Will your club survive the crisis?

[Gatekeeper]

Who is worried about their club’s future ?

 

[Chief Rocka]

Our chairman spoke yesterday and it was a tough sobering listen, questioned himself about how long he can keep us propped up on his own, ideally wants investors to come in and help, be it a share scheme/independent investors, the inability to sell season tickets is gonna leave a hole in the finances of around £400K, all staff now furloughed until June, no plans to go part time yet but could change, reckons clubs especially at this level are gonna go bust.

If we take that Bristol Rovers leak as gospel, were the EFL reckons there will be no footy in front of fans until January 2021, How does any club survive without paying fans coming through the doors? We'll all go bust.

 

[Gatekeeper]

Tough times for the bigger clubs in the NL. The smaller ones like us maybe able to survive as our overheads are small. We only have one or two full time members of staff at Sutton. I believe Chesterfield have around 30. We do have 9 players on contract for next season. That is a worry.

 

[Soup Ladle]

To be honest, the whole pyramid is unsustainable but down here having fully professional clubs with mediocre squads of 30, some on 4 figures p.w, overnight stays to most away games, 200 match day staff to pay in the 5th tier is ridiculous.

Down here it’s very difficult for ex league clubs to adjust. First there’s the finances and cut backs to be made (which amount to very little as it’s such a tough league and every resource is directed to going up). Then when you don’t you struggle to change the club and supporters mentality that you’re now a non league club whilst still barely making the changes required. Maybe there’s legacy debts as well, and there’s still the expectation to be up there. Money needs to be put in or revenue will decrease. We do need changes in football and if it means going part time then we’ll have to do it. I’d like to see regionalization of this league with the north and south below and do it for L1 and 2 combined as well. More local games, more money, and more sustainable business models can come of that.

 

[Master D]

If clubs have put their staff on the furlough scheme, have shut their stadium down and basically locked it up, what costs are they actually incurring right now?

Unless they are making up the extra 20% which I certainly wouldn't endorse anyone doing, they are non-league players at the end of the day and sadly it's a business.

 

[#Beebot]

If clubs have put their staff on the furlough scheme, have shut their stadium down and basically locked it up, what costs are they actually incurring right now?

Unless they are making up the extra 20% which I certainly wouldn't endorse anyone doing, they are non-league players at the end of the day and sadly it's a business.

I do wonder where the costs are coming from otherwise. Do they rent their grounds? Or paying transfer fees in instalments?

 

[Railway Blue]

According to Talk Sport we are about to go bust, although we have no debts and £100k reserve I don't see that.

 

[Gatekeeper]

There are no guarantees the furlough will continue into the summer months.

 

[Master D]

I do wonder where the costs are coming from otherwise. Do they rent their grounds? Or paying transfer fees in instalments?

We effectively rent ours (99 year lease) from the university next door to the ground. But it would be very bad press for them to be demanding money that would bankrupt us. Our training ground is literally a council playing field, so no costs there.

I wonder whether clubs are just predicting that they will be going bust at some point in the next year. Maybe they've took a chance and spent over and above their budget already and with the cancelling of about 5 remaining home matches they are even deeper in the shit.

People have paid season tickets too, do they get a refund? You'd imagine fans at this level will not be chasing things like that and will be happy for the club to keep it, but if you were a Prem club supporter you'd be wanting a proportion of your money back for sure from those cash-rich clubs.

 

[John Still]

If clubs have put their staff on the furlough scheme, have shut their stadium down and basically locked it up, what costs are they actually incurring right now?

Unless they are making up the extra 20% which I certainly wouldn't endorse anyone doing, they are non-league players at the end of the day and sadly it's a business.

Lots of costs still to incur:

Wages that are not covered by furlough
Electric/Gas Bills
Rent/Mortgages
Loan repayments
Transfer repayments
Insurance payments
Beer/Food contracts most loans paid when sold
Training ground costs
Groundsmen
Internet/server costs
Routine maintenance costs
Security costs

Probably lots more monthly repayments to programme printers etc, money will dry up quicker than you think.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Can’t see how any club at this level survives this for very long.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

We’ve been very lucky that we were taken over in January by someone with big pockets.

Having said I’m sure his businesses are taking a hit.

 

[Quakerz]

Our chairman spoke yesterday and it was a tough sobering listen, questioned himself about how long he can keep us propped up on his own, ideally wants investors to come in and help, be it a share scheme/independent investors, the inability to sell season tickets is gonna leave a hole in the finances of around £400K, all staff now furloughed until June, no plans to go part time yet but could change, reckons clubs especially at this level are gonna go bust.

If we take that Bristol Rovers leak as gospel, were the EFL reckons there will be no footy in front of fans until January 2021, How does any club survive without paying fans coming through the doors? We'll all go bust.

Just heard about this. It was inevitable that Radged would seek a way out if his businesses got in trouble. Same happened at Darlo, for whatever reason his business wasn't doing so well and he was looking for a way out at Darlo as he was just chucking money down the drain, administration followed.

Sadly unless you get a buyer come forward (hello Jeff Stelling) I can only see administration ahead.

What a cretin Radged Strings is though, someone on the Darlo forum said that he was talking about the 17 deaths in one of his care homes on the radio and he said "that's 17 empty beds, that's 10-11 grand a week". Is this true? No condolences to the families or anything?

He's going to be someone who put two north east non league clubs into administration, that's some going. And still the press talk to him as if he's some sort of nice guy.

Jesus, I'm glad he didn't get back in at Darlo again when he showed an interest.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

Rugby League is getting a £16m loan from the government to ensure its clubs don't fold - I imagine this is something the National League and maybe EFL are pursuing?

 

[Chief Rocka]

Just heard about this. It was inevitable that Radged would seek a way out if his businesses got in trouble. Same happened at Darlo, for whatever reason his business wasn't doing so well and he was looking for a way out at Darlo as he was just chucking money down the drain, administration followed.

Sadly unless you get a buyer come forward (hello Jeff Stelling) I can only see administration ahead.

What a cretin Radged Strings is though, someone on the Darlo forum said that he was talking about the 17 deaths in one of his care homes on the radio and he said "that's 17 empty beds, that's 10-11 grand a week". Is this true? No condolences to the families or anything?

He's going to be someone who put two north east non league clubs into administration, that's some going. And still the press talk to him as if he's some sort of nice guy.

Jesus, I'm glad he didn't get back in at Darlo again when he showed an interest.

I only listened to the his bit on Pools and turned it off after so have no idea about the care home comments.

It was alarming but no worse than what any other chairman has said so far, I think the Accrington chairman was posing a similar viewpoint earlier in the week, we're not alone in this, every other chairman will be feeling the pinch because it's them whose getting hit the hardest and shitty decisions (and unpopular) like redundancies at the club don't paint them in a positive light.

He advised caution, wasn't planning to walk away and leave us up shit creek, but he's right in a lot of ways, we can't keep running Pools as an EFL club in the National League, things have to change and the pandemic has just sped up the process of us cutting our cloth accordingly, I imagine if we survive, it'll be a smaller run operation, more volunteer positions, 44 week contracts type of deal.

 

[Quakerz]

I only listened to the his bit on Pools and turned it off after so have no idea about the care home comments.

It was alarming but no worse than what any other chairman has said so far, I think the Accrington chairman was posing a similar viewpoint earlier in the week, we're not alone in this, every other chairman will be feeling the pinch because it's them whose getting hit the hardest and shitty decisions (and unpopular) like redundancies at the club don't paint them in a positive light.

He advised caution, wasn't planning to walk away and leave us up shit creek, but he's right in a lot of ways, we can't keep running Pools as an EFL club in the National League, things have to change and the pandemic has just sped up the process of us cutting our cloth accordingly, I imagine if we survive, it'll be a smaller run operation, more volunteer positions, 44 week contracts type of deal.

In your advantage he may not want another football club administration against his name.

That's all I can think of mind.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Just heard about this. What a cretin Radged Strings is though, someone on the Darlo forum said that he was talking about the 17 deaths in one of his care homes on the radio and he said "that's 17 empty beds, that's 10-11 grand a week". Is this true? No condolences to the families or anything?
.

No that’s been twisted. All he said was as an example, there were 17 vacant beds in one of his homes. Nothing about deaths or corona, wasn’t even part of the conversation, and per year that’s worth 500 grand which puts him in a weaker position to subsidise losses.

 

[Chief Rocka]

In your advantage he may not want another football club administration against his name.

That's all I can think of mind.

He did mention Darlo but for the life of me I can't remember in what context, short term Pools will be fine, long term and no 20/21 season in sight, not so much.

 

[Fyldefan]

I only listened to the his bit on Pools and turned it off after so have no idea about the care home comments.

It was alarming but no worse than what any other chairman has said so far, I think the Accrington chairman was posing a similar viewpoint earlier in the week, we're not alone in this, every other chairman will be feeling the pinch because it's them whose getting hit the hardest and shitty decisions (and unpopular) like redundancies at the club don't paint them in a positive light.

He advised caution, wasn't planning to walk away and leave us up shit creek, but he's right in a lot of ways, we can't keep running Pools as an EFL club in the National League, things have to change and the pandemic has just sped up the process of us cutting our cloth accordingly, I imagine if we survive, it'll be a smaller run operation, more volunteer positions, 44 week contracts type of deal.

Completely agree with this. Out chairman has said the same in some recent videos. Also said there are 3 clubs he knows of that are about to go bust.

 

[Master D]

We've released some info:

The Trust (who own the club) have forwarded £20k to keep cashflow going

Club has received nothing yet regarding furlough money (I'm assuming we've stopped paying staff weeks ago and they will be back-dated, who knows)

Our current outgoings are therefore about £10k a month

National League has paid every club £50k, which was due to be paid in the summer

We need to pay £100k rent in September (as mentioned, I'm sure this will not be strictly enforced)

 

[Luke Imp]

We've released some info:

The Trust (who own the club) have forwarded £20k to keep cashflow going

Club has received nothing yet regarding furlough money (I'm assuming we've stopped paying staff weeks ago and they will be back-dated, who knows)

Our current outgoings are therefore about £10k a month

National League has paid every club £50k, which was due to be paid in the summer

We need to pay £100k rent in September (as mentioned, I'm sure this will not be strictly enforced)

You have to pay the money out to then be able to claim so everyone would still be getting paid.

 

[TonyM]

You don't have to have paid everything - I did a claim last week for April salaries before they had been 'paid'. Effectively what you need is a pay date and gross pay figures which seems to be enough to make a claim. In our case we had ended up paying out before the furlough money came back into our account but maybe next month we might claim a day or two earlier to make sure it will be there beforehand. For weekly paid staff I think you can make a claim every three weeks.

 

[Gatekeeper]

Credit where it is due, a week after the Government portal opened Sutton United received their first CJRS payment in full and on time.

 

[#Beebot]

Credit where it is due, a week after the Government portal opened Sutton United received their first CJRS payment in full and on time.

Some businesses received the money before they had even paid their staff.

Provided the business gets the form in early the money arrives very quickly. Haven't heard anything to suggest delays anywhere.

 

[CFC91]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1256120890242355202

quite a good update from us today. Lots of detail about the funding we’ve received so far etc.

 

[Josh Butler]

We had a bit on reserve from our fa cup run but with one of the higher wage bills in the league we'll run dry eventually. 6 home matches plus potentially 1,2 or 3 playoff games (all of which could have been the last ever game at York St and seen bumper gates) has probably cost us well over 100k in gate receipts alone
Had about 6 signed on for next year, hopefully they defer but for this seasons wages I don't think we've asked them to cut or defer yet.
We've not got the begging buckets out yet unlike some who have then had the cheek to pay fees for players!

 

[B2TF]

What crisis?

 

[Swedes]

We've spent the last year trying to scale things back after the lavish unsustainable spending levels of the Hodgkinson era, and judging by what our current chairman has said it appears we have done everything just in time.

A lot of our big earners have gone, or went out of contract yesterday. We pay a peppercorn rent. The vast majority of our staff have been furloughed (including the manager). We'll suffer from the loss of gate receipts, bar takings, and from Everton not having their under 23's playing here, but our outgoings are no longer at stupid levels. If we make it through this (and I both hope and suspect we will), we've probably got the right man in charge who knows all about how to manage on a tight budget.

 

[Optipez]

If clubs have put their staff on the furlough scheme, have shut their stadium down and basically locked it up, what costs are they actually incurring right now?

Unless they are making up the extra 20% which I certainly wouldn't endorse anyone doing, they are non-league players at the end of the day and sadly it's a business.

Clubs still paying 20% of wages plus the hidden costs of employing, N I contribitions, holiday pay, sick pay, insurances etc. With no income it's ruinous.
I would expect that by the end of June with no season ticket sales for revenue it's going to be mass layoffs for all but one groundsman, Secretary, financial controller and the manager at most clubs.
Notts are arguably the biggest club in the division with new ambitious owners but they're not a bottomless pit so I don't think we'll be immune from pretty much mothballing the club.

 

[Optipez]

Can’t see how any club at this level survives this for very long.

I think the likes of Chorley have got more chance of surviving this than the likes of Derby County. It's almost impossible to steer a business with a £15 million turnover into a business with £1million turnover or less within a matter of weeks unless the business has a massive cash surplus.