peters
East Sussex Football League
Posts: 19
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 13:02:42 GMT
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Post by peters on Feb 29, 2024 13:02:42 GMT
This is the truth, and the point you make about the women's team and how it will affect funding for the entire club should not be lost. Relegation for the women will hit the men's team hard as their budget will be reduced. I think the comments on here (not by peters) about the club 'hiring social media types' is very misleading. The people who have been in charge are experienced at running businesses. If anything, they are looking ahead and forewarning of a crisis. That's why steps are being taken now. Equally, I do not think Maggie's departure is some sort of board level sacrifice. I think she's done a brilliant job in the circumstances. If you want to know why she's choosing to move on, I guess anyone can just ask her. The point I was making about social media types was to highlight my concern that we are not electing the breadth of skills the board needed at this critical moment and “running businesses” isn’t always aligned with having financial experience. It might also involve recruiting people who do Nowhere do I say “sacrifice”, that is your interpretation, and yes it may be entirely coincidental but in my experience of working with a lot of small businesses that these changes at the top can be aligned with significant change is coming. Whether it’s a case of “this is about as far as I can take an organisation” or simply going before likely problems crystallise. Having lost Ed Charlie and Stuart. It’s another loss of experience and collective memory. Agreed, it does feel like the end of an era with so many big characters leaving this season. I sense that next season the club will be a very different place. I wonder if Maggie would have left if the Mercury 13 deal had gone through. I thought about asking her that last night but it didn't seem the time or the place. Without that deal, and the funding it would have brought, perhaps she felt that she had taken the club as far as she could. She has been an excellent CEO and servant of the club.
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 15:23:58 GMT
Post by Barry Collins on Feb 29, 2024 15:23:58 GMT
I asked Trevor this last night, he said there wasn't going to be directors donations in the current year at the levels seen in the last 2 years (£700,000 and £600,000). I really hope this isn't the case but as an accountant I have a strong feeling of financial crisis approaching the club. This will be made even worse if the women's team are relegated and we lose all the sponsorship and FA money attached to being in the second tier. This is the truth, and the point you make about the women's team and how it will affect funding for the entire club should not be lost. Relegation for the women will hit the men's team hard as their budget will be reduced. I think the comments on here (not by peters) about the club 'hiring social media types' is very misleading. The people who have been in charge are experienced at running businesses. If anything, they are looking ahead and forewarning of a crisis. That's why steps are being taken now. Equally, I do not think Maggie's departure is some sort of board level sacrifice. I think she's done a brilliant job in the circumstances. If you want to know why she's choosing to move on, I guess anyone can just ask her. I think it's a bit misleading to suggest the women being relegated will be the cause of men's budget cuts. As Trevor explained last night, although we do get a lot of FA funding for the women's team (grants in excess of £300k), they are largely used to pay for staff. So that's not revenue we keep, as it goes straight back out of the door in staff wages (to be clear, not saying that's a bad thing, just the way it is). Sponsorship? Yes, undoubtedly the women's profile has attracted sponsors, but not nearly enough to cover the costs of trying to compete in the Championship in the form of player/management wages. For all the bold talk and banners of equality being a rising tide that lifts all boats, it really hasn't financially. What's lifted them (or kept both teams in the same division) is massive donations from ex-directors. The total donations for the past two seasons alone have exceeded the total for the previous decade! What I hope the board does now, and with some urgency, is hold an open discussion with owners about what we want the future of the club to look like. Because it's abundantly clear, as others have said above, that we're heading for a financial crisis in the summer, irrespective of whether the women's team is relegated or not.
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 15:39:06 GMT
Post by therightsoffans on Feb 29, 2024 15:39:06 GMT
Only yesterday there was a highly pertinent article in the Guardian where Rochdale, despite good business with transfer income, are having to bail as a fan-owned club. Again, seems the fan-owned model is a huge barrier to outside investment. I think the below quote, rather than get lost in the article, is the crux.
“In an ideal world, everyone – including myself – would like to stay on the fan-ownership model. The financial reality is that you have no one to fund the club when you need a cash input, so it doesn’t work. It is that realisation that people feel angry about, that you cannot operate a fan-led model. Everyone has the same motivation that they want the club to survive.” Extensive efforts have been made over the past 15 months to attract the requisite investment. Finding interest has not been the issue but the directors were not convinced by certain offers and identified barriers to investment in the way the club is set up. They hope at an extraordinary general meeting next Thursday to get backing for changes that would enable 90% of the shares to be sold in a single £2m transaction.
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Jane R
Sussex County Division Two
Posts: 187
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 15:41:55 GMT
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Post by Jane R on Feb 29, 2024 15:41:55 GMT
Very wise words Barry and I totally agree with them. Some big conversations are very much needed to be had. IF the women suffer relegation I can't see Scott wanting to stay and to be perfectly honest the team are in a worse position than ever right now despite some very talented players on the roster.
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agl
Sussex County Division One
Posts: 299
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 16:33:07 GMT
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Post by agl on Feb 29, 2024 16:33:07 GMT
Only yesterday there was a highly pertinent article in the Guardian where Rochdale, despite good business with transfer income, are having to bail as a fan-owned club. Again, seems the fan-owned model is a huge barrier to outside investment. I think the below quote, rather than get lost in the article, is the crux. “In an ideal world, everyone – including myself – would like to stay on the fan-ownership model. The financial reality is that you have no one to fund the club when you need a cash input, so it doesn’t work. It is that realisation that people feel angry about, that you cannot operate a fan-led model. Everyone has the same motivation that they want the club to survive.” Extensive efforts have been made over the past 15 months to attract the requisite investment. Finding interest has not been the issue but the directors were not convinced by certain offers and identified barriers to investment in the way the club is set up. They hope at an extraordinary general meeting next Thursday to get backing for changes that would enable 90% of the shares to be sold in a single £2m transaction. As an "owner" of Chester FC, it's a debate we've had for over a decade (the club was reformed under fan ownership in 2004). In that period we've had three promotions (surviving in the National League for three seasons before relegation to National League North) but also come perilously close to folding again. The constitution, in theory, prevents us from going into debt. Our experience is that unless you are extremely fortunate outside investors (distinct from sponsors) want something in return and are often egomaniacs or crooks. White knights, sadly, rarely exist. So, we have remained fan owned on gates of about 2,200. There is a feeling among some that NLN is our ceiling (Rochdale tends to support this theory), while others (myself included) believe there's no reason we can't make a decent fist of National League (with the increased revenue from TV and away support offsetting extra wage costs). It is frustrating to see so called smaller clubs being bankrolled but equally we control our destiny. I believe our playing squad budget is about 450k a season. Ownership (giving one vote on issues such as board elections and choice of kit) is £12 per annum. I am not aware that we have any fans who make substantial donations. Should we ever get an investment offer that stacks up financially my understanding is that it would go to a vote of fans. Definitely, after 14 years of trying to balance the books and currently playing away at some awful stadia, I sense a feeling of fan owned fatigue. Admitedly, it's not helped that older fans remember the glory days of beating a full strength Leeds in the League Cup in 1974, reaching the semi final the same season, and various giant killings down the years. Conversely there was also some horrific mismanagement, culminating in Chester City failing to complete its final season in private ownership. Like Lewes, the club now relies heavily on volunteers and there is a limited talent pool. It is not helped by watching the meteoric rise of our cross border rivals Wrexham (aka Hollywood FC). Our victories against them during our stint in NL are a distant memory. However, we have secured some excellent sponsorship deals including a long running association with MBNA bank (HQ in Chester). To my knowledge the only true fan owned club to prosper in the Football League is AFC Wimbledon who I believe have some wealthy donors.
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wm
Sussex County Division Two
Posts: 205
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 17:32:04 GMT
Post by wm on Feb 29, 2024 17:32:04 GMT
Very wise words Barry and I totally agree with them. Some big conversations are very much needed to be had. IF the women suffer relegation I can't see Scott wanting to stay and to be perfectly honest the team are in a worse position than ever right now despite some very talented players on the roster. Serious question: When why and how did phrases like "on the roster" replace "in the squad"? Is it some womens football specific thing? Must admit it really boils my piss, like 'batsmen' being called 'batters' also does.
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Jane R
Sussex County Division Two
Posts: 187
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Post by Jane R on Feb 29, 2024 18:26:57 GMT
Ah I have annoyed an anonymous poster on the forum roster 🙄 So sorry for having US roots gee y'all get so upset about soccer on and off the pitch.
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 18:52:52 GMT
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Jane R likes this
Post by gonefishing046 on Feb 29, 2024 18:52:52 GMT
Ah I have annoyed an anonymous poster on the forum roster 🙄 So sorry for having US roots gee y'all get so upset about soccer on and off the pitch. Love it
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wm
Sussex County Division Two
Posts: 205
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 20:31:22 GMT
Post by wm on Feb 29, 2024 20:31:22 GMT
Ah I have annoyed an anonymous poster on the forum roster 🙄 So sorry for having US roots gee y'all get so upset about soccer on and off the pitch. That would explain it then. Ever heard of "When in Rome, etc"?
(Do we have to re-visit the various explanations about why some people choose to use their initials on here? It's not that long ago since the logic was last detailed, since which time the admins haven't decided to make it full real names only. So it's clearly fine – so any reason why you mention it?)
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 20:42:49 GMT
stevet likes this
Post by sedlescombe on Feb 29, 2024 20:42:49 GMT
Ah I have annoyed an anonymous poster on the forum roster 🙄 So sorry for having US roots gee y'all get so upset about soccer on and off the pitch. That would explain it then. Ever heard of "When in Rome, etc"?
(Do we have to re-visit the various explanations about why some people choose to use their initials on here? It's not that long ago since the logic was last detailed, since which time the admins haven't decided to make it full real names only. So it's clearly fine – so any reason why you mention it?)
There has never been a point in our history when language hasn’t been changing.
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wm
Sussex County Division Two
Posts: 205
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AGM
Feb 29, 2024 21:36:22 GMT
Post by wm on Feb 29, 2024 21:36:22 GMT
Yes, but there's also always been different vocab etc for different parts of the world. I sfreely admit to subscribing to the view that the yanks and the English are divided by a common language. Maybe you're happy to scoot along the sidewalk in your sneakers, then taking the elevator up to the physician's office, taking a seat on a couch with a soda in an aluminum can... I just prefer to walk along the pavement in my trainers, taking the lift up to the doctor's surgery, taking a seat on a sofa with a fizzy drink in an aluminium can – when in England...
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AGM
Mar 1, 2024 1:44:06 GMT
Jane R likes this
Post by mikeyt61 on Mar 1, 2024 1:44:06 GMT
Woe betide those who dare prick the fragility of this sepia tinted world with its jaundiced outlook (or ‘inlook’!). Almost a caricature of a moth-eaten idyll.
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Post by stuartnoel on Mar 1, 2024 1:56:21 GMT
Soccer is actually a British word, an abbreviation of the word “association”
Don’t get me started on “baller”. Everyone who plays football is a footballer. By shortening it it doesn’t make them any better or worse.
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Jane R
Sussex County Division Two
Posts: 187
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AGM
Mar 1, 2024 8:55:48 GMT
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Post by Jane R on Mar 1, 2024 8:55:48 GMT
Oh my wm please excuse my use of roster, if only I could scoot along the pavement these day's let alone get a Doctor's appointment this side of Halloween. I'm probably even more annoying in the fact that I know the off-side rule and women's football inside and out. For this I apologise 😊
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robm99
Isthmian South
Posts: 641
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AGM
Mar 1, 2024 9:08:19 GMT
Jane R likes this
Post by robm99 on Mar 1, 2024 9:08:19 GMT
Well, dang ma hide y'awl,could we get back on topic please? Oh and JaneR, there are no rules in football, only laws.
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