Forest Green

[Gibber_McGee]

We made a small profit last year of about £30,000 and on track to do it again, but we vastly reduced our playing budget to achieve it. You can run a profit it seems, but you won't be competitive on the pitch and that's what matters to most fans. They would rather teams spunked their money chasing a dream than live within their means. Our recent financial history does make most of our fans a little more pragmatic though.

I think a club can be competitive (challenging for play-offs) whilst living within their means, but I think winning the league is certainly a very tall order. I'm hopeful that Wrexham will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. It does take a lot of work though, especially on building up the fanbase and the commercial side, as they became the only real sources of income. Realistically we will never be the top spenders in the league even with our current average attendance of around 5,000.

There is a minority who want us to "speculate to accumulate" and find someone to "invest" (i.e. lend the club lots of money with no real way of ever paying it back. Surprisingly not many people are keen to do that with a club with no assets). Having been through what we've been through in the past, however, I think the vast majority of fans buy into what we are trying to do.

 

[Gassy]

Don't understand the comments of we'll be ok if/when we get to the FL. The FL is good and all, but its not the premier league! It also has FFP - although thats a bit of a joke as its pretty easy to hide/cover up 'Investment'

 

[Son of Cod]

On that note, anyone got any numbers for what Grimsby are losing every season down here and how much Fenty is putting in?

Unlike most (every other?) clubs in this division, we're completely transparent with regards to our finances.

May 2015's end of season financial report is on our website, as are previous seasons in the reports archive here...
http://www.extra-gtfc.co.uk/accounts2/

 

[BarnwoodCTFC]

Forest Green expected to bring around 600 fans to our place Saturday for a top of the table clash, with that sort of support they will never establish themselves in the football league.

 

[Murphy]

Forest Green expected to bring around 600 fans to our place Saturday for a top of the table clash, with that sort of support they will never establish themselves in the football league.

Why not? They might not be able to sustain themselves in the long-run, but they can certainly establish themselves.

 

[Solihull Mooron]

AFC Fylde will get threads like this when they go up.

 

[Chris FGR]

Forest Green expected to bring around 600 fans to our place Saturday for a top of the table clash, with that sort of support they will never establish themselves in the football league.

Wasn't that long ago that our home gates were around 600. Now we're taking that to an away game.

If our support carries on improving like that why shouldn't we be able to establish ourselves?

 

[Si Robin]

You're taking 600 20-25 miles. I would have expected that many at least.

With that being said, I agree that number of away fans is irrelevant to establishing a club in the Football League. FGR will be fine as long as Vince puts money in. When he stops is when it will go tits up.

 

[DarkSithLord]

AFC Fylde will get threads like this when they go up.

As would Whitehawk

 

[Gassy]

Wasn't that long ago that our home gates were around 600. Now we're taking that to an away game.

If our support carries on improving like that why shouldn't we be able to establish ourselves?

It's a good point and fair play. But fan bases don't establish teams in the FL - money does.

Unfortunately though, 95% of lower league clubs can only reach a maximum fan base.

 

[les.gtfc]

As would Whitehawk

And Salford City!

 

[FGRJC]

You're taking 600 20-25 miles. I would have expected that many at least.

With that being said, I agree that number of away fans is irrelevant to establishing a club in the Football League. FGR will be fine as long as Vince puts money in. When he stops is when it will go tits up.

Where's this number come From? You can't buy your tickets till on the day so just making up a number...

 

[Si Robin]

I've seen it a couple of times on the FGR forum that this is the likely amount it's also roughly the same as the number you lot took to the FA Cup match with Gloucester City last season, which was supplemented by a decent number of Cheltenham fans.

 

[Solihull Mooron]

The future of bankrolled conference teams is clear :heskey:

 

[Railway Blue]

The future of bankrolled conference teams is clear :heskey:

What level of bankrolling are Solihull getting. Not criticising, just asking.

 

[BarnwoodCTFC]

It came from our ticket office supervisor when I collected mine earlier in the week. Looks like it should be a big crowd regardless of your following as all home seats are sold out in advance and terrace tickets very popular, hard to see the gate being below 5000 now.

 

[FGRJC]

5000 in your cup final... Pathetic

 

[BarnwoodCTFC]

Haha we've had Leeds and Forest here in recent years, if you were not second and hot on our heels doubtful this crowd would have been too much higher than normal. Shame this was not played later in the season as I think we may have got a 7000 sell out crowd.

 

[Eastleigh Fan]

"Forest Green expected to bring around 600 fans to our place Saturday for a top of the table clash, with that sort of support they will never establish themselves in the football league".


A clubs revenue is not boosted by how many fans they take to away games.
There are not that many L2 clubs that take 600+ to away games. From the stats i'm looking at, the L2 average was more like 400 last season.
Granted the game in question is a local derby, but i suspect that if they went up, they should be taking 300-800 to away games, so will be around the average.
The average L2 home gate last season was 4,700, but take Pompey out of that and its more like 3,500. So clubs at this level really don't have to gain that many more fans, to fit into L2 quite nicely.

 

[BarnwoodCTFC]

The point I am trying to make is if Forest Green can only take 600 to a game 25 miles away which happens to be one of the biggest in their history then it's unlikely their fan base will grow enough to sustain league football.

 

[Jemfy]

"Forest Green expected to bring around 600 fans to our place Saturday for a top of the table clash, with that sort of support they will never establish themselves in the football league".


A clubs revenue is not boosted by how many fans they take to away games.
There are not that many L2 clubs that take 600+ to away games. From the stats i'm looking at, the L2 average was more like 400 last season.
Granted the game in question is a local derby, but i suspect that if they went up, they should be taking 300-800 to away games, so will be around the average.
The average L2 home gate last season was 4,700, but take Pompey out of that and its more like 3,500. So clubs at this level really don't have to gain that many more fans, to fit into L2 quite nicely.

You appear to be fiddling figures to suit your arguement, and the numbers just don't fit. If anything the numbers are suggesting that it's a huge difference between L2 and the conference.

You can't just compare the L2 average away fans to the away game with the biggest meaning for FGR. It just isn't a fair comparison, it's not like for like, and it's dragged down by how many cross the country for Tuesday night matches. Have you got stats on the L2 average away attendance at the nearest away game? (as not all clubs in L2 have a nearby away game they view as a rivalry). What if you limited it to ones on a Saturday? I'd wager most L2 sides in an equivalent situation would take over 1,000 and be limited by the away section allocted.

Average L2 attendance last season was 4679. If you take out Pompey it drops to 4219. [source: http://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/eng-league-two-2014-2015/1/ - I did the maths on the numbers myself]. For Pompey to make a difference of 1.2k to the average they would need to be getting 1.2k*24 above the average = 28.8+(your quoted 3,500) = ~31,500.

The average conference gate last season was 1855 [http://www.football-lineups.com/tourn/Conference_National_2014-2015/stats/home_avg_atte/]. The average conference club would have to increase their gate by a factor of 2.5 in order to reach the average in L2 and "fit in quite nicely" by the set of numbers you are presenting.

 

[Chris FGR]

We took just under 1800 to Swindon in the FA Cup second round a few years ago. That didn't mean we were suddenly a big club, nor does taking 600 or so to this game mean we'll never be able to survive in the league. Away support doesn't determine how well you do financially, nor does it give you an idea of how much potential for growth you have. Home crowds do that and our average has consistently been going up, whilst the average age of our support has been going down.

Anyway, for Cheltenham fans to expect us to bring as many as they could is ridiculous, the population of Cheltenham is around 110,000 whereas the population of Nailsworth is 6000! On that basis their support should be nearly 20x bigger then ours, not only twice as big.

 

[Si Robin]

But I thought Forest Green were tapping into everywhere from the north of Bristol right up to Tewkesbury? Or is that only if they get a new stadium?

And as for FGRJC referring to this as our cup final, you couldn't be further from the truth. Rushden away in 1999 was a cup final, Leeds at home in 2008 was a cup final. the play-off finals at Cardiff and Wembley were cup finals. This is a big game, no doubt, but because of when it is in the season it is anything but a cup final.

 

[Chris FGR]

But I thought Forest Green were tapping into everywhere from the north of Bristol right up to Tewkesbury? Or is that only if they get a new stadium?

Only if we get a new stadium.

And as for FGRJC referring to this as our cup final, you couldn't be further from the truth. Rushden away in 1999 was a cup final, Leeds at home in 2008 was a cup final. the play-off finals at Cardiff and Wembley were cup finals. This is a big game, no doubt, but because of when it is in the season it is anything but a cup final.

Judging by these official promo videos, your club obviously sees this as a very big game. It isn't a title decider by any means though.

 

[The_Boss]

Have FGR really got 3 pages of thread solely devoted to them?!

 

[FGRJC]

Yes we have

 

[Chris FGR]

It's a lot more then tinpot outfits like Macclesfield will ever get.

We're BIG news.

 

[The_Boss]

It's a lot more then tinpot outfits like Macclesfield will ever get.

We're BIG news.

 

[Greenacres]

When I saw the name of Cheltenham's ground I have to admit that it made me laugh!

 

[Si Robin]

So did I. Someone paid money for their name to be put in the public domain on a national level yet nearly everyone who attends week in-week out continues to call it Whaddon Road. No-one is really put out and we get some money to support our budget.

We can't all have owners coming in, changing the whole identity of the club but having very deep pockets so therefore making it ok.