Interview with Johnston on Official Website

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Gow9900
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Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Gow9900 » Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:34 am


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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Vodka_Vic » Mon Dec 23, 2019 10:12 am

I read out of it that we have no future at BM. Looking long term, it appears that being drawn against Walsall was a blessing because we seem to have developed a bond with them and DJ is shadowing them to see what it takes to run enough profit to run a football club in the EFL. However, if we're going to drive commercial sales, it won't be at BM. Will it be at the Arena or our own purpose built stadium? And how would that be funded? These are obviously questions for the future, but DJ does state 'It's absolutely clear in my mind the direction this club needs to go in'. Commercially we are outgrowing BM.
A word of caution though. Walsall FC can put on all of the events because their stadium is on a retail park in a non-residential area. The Arena would have restrictions. GR claims that he was stymied from putting on a lot of events by the council, but I am aware that not a lot of people would give any concessions to him. If Mowden Park could turn a huge profit out of the Arena, would they not have done it by now?

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by al_quaker » Mon Dec 23, 2019 10:41 am

Interesting stuff (although I don't think we would be getting 4.5 - 5k in the football league!)

It's pretty clear that the ground situation is starting to limit some of the things we can do off the pitch. It may be that DJ is leaning towards the SV option, but I also wonder if he is trying to ramp the pressure up on the rugby club a bit - kind of 'you need to let us do more at BM commercially or we are off and you lose your cash cow'

There's some big decisions to be made going forwards that's for sure - I hope we can get the full info soon so as to make that decision and we can start building that future for the club.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Old Git » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:16 am

At some point in the future we as a club will need to decide what is our ultimate goal. I think it will boil down to staying fan owned and accepting limited football ambitions in the future or being prepared to sacrifice fan ownership for greater commercial and financial backing from other sources to achieve success on the field.
I know there are some who think fan ownership is a holy grail that should never be sacrificed and I respect them.It depends on your point of view but I cannot help thinking that without the ambition and drive to move the club forward what is the point? It seems David Johnston is ambitious for the club and still targets a return to the Football League as our long term goal. We have to put our trust and faith in him to lead us forward. I don’t think he is here to tread water in this league long term.
We will have to see what develops with the Sporting Village but it seems that D J has got reservations about Blackwell as a suitable base to provide what we will need in the future. I for one will be guided by his recommendations on our long term development and hope he will be involved in bringing them about.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by LoidLucan » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:18 am

Walsall have a new owner now with plans to to take the cub forward and there is an option to buy the freehold of the stadium. But in the past there has been another back story (not without controversy) at Walsall as you can see from this written before the new chairman took over....
https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/fo ... was-right/

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Gow9900 » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:38 am

This town had a football league club for the best part of a century, it is the ultimate aim for us, as it should be. A town this size should have a football league club in my opinion, but we’ve got no divine right, it has to be earned.

Johnston is clearly fiercely ambitious about us getting there, and plans are clearly being made in the background to try and put us in a position to challenge in the medium time. Plans that won’t involve us risking our long term future for short term glory. We’ve achieved so much since demotion in 2012, but It does feel like we’re now being hindered by several things at the moment as has been alluded to in that interview.

Historically clubs like Walsall were similar to us in terms of level they played at and support, and I think Johnston has walked into Walsall, seen their set up etc and thought ‘this is what we should be, and where we can genuinely get to’.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Spyman » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:43 am

Old Git wrote:At some point in the future we as a club will need to decide what is our ultimate goal. I think it will boil down to staying fan owned and accepting limited football ambitions in the future or being prepared to sacrifice fan ownership for greater commercial and financial backing from other sources to achieve success on the field.
I know there are some who think fan ownership is a holy grail that should never be sacrificed and I respect them.It depends on your point of view but I cannot help thinking that without the ambition and drive to move the club forward what is the point? It seems David Johnston is ambitious for the club and still targets a return to the Football League as our long term goal. We have to put our trust and faith in him to lead us forward. I don’t think he is here to tread water in this league long term.
We will have to see what develops with the Sporting Village but it seems that D J has got reservations about Blackwell as a suitable base to provide what we will need in the future. I for one will be guided by his recommendations on our long term development and hope he will be involved in bringing them about.
I think our ultimate goal has to be to safeguard the football club for the town and future generations.

We have learned from experience that the most effective way to do this is with an ownership model that protects the club from individuals causing harm and using the club for their own devices.

Whatever ownership model we have, the club will always have limitations on the pitch - whether that is Conference, League 1, or Champions League there is always going to be a limit, but what we know now for sure is the current model can be sustained and ensure there's a club playing football in a recognised league for as.long as the town wants one.

Take outside ownership and we can no longer guarantee that.

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On Sunday April 29, 2012 at 10:25 pm, Darlo Cockney wrote:Sadly some people have nothing better to do that invent rumours.

We will be playing at the arena again next season - fact.

Quakerz - if you actually attended games and spoke to people you might actually find our facts, rather than spreading s*** on this board.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by LoidLucan » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:45 am

Walsall must be doing things right in income generation given the huge sums paid out to rent the stadium from the pension firm that the previous chairman is involved in.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by lo36789 » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:52 am

The only solution is to have ownership of a site (unlikely) or an agreement with an existing owner to be able to make our own profits from the venue.

The Arena and Mowden Park won't fix that - they need to use the arena for the same ends.

The question is what the SV will offer put if somebody is putting money up they will want a return which will eat into those commercial revenues. It may be that a change in relationship with the rugby club is the end result.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by LoidLucan » Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:06 pm

And that's why it's a completely different set-up to Walsall. If we developed our own ground at the SV (and that would surely involve taking on huge debt), you would have the Arena next door and no doubt arranging all the same sort of activities to generate money that we would be interested in. If we were to share a plastic pitch at the Arena, we certainly wouldn't be in a position to maximise income there as one of the tenants of a management company laying on their own events and activities to keep the Arena viable. Unless, of course, somehow the SV offer is just so fantastic and filled with opportunity that it's too good to refuse.
Last edited by LoidLucan on Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:20 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:08 pm

Old Git wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:16 am
At some point in the future we as a club will need to decide what is our ultimate goal. I think it will boil down to staying fan owned and accepting limited football ambitions in the future or being prepared to sacrifice fan ownership for greater commercial and financial backing from other sources to achieve success on the field.
At some point in the future we as a club will need to decide what is our ultimate goal. I think it will boil down to staying fan owned and accepting limited football ambitions in the future or being prepared to sacrifice fan ownership for greater commercial and financial backing from other sources to achieve success on the field, whilst putting everything we've all worked so hard for at risk - and massively increase our chances of doing a "Bury" at some time in the future!

I'm not having a dig at you O.G.- you've outlined the situation very well, it's just that I feel there was a bit missing from your post.
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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Old Git » Mon Dec 23, 2019 2:52 pm

theoriginalfatcat wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:08 pm
Old Git wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:16 am
At some point in the future we as a club will need to decide what is our ultimate goal. I think it will boil down to staying fan owned and accepting limited football ambitions in the future or being prepared to sacrifice fan ownership for greater commercial and financial backing from other sources to achieve success on the field.
At some point in the future we as a club will need to decide what is our ultimate goal. I think it will boil down to staying fan owned and accepting limited football ambitions in the future or being prepared to sacrifice fan ownership for greater commercial and financial backing from other sources to achieve success on the field, whilst putting everything we've all worked so hard for at risk - and massively increase our chances of doing a "Bury" at some time in the future!

I'm not having a dig at you O.G.- you've outlined the situation very well, it's just that I feel there was a bit missing from your post.
Fair point I cannot disagree with what you say.
However, everything in life is a risk and every time you strive to progress a business you run some kind of risk of damaging what has gone before.For every Bury or Macclesfield there are clubs like Burton and Wycombe that are small but doing well.
The question that we will eventually face is are we a business looking to progress which does carry some sort of risk or are we content to be a community club with little realistic chance of progression ? Even remaining as we are is no guarantee of financial stability as stagnation on the field could lead to declining attendances and decreasing revenue and sponsorship.
I think we have to be clear that we will need to face these issues moving forward and it is unrealistic to think our current ownership model will provide a route back to the Football League.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by tdk1 » Mon Dec 23, 2019 3:05 pm

Wycombe were fan owned until about 3 weeks ago mind.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Mon Dec 23, 2019 3:07 pm

When are you allowed to stagnate, if we were bottom half of League 2 would that make everyone happy, I can just see someone who has bankrolled us by say £2m to get to the football league and says they can't do it anymore and all the fans just want them to go so we can still be a progressive club and the next one can fill the money pit.

Our attendances are highly unlikely to keep us competitive in the football league, it's an aspiration to get there which I agree we should have but would I risk the club ownership - probably not.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Old Git » Mon Dec 23, 2019 4:07 pm

super_les_mcjannet wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 3:07 pm
When are you allowed to stagnate, if we were bottom half of League 2 would that make everyone happy, I can just see someone who has bankrolled us by say £2m to get to the football league and says they can't do it anymore and all the fans just want them to go so we can still be a progressive club and the next one can fill the money pit.

Our attendances are highly unlikely to keep us competitive in the football league, it's an aspiration to get there which I agree we should have but would I risk the club ownership - probably not.
Why on earth would you want to stagnate? Do most of our fans think that is OK ?
Sadly I cannot see why anyone with ambition and drive would bother to invest their time and money in such a set up.If you are right and I am wrong about where the club is aiming for and most fans agree with you then the decision is we stay as we are.
Doubt very much if David Johnston sees it that way.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Mon Dec 23, 2019 4:11 pm

Old Git wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 4:07 pm
super_les_mcjannet wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 3:07 pm
When are you allowed to stagnate, if we were bottom half of League 2 would that make everyone happy, I can just see someone who has bankrolled us by say £2m to get to the football league and says they can't do it anymore and all the fans just want them to go so we can still be a progressive club and the next one can fill the money pit.

Our attendances are highly unlikely to keep us competitive in the football league, it's an aspiration to get there which I agree we should have but would I risk the club ownership - probably not.
Why on earth would you want to stagnate? Do most of our fans think that is OK ?
Sadly I cannot see why anyone with ambition and drive would bother to invest their time and money in such a set up.If you are right and I am wrong about where the club is aiming for and most fans agree with you then the decision is we stay as we are.
Doubt very much if David Johnston sees it that way.
Not what I said though is it?

That’s like me saying to you from your points “Why do you want to go bust again?”

We all want progress, just progress to some is different to others. No one wants to stagnate, are you saying the only option to not stagnate is to allow someone to takeover and throw money at the club?

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Old Git » Mon Dec 23, 2019 4:34 pm

The only option I can see for progress to the Football League is massively increase our turnover and revenue and I do not believe that we can do that as a fan owned club. Somebody throwing money at the club may work in the short term but of course it is not a sustainable option. Anyway I don’t see anybody queuing up to do it. What I hope and believe is that David Johnston is exploring ways of attracting investment and sponsorship that will be sustainable. This may mean the end of fan ownership as we now know it. Just trying to offer a realistic view of the situation as I see it.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Beano » Mon Dec 23, 2019 6:30 pm

Old Git wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 4:34 pm
The only option I can see for progress to the Football League is massively increase our turnover and revenue and I do not believe that we can do that as a fan owned club. Somebody throwing money at the club may work in the short term but of course it is not a sustainable option. Anyway I don’t see anybody queuing up to do it. What I hope and believe is that David Johnston is exploring ways of attracting investment and sponsorship that will be sustainable. This may mean the end of fan ownership as we now know it. Just trying to offer a realistic view of the situation as I see it.
The questionable bit for me is why would any ‘investor’ or ‘owner’ want to potentially spend millions of their own money to bankroll us to the football league for no benefit of their own?

Unless a die-hard fan wins the Euromillions, I can’t see where this mythical person is going to come from.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Darlopartisan » Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:34 pm

Would it not be fantastic if the rugby club and ourselves came to an agreement about the future of both clubs, it’s one of those conundrums where we can’t survive without each other, together we could really make it work for both clubs.
It really just needs a rugby club chairman with real vision, who can see beyond the licence to play money.
I am pretty sure AJ will of explored all or any avenues open to us with the current leadership of the rugby club.
If there is no change then I can’t see us putting another penny in the infer structure at BM and eventually moving away (where I don’t know), and the rugby club will go back on hard times.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by quakersfan » Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:57 pm

Positive words from DJ but TBH nothing new we don’t seem to be able to move forward with SV and talk of our own 4g pitches and new stand weren’t mentioned. DRFC likely just happy with the stalemate license ends in 15 years. If we want to follow Walsall then we need to be looking to secure outside investment and either alter slightly or amend the ownership model otherwise nothing will change apart from a few good runs.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by LoidLucan » Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:05 pm

Is there a queue of "investors" just waiting in the wings and only holding back because of the ownership model?

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Old Git » Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:32 pm

That isn’t the point.I think DJ is trying to move the club forward and create greater revenue streams. Other investors may or may not be attracted in the future but the current situation isn’t going to take us back to the Football League.
Personally I want that to be the goal and I trust DJ to act in the best interests of the club.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:55 pm

I haven't got round to the interview with D.J. yet however I still believe that as a club we have a lot going for us.

We have a brilliant chairman, a good squad of players, a good manager - and a supportive, active set of fans. This is all good stuff, but we could lose either or any part of this set up by the introduction of a "Raj Singhesque" type "invester".

I reckon we could reach the Conference within the next few years, and also that a return to the football league would be possible as a long term goal after that. I wouldn't look at a longish stay in the Conference as stagnating either, I think it was Quakerz a few years back that pointed out that every club will always hit a level at sometime, and that this shouldn't detract from us enjoying our club and the football on offer.

Obviously the main problem we have is our home, and the dratted Rugby club, who have decided to give us no more than they absolutely have to. I drove past the ground today and it still infuriates me that there is no signage to say that we play there, I mean, why bloody not? And leading on from this I bumped into an old friend by chance in Binn's, he asked me where Darlo play these days :thumbdown: - and he lives in the town, out near the hospital in fact.

The Rugby club need some attitude adjustment therapy.
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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Beano » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:18 pm

Old Git wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:32 pm
That isn’t the point.I think DJ is trying to move the club forward and create greater revenue streams. Other investors may or may not be attracted in the future but the current situation isn’t going to take us back to the Football League.
Personally I want that to be the goal and I trust DJ to act in the best interests of the club.
You are correct, it isn’t the point, but it is one you and several other posters continually present as the only sustainable option moving forward.

We don’t have to be owned by an individual or a company to increase our revenue streams.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by 50 years » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:49 pm

I don't think DJ is proposing moving from the fan owned model, but increasing revenue. The only way to do that is increase crowds and commercial opportunities. BM has big disadvantages in increasing revenue commercially, (my understanding is that we even pay the rugby club a % for every advertising board we sell, and they have to do nothing for that).
Therefore difficult decisions ahead, while I understand that land would be available at the SV for us to build in the future, (that would be a long term build), is there more commercial sense in the Arena or BM. That decision may well depend on what DJ can negotiate and what the best deal would be. Personally i think DJ enjoys the role he undertakes and has helped us stabilise and improve on and off the pitch therefore I am happy to take whatever proposals he ends up putting forward in the end.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Tue Dec 24, 2019 12:24 am

I agree with you 50 years, about going with D.J’s proposals, but I would be dead set against playing on a plastic surface.
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Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Dec 24, 2019 2:01 am

theoriginalfatcat wrote:I agree with you 50 years, about going with D.J’s proposals, but I would be dead set against playing on a plastic surface.
Oh goody, you’re pedalling this inaccurate, outdated nonsense again.

Just about every pitch in the EFL has some form of plastic in it, so presumably you have a problem with these as well, do you?

In fact, given the technological advances, simplistically calling them “plastic” isn’t accurate either. The artificial pitches you keep banging on about aren’t like they were in the 80s, which is what you’re trying to make them sound like. They’re far more advanced.

As much as everyone is entitled to an opinion, I’m entitled to point out your repeated droning about artificial pitches is not only tedious, it’s factually incorrect and outdated.
If ever you're bored or miserable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZohZoadGY

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by Darlopartisan » Tue Dec 24, 2019 6:31 am

Darlogramps wrote:
Tue Dec 24, 2019 2:01 am
theoriginalfatcat wrote:I agree with you 50 years, about going with D.J’s proposals, but I would be dead set against playing on a plastic surface.
Oh goody, you’re pedalling this inaccurate, outdated nonsense again.

Just about every pitch in the EFL has some form of plastic in it, so presumably you have a problem with these as well, do you?

In fact, given the technological advances, simplistically calling them “plastic” isn’t accurate either. The artificial pitches you keep banging on about aren’t like they were in the 80s, which is what you’re trying to make them sound like. They’re far more advanced.

As much as everyone is entitled to an opinion, I’m entitled to point out your repeated droning about artificial pitches is not only tedious, it’s factually incorrect and outdated.
Are 3G/4G pitches allowed in the football league?

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by lo36789 » Tue Dec 24, 2019 6:41 am

Fully synthetic surfaces are not.

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Re: Interview with Johnston on Official Website

Post by jjljks » Tue Dec 24, 2019 7:09 am

DJ brings a sense of cool control & realism to the club. We have all felt the results of unbridled ambition, so good to know we have someone at the top who is talking sense.
Seems like Walsall gave us a direction to aim for in future. Long term, unless the Rugby club allows us to buy a share in BM or have a massive change in attitude towards us, we will have to move. SV is one option & could be the sort of flagship development that the new Tory MP, Council & Tees Valley Mayor support, especially if we said the new stadium would be called the Johnston (only we know it will be named after David not Boris!)😅
Another option could be a new ground as part of the TV airport redevelopment, although the move back out of town may be hard for some but the land would be much cheaper & even possible for us to own.
Until then, I will be putting my £ into our 50/50 and a Euromillion lottery ticket.

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