Play their first home game at the Britannia Carpets Stadium on Friday night (18.08.06) ko 8pm. They entertain Castleton Gabriels.<br><br>GE<br>
It is a shame that it is not the reserves competing on the ground !!!<br>
Runcorn Linnets 5 Castleton Gabriels 0 when I left. Att 231.<br><br>GE<br>
231 matches what we get sometimes.
we been geeting crowds from 150 to 300 this season n last season
Linnets face a juggling gameDec 13 2007
by Dave Bettley, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News
RUNCORN Linnets face a delicate balancing act of juggling finances for the day-to-day running of the club with the need to generate funds for a proposed new hometown ground.
The club this week announced a £5,329 profit for the year ending January 31, 2007 – effectively the first eight months of the Vodkat League club’s life.
Tuesday’s AGM heard financial progress since has been encouraging, the club’s assets at the bank currently being £20,000 – although it was not stated how much of this is committed.
The consolidation has prompted the club to ringfence some of its fundraising activities, including the successful weekly tote, for a soon-to-be-launched ground fund.
Linnets will probably have to find half of the projected £500,000 cost if plans for a base at Riverside College Halton’s Runcorn campus are approved.
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Club chairman Derek Greenwood, one of five board members re-elected at the meeting after retiring by rotation, said: “We must not lose sight of the fact that we still have a football club to run and finance at the same time as trying to raise the funding for the ground project.
“It is no use having a ground if we’ve got no team to play in it.”
Greenwood told the AGM at the Quayside, Canal Street: “We set out with two major aims. One was to ensure that the club lived within its means and as you will see from the accounts, we were successful in this.
“The second was to start on the road to re-establishing our club back in Runcorn.
“For reasons outside our control, progress was slower at times than we would have hoped.”
Discussions over a possible base at Pavilions, Weston Point, were unsuccessful and after exploring ‘different although limited options’, the club began negotiations with Riverside College.
“The college has been most supportive of our project,” said Greenwood, who revealed ‘tentative inquiries’ had been made to funding organisations.
Preliminary discussions regarding planning permission have also taken place.
The chairman added: “The timescale for the ground project is difficult to give until we know the level of funding, but we must remain realistic that it will take time.
“The complex nature of our bids has led us to believe we will look at the project in three separate parts – the main pitch and associated facilities, the clubhouse and all-weather pitches.”
Linnets have agreed an option of playing for another season at Witton.
Greenwood said Linnets are grateful for the support of the Wincham-based UniBond Premier club, where ground rental is currently £450 per match plus VAT.
Asked whether Linnets had considered other potentially cheaper options, such as Warrington Town, Greenwood said the club did not want to become nomadic.
It had a good deal with Witton but would consider options which were in the best interests of the club.
Accounts showed the majority of income had come from donations of £21,681 with gate receipts of £6,777 (over ten home matches) the next highest figure.
The biggest expenditures were £15,664 playing staff costs and ground rental of £3,312.
Glyn Davies, Greenwood, Lynn Johnston and Joanne Wilks were re-elected to the board for two years by Linnets Independent Supporters Trust members, who elected John Urquhart for the first time.
Kel Hoose did not seek re-election and Simon Charlesworth and Barry Corless were unsuccessful in their bids to join the board in a poll scrutinised by Paula Connolly from the Widnes Vikings supporters’ trust.
Linnets will hold a street collection in Runcorn town centre this Saturday (from 9.30am).
In the afternoon, Steve Carragher’s side entertain Bacup Borough at Wincham Park (ko 3pm).
Good luck to Runcorn, they appear to have gone about things the right way… and I’ve never heard them call our ground a swamp once!!!
Yes, you’re right Rabbit. I think you call that "gratitude" something we never get or got from the arabs.
Good luck to the 'corn - even though they are mildly scouse ;D
yes totally agree with the last 2posts, good luck with finding your new home, it will be worth the wait.
But in the meantime please stay with us!! The people who run Linnets seem to be really nice people and the groundshare seems to be working for both parties so let it continue till Linnets really get there future home sorted! This is in strict contrast to a certain other team who play in green and who now no doubt will think they are football league candidates even though they don’t own their own ground and would not be even in business had they not shared our ground. Still I’m sure it will be plain sailing for them from now on finding wages, Tax acrruing now, Tax arrears, and from next year funding Mr Conman’s pension fund!!
thanks everyone for your kind words
there a long way to go before we get are new ground
cheers daz