National League 2017-18

[genesimmons]

Didn't realise Chester were in financial difficulty too?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42802513

Me neither whats going wrong. Decent gates for the conference

 

[Bluandwite]

Me neither whats going wrong. Decent gates for the conference

Poor gates for us though, especially with our model.

In a nutshell they're well below what we've budgeted for. We got £130k for Hughes in the summer and gave McCarthy free reign to spend the lot in one go, a manager who should have been sacked much earlier than that. Went nine months without a home win, can't do that when relying on gate money as much as we do.

We've dipped in to our reserves and will have a small budget next year, that's the likelihood.

 

[EnglishRed]

I really don't want Chester to either go down, and especially not to go bust. I even have colleagues and friends (not good friends obvs) who support Chester. I think the fan owned model can work if done properly. So id love to see them sort themselves out and get back on track.

A smaller part of me can't help but recall the constant 'tick tock' comments on the old deva chat where some chester fans would constantly predict our imminent financial demise, the howls of anger that we were being bailed out by tax payers money being used to buy the ground by the university (ignoring the ownership details of their own ground, or our hefty rent for a ground we had stolen from us) the 'mind the gap' nonsense last year. The glee at Gary Mills magic 30 game extension clauses for shit players. And of course the major coup when Ross Hannah turned down our 1 year contract offer to go to them for 2, which showed how much better they were than us and how the games against us this season would be 'easy'.

So yeah. Part of me is chuckling about all that.

 

[Master D]

I really don't care what they do as they are no threat to us and the rivalry is not the actual rivalry it was with the real Chester City and not this new club. The rivalry is now just a thing built up by the local media twice a year who think in their minds that the fans care about it more than anything when they actually don't.

They've been grossly mismanaged....by themselves. There should be none of all this bleating and hiding behind what certain directors have done, if you don't like the way it is being done then challenge it, out them and get them replaced. No excuse for a fan owned club to be overspending.

 

[genesimmons]

Is the fan owned model as ideal as it sounds. Seen the wheels come off st a few fan owned clubs of late and some been sold to business men like portsmouth

 

[Meadow]

Is the fan owned model as ideal as it sounds. Seen the wheels come off st a few fan owned clubs of late and some been sold to business men like portsmouth

It can do if you're willing to accept the limitations and have a good CEO and management committee running the club. We're lucky that both CEOs we've had since restarting have been accountants and they've kept a very tight rein on the budget.

We know we'll never reach the dizzy heights that WFC did, but that doesn't bother us. Keeping dodgy businessmen away from the club is way more important.

 

[Gibber_McGee]

It looks like Chester have been completely mismanaged. It seems almost criminal. At the very least it is inept.

The fan owned model works, but only if it is done properly.

The overriding aim of those running a fan owned club should be ensuring that the club continues to exist in perpetuity. If that means relegation because you can’t afford to compete with other clubs in the league then so be it. At least there will still be a club to support.

Chester seem to have gambled massively and lost. There should be much more anger from their fans and everyone on their board should be forced to go. As a fan owned club there is no excuse for having chancers and idiots running the club.

 

[Railway Blue]

I really don't care what they do as they are no threat to us and the rivalry is not the actual rivalry it was with the real Chester City and not this new club. The rivalry is now just a thing built up by the local media twice a year who think in their minds that the fans care about it more than anything when they actually don't.

They've been grossly mismanaged....by themselves. There should be none of all this bleating and hiding behind what certain directors have done, if you don't like the way it is being done then challenge it, out them and get them replaced. No excuse for a fan owned club to be overspending.

Apathy has ruled unfortunately.

The boards have become progressively less able as the years have passed. I would imagine a Year 10 group of schoolkids could seriously have done a better job than this current lot. The chairman was asked to resign last night and some morons actually shouted down the bloke that posed the question. That's what we've got to deal with.

 

[B2TF]

Steven Vaughan's "shower of fools" jibe will be fully vindicated if fan-run Chester go to the same end as Chester City. What the hell have you been doing over there? There's a lot of Shaymen thinking, "thank God OUR lunatics never got to run our asylum".

 

[Luke Imp]

Is the fan owned model as ideal as it sounds. Seen the wheels come off st a few fan owned clubs of late and some been sold to business men like portsmouth

Works when you're doing well, but if you get into a rut it'll be difficult to get out of it.

It looks like Chester have been completely mismanaged. It seems almost criminal. At the very least it is inept.

The fan owned model works, but only if it is done properly.

The overriding aim of those running a fan owned club should be ensuring that the club continues to exist in perpetuity. If that means relegation because you can’t afford to compete with other clubs in the league then so be it. At least there will still be a club to support.

Chester seem to have gambled massively and lost. There should be much more anger from their fans and everyone on their board should be forced to go. As a fan owned club there is no excuse for having chancers and idiots running the club.

Have they gambled? I don't know the ins and outs, but simplistically it seems they set a budget on 'x' crowds, which they could afford and have now fallen below that. I can't imagine their budget would have been set on a silly figure?

 

[Master D]

Their anticipated budget for next season is apparently 250k, if they make it that far of course. Is that even enough to realistically compete as a part time NLN side?

Edit: I know Woking cope on less than half of that but that’s not the point.

 

[Gibber_McGee]

Works when you're doing well, but if you get into a rut it'll be difficult to get out of it.


Have they gambled? I don't know the ins and outs, but simplistically it seems they set a budget on 'x' crowds, which they could afford and have now fallen below that. I can't imagine their budget would have been set on a silly figure?

From what I understand they increased their playing budget by £100,000 this season, and based their higher budget on attracting higher crowds. They also offered players longer contracts, and contracts that triggered an automatic renewal after 30 appearances. Essentially, they gambled, which a fan owned club shouldn't be doing without significant cash reserves to do so.

Additionally, they have known that there was likely to be a shortfall in their budget since last September, but only told the owners (the fans) last night. Since September they have sacked one manager, brought in another manager, and signed more players, which has made the financial situation even worse. They also allowed the new manager to make the club full-time rather than part-time. Madness.

To compound things, they had a long-term "rainy day" fund of £100,000, which was meant to help with budget shortfalls, which they have spent almost all of in the last three weeks, without asking the owners whether they agree with this decision.

The ineptitude is staggering - if you were planning to destroy a club this is how you would go about doing it.

 

[Bendubz]

It can do if you're willing to accept the limitations and have a good CEO and management committee running the club. We're lucky that both CEOs we've had since restarting have been accountants and they've kept a very tight rein on the budget.

We know we'll never reach the dizzy heights that WFC did, but that doesn't bother us. Keeping dodgy businessmen away from the club is way more important.

I'm intrigued as to how much the investments of a certain bestselling author helps you as a club. Obviously money wise you're still a bottom feeder, but has there been any noticeable change in the investments since he got involved with the Wombles?

 

[Meadow]

I'm intrigued as to how much the investments of a certain bestselling author helps you as a club. Obviously money wise you're still a bottom feeder, but has there been any noticeable change in the investments since he got involved with the Wombles?

I've no idea how much John Green puts into the club. Our budget increases slightly every year but we never count on FA cup prize money or TV money so that's an added bonus.

 

[CestrianHawk]

Works when you're doing well, but if you get into a rut it'll be difficult to get out of it.


Have they gambled? I don't know the ins and outs, but simplistically it seems they set a budget on 'x' crowds, which they could afford and have now fallen below that. I can't imagine their budget would have been set on a silly figure?

The budget assumed crowds similar to last season, which wasn't very high. The increase in the playing budget was from funded from a player sale. Crowds have been down on average (ie the paying supporters, but not season ticket holders), meaning a shortfall that would have been covered by the rainy-day fund. I suspect the bigger problem has been the decision to sack the manager and the consequent loss that hadn't been budgeted for. This has led to a cash-flow problem over the next couple of months, and with no 'moneyed backer' to help out it is potentially very serious.
I don't think it was ever a case of gambling for success, but simply a reflection of how parlous the purely fan-owned model is to unexpected events. There's a lot of emotional angst about the situation, and the board currently lacks the strong leadership needed to help us through this problem. Plenty of criticism about a lack of communication, but I'm not convinced that being told two months ago that we might run out of money in April would have instantly galvanised the fan base.
Quite simply it's now in our own hands. The sum of money needing to be raised to get to the end of the season isn't that great, and once there we'll be able to survive, even if with more modest means for the near future.

 

[Mark kavanagh]

I wouldnt like our supporters club anywhere near the running of our club if the cringeworthy sycophantic palios banner they produced is anything to go by .

 

[Tranmerewhite]

I wouldnt like our supporters club anywhere near the running of our club if the cringeworthy sycophantic palios banner they produced is anything to go by .

In fighting. Fickle decisions, no stability. Yeah doesn’t appeal.

 

[Boz]

I wouldnt like our supporters club anywhere near the running of our club if the cringeworthy sycophantic palios banner they produced is anything to go by .

Tend to agree re Supporters Club, who seem a self-appointed clique, with a press-ganged membership, because of their away ticket app. However, theTrust have done a decent job, although lacking the finances to do any more than a holding job should the need arise.

 

[RLC]

I wouldnt like our supporters club anywhere near the running of our club if the cringeworthy sycophantic palios banner they produced is anything to go by .

I bloody hate that banner.

 

[Pablosammy]

I bloody hate that banner.

Not sure I've seen it, what does it say?

 

[RLC]

Not sure I've seen it, what does it say?

It is the club motto, but with Palios's face also emblazoned across it. I am supportive of what he is dong with the club, but putting the Chairman's face on a supporter banner does not sit right with me. Objectively he has not actually achieved anything yet, at least not on the pitch.

I get the impression that the TROSC leadership are too close to the Chairman.......

 

[DarkSithLord]

Thought I would put this on hereVery revealing interview with former Alfreton manager Nicky Law

Show just what a job he did for us. And how we could have gone further if our chairman had backed him further.
Highly worth a read when you have 5 minutes to kill/
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...cky-law-on-recruiting-to-fit-the-clubs-vision
Mentions Simon Francis,Kyle Walker and John Stones as players he spotted and confirms the long thought rumour about Vardy

 

[The_Boss]

Fuck knows whats going on at Macc, players and staff have released a statement to say they've not been paid for January, nor had they been told they weren't going to be.

"As a team, we would like to make people aware that we have not been paid our January wages.
Whilst this is alarming what disappoints us most, is that we were not notified by the owner or the Chairman of the situation and have not been contacted since.
All despite numerous attempts for clarity from the players and management.
It has been well publicised that we have one of, if not the smallest budgets in the division and yet despite this, we are top of the National League.
Throughout this season the team, management and staff have always and will always be 100% committed to the hard work and endeavour of gaining promotion to the Football League."
Macclesfield Town Players and Staff

 

[Harrier94]

Fuck knows whats going on at Macc, players and staff have released a statement to say they've not been paid for January, nor had they been told they weren't going to be.

"As a team, we would like to make people aware that we have not been paid our January wages.
Whilst this is alarming what disappoints us most, is that we were not notified by the owner or the Chairman of the situation and have not been contacted since.
All despite numerous attempts for clarity from the players and management.
It has been well publicised that we have one of, if not the smallest budgets in the division and yet despite this, we are top of the National League.
Throughout this season the team, management and staff have always and will always be 100% committed to the hard work and endeavour of gaining promotion to the Football League."
Macclesfield Town Players and Staff

I feel for Jared Hodgkiss. Twice wasn't paid here when we had our issues. As well as missing all of last season through injuries. Hopefully your situation sorts itself out quickly

 

[Chief Rocka]

Fuck knows whats going on at Macc, players and staff have released a statement to say they've not been paid for January, nor had they been told they weren't going to be.

"As a team, we would like to make people aware that we have not been paid our January wages.
Whilst this is alarming what disappoints us most, is that we were not notified by the owner or the Chairman of the situation and have not been contacted since.
All despite numerous attempts for clarity from the players and management.
It has been well publicised that we have one of, if not the smallest budgets in the division and yet despite this, we are top of the National League.
Throughout this season the team, management and staff have always and will always be 100% committed to the hard work and endeavour of gaining promotion to the Football League."
Macclesfield Town Players and Staff

Breaking news from Hartlepool and Chester. Massive surge in number of requests from Macc for their buckets back

 

[GuiseleySteve]

Seems a bizarre reward for success, must be some of that outside the box blue sky thinking.

 

[The_Boss]

Breaking news from Hartlepool and Chester. Massive surge in number of requests from Macc for their buckets back

Was just about to dig that post out and ask for them back!!

 

[The_Boss]

I feel for Jared Hodgkiss. Twice wasn't paid here when we had our issues. As well as missing all of last season through injuries. Hopefully your situation sorts itself out quickly

Hopefully it's a simple admin error and will be sorted but I'm not holding my breath.

Seems strange that we'd take 3 players on loan if we're in a bad way. A statement from the club is need very very quickly.

 

[Master D]

Little old penniless Macclesfield strike again.

 

[Raymondo316]

Daggers fans on the Facebook banter page seem to think their right in the shit now as well. Something about the bloke who was putting in all the money has walked away.