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Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:22 pm
by robsraiders
Lets hope some of our Uncovered friends turn up at meeting tonight, along with the "missing" fans, a chance to listen to the clubs plans and ask questions of the DFC and DFCSG boards
Start time 7pm Dolphin Centre - bring a friend

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:52 pm
by H1987
All updates gladly received by exiles :thumbup:

Hopefully the club might put some stuff out on the twitter feed as well.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:02 pm
by jjljks
Can we do a 50/50 draw & bucket collection? I missed this on Saturday. What about mocking up a team sheet for sale and some of the retail merchandise on a stall? Need to keep our income flowing :thumbup: :clap:

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:35 pm
by Darlo Since 68
I will bring buckets.


You just bring the change!!! :D

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 3:25 pm
by BUSHEAD
jjljks wrote:Can we do a 50/50 draw & bucket collection? I missed this on Saturday. What about mocking up a team sheet for sale and some of the retail merchandise on a stall? Need to keep our income flowing :thumbup: :clap:

I was with you right up until 'mocking up a team sheet for sale' .

Because that is just ..... :eh:

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 6:56 pm
by AndyPark
Hearing Raj Singh is there... Not sure how true it is though.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 8:21 pm
by biccynana
H1987 wrote:All updates gladly received by exiles :thumbup:

Hopefully the club might put some stuff out on the twitter feed as well.
Not a peep on the official Twitter so far.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 9:29 pm
by QUAKERMAN2
AndyPark wrote:Hearing Raj Singh is there... Not sure how true it is though.
No way was Raj there.Nice to see Martin Jesper and very impressed with David Johnson who came across really well.

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Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:23 pm
by Beano
This mystery £65k creditor - is it Martin Gray?

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:32 pm
by divas
Beano wrote:This mystery £65k creditor - is it Martin Gray?
Which mystery creditor?!

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:56 pm
by SwansQuaker83
Very impressed with the Chairman... came away from that full of encouragement.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:03 pm
by biccynana
Any chance of some headlines/key points/major talking points for those of us who couldn’t be there? Ta.

I see DJ is going to do a netcafe later in the week to follow up on points raised tonight http://darlingtonfootballclub.co.uk/net ... -johnston/

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:07 pm
by Darlo-and-Back
QUAKERMAN2 wrote:
AndyPark wrote:Hearing Raj Singh is there... Not sure how true it is though.
No way was Raj there.Nice to see Martin Jesper and very impressed with David Johnson who came across really well.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
To be right about it, we need guys to run the club within its means. For all the suits and sharp chat, we’ve yet to see it.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:11 pm
by AndyPark
Major points from the Darlo meeting tonight.

- Club only made a loss of 10k this financial year; our best since we "reformed".
- To be competitive at this level and level above, we need to boost budget somehow to an extra 450k per year.
- Club looking at an investor coming onboard but after 20 years of mis-management - The current board are apprehensive of this.
- Looking to get more the commercial side of it to generate funds, but the rugby club being awkward with advertising.
- Sustainable income could be an option. Develop Blackwell meadows or potential opportunities with Mowden Parks future ‘Sporting Village’
- Proposal. 1200 fans give £40 per month would generate £480 per person per annum. £576,000 per year. This could fund commercial assets (Similar to the shares we already owe - But not a chance will fans do this, we already stick in a load).
- Construction of second section of stand will be complete by end of February in time for the Kidderminster home game, therefore will be eligible for promotion to Conference Premier should we find ourselves in that position.
- CEO seems very passionate about Darlington building a 4G pitch. This would be used for 6-A-Side leagues etc. Also for training, but not to play first team matches on. These are a sustainable way of generating money.
- Tommy Wright is still confident of pushing for the playoffs, despite being 1 game from the bottom 3 and relegation. Interesting....

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:19 pm
by divas
£10k loss is forecasted on current run rates as financial year has a fair way to go. Provided nothing nosedives from a revenue perspective before end of season we should hit target

To be competetive at this level we certainly don't need that much ££ but for the level above as a full time team then yes.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:29 pm
by biccynana
AndyPark wrote:Major points from the Darlo meeting tonight.

- Club only made a loss of 10k this financial year; our best since we "reformed".
- To be competitive at this level and level above, we need to boost budget somehow to an extra 450k per year.
- Club looking at an investor coming onboard but after 20 years of mis-management - The current board are apprehensive of this.
- Looking to get more the commercial side of it to generate funds, but the rugby club being awkward with advertising.
- Sustainable income could be an option. Develop Blackwell meadows or potential opportunities with Mowden Parks future ‘Sporting Village’
- Proposal. 1200 fans give £40 per month would generate £480 per person per annum. £576,000 per year. This could fund commercial assets (Similar to the shares we already owe - But not a chance will fans do this, we already stick in a load).
- Construction of second section of stand will be complete by end of February in time for the Kidderminster home game, therefore will be eligible for promotion to Conference Premier should we find ourselves in that position.
- CEO seems very passionate about Darlington building a 4G pitch. This would be used for 6-A-Side leagues etc. Also for training, but not to play first team matches on. These are a sustainable way of generating money.
- Tommy Wright is still confident of pushing for the playoffs, despite being 1 game from the bottom 3 and relegation. Interesting....
Thanks, Andy. Some interesting stuff there.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:54 am
by JamesDarlo
On social media seems a mixed reaction to the forum, personally think it was a success. We got to know what's going on in our club behind the scenes, and got a reality check regarding what our current restraints are.

Any opinions on possibility of sharing a sports village with mowden?

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 4:45 am
by real_darlo_85
AndyPark wrote:- Looking to get more the commercial side of it to generate funds, but the rugby club being awkward with advertising.
- Sustainable income could be an option. Develop Blackwell meadows or potential opportunities with Mowden Parks future ‘Sporting Village’
It's for this reason that I can't see our time at Blackwell being anything other than a stepping stone. There is a limit to how much we pour in to this while DRFC are being so unhelpful from their side. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have a small sustainable ground like Blackwell but this is just further evidence of the relationship and it may get to a point where we seriously have to consider taking our contribution and 'business' somewhere else, for example DMPRC sports hub, if it indeed gets the green light.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 6:13 am
by don'tbuythesun
Cheers Andy-great for us exiles. Can anyone expand on the creditor and £65,000? What was the turnout like? Sounds quite positive.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 7:29 am
by divas
don'tbuythesun wrote:Cheers Andy-great for us exiles. Can anyone expand on the creditor and £65,000? What was the turnout like? Sounds quite positive.
£65K carried over from last season owed to a number of creditors who have provided products and services. Given that RC mentioned at the last fans forum that the club had made a c£85K operational loss for the season it should have been expected. BM costing more than originally planned contributed to this. This was explained at the last FF too.

As we move forwards it's a case of ensuring that this debt does not age to the point where the vendors are taking action to recover it - a very specific skill in itself and one which is taking up a lot of time and effort for the current directors.

In order to do this the club have to very carefully manage the creditors on a daily basis by replacing old creditors/invoices with new. All small businesses will run with creditors as products and services are paid for on an invoice basis rather than up front. The key is having the cash flow to continually service this debt. When your main income streams can be interrupted in a business such as a football club where your main income comes from match receipts it can make this very challenging and as a fan owned club where we don't have a benefactor to stick cash in to temporarily fill gaps it makes things very difficult when we don't have many games. Ideally I'd imagine we need to both reduce the amount of serviceable debt down bit by bit and look at how we can build a slush fund to dip into and replenish when we have postponements etc. The boost the budget helps in that regard as it's a guaranteed regular monthly payment that comes in regardless of whether we play a game or not - the DD scheme mentioned by DJ further builds on that ethos.

Personally I believe we've got to look at selling at least a couple of hundred more season tickets next season on a monthly DD basis so that we're not as affected when we don't have a game. I would be quite happy to set up a DD for £30 per month which just keeps rolling and in turn I get my ST each year. In the modern world I'm used to paying for my services (tv:broadband/utilities) this way anyway which actually helps my personal cash flow too

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 7:39 am
by Beano
divas wrote:
don'tbuythesun wrote:Cheers Andy-great for us exiles. Can anyone expand on the creditor and £65,000? What was the turnout like? Sounds quite positive.
£65K carried over from last season owed to a number of creditors who have provided products and services. Given that RC mentioned at the last fans forum that the club had made a c£85K operational loss for the season it should have been expected. BM costing more than originally planned contributed to this. This was explained at the last FF too.

As we move forwards it's a case of ensuring that this debt does not age to the point where the vendors are taking action to recover it - a very specific skill in itself and one which is taking up a lot of time and effort for the current directors.

In order to do this the club have to very carefully manage the creditors on a daily basis by replacing old creditors/invoices with new. All small businesses will run with creditors as products and services are paid for on an invoice basis rather than up front. The key is having the cash flow to continually service this debt. When your main income streams can be interrupted in a business such as a football club where your main income comes from match receipts it can make this very challenging and as a fan owned club where we don't have a benefactor to stick cash in to temporarily fill gaps it makes things very difficult when we don't have many games. Ideally I'd imagine we need to both reduce the amount of serviceable debt down bit by bit and look at how we can build a slush fund to dip into and replenish when we have postponements etc. The boost the budget helps in that regard as it's a guaranteed regular monthly payment that comes in regardless of whether we play a game or not - the DD scheme mentioned by DJ further builds on that ethos.

Personally I believe we've got to look at selling at least a couple of hundred more season tickets next season on a monthly DD basis so that we're not as affected when we don't have a game. I would be quite happy to set up a DD for £30 per month which just keeps rolling and in turn I get my ST each year. In the modern world I'm used to paying for my services (tv:broadband/utilities) this way anyway which actually helps my personal cash flow too
That makes sense - thanks for the explanation.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 7:43 am
by Darlo-and-Back
It’s more fundamental than this. The club seems to consistently operate on a basis of spending more than it has. I don’t believe that any one of the previous CEOs would run their own business or personal finances this way. It simply has to stop.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 7:48 am
by Maurice_Peddelty
real_darlo_85 wrote:
AndyPark wrote:- Looking to get more the commercial side of it to generate funds, but the rugby club being awkward with advertising.
- Sustainable income could be an option. Develop Blackwell meadows or potential opportunities with Mowden Parks future ‘Sporting Village’
It's for this reason that I can't see our time at Blackwell being anything other than a stepping stone. There is a limit to how much we pour in to this while DRFC are being so unhelpful from their side. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have a small sustainable ground like Blackwell but this is just further evidence of the relationship and it may get to a point where we seriously have to consider taking our contribution and 'business' somewhere else, for example DMPRC sports hub, if it indeed gets the green light.
Don't remember the comment about advertising - were you there Andy?

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:20 am
by don'tbuythesun
Thanks Divas. Hopefully as the grounds sorted (for now) we can have a bit of stability for a season or two and maybe even clear the debt. I do struggle with us constantly overspending especially when there's all that money put into boost the budget?

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:21 am
by Darlo_Pete
Very encouraged by last night, thought David came over very well. it would have been good if TW had said more or been asked some questions. Not sure how the playing budget is going to be reduced further, unless players are shipped out. It was also mentioned that a football academy is going to be set up, that will raise £110k towards the budget.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:38 am
by al_quaker
I couldn't make it last night, so my opinions are based purely on what I've read. So I may have got the wrong end of the stick on some parts.

It sounds like we now are realising that we need to reign in the playing budget to stabilise. The change of manager in that respect is exactly what we needed, and I really hope it works out for Wright on the pitch to go with his refreshing attitude off it. Hopefully this time next year we will be much stronger financially.

Interesting to hear talk about wanting our own assets to make money. It's been something I've wondered recently - outside of increasing links with businesses, we appear limited by ground sharing as to the off pitch revenue we can generate. I'd be very interested to see if this develops. I'm half wondering if we need to have (very) long term plan to build our own stadium (we of course already own 2 suitable stands). I'm struggling to see how we can ever get to where we want to be at BM, in terms of both infrastructure and revenue generating capabilities (was anything re BM's development discussed?). I imagine we'll be keeping a close eye on potential developments at Mowden Park's proposed sports hub.

The monthly contribution to the club isn't a bad idea - Wimbledon do something similar I believe. But it would need to be pitched right. The club is developing a reputation for constant cash calls, and if we do launch a formal monthly donation scheme I believe it needs to move away from that if it was to be successful.

It is sobering reading how far off we are from being a FT side in the conference again. A bit depressing in fact. But I could take bumbling along in the conference north for a while if long term plans were being put in place to increase revenue to the point where that becomes a realistic ambition again.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:47 am
by en passant
AndyPark wrote:Major points from the Darlo meeting tonight.

- Club only made a loss of 10k this financial year; our best since we "reformed".
- To be competitive at this level and level above, we need to boost budget somehow to an extra 450k per year.
- Club looking at an investor coming onboard but after 20 years of mis-management - The current board are apprehensive of this.
- Looking to get more the commercial side of it to generate funds, but the rugby club being awkward with advertising.
- Sustainable income could be an option. Develop Blackwell meadows or potential opportunities with Mowden Parks future ‘Sporting Village’
- Proposal. 1200 fans give £40 per month would generate £480 per person per annum. £576,000 per year. This could fund commercial assets (Similar to the shares we already owe - But not a chance will fans do this, we already stick in a load).
- Construction of second section of stand will be complete by end of February in time for the Kidderminster home game, therefore will be eligible for promotion to Conference Premier should we find ourselves in that position.
- CEO seems very passionate about Darlington building a 4G pitch. This would be used for 6-A-Side leagues etc. Also for training, but not to play first team matches on. These are a sustainable way of generating money.
- Tommy Wright is still confident of pushing for the playoffs, despite being 1 game from the bottom 3 and relegation. Interesting....
A very good summary. One thing that caught my attention that might be worth adding to this was a suggestion made from the audience in the Q and A session concerning the on-going "loss" on current gate receipts caused by the 500 club, which will continue for another 3 years. If I heard it correctly there was said to be over 300 such members. The idea was that 500 club members might choose to give up their rights to entry and instead pay on the day. Such an act may, for the rest of this season, yield additional revenue of £30-40K, and make it possible to break even this year, assist with cash flow and perhaps create the start of a slush fund.

I am a 500 club member myself and I'm sure that the idea of effectively paying twice for entry to a match may seem an ask that goes too far. But since it was mentioned maybe it is worth putting out there and see what my fellow 500 clubbers think.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 8:50 am
by QUAKERMAN2
Agree with Pete, was looking forward to Tommy having a stint but still a very positive forum.Interesting about the approaches to be involved with the sporting village.

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Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 9:11 am
by en passant
al_quaker wrote:I couldn't make it last night, so my opinions are based purely on what I've read. So I may have got the wrong end of the stick on some parts.

It sounds like we now are realising that we need to reign in the playing budget to stabilise. The change of manager in that respect is exactly what we needed, and I really hope it works out for Wright on the pitch to go with his refreshing attitude off it. Hopefully this time next year we will be much stronger financially.

Interesting to hear talk about wanting our own assets to make money. It's been something I've wondered recently - outside of increasing links with businesses, we appear limited by ground sharing as to the off pitch revenue we can generate. I'd be very interested to see if this develops. I'm half wondering if we need to have (very) long term plan to build our own stadium (we of course already own 2 suitable stands). I'm struggling to see how we can ever get to where we want to be at BM, in terms of both infrastructure and revenue generating capabilities (was anything re BM's development discussed?). I imagine we'll be keeping a close eye on potential developments at Mowden Park's proposed sports hub.

The monthly contribution to the club isn't a bad idea - Wimbledon do something similar I believe. But it would need to be pitched right. The club is developing a reputation for constant cash calls, and if we do launch a formal monthly donation scheme I believe it needs to move away from that if it was to be successful.

It is sobering reading how far off we are from being a FT side in the conference again. A bit depressing in fact. But I could take bumbling along in the conference north for a while if long term plans were being put in place to increase revenue to the point where that becomes a realistic ambition again.
Re the development of BM DJ was suggesting that it would be desirable to not only build a 4G pitch but also to have our own club facilities alongside this to allow further revenue to be generated. Whilst an eye was to be kept on the possible development of the sporting hub over at the arena, should this come to nothing then it was considered that having such facilities at BM would, in the long term, be the source of regular income that would replace the need for fans to dip into their pockets and provide a more sustainable future for the club. How the building of such facilities would go down with the rugby club and where the cash for building them would come from was unclear.

Re: Public Meeting - 11/12/2017

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 9:11 am
by HarrytheQuaker
divas wrote:
don'tbuythesun wrote:Cheers Andy-great for us exiles. Can anyone expand on the creditor and £65,000? What was the turnout like? Sounds quite positive.
£65K carried over from last season owed to a number of creditors who have provided products and services. Given that RC mentioned at the last fans forum that the club had made a c£85K operational loss for the season it should have been expected. BM costing more than originally planned contributed to this. This was explained at the last FF too.

As we move forwards it's a case of ensuring that this debt does not age to the point where the vendors are taking action to recover it - a very specific skill in itself and one which is taking up a lot of time and effort for the current directors.

In order to do this the club have to very carefully manage the creditors on a daily basis by replacing old creditors/invoices with new. All small businesses will run with creditors as products and services are paid for on an invoice basis rather than up front. The key is having the cash flow to continually service this debt. When your main income streams can be interrupted in a business such as a football club where your main income comes from match receipts it can make this very challenging and as a fan owned club where we don't have a benefactor to stick cash in to temporarily fill gaps it makes things very difficult when we don't have many games. Ideally I'd imagine we need to both reduce the amount of serviceable debt down bit by bit and look at how we can build a slush fund to dip into and replenish when we have postponements etc. The boost the budget helps in that regard as it's a guaranteed regular monthly payment that comes in regardless of whether we play a game or not - the DD scheme mentioned by DJ further builds on that ethos.

Personally I believe we've got to look at selling at least a couple of hundred more season tickets next season on a monthly DD basis so that we're not as affected when we don't have a game. I would be quite happy to set up a DD for £30 per month which just keeps rolling and in turn I get my ST each year. In the modern world I'm used to paying for my services (tv:broadband/utilities) this way anyway which actually helps my personal cash flow too
I would get a season ticket if I could pay monthly and not over charge for the privilege too...

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