isnow Radcliffe Borough FC have been bought due to FA and other government supported grants.
EG New changing rooms have cost in excess of 250k with just 30k of that found by RBFC.
All of these investments can be put down to the excellent board that are currently running the club.
Can't wait to here some of the other stories though.....naming no names
Down in the 1st division, we (Leek Town) are now also self-sufficient. Nothing goes out unless it comes in first! Our debts have been reduced from circe £70k to around £2000 in a couple of years.
Our weekly wage bill is about £650, less than one of the players at Alfreton is picking up (allegedly)! Our break even point for crowds was set at 225 at the start of the season. We're averaging just above that, which means we should survive the current spell of postponements.
Many congrats to Paul Burston and his directors for this achievement, and I hope other clubs follow a similar course of cost cutting rather than trying to buy success.
Let's see if the Unibond League can get through 2003 without losing any clubs. Happy New Year everyone!
As you will all know we are bankrolled by one man, Dave Pace!! He is the be all and end all for the club. The way it is, is that should he ever go there would be no Droylsden FC as there is no foundations at all with the local community and businesses as he wants to do it all himself. He is only answerable to himself and himself only and it bugs. Things havent moved as we would like as he is totally unwilling to accept any help at all.
We (Frickley) are probably in a smiliar position to Blyth in that our income is from small sponsorship, advertising, donations, club lottery and gate money (which is not a lot on average gates of 190), although our wage bill is around half of what Blyth's is.
From what we've learnt from other clubs this season the next lowest wage bill to ours is Burscough which now looks to be closely followed by Blyth.
So we have a player on more than £650 a week? Bet his wife doesn't know - nor our chairman for that matter! I detect thinly-veiled references to Alfreton in a couple of the postings, and I would respond in two ways. Firstly, I think it was a manager at Coventry who once said it took a better manager to keep a club like Coventry in the Premiership than to win a title with Man U. A lot of merit in that argument, whether its at their level or ours. So to those clubs who compete and do well without the advantages that we seem to have at present, well done! The other point I would make is that we have been where some of you are now. We were in the Premier once before, for two seasons, but couldn't compete because we didn't have the resources to live at that level. Now we have, and we know what is needed for that level from our previous experience, so we're going for it. It's worth reminding you that the Pyramid is set up to give clubs a level of football commensurate with their playing ability, stadium facilites and financial means. For Alfreton I think it's fair to say that that is currently UniBond Premier on all three counts - but we've got to get there first. Anyone who has been to Alfreton this season, and especially in the last six weeks or so, will see the debt the club owes its chairman - but as I've said before, he's not just throwing money to buy promotion, he's building a club, which means much more than 11 players on the park. Best wishes to all in the UniBond for 2003!
As you say Gordon, having the money and using it wisely are two different things. You've got everything right, but what would happen if your chairman left?
Has he built the club to survive without him?
I remember he said he needed/wanted 400 through the gates this season - that's only happened once so far although your crowds have started picking up.
I think Gordon will tell you that Wayne Bradley does not throw his money away and expects any money he(well actually his company-so it is not him as such)to be spent well. Also, and I expect it is not realised, we do have many other companies sponsoring us and the commerical side of the club is a high factor in our recent rise. One thing Wayne has brought to this club is financial awareness and leadership in that area. He has also has a good set of directors too and this is often forgotten. More to the point he tapped into the commitment of ALL the personnel and fans who run Alfreton Town and I have to say Gordon ,although not part of the set up as such, comes into that category. He has been a great source of information and lets face it helping to keep Alfreton Town in the Public eye.So please do not ever think it is just a one man show here- Wayne would definitly tell you it is not!
I couldn't tell you how much our wage bill is exactly, but at Whitby Town, we must have the smallest squad ever. I think our top earner gets 2 and 6 and a bag of toffees a week.
We have 15 players maximum to choose from and a couple of times this year,we have had to have only two on the bench.
I also know that we couldn't go bust like others as we have the worlds smallest overdraft facility and have to raise money to do anything at all. We do not own our ground and therfore have no assets to borrow against, hence us fund raising for a new stand.
We are still a 'club' not a business. Which is nice.
Like Whitby, we have a squad of 15 or 16 max. We are still in heaps of debt, even though we have sold our Canal Street groung 2 seasons ago. We have to pay rent bills that are through the roof, there was speculation after our AGM (first one in 8 years!) that we would only last until the end of this season before going bust. Our fan base is only about 250, and we lose thousands of pounds every week. What's worse is we have nothing else to sell, as the Halton Stadium belongs to the council.
You could say we are one of those clubs who are definately NOT rolling in money.
I was sorry when you departed Canal Street. I always thought that was a lovely stadium in the couple of times we played you in the Prem in the mid-late 90s, even if I drove past the same point about 374 times trying to find the entrance first time we came. But your fall from the Conference to your present position shows just how precarious this game can be. I recall a lovely welcome when we came to you, and I hope you turn the corner soon.