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The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 6:37 pm
by PIRATE OF ZARAGOZA
Well the change of ownership finally went through today, what are peoples expectations of the new owner ?

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:00 pm
by muse_harrier
Hopefully to pay off all the huge debts the previous owner has left.Get us through the season and hopefully keep us in this league.
Communicate with sponsors and supporters and have realistic aims and try and keep the club sustainable.
Not too much to ask really?

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:36 pm
by Badger
muse_harrier wrote:
Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:00 pm
Hopefully to pay off all the huge debts the previous owner has left.Get us through the season and hopefully keep us in this league.
Communicate with sponsors and supporters and have realistic aims and try and keep the club sustainable.
Not too much to ask really?
Be careful for what you wish for .

Just a small point a few years ago the same thing was said about M Seral and the previous board who did technically take us into bankruptcy , bring in the new man and new money !!!!!!

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:28 pm
by harry211
I don't think Serrell took us into bankrupcy at all, technically or otherwise. Happy to be proven wrong.

Key thing for me (I've written something to go up on here tomorrow morning) is getting a connection back between the fans and the club. Has been well and truly lost, and that's the foundation for a successful club.

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:29 pm
by Zorro
As much as I’d like to think otherwise, I don’t think we will see much in the way of tangible change with few if any additions to the playing squad.

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:51 pm
by pershoreharrier
Zorro wrote:
Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:29 pm
As much as I’d like to think otherwise, I don’t think we will see much in the way of tangible change with few if any additions to the playing squad.
I think you maybe right BUT the first objective must be to steady the ship and get it back on an even keel. Tremendous amount of damage done by CG - huge debts I understand - total disconnect with supporters need to be addressed as priorities. I think the fact CG has gone (to be confirmed via the new Board of Directors and CG not being part of it) will be sufficient initially to bring quite a few of the missing back.

Once the new Board is formed it would perhaps be beneficial to have a Fans Forum in the Aggborough Suite so the new owner and his team including JP & RP can address and listen to the supporters. The Club needs to re-connect and bring everyone back on board.

Let's hope the new broom will do what all new brooms are supposed to do.

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 9:48 pm
by Delph Harrier
Lets hope that an official statement from the club will act as a catalyst for everyone to come together and attempt to get the club travelling in the right direction again.

The club definitely needs to make inroads in re connecting with the current fan base and reaching out to the fans who have fell by the wayside over the last few years - we have got to tempt people back to Aggborough.

We have a fantastic stadium that is the envy of some League clubs and we are not taking advantage of it.

The Commercial side of the club is next to non existent and there has to be scope for improvement there.

My information is that money will not be thrown around and the club will need to live within its means.

I believe that if we can keep the gates at around 1,400, boost the commercial side of things and be sensible with expenditure, slow but sure progress will follow.

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2019 7:50 am
by Zeus
Forgive my ignorance, but who is this new entity and what are his credentials?

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2019 8:19 am
by Zorro
Zeus wrote:
Sat Sep 21, 2019 7:50 am
Forgive my ignorance, but who is this new entity and what are his credentials?
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardlane5

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2019 12:25 pm
by Sheffield Harrier
What actually do we know so far? Very little.

I am not getting excited.

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2019 10:18 pm
by sandman
I think unless the new owner has deep pockets there has to be a big rethink about how we go about things. I will have little faith if we stay full-time without the financial clout as it's very clear it's not working. Also the club needs to drastically improve its marketing. I am guessing the commercial side needs work too.

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 2:50 pm
by garthrockett
A pause for thought and a review of the context our new owner faces......

Welcome Mr Lane, to the intrepid non-League pyramid of 44 North/South clubs whos prime objective is promotion to Conference National and then ultimately L2 EFL football.
Currently EFL financial surveys of recent successful promotions suggest you will need a war chest of £10-£12 million over 4-5+ years to approach this goal.
More (much more) money in the kitty is even better......

Most clubs -short of such fortunate resources- alternately commit to something called "live within their means".
"Living within your means" means an owner will both underwrite the playing budget but cover costs that will increase by 10% year on year.
This needs to be met to simply stand still and sustain a viable club financially if not football quality-wise.

You may find a footballer 'gem' within the flotsam and jetsam already rejected by higher clubs, and a few thousand in transfer fees may be offset against the budget on rare occasions.
Additionally a good FA Cup run may also put a few thousand into the coffers , especially if Auntie Beeb arrive with cameras to patronise the "plucky non-leagers"; so keep your fingers crossed.....

Incoming commercial revenue will otherwise inevitably fall far far short of expectations (To quote a certain person; " you can't run a club on beer and season ticket sales").
This will require increasingly deep pockets from any esteemed owner over the next few years, until goodwill, fan patience, entertainment value and hard money all run out (often at the same time) and the next benefactor is needed to step in "to save the club".

This cycle carries on until such times no benefactor steps up, the club goes bust, a new lean pheonix club arises in the dark depths of regional football and the whole process starts again.
Over to you, Mr Lane.......

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 4:45 pm
by pershoreharrier
garthrockett wrote:
Sun Sep 22, 2019 2:50 pm
A pause for thought and a review of the context our new owner faces......

Welcome Mr Lane, to the intrepid non-League pyramid of 44 North/South clubs whos prime objective is promotion to Conference National and then ultimately L2 EFL football.
Currently EFL financial surveys of recent successful promotions suggest you will need a war chest of £10-£12 million over 4-5+ years to approach this goal.
More (much more) money in the kitty is even better......

Most clubs -short of such fortunate resources- alternately commit to something called "live within their means".
"Living within your means" means an owner will both underwrite the playing budget but cover costs that will increase by 10% year on year.
This needs to be met to simply stand still and sustain a viable club financially if not football quality-wise.

You may find a footballer 'gem' within the flotsam and jetsam already rejected by higher clubs, and a few thousand in transfer fees may be offset against the budget on rare occasions.
Additionally a good FA Cup run may also put a few thousand into the coffers , especially if Auntie Beeb arrive with cameras to patronise the "plucky non-leagers"; so keep your fingers crossed.....

Incoming commercial revenue will otherwise inevitably fall far far short of expectations (To quote a certain person; " you can't run a club on beer and season ticket sales").
This will require increasingly deep pockets from any esteemed owner over the next few years, until goodwill, fan patience, entertainment value and hard money all run out (often at the same time) and the next benefactor is needed to step in "to save the club".

This cycle carries on until such times no benefactor steps up, the club goes bust, a new lean pheonix club arises in the dark depths of regional football and the whole process starts again.
Over to you, Mr Lane.......
All sounds a bit daunting if not depressing garthrockett but it does have an air of reality about it. So what is the plan to bring some sunshine to the scene - well the last fella thought we could set up a university / academy and in 5 years from its birth the profits would be rolling in - several million a year I seem to recall was it or perhaps just a million a year - whatever. Well employing 10 coaches + other staff to bring about this reward has to date failed although in the future there maybe profits but I would suggest not of the level the other fella expected.

So what other options are there? Well some years ago we had a couple of employees who knew the local scene pretty well and between them they brought to our club for little money -the likes of Lolley, Matt, Blissett, Dunkley, Johnson, + several others who contributed enormously to the first team and its fortunes and who went on to other clubs for substantial transfer fees.

Under the last fella we seem to have ignored/disregarded the sourcing of quality local players to enhance our first team and then move on for decent transfer fees and it just strikes me that it is a possible far more economic way to bring quality players to the Club and enhance the first team than to rely what appears to have been solely the Education / Academy side of things.

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 5:09 pm
by Zorro
I think we need a concerted effort on the commercial side.

Whether it be food, Aggborough Suite hire, music, selling the advertising boards, boxes, sponsorship, comedy, sportman's dinners etc etc

It has all been severely lacking in recent months and through no fault of the Fans Club nor KHIST who have tried their best but have not had the club's support in my view

Re: The king is dead, long live the king!

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 5:24 pm
by pershoreharrier
Zorro wrote:
Sun Sep 22, 2019 5:09 pm
I think we need a concerted effort on the commercial side.

Whether it be food, Aggborough Suite hire, music, selling the advertising boards, boxes, sponsorship, comedy, sportman's dinners etc etc

It has all been severely lacking in recent months and through no fault of the Fans Club nor KHIST who have tried their best but have not had the club's support in my view
I would not disagree with that Zorro - the other fella seemed to put all his eggs in one basket and forget everything else. The business should surely look to develop every possible profitable income stream if it hopes to reach sustainability initially and then move forward to generate further monies to pump into the Club. A lot of damage has been done to the business over the last 5 years in pursuit of one objective which to date has bled the Club dry and delivered very little.