poppyfield wrote:
theoriginalfatcat wrote:
Vic, we are 7th in the recent table for attendances - this must give us room to compete, then of course there is the BTB money on top. I can't accept that this league is too much for us.
1 Stockport County 3,195
2 York City 2,447
3 Hereford 2,341
4 Chester 1,819
5 FC United of Manchester 1,814
6 Kidderminster Harriers 1,660
7 Darlington 1,457
8 Chorley 1,448
9 AFC Telford United 1,387
10 Altrincham 1,149
11 Boston United 1,138
12 Southport 1,034
13 Spennymoor Town 873
14 Guiseley 719
15 Leamington 694
16 Blyth Spartans 665
17 Nuneaton Borough 602
18 Brackley Town 562
19 Bradford (Park Avenue) 532
20 Alfreton Town 516
21 Curzon Ashton 510
22 Ashton United 296
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I could not do it , but it would be interesting to see how many of the above have financial backing/sugar daddies, that would show how un level the playing field really is.
Not only that, but how many pay £65k a year rent and give at least half of their matchday takings over to their landlords? I know people say there's no money in pies and pints but it all counts.
To carry on our upward trajectory we probably needed 1500+ to bridge the spending of the 500 money and worrying about it later. As it stands, we just haven't capitalized on moving back in to the town and it appears we've signed up to a commercially poor deal.
Add to the fact that within 1 hours drive you've got 3-4 clubs paying more than us for players in the area without the huge pull of Martin "winner" Gray, who still lost out to Spenny etc on players himself, and you can see why we are struggling.
Ultimately it comes down to the infrastructure and the ability to generate some momentum in regards to attendances. We need new blood, a couple of hundred, turning up week in, week out. Failing that we need a hybrid model of fan/private ownership who can subsidize the Club ever so slightly, allowing more risks to be taken on transfers etc, however this doesn't sit right with me.
Commercially, Morley will take time to turn a profit, that's normal, but he won't be adding thousands to the playing budget every week. His main remit for me is get round the table with the Rugby Club and try and move some of the more profitable %'s back into our coffers.