Headlines from fans' forum

[Darlogramps]

Some of the main ones for me:

- Need to raise £225k for the new ground very quickly - details of packages to fund this will be online shortly.

We have an agreement with Bishop for next season if we need it.

- Darlington Building Society are back on board as a corporate partner.

- Martin Gray Football Academy also to invest £5k.

- New website - http://Www.darlingtonfootballclub.co.uk, goes live from midnight.

- There'll be an awards dinner in May.

- Debt is down to 44k. Revenues up 22%, mainly on the back of the Sunderland friendly/cup games.

- Overall finances have improved slightly on 12 months ago. As Martin Jesper put it, "We're ready to go" for the Blackwell fundraising push.

[princes town]

Good summary. The 5 year season ticket seems to have emerged from the fans survey.

[ArmchairDiehard]

Any news regarding timing of the ground move?

[Quakerz]

The 500 club - seems a good way of raising the capital.

There are 90 seated 5 year season tickets available, and 280 standing 5 year tickets - I like the fact that there is a finite number which hopefully will create a first come first served mentality within the fan base. You can't beat a bit of a rush, because sometimes it snowballs.

If we raise 300k that will enable us to get a 3,000 capacity ground, so for me we need to raise 300k rather than the 225k that will get us a 1,900 capacity ground.

Downside? Well if we sell 2 or 300 five year STs then it is going to leave us short of income for 5 years, and if we end up at say Conference level that will be a killer.

Plus, once we've moved in, we WILL need to spend again to upgrade again at some point, maybe several times.

However, we can only take it one step at a time so let's get on it.

[Darlogramps]

Any news regarding timing of the ground move?

Target is still August 2015, so for the start of next season.

Obviously that all depends on the amount we raise and how quickly we do it.

The overall development will cost £450,000, and it's hoped £150,000 will be available from the Football Stadium Improvement Fund, but the club needs to have evidence of matched funding to get that.

That leaves £300k, but we only need £225k for the ground to meet the minimum grading requirements.

[Quakerz]

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1 ... ref=twtrec

[Quakerz]

That leaves £300k, but we only need £225k for the ground to meet the minimum grading requirements.

So that 75k difference between raising 225k and 300k is the difference between a minimum standard 1,900 ground and the 3,000 ground? Is that right?

We absolutely have to go for the upper figure so we can capitalise on early enthusiasm for the club being back home (ie crowds above 1,900)

[Darlogramps]

That leaves £300k, but we only need £225k for the ground to meet the minimum grading requirements.

So that 75k difference between raising 225k and 300k is the difference between a minimum standard 1,900 ground and the 3,000 ground? Is that right?

We absolutely have to go for the upper figure so we can capitalise on early enthusiasm for the club being back home (ie crowds above 1,900)

I think the more the better. If we want to move up the leagues, we'll need to expand the stadium at some point to meet the necessary criteria, so the more we can get now, the less we'll need further down the line.

[quakersam]

One of the awards given out at the Annual Awards dinner at Rockliffe Hall in May will be known as the Harvey Madden Award of outstanding achievement - touching tribute I think

[JE93]

It's a big ask to raise that money in such a short period of time however it's certainly not insurmountable. The club has obviously done its due diligence and looked down avenues of funding.
But just to get this straightened out:

The rugby club have been granted £75,000 to expand the car park? (is this them sharing the costs or will they be investing a further amount?)

The overall development cost is £450,000? Does this include everything that was shown on the plans and artists impressions? (new rugby club facade, pitch, fencing (pitch and external), seated stand, terracing, changing rooms, toilets and turnstiles?)

Stadium improvement fund, will give us up to £150,000 as long as we match their investment?

As many others have said it would be great to achieve the target of a 3,000 capacity, I would guesstimate that once we're back in town our attendances will average around the 1,750 mark, but certainly local interest games (eg. Whitby and Blyth if we're in the division we want to be in) or a good cup game could see us into the 2,000's which would mean a good playing budget for the team on the pitch. In this regard the 5 year season tickets don't worry me i think the revenue lost here in years 2,3,4 and 5. will more than be made up for in an increase in regular season ticket sales and increased pay on the day customers.

It's good to see DBS come back on board as a commercial partner hopefully they will give generously. And a great gesture by MG to push money from his own academy into the club, it's a great show of confidence for what we're trying to achieve and hopefully lots more local businesses will get on board.

The new website looks smart, and its good to see the total debt amount is decreasing, hopefully it wont be too long till we are rid of that then all money generated will stay within the club.

All in all it sounds like it was a great night in terms of really positive announcement and well thought out schemes at generating the money we need. I hope local businesses get on board with the clubs return. And i hope the fans get on board too, if we can shift a good number of these long term season tickets we'll be well on our way. One positive about it being this month is that we have 4 (i think) home games so hopefully we'll see the buckets out in force and we can start making inroads into this amount. The target has been set, now we just need to smash through it.

[divas]

The rugby club will be funding the car park expansion and the work on the clubhouse themselves, this was a requirement on them by the football club in order to make the partnership work. Obviously the news that the council will relax covenants to allow borrowing them plus the £70K from Sport England will allow them to achieve this and that is what had made the project a reality and has allowed us to kick off the fundraising drive in the knowledge that there is now something concrete to work to. All development around the pitch to enable the ground to be brought up to the minimum standard of category C will be invested by the football club.

The FSIF will match what we raise up to £150K but that must be done by the end of the month which is why timescales are so critical. Basically every £1 we raise will be worth £2 to the club (up to £150K) what better incentive to make sure we take as much of that as possible?!

Regarding the multi-year season tickets eroding future profitability, it was something that concerned me, however MJ assured us that many different financial models had been run that he was confident proved we'd be no worse off due to the uplift in fans expected. My take on this is that you'll probably get a good portion of people who after buying a 5 year ticket will still find a way to put additional revenue into the club over those 5 years - that's my plan anyway....MJ did stress that if we do climb the leagues as planned there will quite likely be another cash call on fans to either expand the ground further or fund additional playing budget for the manager, so the bigger capacity we can build at the outset the better. Of course, if we don't secure funding it doesn't mean we'll implode, we'll just hit our natural ceiling.

In regards to the outstanding debt, all that is now left is the TUPE obligations to the former players - £44K although the original 3 year plan is up in June at which point we'll need to negotiate with those players on how we then structure that debt. It could well be that with some bargaining our liability is reduced. It will be great to get that millstone from around our necks once and for all.

[lo36789]

Was anything mentioned about payment plans for the 5year STs? Or is all cash needed by end of the month?

[e4sby]

Payment by cash, cheque or PayPal only.

Cash needed asap and don't think we could find a credit company to structure deals over 5 years

[lo36789]

Wasn't refering to 5 years. I meant over maybe 3-6months but you have answered the question regardless.

With the timing we are potentially a little dependent on people who have that cash immediately available, as there is no pay day left between now and when it needs to be in.

Still think it is a great idea though especially where just getting 40 seating and 160 standing on top of the corporate stuff might be enough. That feels really doable especially as unlike the share holdings that have gone before those who buy will get something back.

[e4sby]

If we sell out of the 500 club we'll raise over £400k - personally think the £300k is realistically achievable

[super_les_mcjannet]

Don't forget we also have the 50k shares available to buy into the club. I know the CIC doesn't have lots of cash but be good to see the fans group attempt to purchase further shares in the club at this time.

All the 500 club money unfortunately will need VAT paying I presume.

I have a few questions going to send to Dave Mills about the 500 club but it has a real good value about it, especially those with kids as you get 1 free child season ticket for one season, no cost increases on ST for five years and the other elements. Probably value in excess £100, certainly worth looking into it.

[lo36789]

All the 500 club money unfortunately will need VAT paying I presume.

Good point well made.

[MikeinBlack2]

Did anything come of the supposed opposition by Northumbria Water, something to do with pipes under the ground? Hopefully that was worked around?

[TFDM]

Martin Jesper says the club has been talking to NW for sometime. They have submitted a slightly revised design and everyone seems happy with it.

[Sidarlo]

Very positive night all round.

It's a big to raise the money, but it can be done.

Looks like this month on and off the pitch will be huge

[shawry]

Some great news, and initiatives

Couple of observations/questions.

1. We really need to focus on the 300k, rather than 225k, as it will feel like we have lost out if we end up with a max capacity of 1900 for the sake of 75k (We dont want people thinking we only need to raise 225k)

2. Do we still have a decent cash reserve, could that be used if we fall a little short of either figure (I'm not advocating using all our cash reserves)

3. Great News about DBS, and it does sound like they will hopefully be investing more than 5k (reading between the lines)

4. Great news about the Harvey Madden award too, perfect tribute I feel.

5. Playing budget, was it explained how the playing budget is affected if we are taking a big lump sum from the season ticket sales for the move? I dont want us to become a Leeds/Rangers, so Im assuming the playing budget will be reduced (topped up by other fund raising?)

6. Why is there such a short time frame to raise the money? I understand that it needs to be quick for the works to be done prior to next season, however, if that doesnt work do we have another season at Bishop, and have a slower time frame for raising funds?

[super_les_mcjannet]

6. Why is there such a short time frame to raise the money? I understand that it needs to be quick for the works to be done prior to next season, however, if that doesnt work do we have another season at Bishop, and have a slower time frame for raising funds?

I believe this was to do with when the FSIF grant board sit, basically once a month, we want to go for the 150k so need it in fast to hit the next meeting.

We could go slower but I think a lot of the Corporate stuff could hinge on moving back to Darlo for season 15/16, especially any that wish to sponsor the club.

Some other good points above, I have some thoughts. I think the club wants to do this in one quick move and want to reach targets in a very short space.

[shawry]

6. Why is there such a short time frame to raise the money? I understand that it needs to be quick for the works to be done prior to next season, however, if that doesnt work do we have another season at Bishop, and have a slower time frame for raising funds?

I believe this was to do with when the FSIF grant board sit, basically once a month, we want to go for the 150k so need it in fast to hit the next meeting.

We could go slower but I think a lot of the Corporate stuff could hinge on moving back to Darlo for season 15/16, especially any that wish to sponsor the club.

Some other good points above, I have some thoughts. I think the club wants to do this in one quick move and want to reach targets in a very short space.

Cheers for that

To add one I forgot

7. Is there going to be a running total on the front page of the website?

[darlobrownie]

A problem I have found with the club 500 season tickets is i am currently a student but over the 5 year period will no longer, will there be any adjustments to the payments or will there be any adjustments? Because in some cases the club could end up losing out on 4 years of adult prices if a student is going into there last year this year

[shawry]

A problem I have found with the club 500 season tickets is i am currently a student but over the 5 year period will no longer, will there be any adjustments to the payments or will there be any adjustments? Because in some cases the club could end up losing out on 4 years of adult prices if a student is going into there last year this year

I think this is part of the whole benefit to buying now, its a price freeze, and technically you should need to show your NUS card to gain entry with a season ticket, I am assuming with these it wouldn't be necessary.

[super_les_mcjannet]

It's a good question and worth sending in to Dave Mills, best to go direct to the board so at least they can answer/resolve issues quickly and hopefully get another member of the club.

[Darlogramps]

6. Why is there such a short time frame to raise the money? I understand that it needs to be quick for the works to be done prior to next season, however, if that doesnt work do we have another season at Bishop, and have a slower time frame for raising funds?

I believe this was to do with when the FSIF grant board sit, basically once a month, we want to go for the 150k so need it in fast to hit the next meeting.

We could go slower but I think a lot of the Corporate stuff could hinge on moving back to Darlo for season 15/16, especially any that wish to sponsor the club.

Some other good points above, I have some thoughts. I think the club wants to do this in one quick move and want to reach targets in a very short space.

Cheers for that

To add one I forgot

7. Is there going to be a running total on the front page of the website?

No there isn't. The reason given is they don't want a situation like last time, when we were fundraising and we got a large amount from Dan Burn.

That stopped the fundraising in its tracks, and I think Martin Jesper and Dave Mills feel we missed out on extra fundraising, as people thought they didn't need to bother any more.

There'll be regular updates but not a running totaliser.

[Maurice_Peddelty]

A problem I have found with the club 500 season tickets is i am currently a student but over the 5 year period will no longer, will there be any adjustments to the payments or will there be any adjustments? Because in some cases the club could end up losing out on 4 years of adult prices if a student is going into there last year this year

There was no mention of any adjustments. So I guess it is a case of swings and roundabouts. Conversely to your situation, some people in their late 50s will become eligible for concessions within the term of the season ticket but they, like me, will happily pay the full adult rate because we want to see the club back in the town and this is the best opportunity we are going to get.

As mentioned above, those with 5-year season tickets will still put additional money into the club in other ways for the duration of their ticket. I'd like to think that those in similar situations to you that benefit from the anomaly will find ways of making a financial correction.

[Darlo_Pete]

It all sounds very positive, I'll be speaking to the trouble and strife and hopefully purchasing a 5 year season ticket later on tonight. Have to admit that I'm slightly worried about our cash flow being affected over the 5 year period.

[shawry]

It all sounds very positive, I'll be speaking to the trouble and strife and hopefully purchasing a 5 year season ticket later on tonight. Have to admit that I'm slightly worried about our cash flow being affected over the 5 year period.

Pete,

to be honest, I would expect crowds to increase by enough to cover. There are only a limited amount of packages remember.