If as expected we go into the South league then our travel expenses are going to increase and maybe our gates will decrease.
For your info DANNY any money pledged into the ELI GORTON SYNDICATE will not be collected and handed over to the Development Fund until the season has almost begun by which time we will know exactly what is planned by the Board next season and where the priorities are.
GET PLEDGING - YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU !
When I ask what is the purpose, I am asking what are we trying to be? We cant get into the Confernece North, it is not realistic as we found out. If we had we would have struggled financially. So are we a community club? If so then lets have local players from the Mid-Cheshire area not players who dont care and just take money from us (before you all start I know there are exceptions). The league we are going into is surely not that good so why not give it a try? If we go back up next season then we are still in the same place as we are now.
I acknowledge the work of the board and all the free time that others give up, if you actually read what I wrote you would see that at I have not spoken badly of any of them. Nor do I question there integrity as far as the money donated is concerned. I simply say that there is no point in us continuing to go down the same road, we must become more than a hobby for a few people who write on this forum if we are to continue to survive and thrive.
While I am at it, this is a FANS FORUM. If you dont like differing views then stay off it and leave out the insults.
So Man City should have thrown the towel few years ago when they were playing against likes of Macclesfield in 2nd Div,Eh Tea Hut ??
Sorry can only address you as “Tea Hut” as you don’t appear to be Albion any more.SHAME.
LONG LIVE WITTON
WE LOVE YOU.XXX
Aha!
you actually wrote ‘does it(WAFC) have a purpose anymore’ not ‘what is its purpose’, surely one who quotes from others is aware of how different the inference is in those two statements.
Backpeddling comes to mind.
It is a fans forum, hence the debate.
You would get more respect however if you didn’t hide behind a highly inappropriate pseudonym.
I may be daft, but no pressure to donate!!-the chairman says relegation is “catastrophic” and that “the financial hit will take years to recover from”…how many years? will the club ever recover? how about the other clubs in Unibond 1? how do they cope? how are they run? better or worse? how do they do it? how will The Alb? Actually I think I am daft!
G E wrote:
[quote]Hi Danny:
Whilst I think you are asking your questions regarding the donations that Wittoners are making, purely out of frustration at this current time due to the team’s relegation, I do think you deserve a straight answer. Whilst I’m no longer an official at Witton I’ll hopefully have some experience of where money is spent and trust it will give you some indication why Wittoners give so generously, not only in money terms but their valuable family time also.
The figures that I am quoting are random in some cases but I think it’ll give you a taste of the real world of a non-league football club.
Let’s start with 18 April when the team travelled to Worksop:
To get there (eventually!) by coach will have cost £350.
To play Worksop the team will have been paid approx £1000 per week [as stated earlier these are just random figures].
Off to Whitby on Wednesday (eventually!!) by coach will have cost £550.
Before we kick a ball versus Guiseley there will be the cost of £1000 to be found for the team (where’s that week gone?)
Referees fees/expenses for yesterday approx £150.
Kit washing for the three games approx £100.
That is a total outlay of £3150.
The gate yesterday was 380 but not everyone is a spring-chicken like you Danny so the old-uns only pay half. Let’s average it out at £7 each = £2660. Add on other inputs like HT draw (say £100) and the tea-hut which made a profit yesterday of £250.
This is income of £3010.
Programme sales will have been ok yesterday as I understand they sold out - offset that against, for instance, the Prescot game when there were lots left over and, whichever the situation, the printers need paying.
Free - I know that’s a four letter word but the volunteers who clean the dressing rooms, maintain and mark the pitch, steward, help in the tea hut today at the junior finals, help in the boardroom etc are saving your football club a shed-load of expense.
So, go back to the maths above and you’ll clearly see where the money goes, where the shortfall is (and I’m being very random with some of the costs) and why it is so important that anyone who supports (and cares) about Witton gives as much as he/she can.
If you don’t want to Danny, don’t, but I bet the ground maintenance lads will welcome you with open arms to help with work on the terraces etc during the close season. Do your bit, Danny, and you might just see why they do it.
Also ‘The Albion Tea-Hut’ could you please change your username as your views are not those that would be connected with anyone who works in there.
Sorry for the sermon folks!
GE[/quote]
Thankyou for this G E. You are probably the only person who has read and understood what I was getting at and I can understand why people speak so highly of you. In contrast to some of the idiotic posts from some others,(the people who apparantly know it all).
I personally am probably one of the poorer fans that follows regularly and probably earn considerably less than most. I could never at present donate £500 to the club, I could never donate £200 in one go. After my expenses rent, loan repayments etc I have approx £200 per month for food, going out, petrol, general living.
Because I am in full time work aswell as studying 3 times a week and live in Manchester its difficult to make time to help out at the club with ground maintenance, attending the meetings social events etc.
Never the less I have only missed two games this season, I’ll get a programme, do predictions, put some lose change in the pitch fund, get my lunch, get a couple of drinks. May not be a lot but its a damn sight more than most. And in regards to when Ross Thaker got me a comp for 3 or 4 home games I still put more money in the club on those days than those that pay £9 in and then dont spend a penny more.
A few of you have wondered as to why I have shown a dislike towards Pritch and this is linked into this. Ross got me a comp initially as he asked me if I was coming to a certain game and I told him I couldnt make this specific one as it was close to payday and I was short on cash I had little petrol in my car and would have no money to get in and it costs me probably £10 in petrol for home games. He then kindly offered a comp for the following few games. This upset certain people and this is where the expectation (only from certain people) to donate comes in. I still pay that £9 in petrol yes it doesnt go to the club but its my hard earned money which I spend on going to watch my team which should be respected as much as somebody who lives down the road paying £9 through the gate. Pritch said to Ross ‘why are you giving Danny tickets when all he does is complain about the team’. Well with all due respect Brian when you travel over 2 hours to places like Kendal on a freezing cold night to watch the team play with little passion(bar yourself) you are not going to come back raving about it. And I have brought 14/15 ticket sales in through friends and relatives who have come to Witton this season not for their love of Witton believe it or not but because I’m going and I’ve encouraged them to come along so that more than makes up for the £9 I failed to put through the gate on 4 occasions.
Sorry for the ramble on but I have questioned how much effort I should put into attending next season as it seems some people are only interested in how much money you are putting in and this isn’t encouraging for attracting new support aswell. Instead of thinking what we can do to raise money think of what we can do to get people through the turnstiles, and with that in time will come money. GE kindly explained an example of how much a matchday costs, which some of you interpreted as having a go, but as I can’t be around the club aside from matchdays, I don’t know.
I have great respect for the people who have put time and money into the club, unfortunately at my stage of my life I don’t have much of either. One day I want to be at the stage where I can put some decent money in and when I’m retired I’d like to get more involved with the club and put time in to doing stuff around the club. At the moment all I can do is turn up and support and if people think thats not enough than I would rather take my support to where its appreciated, for me at the moment going to Witton is a hobby.
FC United are by no means a rich club for a non league side. They attract good players because them players want to play in front of 2000 people in a great atmosphere. At present we are never going to get 2000 people but we are capable of getting enough fans in to make some noise so lets do that. So that whenever another team plays us and hears our support they think “Yeah, I’d like to play each week in front of them lot”. Last year we were like that this year we weren’t. Obviously circumstances over last summer affected that. But don’t let it stop the noise we make. When new players come in we need to be thinking of songs for them that we can sing, makes them feel a bit more special we had no player songs this year except for Moseley and Pritch.
I could write all night, but that’d put Robbo to sleep! I am, unlike most, in a priviledged position to see what comes in and out of the football club each week, and will gladly discuss that with people (we are an open transparent club) but it is not for discussion on the forum.
I appalud GE’s post who likewise has had several years of seeing what costs are associated with running the club.
The figures quote by GE hopefully sum it up. Sadly the income was lower and the expenses higher which hopefully paints a picture that it is a battle each week to meet expenses and people who need paying.
I’ll add a couple of little jems myself to be considered, never be niave enough to think we take 300x£9 when we get a home gate of 300. The avaerage per person per home game is around £5. I’ll let you do the maths as to how much that works out at when we have those shocking mid-week gates. We only have 21 opportunities remember and the season is 39 weeks!
From the gate we also have to pay VAT sadly. (I spend all week trying to get round taxes and then its there on a Saturday) Therefore for every £9 we take the club effectivley keeps £7.82. We then have the joys of paying this VAT bill every quarter.
Just to pick a couple of expenses that I doubt anyone even thinks about (other than those who study the accounts.)
The rates for the premises is £5,500 for a year and the last couple of months electric bills ahve been £950 and £850 respectivley. (we have also shopped around alot and extensivley looked into rate relief. If it can be tried - we have tried)
It is not all about paying the players on a Saturday. That leeds back to the original point of this thread that, like this season if fans are good enough to “chip in” we equate this to £x per week over 39 weeks and that is added to the budget that the club can afford.
Onwards and upwards.
Again like GE, Neil thankyou of giving those of us who aren’t as in the know as others, its appreciated.
In addition Neil I think you deserve a special mention for your efforts this season.
Peace all around and sanity returns.
Let’s get back to thinking about next season.
Bang on VJ, as a footnote if anyone wants to help/take over the coordination of the WADF, then please feel free.
Contrary to some opinion it is not all about donations, we have consistently ran fund raising events, from live bands, discos, race nights, to away travel and Winter Balls, the major disappointment with this is that its always the same people supporting, and give or take a few the same people and their family/friends attending.
The club does need more people attending games , that’s a given, with it comes increased revenue streams etc, but lets be honest here, for the majority of the season we attended games out of a sense of duty/loyalty rather than pleasure/entertainment.To try and then inspire friends to part with there hard earned was a lot more difficult.
We also need more companies sponsoring games and getting involved, most of us work, and many of us know people who have their own businesses, but how many of us actually try and convert that to good use for the football club.
Over the Close season if all our regular supporters (200) gave the Commercial Team just one lead which they converted to a sale imagine the revenue that would come into the club!!!
Believe me out of choice - I would love not to have to donate next season.
Lets all do our bit, and see where that takes us.
Andy Chad wrote:
…Stamford, Lincoln, Leek…
Take that as an apology then Danny - just waiting for Tea Hut now !
Dont hold your breath.
Never mind - see u next season Tea Hut.
With the expected average travelling time next season to away games being approx 1 hour 40 mins ( 72 miles )and with the team coach in use probably 15 times at least would it not be a good idea to have a Coach Season Ticket. The club would be getting the money up-front and supporters receive a discount for buying one.
Ok just a couple of quick replys from me
A) All the money raised from the development fund goes directly to players wages, that was the agreement when the fund was set up. The board will set a weekly wage budget that the club can afford (we are fully up to date with wages, all players this season have been paid on time every week). The supporters who run the fund will tell us their commitment per week for the season, and this will be added to our budget. So in easy terms if we are told the supporters will donate £100 a week we will add that to the budget. We make our decision BEFORE we know what we will get off the supporters so that £100 a week could well pay for a couple of extra squad players or £150 a week could pay for a really good centre forward for example. The money donated does not go anywhere else but towards the squad.
b) I think the coach season ticket is a great idea, I would think that there will be 15 (at least) seats available for each game away, having had a quick look I’m guessing all but 3 would require a coach, so season ticket holders would get first choice of these seats and then maybe another 5-10 seats on a first come first serve basis. Eli what do you think would be a reasonable charge for the tickets assuming we will be charging about £10 a head (thats a guess) for each trip?
And just as an aside I think its worth mentioning that one or two supporters asked how we could afford to have an extra goalkeeper sat on the bench for the last dozen games or so, well we couldn’t so Mark, Peter, Jeff, Mickey Toones and myself funded the money each week to meet that commitment on top of the budget and the development fund to try and give us that little extra, it was an expense that proved futile but it won’t stop us from doing it again because we are 100% Witton Albion and that is what we do and will continue to do.
I won’t deny that the suggestion money is going somewhere that the supporters don’t know about upset me but I’ve had a couple of beers now and relaxed a little, all I can say to that is we have been as open and as honest as I know any football club could be, we have a true Witton supporter who is not (currently) on the board who accounts for every single penny that comes in and out of the club, How many others clubs can say that?
Ok that wasn’t quite as quick an answer as I intended but now is the time we need true Witton supporters to step forward, lifes easy when the team is doing well, times like this is when you find out what people are really all about, take time at the first friendly next season to look around you and remember the faces you see and when the others start coming back when we win promotion just remember to acknowledge who were there when we needed supprters the most.
As a certain little Doc once said… We love you Witton!
You hit the nail on the head on what I was looking for. Nobody questioned where that the money was going anywhere other than the club. Thats why we need to know. That if we donate £100 a week which gets us 2 squad players. If we can up that to £150 we can use the supporters contribution towards another Warlow.
Does anybody know the likelyhood of us keeping the likes of Booth, Ashley Dunn, Lugsden, Black, Maylett, and Warner because it would be great if we could.
Coach Season Tickets for next season - Assuming £10 per trip then maybe :-
£100 which guarantees you 11 trips. After that u pay the £10 as normal and you have first choice subject to giving reasonable notice of not going.
Danny wrote:
Probably depend on the length of contract the players are on, also the possibility of playing Unibond South won’t help.
Has it been decided we’ll be in Unibond South?