FCMU interesting read

[Neil_Heaneys_Pace]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... hurst-park

everything is not rosy.

[bga]

As you say interesting read. Guess it is a case of the bigger you become the bigger the problems. Let's hope we don't make the same mistakes.

[darlodaz]

would be very interesting to see how the likes of fcum, wimbledon etc [if not already] how they were so successful in raising their impressive amounts for their grounds etc.obviously a lot of it was through grants. could be worth tapping into their ideas and initiatives and using a few for our own needs for future funds that will be required.

[liddle_4_ever]

I feel, in comparison to FCUM, Wimbledon and even Chester, we get less than our fair share of column inches outside our local area (hopefully this will change if we secure promotion this season). This directly affects the ability of the club to gain sponsorship, donations and potentially even footfall at matches and therefore money to spend on stadiums.

I'm sure some of the difficulties will be due to the pains of rapid growth but I wonder if some of the troubles at FCUM could be attributed to some of their fans never previously experiencing a tough season. As all Darlo fans know, the bad times just make the good times even sweeter!


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[Spyman]

I feel, in comparison to FCUM, Wimbledon and even Chester, we get less than our fair share of column inches outside our local area (hopefully this will change if we secure promotion this season). This directly affects the ability of the club to gain sponsorship, donations and potentially even footfall at matches and therefore money to spend on stadiums.

I'm sure some of the difficulties will be due to the pains of rapid growth but I wonder if some of the troubles at FCUM could be attributed to some of their fans never previously experiencing a tough season. As all Darlo fans know, the bad times just make the good times even sweeter!


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Not sure - Wimbledon is a very different story and as a club they reached the Premiership and won the FA Cup prior to the whole saga so will naturally be of more interest to the casual fan.

FCUM are another entirely different set up and their origins come from a bit of a protest movement so again I can see the interest - plus that protest is born out of the biggest club in the country.

I don't see a great deal of coverage for Chester in national press.

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[Mr_Tibbs]

I'm sure some of the difficulties will be due to the pains of rapid growth but I wonder if some of the troubles at FCUM could be attributed to some of their fans never previously experiencing a tough season. As all Darlo fans know, the bad times just make the good times even sweeter!

I was about to say a similar thing.

I could well be wrong but it sounds to me as though their "newness" has a big part to play in what's happening there... as though now they are a bigger commercial prospect so some people are trying to muscle it away from the people who worked so hard to get them where they are today.

We've been through all those kinds of rifts. We got through them because we realised in 2012 that our club was the hub of a generations-old community... and just compare what we have now with what we had at the end of that season. From just a bunch of crying fans outside the Arena on Peugeot Day we've nearly built up in 4 years what it's taken FCUM 11 years to do.

[joejaques]

It could happen to any club, if care is not taken to ensure it doesn't. Easy to take your eye off the ball when things are going along handsomely. Remember what the book said, "All pigs are equal" which morphed into "All pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others"

[liddle_4_ever]

It could happen to any club, if care is not taken to ensure it doesn't. Easy to take your eye off the ball when things are going along handsomely. :

Absolutely. The difficulties that other fan owned clubs have faced must be learned from to ensure our path is as smooth as possible.

Remember what the book said, "All pigs are equal" which morphed into "All pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others"

Is that in reference to David Cameron?


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[BaronsCourtQuaker]

loved the line

“You can change your wife, your politics and your religion but never your football team,” the United fan says. It is followed by a killer line from the bloke in the non-sponsored FC shirt. “They left me,” he says.

[liamsears]

I can see the problem.

You set the club up to give the fans what they want, a club where the aim is to provide a football club without all of the financial greed that comes with the successful Premiership club they used to support.

As Non League promotions come along then this ideal changes as it morphs from a football club to a business, as it needs to to get anywhere near the Football League.
This then begs the question of whether this new small business is any better for the disgruntled fan than the old enormous business was.

We are already seeing threads about prices for next year here. Is our aim to have a sustainable football club for the people of Darlo (which may sit mid Conference North with ticket prices of £10) or a relatively successful business whereby we play at the higher end of the Conference/bottom end of League 2 and have to suck up ticket prices heading towards £20?

I don't know.

[joejaques]

Remember what the book said, "All pigs are equal" which morphed into "All pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others"

Is that in reference to David Cameron?

No, but he obviously studied Mr Orwell


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[divas]

I can see the problem.

You set the club up to give the fans what they want, a club where the aim is to provide a football club without all of the financial greed that comes with the successful Premiership club they used to support.

As Non League promotions come along then this ideal changes as it morphs from a football club to a business, as it needs to to get anywhere near the Football League.
This then begs the question of whether this new small business is any better for the disgruntled fan than the old enormous business was.

We are already seeing threads about prices for next year here. Is our aim to have a sustainable football club for the people of Darlo (which may sit mid Conference North with ticket prices of £10) or a relatively successful business whereby we play at the higher end of the Conference/bottom end of League 2 and have to suck up ticket prices heading towards £20?

I don't know.

Absolutely bang on, really tough.

[spen666]

I can see the problem.

You set the club up to give the fans what they want, a club where the aim is to provide a football club without all of the financial greed that comes with the successful Premiership club they used to support.

As Non League promotions come along then this ideal changes as it morphs from a football club to a business, as it needs to to get anywhere near the Football League.
This then begs the question of whether this new small business is any better for the disgruntled fan than the old enormous business was.

We are already seeing threads about prices for next year here. Is our aim to have a sustainable football club for the people of Darlo (which may sit mid Conference North with ticket prices of £10) or a relatively successful business whereby we play at the higher end of the Conference/bottom end of League 2 and have to suck up ticket prices heading towards £20?

I don't know.

If club is to compete at top of conference / bottom of league 2, prices will unfortunately inevitably be in excess of £20 as it will almost certainly be necessary to have a squad of full time players.

[darlo reborn]

That`s when it becomes expensive for the average fan and times become hard unless you are have a winning team

[coles]

There will come a time where we as fans will have reached a crossroads in our journey as a fan owned club. That crossroads will be carry on as is or allow external investors to come on board. I feel that we can be competitive in the league above and coupled with a good cup run could have a tilt at the conference but we would yo yo. The only way we can get to be an established top half of the conference club would be to attract investors as the playing budget would be too great to have fans subsidise. For now though we shall enjoy the journey safe in the knowledge it's our club

[shawry]

There will come a time where we as fans will have reached a crossroads in our journey as a fan owned club. That crossroads will be carry on as is or allow external investors to come on board. I feel that we can be competitive in the league above and coupled with a good cup run could have a tilt at the conference but we would yo yo. The only way we can get to be an established top half of the conference club would be to attract investors as the playing budget would be too great to have fans subsidise. For now though we shall enjoy the journey safe in the knowledge it's our club

The whole point of being fan owned is we don't overspend. I want us to live within our means, I don't want fund raising for wages, because if we are doing that we are over spending just like in the past.

Increased revenue from gates, sponsorship and prize money etc should be how we cut our cloth playing budget wise, and it should be how all clubs do it.

Happy to pay the going rate for clubs in the division we find ourselves, or a pound or 2 more, but we have to manage our playing budget carefully, and see which ceiling that allows us to reach and be happy with that.

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[JE93]

There will come a time where we as fans will have reached a crossroads in our journey as a fan owned club. That crossroads will be carry on as is or allow external investors to come on board. I feel that we can be competitive in the league above and coupled with a good cup run could have a tilt at the conference but we would yo yo. The only way we can get to be an established top half of the conference club would be to attract investors as the playing budget would be too great to have fans subsidise. For now though we shall enjoy the journey safe in the knowledge it's our club

The whole point of being fan owned is we don't overspend. I want us to live within our means, I don't want fund raising for wages, because if we are doing that we are over spending just like in the past.

Increased revenue from gates, sponsorship and prize money etc should be how we cut our cloth playing budget wise, and it should be how all clubs do it.

Happy to pay the going rate for clubs in the division we find ourselves, or a pound or 2 more, but we have to manage our playing budget carefully, and see which ceiling that allows us to reach and be happy with that.

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Think this is pretty spot on shawry. What we really need to do as a club is look at how we present ourselves to potential players. Accrington are showing this season that you dont need to pay the most in a tough market to get good players.

My suggestion would be we need to look at players in the situation of Turnbull looking for a more secure situation from a league 2 / conference ft club.

We can also pitch ourselves at the youth teams of the larger north east teams. Give them a local proving ground to showcase their talents and get back into ft football.

Looking at things like this can ensure we stick to our budgets whilst also giving us the chance of being successful at our relevant level. But we must control our spending and budgeting. Because it's now us the fans that are responsible.

[Spyman]

I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned bringing through our own youngsters, getting them to a good standard, and selling them on as a method of helping to finance the club.

We've seen how much of a difference it can make.

[JE93]

While it's a good point. It's not something that can be budgeted for. Just like cup runs. They're fantastic money makers but you can't budget them into the season for the simple fact they're not certain. I want to see us budget conservatively for the next 4-5 seasons

[coles]

I think the club becoming a breeding ground for youngsters and selling them on is a given but that's not as easy as we think. Hopefully we can get a few good cup runs and sell the odd youngster plus a good sponsor on board then we can climb again. Just be aware that the fans won't keep turning up £50k every season so we need to get the commercial side spot on.

[shawry]

I think the club becoming a breeding ground for youngsters and selling them on is a given but that's not as easy as we think. Hopefully we can get a few good cup runs and sell the odd youngster plus a good sponsor on board then we can climb again. Just be aware that the fans won't keep turning up £50k every season so we need to get the commercial side spot on.

This to be honest. Fund raising for ground improvements etc I can understand, but if we have to constantly cover a short fall of operating costs once back in Darlo it will get tiresome quickly and will make a mockery of the whole reason of being fan owned....safeguarding our future.

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[loan_star]

The problem with the level we are at it makes it easy for bigger clubs to poach youngsters as we don't have the same protections afforded to clubs higher up the ladder.

[liddle_4_ever]

At what level would we have to reach to make poaching of our players more difficult?


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[grytters]

At what level would we have to reach to make poaching of our players more difficult?


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Given the "big <random number under five>" have been casting envious eyes towards the likes of Vardy and Mahrez for quite some time now, I think the answer to that might be "never"