Ideas For Sustainability

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Quaker-Razz
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Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Quaker-Razz » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:45 pm

Please use this thread to post any idea you may have for either:

Cutting Costs
Increasing Income
Increasing Support

Please No Criticisms In This Thread, We Just Want Ideas To Put Forward

Thank You
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lo36789
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by lo36789 » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:52 pm

potentially covering old ground here but...

Increasing Support - Negotiation/Liason with Arriva to get a long term deal in place so that fans going to the Darlington game get cheaper bus fares on the number 13 route on match days. If a fan has a match ticket then the bus driver charges £1 for a return - if they are getting a ticket at the stadium then the club deducts the value of the bus ticket from their matchday ticket and claim back from Arriva for the difference (effectively so the bus costs £1 and the matchday ticket will be full price sort of arrangement)...benefits to arriva are £1s flying in from places they wouldn't have before for a normal service bus route (so no increased cost to them)...benefit to DFC is it becomes easier for people to get to the game from the town centre and costs us nothing to implement effectively.

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Haji el Maveric » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:55 pm

Cutting costs will depend on us at last getting hold of the true figures for running the club. Were we spun a load of shite about some of the sums or are they correct? We first need to know just how much everything costs, from the wages to the leccy and gas bills. Personally, I don't see how a club can operate full time in non league but if that's to be sustained then a wage cap would need to be implemented. None of these fancy win bonuses and the like. If the club can afford it then the players get bonuses, not otherwise. Reduce the admission prices to a straight £15 for adults. Try and get outlets in the town centre where tickets can be sold. Get the local schoolchildren more involved - even if it means letting them in at a reduced rate. Or maybe two for the price of one?

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by lo36789 » Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:00 pm

i guess i can keep going, most are pretty obvious...

Selling tickets in town centre (works in conjunction with the above), Student deals plugged at Teesside University e.g Match ticket & a pint from the corner bar for £10 (these people would NOT be coming to the game otherwise remember), free child admission vouchers with a paying adult in schools, a free food item at half time if a child brings two adults with their admission voucher.

lo36789
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by lo36789 » Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:10 pm

More focused on increasing income, sponsorship/advertising all aspects of the club that can be. missed out on a shirt sponsor this year - we need one, a shorts sponsor they do it across europe they may look like F1 drivers but it's revenue all the same...not sure if this is allowed under league/fa rules but we could have purely commercial player kit sponsorship deals so for this they get the sponsor logo on the back of the players shirt under the number (this would be unique to each player) when this player scores for instance then it could be announced who sponsors that particular player (when teams are called out at the start can be done again). Advertising completely covering the empty stand, again if this is allowed under league rules can't see why not though so not just advertising hoardings at the base but a complete coverage - this could actually just be one sponsor possibly if we put it in as part of the stadium sponsorship deal - but it would be more coverage as it would appear on highlights shows.
I don't know if this is possible but the music at the Arena - would we be able to get say bands/musicians that want coverage would they pay to have the entirity of matchday songs (bar entry music & goal music) being their album for instance - bit of a random one :S

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nunthorpequaker
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by nunthorpequaker » Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:45 pm

Cost Cutting , The Stadium lights , after full time could the pitch lights not beswitched off of at least only half a dozen left on instead of the whole two banks of lights on for at least an hour after the final whistle ? would save quite a bit over the year i recon

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by BUSHEAD » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:23 am

Here's one, get rid of thommo.
Sorry but a kit man is something we could easily live without.
Think before posting

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by micra3 » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:09 am

nunthorpequaker wrote:Cost Cutting , The Stadium lights , after full time could the pitch lights not beswitched off of at least only half a dozen left on instead of the whole two banks of lights on for at least an hour after the final whistle ? would save quite a bit over the year i recon


The lights are often on a sunny afternoon :?:
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by micra3 » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:12 am

BUSHEAD wrote:Here's one, get rid of thommo.
Sorry but a kit man is something we could easily live without.

Keep tommo-no doubt on peanuts and does other things besides being the 'kit man'.
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Q8Quaker » Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:19 am

Food has huge potential for profit - Have a matriarch with a host of (food hygiene trained) volunteers to bake / sell pies, pasties, sausage rolls etc with all profits going to the club.

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Ash
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Ash » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:25 am

Surely it's time to look seriously at the possibility of setting up monthly direct debits. It is unlikely that we'll find the full amount to satisfy the administrator but a guarantee of a small monthly income would help I'm sure.

If most fans on here gave £10 - £20 a month I'm sure that would be a start. Instead of bucket shaking outside of the Cornmill we should think about asking the people of Darlington to commit to DD's even if for only £2/3 a month - the big charities do this effectively. Maybe we could have a "come sign a direct debit to save out club day" sponsored by the Echo?

There's probably a legal minefield to this kind of thing but worth looking into.

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Ideas For Sustainability

Post by karlo-cardiff » Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:21 am

I don't know if exists already but family season tickets or maybe selling tickets in blocks of 5 games of your choice,that would allow exile fans to chose the games they want even if weeks/months apart....

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by RUMPLESTILTSKIN » Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:29 am

nunthorpequaker wrote:Cost Cutting , The Stadium lights , after full time could the pitch lights not beswitched off of at least only half a dozen left on instead of the whole two banks of lights on for at least an hour after the final whistle ? would save quite a bit over the year i recon

The lighting and the amount of light is up to the referee, not the club.
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Quakerz
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Quakerz » Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:42 am

BUSHEAD wrote:Here's one, get rid of thommo.
Sorry but a kit man is something we could easily live without.
But we can't live without a groundsman, Thommo could maybe combine the two.
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by BUSHEAD » Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:55 am

Tough calls have to be made across the board if we are going to be run at "break even".
Thommo originally became just kit man during pennys era (i think).

If he had to go back then so be it.

Across Britain, councils are making tough calls but bottom line is that they have to cut their budgets and so must we !
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by TinShedDarloFan » Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:56 am

Was ut Barrow fans who said there Stewards we all volenteers, we need to be looking to do the same, not sure how many we have at games but say we have 20 @ £40 a game theres a saving of £18,400, thats not even taking into account any cup games we have or pre season friendlies

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by yandarlobhoy » Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:25 am

We have got to involve the whole community, not just a football club, its about what we can provide for the non football people of darlington and surronding area.

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Jaydeeiommi » Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:55 am

Proactively contact local businesses and ask what they would like from the new community run football club. Cover areas such as sponsorship, boxes, advertising, corporate hospitality, being associated to the club, using stadium facilities.
Or invite local business representatives to an open night with some hospitality at the Arena, present some ideas, ask for feedback new ideas. As a minimum establish contacts in all the companies who can be contacted (say before a match when there is a free box).

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by KCChiefs » Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:56 am

i) Read on another thread we have a gym ? how big is it, could it be developed ? I would rather pay membership at the Arena than Elsewhere.

ii) Boxes - Could we offer a lower rate for supporters?, i dont know what the current rates are but rather than have them empty could we offer them to fans say at £25/£30 a head ? again something i would do with a group of friends.

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by mikkyx » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:31 pm

Last few posts deleted. Do NOT start that debate again in this thread or I'll get my banhammer out.
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thewanderingquaker
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by thewanderingquaker » Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:45 pm

How about asking the council if they were prepared to let the club keep all the car parking costs? At £5 per car for every home game for the remainder of the season, that would provide more income than it usually does.

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Makka Pakka » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:11 pm

There's a lot of blurb on this thread, and on the INflated thread.

Why not have a dedicated forum for ideas with one thread per idea. Perhaps only moderators could start off a new thread.
"At a meeting held at the Grammar School on Friday last - Mr Phillip Wood M.A., in the chair - it was resolved to form an Association Football Club for Darlington and neighbourhood. The opinions of those present were so unanimous as to the desirability of this step, that a committee was formed to complete the organisation of the club, and Mr Craven, 17, Garden Street, was appointed secretary pro tem." - The Northern Echo, Monday 23rd July 1883

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by BUSHEAD » Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:01 pm

thewanderingquaker wrote:How about asking the council if they were prepared to let the club keep all the car parking costs? At £5 per car for every home game for the remainder of the season, that would provide more income than it usually does.
As has been mentioned before a million times - we already do keep the full £5 from car parking.
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by joejaques » Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:20 pm

lo36789 wrote: Advertising completely covering the empty stand, again if this is allowed under league rules can't see why not though so not just advertising hoardings at the base but a complete coverage - this could actually just be one sponsor possibly if we put it in as part of the stadium sponsorship deal - but it would be more coverage as it would appear on highlights shows.
:S
Might be worth checking, if this advertising along the length of the empty stand is allowed, how much work would be involved in rearranging the seats spelling out "DARLINGTON" etc to promote a potential sponsor. No expense involved other than time & effort.
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Quakerz » Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:10 pm

thewanderingquaker wrote:How about asking the council if they were prepared to let the club keep all the car parking costs? At £5 per car for every home game for the remainder of the season, that would provide more income than it usually does.
We don't need to ask the council if we can keep the parking money because we already do!
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Rocky Dennis » Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:24 pm

A couple of things that I sometimes wished we improved around the stadium. Firstly we have 2 roads running alongside the stadium (4 lanes) and yet only advertise our next game to one lane
which is the one running traffic away from town. There are pros my thousands of cars driving in those roads everyday. We should be maximising this to all 4 lanes.

Secondly the round about outside the stadium should be used for advertising as per reasons above.

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Barkie1 » Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:39 pm

Q8Quaker wrote:Food has huge potential for profit - Have a matriarch with a host of (food hygiene trained) volunteers to bake / sell pies, pasties, sausage rolls etc with all profits going to the club.
Maybe this could be something for the college to get invoked with. Im sure the volentry hours could work towards nvq's and cv's?

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Darlofan97 » Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:41 pm

Barkie1 wrote:
Q8Quaker wrote:Food has huge potential for profit - Have a matriarch with a host of (food hygiene trained) volunteers to bake / sell pies, pasties, sausage rolls etc with all profits going to the club.
Maybe this could be something for the college to get invoked with. Im sure the volentry hours could work towards nvq's and cv's?
I suggested this on another thread. Then someone pointed out to me that the main reason why our stock is currently outsourced is because we weren't making a profit.

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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by Quakerz » Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:19 pm

I'm not surprised we weren't making a profit because we had a huge range of high quality pies and pasties (so will have wasted half of it) and we only charging about a quid for a Taylors Pie! Away fans used to rave about our catering.
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Re: Ideas For Sustainability

Post by BUSHEAD » Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:28 pm

We shouldn't outsource the catering I.m.o .
There is money to be made if run correctly.
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