Gateshead

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LoidLucan
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Gateshead

Post by LoidLucan » Thu May 24, 2018 1:41 pm

Supposed to be getting taken over by an "overseas consortium", remaining full-time and retaining the management team. Why would foreign investors be interested in a club in the National League without their own ground, that's been losing £1m a year and with a tiny fan base? Half the first team have already left and the captain (Byrne) and top scorer (Johnson) are about to follow. Apparently it's going to take a few weeks to sort out and get the neccesary permissions in place. Won't give Steve Watson much wriggle room to replace his lost first team and get preparations in place. Meanwhile virtually everyone at the club is a free agent.

Quakerz
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Quakerz » Thu May 24, 2018 2:03 pm

Just had a look at their forum and have seen posts saying stuff like "this club has so much potential"

No, no, it fucking doesn't. As the previous two owners have realised.

Where do these little pipsqueak clubs keep on finding these rich backers though? The only ones we've had were ones who put us into administration every time they realised that we're just a little pipsqueak club as well.

These other clubs seem to get passed on to new owners with no or reduced debts, and rarely administration.
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LoidLucan
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Re: Gateshead

Post by LoidLucan » Thu May 24, 2018 2:25 pm

I know. Just when you thought the hangers were to have their neck stretched up stepped a rich philanthropist with a love of football and an umblemished record... :D . This gateshead business seems very odd. I just can't see the attraction for foreign investors given the league they are in, the small crowds and playing football at a rented running track stadium. Maybe GR now lives abroad and he has unfinished business in football :D

Gow9900
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Gow9900 » Thu May 24, 2018 3:25 pm

Unless their potential new owners can somehow grow the fanbase and develop higher revenue streams so that the club is self sufficient at this level they will go through this cycle every few years until eventually there is no one there to take over, and we know what happens then.

We've been there and done that several times, we've had all the promises about progression/promotion/marquee signings etc etc and look where we ended up, the Northern League.

For every Wigan/Dave Whelan there is a Rushden and Diamonds etc.

It looks as though Barrow might have a tough season next season as their benefactor has pulled the funding so they will be working on a much reduced budget next season, as they get smaller gates than us but have had an owner putting money in. Dagenham and Redbridge are currently in the same position as well, they don't know if they are going to have a football club past the summer.

Pursuing the model we are now might be slow and uneventful compared to having someone come in chucking money in and promising the earth, but it's the only way to operate as since I began following this club I've seen three administrations and I don't want that again, once is enough. If it is built up properly and over time it will lay strong foundations for the future and ensure that we don't have to go through admin/financial difficulties again.

Vodka_Vic
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Vodka_Vic » Thu May 24, 2018 4:38 pm

Plus, in a few years (maybe 10 or so) the fan owned model might be much more commonplace and create more of a level playing field.

LoidLucan
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Re: Gateshead

Post by LoidLucan » Thu May 24, 2018 6:13 pm

The players are really buying into the exciting new future with foreign owners... captain Neill Byrne has just buggered off to Fylde and Danny Johnson is by all accounts going soon.

shildonlad
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Re: Gateshead

Post by shildonlad » Sat May 26, 2018 7:15 pm

1st ive heard of danny johnson going. Been the only one banging in the goals alot for the past few seasons. I can only presume the potential new owners have long term plans for a ground otherwise not sure why they would bother. The bennets and graeme wood did because they were fans of the club and from the area. Best of luck to gateshead and hartlepool. Would love to see them both in the football league

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JE93
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Re: Gateshead

Post by JE93 » Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:56 am

Looks like Gateshead are going to be next season's north ferriby as their takeover deal falls through:

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/f ... t-14771491

The current owners will keep the club going at a reduced budget.

It's funny they keep on talking about the huge potential of Gateshead football club on their board yet all it has done is drain the bank balances of the last 3 owners. £3 million in 3 years cash injection for the current owners is sensational when you consider their playing budget last season was £650k.

If it really has that much potential to be a sustainable club why don't the fans take it on for the £1 at which it's offered for sale?

banktopp
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Re: Gateshead

Post by banktopp » Tue Jun 12, 2018 7:06 am

JE93 wrote:Looks like Gateshead are going to be next season's north ferriby as their takeover deal falls through:

If it really has that much potential to be a sustainable club why don't the fans take it on for the £1 at which it's offered for sale?
What, all 10 of them.

QUAKERMAN2
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Re: Gateshead

Post by QUAKERMAN2 » Tue Jun 12, 2018 7:40 am

They should never be a full time club, never had a decent fan base even in the old 4th division and even before that in the Div 3 North.The pride of county Durham up the road have more potential even with their rubbish fan base which tells you everything.

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Darlo_Pete
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Darlo_Pete » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:12 am

There's no way they can remain full-time, I'd expect them to be one of the favorites to get relegated next season.

jjljks
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Re: Gateshead

Post by jjljks » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:19 am

Darlo_Pete wrote:There's no way they can remain full-time, I'd expect them to be one of the favorites to get relegated next season.
Or even collapse entirely leaving a space in NL :thumbdown:

LoidLucan
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Re: Gateshead

Post by LoidLucan » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:27 am

To be honest, the whole Shanghai investor takeover always sounded like La La Land. They looked fecked now. The rest of the players will leave, the owners are still desperate to get out so the budget will be slashed and Watson (if he stays) faces mission impossible to get a competitive squad together at that level with the clock ticking and hardly any money to play with.

Their only hope is yet another rich Tynesider with more money than sense to come forward again but what would they be taking on? A club with no assets and poor crowds playing in a rented athletics stadium that's totally unsuitable for football. All you get is membership of the National League with few revenue streams and few paying customers.

Yet again a clear warning for those clubs with a small fan base spending way beyond what is sustainable, only made possible by an individual chucking in their own money. Be afraid when they reach their limit.

Darlogramps
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:43 am

LoidLucan wrote:To be honest, the whole Shanghai investor takeover always sounded like La La Land. They looked fecked now. The rest of the players will leave, the owners are still desperate to get out so the budget will be slashed and Watson (if he stays) faces mission impossible to get a competitive squad together at that level with the clock ticking and hardly any money to play with.

Their only hope is yet another rich Tynesider with more money than sense to come forward again but what would they be taking on? A club with no assets and poor crowds playing in a rented athletics stadium that's totally unsuitable for football. All you get is membership of the National League with few revenue streams and few paying customers.

Yet again a clear warning for those clubs with a small fan base spending way beyond what is sustainable, only made possible by an individual chucking in their own money. Be afraid when they reach their limit.
Just imagine if the same thing happened at a club three times in a row.....

Or that the same fans didn't learn the lesson and saw the fan-owned club nearly bankrupted on at least two occasions.

People can indulge the schaudenfreude around Gateshead as much as they want (although I find the undercurrent of people in this thread wishing financial collapse on them to be distasteful).

But we're in no position to lecture other clubs' supporters about good financial management. It took us until midway through last season to actually start pursuing sustainability over short-termism.
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LoidLucan
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Re: Gateshead

Post by LoidLucan » Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:02 am

Fair enough. Mistakes have been made in the past and it seems lessons have been learned. However we were in a uniquely difficult position of having to finance a club from scratch with a load of debt and with no home of our own, all the while with a group of volunteers trying to feel their way through things in unfamiliar territory and trying to achieve success. All in all we haven't done too bad a job in getting to the position we are in today despite sometimes pushing things to the limit in the past.

Quakerz
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Quakerz » Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:42 am

Darlogramps wrote:
Just imagine if the same thing happened at a club three times in a row.....

Or that the same fans didn't learn the lesson and saw the fan-owned club nearly bankrupted on at least two occasions.

People can indulge the schaudenfreude around Gateshead as much as they want (although I find the undercurrent of people in this thread wishing financial collapse on them to be distasteful).

But we're in no position to lecture other clubs' supporters about good financial management. It took us until midway through last season to actually start pursuing sustainability over short-termism.
When Gray left, funnily enough.
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al_quaker
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Re: Gateshead

Post by al_quaker » Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:05 am

If I could find odds for relegation from the National league, I'd be putting some money on Gateshead. They are either going to run at a reduced FT budget, in which case any of their decent players will be off and they'll be left signing the scraps, or they'll be going PT, in which case all the good local PT players will be/are signed up. I dread to think what their crowds will go down to if they have a season of struggle.

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Re: Gateshead

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:57 am

Quakerz wrote:
Darlogramps wrote:
Just imagine if the same thing happened at a club three times in a row.....

Or that the same fans didn't learn the lesson and saw the fan-owned club nearly bankrupted on at least two occasions.

People can indulge the schaudenfreude around Gateshead as much as they want (although I find the undercurrent of people in this thread wishing financial collapse on them to be distasteful).

But we're in no position to lecture other clubs' supporters about good financial management. It took us until midway through last season to actually start pursuing sustainability over short-termism.
When Gray left, funnily enough.
Indeed, although there were plenty of supporters, some of whom are commenting about Gateshead's financial prudence in this thread, who were enthusiastically supportive of Gray being given more money last summer.
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Quakerlad
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Quakerlad » Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:04 pm

Completely get where your coming from, but there are still dozens and dozens of clubs run by benefactors with good solid management and have run this way over many years. Who is to say if we ever found the right willing investor (long shot I know) that it means automatic doom, gloom and uncertainty.

LoidLucan
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Re: Gateshead

Post by LoidLucan » Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:48 pm

The positive thing for the Gateshead fans is that the owners seem to be trying to do the right thing by the club. They are clearly desperate to stop throwing money (£1m a year) into a black hole but are doing their best to find new owners rather than immediately pulling the rug from under the club. Despite all the money they have lost, they are willing to hand the club over debt free. With some of the owners we have had in the past I'm quite sure that if it was us in that position we would have gone pop by now without a second thought.

al_quaker
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Re: Gateshead

Post by al_quaker » Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:12 pm


super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Gateshead

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:28 pm

Sad for Gateshead but this is football when you are relying on someone pumping in cash each year. That goes for fans owned clubs like ourselves who also rely on us pumping cash in, just less chance of us all losing interest but also less chance of someone putting in 3 million over 3 years.

The longer this has dragged on the less chance they have being prepared for next season, they look likely to be in danger of relegation unless someone can steady the ship fast.

LoidLucan
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Re: Gateshead

Post by LoidLucan » Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:49 pm

Tough task for the boss recruiting an entire new part time squad and they start pre season training in three weeks.

Trike1
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Trike1 » Tue Jun 12, 2018 5:25 pm

they can have caton to start them off :lol:

Darlo_Pete
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Darlo_Pete » Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:06 pm

Tough season coming up for Gateshead, they lost a lot of players and probably some more will now go, now that they're going part time.

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D_F_C
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Re: Gateshead

Post by D_F_C » Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:15 am

Trike1 wrote:they can have caton to start them off :lol:
Isn’t it about time we stopped with all the Caton bashing. He’s a Darlington FC player so he has my support. You’d have thought he was worse than Paddy Deane. He’s got ability but just hasn’t been able to pick up enough form


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Allan Quatermain
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Re: Gateshead

Post by Allan Quatermain » Wed Jun 13, 2018 6:42 am

D_F_C wrote:
Trike1 wrote:they can have caton to start them off :lol:
Isn’t it about time we stopped with all the Caton bashing. He’s a Darlington FC player so he has my support. You’d have thought he was worse than Paddy Deane. He’s got ability but just hasn’t been able to pick up enough form


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Agreed, it's beyond a joke now. By all means mention him in conversation for whatever reason but any post such as this one by Trike1 is pointless, unfunny and adds nothing to the thread.
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jjljks
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Re: Gateshead

Post by jjljks » Wed Jun 13, 2018 6:47 am

When will the FA recognise the financial problems that lower leagues and grassroots clubs are facing and then take action to redistribute the income more equitably? Premiership clubs need to recognise the same issues and give some assistance where possible, not just loans of players but also by building relationships, sharing training and coaching, academies to act as feeders, even medical facilities. Otherwise our national teams and top teams will end up lacking the spirit and pride which sparks success.

quakerman
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Re: Gateshead

Post by quakerman » Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:26 am

Trike1 wrote:they can have caton to start them off :lol:
Totally uncalled for, just back off for God’s sake.Pea brain.


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lo36789
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Re: Gateshead

Post by lo36789 » Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:43 am

jjljks wrote:When will the FA recognise the financial problems that lower leagues and grassroots clubs are facing and then take action to redistribute the income more equitably? Premiership clubs need to recognise the same issues and give some assistance where possible, not just loans of players but also by building relationships, sharing training and coaching, academies to act as feeders, even medical facilities. Otherwise our national teams and top teams will end up lacking the spirit and pride which sparks success.
I'm sorry but this isn't a symptom of financial problems that lower leagues and grassroots clubs are facing.

The issue that lower league clubs have is the funds required to meet ground grading, to get their facilities up to scratch and to fund the backroom staffing to actually put the game on. That is almost a sunk cost for every club which increase based on FA requirements - that is where assistance should be provided.

Gateshead generally have crowds of between 600 and 700 (their average receives a boost from the visits of Hartlepool, Halifax and Leyton Orient), they have competed in the National League because their owner decided off his own back to fund them. What obligation does the Premier League have to fund Gateshead football club?

I would much rather that any money from the Premier League went into funding cheaper and better quality facilities for youth football and amateurs (for health reasons) than was basically used to give salaries to players who based on attendances their ability clearly doesn't justify.

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