Blackwell meadows

Bogratsteve · Post by **Bogratsteve** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:40 pm

Spyman wrote:
Bogratsteve wrote:If you take into account the drop over the last couple of seasons then I'm guessing that by next season mid week games will only attract this many as people cannot be bothered with the travel, Saturdays may get another 1-200 more but i can't see 13-1400 turning out again unless a "big" match
Not convinced they'll continue to drop at anything like the same rate.

We're three years in. People are used to it now and while its not ideal, I can't see 2-300 suddenly deciding they can't be bothered having witnessed 2 promotions in 3 years.

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Really hope you are correct and numbers stay healthy

Quakerz · Post by **Quakerz** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:41 pm

The thing is, if the rugby club don't want us and we're at Bishop for the next 2 years, what then? What about the money raised and the grants etc?

IF true then we're into our 4th year and back to square one.

Robbie Painter · Post by **Robbie Painter** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:00 pm

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/ ... officials/

...A senior official at Darlington FC was similarly upbeat, confirming they are still in negotiations with their counterparts at Blackwell.

Amid concerns at the delay in Darlington returning to town, Quakers dismissed suggestions that they have agreed to extend their tenancy at Heritage Park for a further two seasons, with chief executive Martin Jesper saying: “It’s news to me.”...

PaulMJohnson · Post by **PaulMJohnson** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:13 pm

Robbie Painter wrote:http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/ ... officials/

...A senior official at Darlington FC was similarly upbeat, confirming they are still in negotiations with their counterparts at Blackwell.

Amid concerns at the delay in Darlington returning to town, Quakers dismissed suggestions that they have agreed to extend their tenancy at Heritage Park for a further two seasons, with chief executive Martin Jesper saying: “It’s news to me.”...

So you're telling me that all the speculation on the interwebs is bollocks.

Well that's a first........

Twintowers · Post by **Twintowers** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:26 pm

The Echo piece won't stop the flappy arses.they will continue flapping until they get a personal update from MJ every hour on the hour.

Post by **D_F_C** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:00 pm

I give it a week before another rumour

shawry · Post by **shawry** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:13 pm

D_F_C wrote:I give it a week before another rumour

It will be the same rumour, each and every week until we are told one way or another.

The problem is that clearly there are some issues between the clubs that need resolving, and while they are negotiating we cant really be told anything, so these rumours will keep surfacing.

However, while there is a chance that it could all fall apart regarding BM, we will be told if that happens, so there really is little point speculating that its not going to.

Quakers23 · Post by **Quakers23** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:06 pm

Noticed that the rugby club AGM is next Thursday night!

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davidcurrieclass · Post by **davidcurrieclass** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 6:26 am

what with everything being up in the air, if we win promotion this year would we be allowed into conference north using heritage park?

JE93 · Post by **JE93** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 6:44 am

davidcurrieclass wrote:what with everything being up in the air, if we win promotion this year would we be allowed into conference north using heritage park?

To answer your question, yes we would be allowed promotion to the Conference North at HP as long as plans were in place to bring HP up to standard by the April of our first year in that league. With Bishop getting the money they were given it would be easy to get HP up to standard, a simple 5 step terrace the length of the grass bank would increase capacity by 1000-1250 IMHO. Then an extra set of turnstiles would bring HP up to standard i think (although it may need a little more covered seating)?

However our focus should be our continued support of the board in negotiations with DRFC and the development at BM.

banktopp · Post by **banktopp** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:38 am

Bogratsteve wrote:If you take into account the drop over the last couple of seasons then I'm guessing that by next season mid week games will only attract this many as people cannot be bothered with the travel, Saturdays may get another 1-200 more but i can't see 13-1400 turning out again unless a "big" match

After 3 seasons at Heritage Park attendances have stabilized at just over 1000. Last year average home attendance 1040, year before 1097, hardly a dramatic fall. These 1000 are our core supporters and they will not suddenly desert if we have to play another season at Bishop. Coupled with the fact that we will have a team challenging for promotion to the Conference North, only 2 steps away from the Football League, I see no reason to be pessimistic about a drop in attendance.
Every home game will be a "big" match as Darlington F.C. are playing.

isitouryear · Post by **isitouryear** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:37 am

darlonorton wrote:heard another sponsor was lined up for a good amount of money, s*** happens and glenwoods get the deal for a good price for them, very good buisness for glenwoods and good that they stepped up as they have always supported the club

Not true. I believe another big sponsor of the club and their intentions will be announced in a couple of months. Also, the shirts have not just one sponsor in Glenwoods, but as recently released, a second sponsor Cornerstone Business Solutions so I would say we have done pretty well!

Mr_Tibbs · Post by **Mr_Tibbs** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:52 am

isitouryear wrote:
darlonorton wrote:heard another sponsor was lined up for a good amount of money, s*** happens and glenwoods get the deal for a good price for them, very good buisness for glenwoods and good that they stepped up as they have always supported the club
Not true. I believe another big sponsor of the club and their intentions will be announced in a couple of months. Also, the shirts have not just one sponsor in Glenwoods, but as recently released, a second sponsor Cornerstone Business Solutions so I would say we have done pretty well!

Yes, I agree. Sponsors on the front and the back of the shirts can't be bad.

Anyone up for sponsoring the number tags I heard someone say they're wearing with the socks this season?

lo36789 · Post by **lo36789** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:57 am

banktopp wrote:After 3 seasons at Heritage Park attendances have stabilized at just over 1000. Last year average home attendance 1040, year before 1097, hardly a dramatic fall. These 1000 are our core supporters and they will not suddenly desert if we have to play another season at Bishop. Coupled with the fact that we will have a team challenging for promotion to the Conference North, only 2 steps away from the Football League, I see no reason to be pessimistic about a drop in attendance.
Every home game will be a "big" match as Darlington F.C. are playing.

I actually think there is a greater turnover of that 'core' support than people imagine. In any normal season certain events happen which impact your supporter level.

push factors - Supporters die, supporters move away, supporters have changes in circumstances so they can no longer afford to go to the game (be it time/monetary).

pull factors - New supporters are born (well come to the game for the first time), supporters return to the town, supports have changes in circumstances so they can now afford to go the game (again time/monetary).

In normal circumstances when you are based in your home town and have a moderately successful season, the David Hodgson 8th place finish, these things balance each other out.

It may be less about retaining fans, as it is that we are not creating enough new ones. A lot of effort has gone into advertising the club in Darlington, but that is an audience where there are additional time/money challenges.

It makes me wonder - do we have enough advertising in and around Bishop Auckland? Would that be a better strategy for next season - getting supporters within Darlington may be easier once we are back than trying to convince people from Darlington travel north...

JE93 · Post by **JE93** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:17 pm

lo36789 wrote:
banktopp wrote:After 3 seasons at Heritage Park attendances have stabilized at just over 1000. Last year average home attendance 1040, year before 1097, hardly a dramatic fall. These 1000 are our core supporters and they will not suddenly desert if we have to play another season at Bishop. Coupled with the fact that we will have a team challenging for promotion to the Conference North, only 2 steps away from the Football League, I see no reason to be pessimistic about a drop in attendance.
Every home game will be a "big" match as Darlington F.C. are playing.

I think you're right the attendances will be rather static, we may lose a few on Tuesday nights but we have 2 games which can be considered close this year and hopefully Blyth and Whitby will bring a few with them. I don't know what it is, when I was back in darlo I always went to home games, but to drive to bishop each time just gets harder and harder.

The biggest shame is that if we were in Darlington I think we'd easily be averaging 1500-1700 for Saturday games. If you do some basic Maths working on about 500 extra fans and an average ticket price of £6. That's £3,000 every 2 weeks (average) in gate receipts that we miss out on. If you work that out for the season (again averaging) we have 23 home games not taking into account any cup competitions, that's £69,000. Not to mention the extras in program sales, food, beer, raffle etc. plus the extra money we may be able to generate from extra sponsorship from being in town. This is all revenue that could go towards budgets both on and off the pitch. Just goes to show how important the move back home is and I really hope the board can get a deal done with the Rugby club soon.

onewayup · Post by **onewayup** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:48 pm

Good to see talks are still ongoing with the move to Blackwell still very much on.
Keep the faith,we will be back a.s.a.p,the board are making sure it's in the clubs best interest.

MCFCDarlo3 · Post by **MCFCDarlo3** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:35 pm

onewayup wrote:Good to see talks are still ongoing with the move to Blackwell still very much on.
Keep the faith,we will be back a.s.a.p,the board are making sure it's in the clubs best interest.

Just hope the Rugby club see the benefits to both parties

Darlogramps · Post by **Darlogramps** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:50 pm

Robbie Painter wrote: Originating from a Bishop Auckland board member according to https://twitter.com/eaststandbaldie.

@eaststandbaldie

Hatch and Brown to Bishop, if a fee can be a agreed.
#Darlo

Well either no fee was agreed or this was a load of rubbish.

wizardofos · Post by **wizardofos** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:19 am

There's a fundamental point being missed here (unless I haven't spotted it above):
Our gates will be effectively 300 down this season by virtue of the 5 year season tickets where the money has gone into the development pot. We were relying on a prompt move to Blackwell when the 300 would have been recovered, or more.

Robbie Painter · Post by **Robbie Painter** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:44 am

wizardofos wrote:There's a fundamental point being missed here (unless I haven't spotted it above):
Our gates will be effectively 300 down this season by virtue of the 5 year season tickets where the money has gone into the development pot. We were relying on a prompt move to Blackwell when the 300 would have been recovered, or more.

Its not been missed by me - pointed out on twitter earlier today. Based on total 500 club money raised £244k, thats £49k per season. Our total gate receipts last season were £158k. So almost a 1/3 revenue drop.

Now that missing revenue would probably have been fully covered by just 10 home matches at BM but that doesn't look like its happening any time soon.

So assume crowds remain static at HP, either we increase revenue elsewhere (sponsorship, player sales, etc), cut the playing budget substantially or we have to use the development pot to fund the shortfall on playing budget.

JE93 · Post by **JE93** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 12:18 pm

Am I right in thinking from the last accounts that the club was keeping a fairly sizable amount in the bank as a buffer? May be that we need to tactically use this to aid the playing budget while the BM deal is being negotiated. I imagine and cup prize money would be a big help this season too.
We could easily make up the shortfall once back in BM and exceed it, if we make a big song and dance of coming home we'd be able to drag over 2,000 into the ground for the first couple of games. Then if we average 1600-1700 we will be better off still.

PierremontQuaker03 · Post by **PierremontQuaker03** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:31 pm

Feel free to shoot me down here, but this Blackwell Meadows thing could go on for a while...as ultimately it comes to who has the power and who's going to get the money.

Has any discussion been had with Mowden Rugby club about playing at the Arena for a season or two while these issues get resolved. The answer to our short term problem is here right in front of our noses and Mowden would be daft to not at least enter into discussions.

shawry · Post by **shawry** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:37 pm

PierremontQuaker03 wrote:Feel free to shoot me down here, but this Blackwell Meadows thing could go on for a while...as ultimately it comes to who has the power and who's going to get the money.

Has any discussion been had with Mowden Rugby club about playing at the Arena for a season or two while these issues get resolved. The answer to our short term problem is here right in front of our noses and Mowden would be daft to not at least enter into discussions.

They are only daft if they need the money, if they dont, then why should they? And the fact that on numerous occasions we've been told they arent interested would indicate money isnt an issue for them.

Robbie Painter · Post by **Robbie Painter** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:54 pm

shawry wrote:
PierremontQuaker03 wrote:Feel free to shoot me down here, but this Blackwell Meadows thing could go on for a while...as ultimately it comes to who has the power and who's going to get the money.

Has any discussion been had with Mowden Rugby club about playing at the Arena for a season or two while these issues get resolved. The answer to our short term problem is here right in front of our noses and Mowden would be daft to not at least enter into discussions.
They are only daft if they need the money, if they dont, then why should they? And the fact that on numerous occasions we've been told they arent interested would indicate money isnt an issue for them.

Plus we can't move back to the Arena without a long term solution in place, removes any leverage with council etc to get us located back in Darlo.

charlie · Post by **charlie** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 4:49 pm

Craig Just tweeted to keep an eye out for update this evening

AndyPark · Post by **AndyPark** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:05 pm

From the Northern Echo.

DARLINGTON MP Jenny Chapman has urged members of Darlington RFC to make a decision on a proposed groundshare with the Quakers.

The politician said she feared the rugby club was getting "cold feet" over the proposed creation of a sporting hub at the town's Blackwell Meadows.

Mrs Chapman said she was frustrated by the delays in reaching an agreement over the scheme.

She added: "I fear that the rugby club is getting cold feet.

"I think it would be good to get a view from the membership at the rugby club as to their appetite of making this sports hub a reality.

"This isn't just about the football club returning to Darlington. It's about creating a hub for many different teams to develop their sports in Darlington."

The MP said time was critical for the football club.

"They're losing money and attendances are falling every moment they can't get back home. We've got to find a solution that gets the club back playing football in the town - it's becoming urgent."

Mrs Chapman said she would like to see the football club and the council being given the opportunity to present their vision for the sporting hub to the rugby club's members.

"We need to know whether there is a high level of enthusiasm for the sporting hub among the members. If there is that's great, let's get on with it. If not we can move on - we can't afford to spend another six months hoping that issues will be resolved."

In response, Mike Wilkinson, from Darlington RFC, said he could not comment at present other than say he was disappointed and frustrated with the action taken by the football club in withdrawing from negotiations.

He said he was submitting a formal reply to Darlington FC and would be able to say more once the response had been received.

He added that he had been working on plans for a sporting hub for five years - long before the football club had got involved - and he was sure that it would become a reality.

Martin Jesper, chief executive of Darlington FC, said he backed Mrs Chapman's suggestion of working with the council to demonstrate to the rugby club's membership the football club's view of how it would integrate into the sporting hub concept, particularly if it accelerated the return to Darlington.

"The football club is ready and able to move, and has been for some time," Mr Jesper added.

poppyfield · Post by **poppyfield** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:15 pm

AndyPark wrote:From the Northern Echo.

DARLINGTON MP Jenny Chapman has urged members of Darlington RFC to make a decision on a proposed groundshare with the Quakers.

The politician said she feared the rugby club was getting "cold feet" over the proposed creation of a sporting hub at the town's Blackwell Meadows.

Mrs Chapman said she was frustrated by the delays in reaching an agreement over the scheme.

She added: "I fear that the rugby club is getting cold feet.

"I think it would be good to get a view from the membership at the rugby club as to their appetite of making this sports hub a reality.

"This isn't just about the football club returning to Darlington. It's about creating a hub for many different teams to develop their sports in Darlington."

The MP said time was critical for the football club.

"They're losing money and attendances are falling every moment they can't get back home. We've got to find a solution that gets the club back playing football in the town - it's becoming urgent."

Mrs Chapman said she would like to see the football club and the council being given the opportunity to present their vision for the sporting hub to the rugby club's members.

"We need to know whether there is a high level of enthusiasm for the sporting hub among the members. If there is that's great, let's get on with it. If not we can move on - we can't afford to spend another six months hoping that issues will be resolved."

In response, Mike Wilkinson, from Darlington RFC, said he could not comment at present other than say he was disappointed and frustrated with the action taken by the football club in withdrawing from negotiations.

He said he was submitting a formal reply to Darlington FC and would be able to say more once the response had been received.

He added that he had been working on plans for a sporting hub for five years - long before the football club had got involved - and he was sure that it would become a reality.

Martin Jesper, chief executive of Darlington FC, said he backed Mrs Chapman's suggestion of working with the council to demonstrate to the rugby club's membership the football club's view of how it would integrate into the sporting hub concept, particularly if it accelerated the return to Darlington.

"The football club is ready and able to move, and has been for some time," Mr Jesper added.

Wow, things do not look good at the moment, 'football club in withdrawing from negotiations' What was plan 'B' again?

Bogratsteve · Post by **Bogratsteve** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:21 pm

Oh dear, HP anyone?

divas · Post by **divas** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:25 pm

Yes, it's quite a different slant to what Craig reported the other day that negotiations were continuing.

To be honest it's exactly what I expected to happen when it was revealed that the two parties were still some way apart.

There's no point dragging it out further and wasting even more time. It's time for an ultimatum

KCChiefs · Post by **KCChiefs** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:07 pm

Personally would like us to approach Mowden - even if its only a short term fix, it will boost our attendances by a few hundred..

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