The Future of the Club

[Mallard]

Mothballing a club can be costly as well.   

Upkeep of the ground. Overdraft, loans, Wages Rent,  Rates, energy, insurance still all have to be paid for.   Then refunds to such as Season ticket holders, advertisers, sponsors.   Then the contract’s of playing staff, and non playing staff and/or redundancy payments ( if applicable).   

There’s much to consider for the National League and it’s clubs.

[m a hill]

Well I for one will not be asking for a refund on my Season Ticket ,the club will need all the help it can get at this time ,let’s hope the Government comes up With something or a lot of football clubs will cease to exist.

[Mallard]

If a good few clubs go to the wall then maybe owners, Director's will actually push this magical reset button rather than just talking about it.  Football has been out of control for a number of years.   Should tax payers really be asked to fork out for other people’s mismanagement ?   Football clubs should be accountable the same as any other business.

I can see a good few pre-pack deals being done.
I wonder if someone like Tony from this forum can explain how these work ?

[Blue_and_Gold]

If a good few clubs go to the wall then maybe owners, Director's will actually push this magical reset button rather than just talking about it.  Football has been out of control for a number of years.   Should tax payers really be asked to fork out for other people’s mismanagement ?   Football clubs should be accountable the same as any other business.

In my opinion its a no to tax payers money being spent on this (although I do think its a big possibility). Why should the taxpayer have this burden when we have seen how unwilling the majority
of supporters appear to be when it comes to fund raising for their own Clubs. There's far more important things for the tax payers money to be spent on, especially when you see and hear stories of Clubs allowing their players and supporters to break social distancing rules. Some Clubs and Supporters really don't help themselves. A major reason for these tougher restrictions is down to people not adhering to the social distancing rules previously put in place.

Premier League could do more, as medium to long term its in their interest to do so. 20m is only a short term answer. Lets not forget that many Clubs have overspent and have serious debts or loans even prior to the Pandemic. If Clubs are living "hand to mouth" anyway, the problem is not going to go away just because they receive funds from Govt or Premier League which enables them to carry on the way they have been.

Is "hand to mouth" really a good way to run a business"? Doesn't that point out that something is seriously wrong, Pandemic or not?

I can see a good few pre-pack deals being done.

You may be right on that one. If Clubs are being sensible they should at least have it available as an option.

[Non League]

In my opinion, Premier League (or likely end up being Government), need to put X amount towards non league game and mothball it. The money will go towards covering all (or vast majority of playing wages i.e. 80% if they're legally contracted), and grants towards upkeep of stadiums whilst clubs are mothballed. That way, clubs owners are not pocketing any money and it's ALL towards keeping club alive till August 2021, when season can start with fans hopefully.

Players that are not legally contracted to club can be released (just like loads of other businesses that will unfortunately have to let staff go). There's no way non league can play and survive a whole season without fans. On the fans, are they still allowed step 3 and under?

I'd very cautious about allowing fans in from Step 1 down, and giving clubs money to cover 'losses' from reduced fans. Because we all know how clubs think. That money will just go towards a signing or two, to push for promotion.

[Mallard]

https://t.co/GmKt5KFMK7?amp=1

Well worth a listen to the Boreham Wood Chairman.

[Nemesis]

Interesting listen.
I watched the Hashtag v Soham penalty shoot out. No attempt at social distancing, quite ridiculous.

[gs50]

Excellent watch obviously well run club adamant no hand out's should be asked of government.Have to admit what exactly were the new measures introduced yesterday. People who went back to work are not going to start working from home again. Lots of pubs already close at ten for safety of staff. No supporters have been allowed to watch at our level and above no change there.We need to stop people travelling to stop virus spreading and stop households meeting inside. Like B W chairman said let's start to do things which is for safety of supporters.

[Blue_and_Gold]

"If" there are to be Govt handouts it shouldn't be a one size fits all.

Each Club should have to put in their own application, and each application should be assessed on its own merits. Why give taxpayers money to Clubs that are on the brink of collapse anyway, Pandemic or not. Full and up to date accounts should be assessed prior to receipt of any grant money.

No direct payments to the Clubs (for reasons previously quoted by NonLeague), but paid directly to the relevant parties e.g. rates, utilities etc. This would also stop people that have loaned money on a personal basis to clubs, reducing their debt exposure with any grant money.

Players on contract is a tricky one, but all parties need to play ball here. There are part time players where football is the players second job. Why should they receive money from the Govt for their second jobs, when so many people are losing their main incomes? Contracts are a two way street. Clubs wouldn't complain if they had a player on contracts that they could then sell on for a tidy profit. If Clubs had decided to put so many players on contracts this season, especially with what we had learned from experience at the end of last season, were they not asking for trouble? There was always a good chance of further restrictions and for obvious reasons such things as Sports were always going to be affected. Did the people involved think this Pandemic would just go away, or have they always been confident someone else would pick up their bill.

I would like to see some money put into Non League football, but not if it means that it will carry on as it has been doing. I also hope that any money made available comes from football itself. I don't believe it should be taxpayers money. I believe there are far more important and deserving causes.



Danny Hunter, Chairman of Boreham Wood:

Hunter also took a swipe at Dagenham managing director Steve Thompson, who on Tuesday called for a £15-20million Government bail-out to help clubs survive.

“I can’t keep listening to people saying the Government have to bail us out,” he added.

“There is one London chairman who says the Government have to give us £15-20million to bail us out. You can’t do that and then pay a striker £2,500 a week and then think the Government is going to bail you out.

“That is just crazy. We all have to cut our cloth accordingly. You can’t spend huge on budgets and then complain you’ve got no money, you all know what you’re doing.”


I like this guy!

[Dilligaf]

Precisely b&g...and hes right.
There is and never will be any sense of reality or compassion towards lower league clubs from the premier league.
For one...several of them were quite happy to walk away and form a European elite league
And two.....when the likes of Liverpool (initially)Spurs who are happy to furlough their own non playing staff....but are quite happy to fork out £40m £30m etc on new players....what hope do we have of them handing over money to non league teams that they have no allegiance to.
Football unfortunately at the very elite level is in a sorry state and all they are worried about is themselves and not the good of the game...

[Mallard]

I wonder if Danny Hunter is available for transfer.   How refreshing was he to listen to ?   

[gs50]

Boris look a like

[Blue_and_Gold]

I wonder if Danny Hunter is available for transfer.   How refreshing was he to listen to ?

Not just the latest interview.

Check the one from 4th May. He appears to be a man with foresight.

[Mallard]

James Wild MP for North West Norfolk
·
3h
At #PMQs I urged
@BorisJohnson
 to look at Sports Recovery Fund to ensure viability of
@officialKLtown
 
@NorwichCityFC
 other clubs and sports 🏍 🏉 🎾 with reopening to fans postponed.
@DCMS
 is looking at this - we must ensure their future at the heart of our communities.

Is this the same Norwich City who will have two years of Premier League Parachute payments.  Who have just sold Jamel Lewis to Newcastle for 15m.  Who have a player on his way to Barca for 20m plus.  Who furloughed all their admin staff during lockdown.  Who have such a massive playing squad that they have some 18 ( yes 18) players out on loan.

Really Mr Wild, you sure they need more tax payers money.

[KES80]

Exactly Mall and more to the point he is MP for NW Norfolk, so why is he even mentioning Norwich....he should have highlighted the plight of Lynn and other local non league clubs in NW Norfolk