Tonight’s Match

[m a hill]

What a great win tonight at times it was like watching Barcelona apart from letting in two sloppy goals it’s the best team performance I have seen at the Walks, a good gate tonight of 876 on a wet and cold night but to all you floating fans you need to come on down to the Walks and watch our brilliant team

[Colin Fuller]

I followed last night’s match online and recall reading a comment about the chairman’s programme notes.  Can anyone enlighten me on the content? Is there a link to where I might read them?  From reading the various reports of the game it sounds like another good evening’s entertainment. I live in Leicestershire so hope to see the return fixture at Leamington.

[Blue_and_Gold]

I followed last night’s match online and recall reading a comment about the chairman’s programme notes.  Can anyone enlighten me on the content?

Coming soon. 

[Mallard]

Interesting comments from the Chairman in the programme.

1. He is going to putting in another £160k this season ( including ground improvements)
2. He needs to take 16k per home game to break even ( not been achieved so far)
3. Can count one hand the people at the club who have got his back
4. 50/50 monies are down this season despite more people in the ground.
5.  Wants more volunteers to pay to watch, otherwise he has to pay for them.
6. Wants for respect from the fans
7. Didn’t get anywhere near 30k for FBT, despite him being worth that.
8. Wants everyone pulling in the same direction.
9. The players wages are 150% of the gate receipts.

Anything I missed anyone ?

[Blue_and_Gold]

From EDP (There's far more in the actual program notes)


King's Lynn Town chairman Stephen Cleeve says he has "few friends" at the club he owns.

The Linnets are flying high in the National League North under the management of former Norwich City player and assistant manager Ian Culverhouse.

But that relationship has come under strain again in recent weeks, with Culverhouse publicly showing his frustration at the inability to bring in a central defender to cover for injuries.

For Lynn fans it is an unwelcome reminder of the split between the two which saw Culverhouse leave the club at the end of the 2017-18 season - before returning just over a year ago to mastermind promotion.

While gates are up, so are expenses, and Cleeve has gone public to argue his case.

As a chairman I have noted how few friends I have at the club," he wrote in his program notes for Tuesday's 5-2 home win over Leamington.

I do not even need to use the fingers on one hand to count how many people support my corner and have my back.


I get a lot of nice platitudes to my face, but a lot of chat which is not so good when my back is turned.

As lots of other club directors tell me, you need a skin like a rhino to survive, which is a shame as I would much prefer everyone to pull together in the same direction.

In addition, I have always tried to be respectful to everyone I deal with irrespective of whether or not I agree with their views, and often I find that the same courtesy is not afforded back to me.

Not only is there the financial commitment, but the number of hours that it takes is enormous. Many clubs in our league have full-time non-football staff; we can't afford it and so most of the workload comes back to me.

On average I put in at least 40 hours a week.

Cleeve urged Lynn supporters to do what they can to support the club financially.

If you would like this club to grow please do what you can if you can afford it, he said.

[admin]

[Colin Fuller]

Many thanks to Mallard, admin, Blue and Gold for the info.  Interesting reading.  I do not know Mr Cleeve and I certainly would not pass judgement on his running of the club without more information. What I would say as a general comment, having covered non league football in my years as a sports journalist, is that it is a rarity for clubs like Lynn to operate at their level and survive on gate receipts alone.
It helps to have a successful team, playing entertaining football. So Lynn tick those two boxes.  But the infrastructure off the field must be there as well. That takes time to build and maybe the team punches above the club’s present capabilities.
I understand Mr Cleeve is sole owner of the club.  Therefore it seems logical he must put the hours in and find the financial shortfall.  I think I remember reading when he took control that the ambition was to take Lynn to League football.  If that is to be achieved then, I would suggest, things are going to get harder.
I am sure he gets pleasure from what he has so far achieved and I would love to see Lynn at the higher level so good luck to him and the team.

[LUFC1992KLFC]

All
Do not hit panic buttons or think Mr C is being argumentative.
He is simply spelling out reality.
I often read on here comments that suggest we must be rolling in cash because of one good gate or one win in a cup match. I have often offered comment based on business sense.
So, rather than panic or be down, take action.
*Bring a mate
*talk positively about what is going on at the club
*ask your boss to sponsor the club in some way
*if you are the boss-can you do something?
*can you, your boss, your company offer any free services or supplies
*Be positive

[Stan]

Sounds like the club need 1,500-1,600 to break even. The quality of football deserves crowds of that size. Fans have a choice: if you want to see the likes of Adam Marriott banging in amazing goals each week, helping Lynn to push on to a higher level or at the very least being competitive at this current one then they ALL need to turn up week in week out. If they don't care and stay away then Lynn won't be able to pay for the quality that they currently have and they'll eventually drift down to step 3 or perhaps lower.
A club is a joint effort between owner, players, manager and fans. The first 3 are clearly doing their bit but more is needed from the latter group.

[westlynnmike]

Sounds like the club need 1,500-1,600 to break even. The quality of football deserves crowds of that size. Fans have a choice: if you want to see the likes of Adam Marriott banging in amazing goals each week, helping Lynn to push on to a higher level or at the very least being competitive at this current one then they ALL need to turn up week in week out. If they don't care and stay away then Lynn won't be able to pay for the quality that they currently have and they'll eventually drift down to step 3 or perhaps lower.
A club is a joint effort between owner, players, manager and fans. The first 3 are clearly doing their bit but more is needed from the latter group.

More Fans = More Fan Effort.

Those that do attend pay their wack, buy coffee/tea, beer, Mars Bar etc. Some have Season Tickets (Me), buy Pitch Squares (Me x 4), Buy 50/50 Tickets (Me x 2per home game) etc. etc.

Others have other financial commitments but attend as often as they can. Can't make them attend.

More Sponsorship is the Answer.

[Stan]

Sounds like the club need 1,500-1,600 to break even. The quality of football deserves crowds of that size. Fans have a choice: if you want to see the likes of Adam Marriott banging in amazing goals each week, helping Lynn to push on to a higher level or at the very least being competitive at this current one then they ALL need to turn up week in week out. If they don't care and stay away then Lynn won't be able to pay for the quality that they currently have and they'll eventually drift down to step 3 or perhaps lower.
A club is a joint effort between owner, players, manager and fans. The first 3 are clearly doing their bit but more is needed from the latter group.

More Fans = More Fan Effort.

Those that do attend pay their wack, buy coffee/tea, beer, Mars Bar etc. Some have Season Tickets (Me), buy Pitch Squares (Me x 4), Buy 50/50 Tickets (Me x 2per home game) etc. etc.

Others have other financial commitments but attend as often as they can. Can't make them attend.

More Sponsorship is the Answer.

Sponsorship will help but you need a significant fan base to achieve success. The clubs with the bigger attendances generally sit higher up the league.
How much income would the academy have brought in? Isn't it about £3-4k per student. They were using virtual learning for the Btec part,  which is relatively cheap.

[Mallard]

Stan you mention a figure of 1500:1600 is a break even gate. (Chester was 1600 plus) Stephen in his programme notes stated break even gate  figure is £16k. Which has not been achieved so far this season.  Which means the figure  need to be higher than 1600 people through the gate.

[Stan]

He said that players wages were 150% of gate receipts so gate receipts will need to increase by another 50% which = about 500-600 fans, but you're right Mallard there will be other costs so break even will probably need to be higher than 1600. What other weekly operating costs are there?

[Stan]

10 National League sides operate on attendances of 1400 or less, so why do Lynn need attendances of about 1,800?

[Non League]

Giving his talk of what's needed to break even, I doubt there's one club in this league that is break even especially when some have bigger squads.

Think if King's Lynn keep up this form moving into the new year, you will attendances rise, but like I mentioned before in a different thread, it's a long term process to getting sustainable attendances and so far the club is moving in the right direction. Build a reputation of being a good side at this level, that plays attractive attacking football and allows younger places the chance to showcase themselves to get moves to Pro clubs, attendances will naturally rise to 1500 on a more consistent basis.