Some facts - not false news.

[Bigmike]

Originally Posted by The Only Way Is Up

Everyone's dismayed that we're facing another season in the National League, but let's have a little perspective on the way progress is being made, irrespective of some posters who seem to relish spreading gloom and doom, and blame on all and sundry, twisting facts to suit their agenda whatever those might be.

The truth:

Although this was the 10th season in non-league, following relegation under previous ownership at the end of the 2007/8 season, we've been run under fans ownership for fewer years. It was not the Trust's fault - nor the fans fault - that the club was relegated.

The Trust took the Club over on 27th September 2011, making this last season "only" the 7th under fans ownership.

Dean Saunders' unaffordable salary (however much it might have been) was not arranged by the Trust, and he left the Club on 22nd September 2011.

Prior to the Trust taking the Club over, it ran at a loss under the previous owners. The Club owed £2,400,000 when it was put into Administration on 3rd December 2004, with £800,000 owed to the inland revenue.

Debt inherited by the Trust was reduced only by the previous owners selling the Racecourse and Colliers Park to Glyndwr University.

The club has, for nearly all of its history "only" had a lease on the Racecourse. Most will know that it was owned by Border Breweries and then Marstons. In 2002, then-chairman Pryce Griffiths acquired the lease for £750,000 from Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries, plus a £1 per annum peppercorn rent. Then, on 22 June of the same year, new chairman Alex Hamilton acquired the freehold of the Racecourse from the Brewery for a further £300,000 but ON THE SAME DAY he transferred ownership of the ground to one of his own companies, Damens, for a nominal fee. The club was given a year's notice to quit, and the peppercorn rent was increase from £1 to £30,000. The High Court ruled in 2006 that the transfer was inappropriately carried out, and the land then became an asset of the Club's administrator.

Moss and Roberts transferred ownership from Wrexham FC (2006) in 2006 to another of their businesses, Wrexham Village Ltd. By then, the Racecourse had ceased to have any value as an asset to the football club.

The point of detailing all that was to show that long leases CAN have an asset value.

The Trust announced that the Club had made a profit of £11,587 for the 2014/15 season, and that was the first profit recorded by the Club in 15 years!

2 years later, and that profit has grown to £150,000 under the Trust.

Fans' Ownership has, in six years, provided more than £1,000,000 of funding to the club through the Trust.

On another thread, it was claimed that prior to the Trust's ownership of the Club, there were queues forming down Crsipin Lane of investors (aka chancers as it turned out) wanting to buy the club. Where were the GENUINE investors that some fans think are still out there, willing and able to become involved?

And so, the above demonstrates that far from running the club down, the Trust has demonstrated forward planning, taking a loss making concern into profitability, and MOST IMPORTANTLY avoiding the club overextending itself financially while still able to retain its place in the 5th tier of the football pyramid - all due to fans involvement, as supporters and as financial backers and investors too. Although the investments may seem relatively small individually, they are very significant collectively, and have produced a stable club - a solid platform upon which to grow much further.

There has been no risk: no "dodgy investors" who could withdraw their interest without any notice, leaving the club high and dry with player contracts that were unsustainably high.

Fans can have confidence in the future. The rise in the club's fortunes on the pitch might not have been as meteoric as some impatient people want - but rise is what the club is doing, and will continue to do with FANS OWNERSHIP to back it and make it what YOU want it to be.

Thanks for the post TOWIU we only have to look at chester to see the consequences of not running the club prudently. We are all frustrated beyond belief at the time we have spent in this league however we have to run the club properly. If there was a Jack Walker out there who wanted to give us millions he would have done it by now. As far as the academy is concerned I don't know the cost effectiveness at the moment. However there has been discussion about big clubs poaching our youngsters. We are near a lot of big clubs and it does happen. I used to coach on the academy and whenever we had a game there were always representatives from the big clubs there. It was very frustrating.

[sparky]

Originally Posted by REDJB

We'll be waiting a good while for another youth player to come through. Our 16's this year are very average apparently ....although the 15's are very good. 3 years to see one of them hopefully !

Let's hope so in mnore ways than one, because selling them at the first sniff of any wonga so it can be spent on Johnny Journeyman clearly hasn't worked.

[krux]

Originally Posted by jonesfach

Promotions in pub leagues! Come on keep it real....

Oh a sympathetic investor.....how long before his money runs out? Then what?

There isn't excuses...just a debate!

we'd be in the same position off the pitch/financially that we are in now, but hopefully in league two!

[sparky]

Originally Posted by pagl

Nobody is suggesting we run the club in a boom or bust situation.

What a lot of people are saying is how do we improve things on the pitch as its not working at the moment and by quite a long way IMO.

Its all hand to mouth, no strategic plan no measurement against targets.
Its all well and good saying we want promotion but what are the ways we are going to achieve it? Constant raffles at meetings? That isnt going to cut it and we need to think bigger and better.
Take Jonseys bar as an example. A bit of concrete and a rail. We should have built a new kiosk to replace the 2 that are there. More efficient, more effective and open all game to maximise revenue.

This constant defensive attitude has to change and we need to embrace change and not be scared of it.

Nailed it. Jesus, why is everything so black and white on here?

wafc1926 is right, I reckon you would be a fine addition to the board.

[henry8]

Originally Posted by jonesfach

Although it's nice to have reserve and youth teams etc without EFL funding it's not cost effective.

The problem in this league you have teams like Salford who are not spending in a substainable way. We have therefore to put every penny into the first team budget just to have a chance to compete. In an ideal world this league would be run in a proper manner and the 60% rules on wages is needed.

If this rule of substainable business was in place I am sure we would have the right long term infustruture in place.

It's the league rules that dictate our stance.

You can't run a club with your heart you have to run it with your head. Otherwise like Chester you will end up in the doo doo anyway.

All the above are spot on. The fact is that a fan owned club who have just the money coming through the gate cannot complete with bankrolled clubs on a level playing field. Fan owned clubs can only attract players who fit into their budget. Clubs like Salford, Forest Green and Fylde can pay top dollar for players.
But the fan owned models are the only way if a club wants to survive. The downside of course being when a club has a bad season and crowds drop, a bankrolled club would just plug the money gap and sign more players. A fan owned club as the crowds dwindle during a bad season can really suffer compared to clubs who have money.
Anyone who suggests you could go 'gung ho' and throw every penny into going for promotion just think about what happened here at Chester. It went wrong and we got relegated and nearly went bust. Luckily we addressed it just in time.
Any of your fans who suggest you should 'go for it' in a risky strategy to get promotion...be careful what you wish for because it can all go wrong like it did for us.
Anyway another season over fresh start and good luck next season

[weper red]

Originally Posted by pagl

Nobody is suggesting we run the club in a boom or bust situation.

What a lot of people are saying is how do we improve things on the pitch as its not working at the moment and by quite a long way IMO.

Its all hand to mouth, no strategic plan no measurement against targets.
Its all well and good saying we want promotion but what are the ways we are going to achieve it? Constant raffles at meetings? That isnt going to cut it and we need to think bigger and better.
Take Jonseys bar as an example. A bit of concrete and a rail. We should have built a new kiosk to replace the 2 that are there. More efficient, more effective and open all game to maximise revenue.

This constant defensive attitude has to change and we need to embrace change and not be scared of it.

There must be enough joiners / builders who are fans who would be prepared to build something a bit more substantial and also local building suppliers willing to supply materials ?

[Todd Sweeney]

Originally Posted by pagl

Nobody is suggesting we run the club in a boom or bust situation.

What a lot of people are saying is how do we improve things on the pitch as its not working at the moment and by quite a long way IMO.

Its all hand to mouth, no strategic plan no measurement against targets.
Its all well and good saying we want promotion but what are the ways we are going to achieve it? Constant raffles at meetings? That isnt going to cut it and we need to think bigger and better.
Take Jonseys bar as an example. A bit of concrete and a rail. We should have built a new kiosk to replace the 2 that are there. More efficient, more effective and open all game to maximise revenue.

This constant defensive attitude has to change and we need to embrace change and not be scared of it.

Some people are suggesting exactly that as regards boom and bust.

I don’t think some of the points you are making are fair.

The club is planning for the future, it is working on upgrading the Racecourse (an example being the lower tier GUS seats). All these things, however, take money and, more importantly, time.

[LlayDragon]

Originally Posted by sparky

Let's hope so in mnore ways than one, because selling them at the first sniff of any wonga so it can be spent on Johnny Journeyman clearly hasn't worked.

Come now; our youth system is on life-support until the year we get lucky with our manager, players, opponents, results and the FL finally agrees to 'two-up, two-down'.

As Cilla would say, that's a lorra' lorra' luck.

[sparky]

Originally Posted by LlayDragon

Come now; our youth system is on life-support until the year we get lucky with our manager, players, opponents, results and the FL finally agrees to 'two-up, two-down'.

As Cilla would say, that's a lorra' lorra' luck.

Silly me. Of course, and when we get there all we need to do is flick a switch and everything will be back to normal.