Floyd - you must know that Coventry's problems are a result of their owner SISU not Wasps.
After several years of not losing a league club or even having one go into administration, things do seem to have turned for the worse. Macclesfield also in court re winding up petitions and I think at least one more (cant remember who).
In truth if other supporters had picked up on recent announcements, they would probably have us on the "at risk" register too.
That's the thing - things are not static with football, but always moving in a certain direction, and reading the tea leaves does not take too much insight as to where it is all headed.
Though we are poor, it once again shows the prudence of that well used phrase, "cutting our cloth".
sad though the point deductions may be...a small club running on empty who failed to sign Dave Tarpey yet again might feel slightly more optimistic about another league one survival campaign. If (God Forbid) both clubs failed to survive...do two more clubs come up? (apologies if this has already been outlined in a long post elsewhere.)
@Shev said:
That's the thing - things are not static with football, but always moving in a certain direction, and reading the tea leaves does not take too much insight as to where it is all headed.
Though we are poor, it once again shows the prudence of that well used phrase, "cutting our cloth".
But we have not been "cutting our cloth", hence are losing over £500k per year.
@Wendoverman said:
sad though the point deductions may be...a small club running on empty who failed to sign Dave Tarpey yet again might feel slightly more optimistic about another league one survival campaign. If (God Forbid) both clubs failed to survive...do two more clubs come up? (apologies if this has already been outlined in a long post elsewhere.)
My guess is that if either (or both) went bust before the season started, it would mean either reprieves for Plymouth (and possibly Walsall), or playing a season with 22/23 teams, with only 1 or 2 relegation spots. It may depend on whether the scheduling has been all hammered out. If Plymouth and Walsall are already integrated into the L2 schedule, with L1 also set, it could be a nightmare to try and integrate them.
I think the best thing would be a smaller division. It may sound mean spirited, but Plymouth deserved to go down. If a club goes bust during the season, a reprieve for someone within the season makes sense, but if you go bust in the summer, it does not seem fair to reprieve someone who went down the previous season, ESPECIALLY as neither Bolton nor Bury were even in L1!
@Shev said:
That's the thing - things are not static with football, but always moving in a certain direction, and reading the tea leaves does not take too much insight as to where it is all headed.
Though we are poor, it once again shows the prudence of that well used phrase, "cutting our cloth".
But we have not been "cutting our cloth", hence are losing over £500k per year.
Good point - it is difficult times either way, though I was referring more to the recent developments in releasing players, which appears to be in response to the predicament we find ourselves in.
It would be interesting to hear @glasshalffull's view on this - I remember him forcefully arguing on 5 Live for us to take up a vacated League spot the year we came joint top of the Conference, but the FL took the decision not to promote from below. Slightly different circs here, but pertinent to Wendover's qn about whether 'two more clubs come up'.
@Shev said:
That's the thing - things are not static with football, but always moving in a certain direction, and reading the tea leaves does not take too much insight as to where it is all headed.
Though we are poor, it once again shows the prudence of that well used phrase, "cutting our cloth".
Agree with your post entirely but could the cloth be cut a bit longer?
Quick comparison with Tranmere Rovers who are getting a lot of love in The Independent today.
They list 36 partners compared to our 11. Tranmere have the likes of AJ Gallagher and Allied Irish Bank listed, who spend budget on corporate boxes like a prepubescent teenager would spank their parents credit card buying V-Bux for Fortnite. Tranmete break even, we don't. It doesn't take a benefactor to bring in additional revenue and maximise our assets.
Indeed, my local club Banbury United (now supporter-owned) lists 37 club sponsors. Am I missing a trick or are we just poor at maximising revenues?
I've not read a lot of their posts but, I think I've seen the point made on here before that the club does nowhere near enough to maximise its assets. The evidence suggests that this is entirely the case.
indeed...I think if you have a look back you'll find we have been screwed into the ground by a shadowy power group leading to our manager leaving... I also forgot to add 'Gawd help us...' at the end of the post.
@Wendoverman said:
indeed...I think if you have a look back you'll find we have been screwed into the ground by a shadowy power group leading to our manager leaving... I also forgot to add 'Gawd help us...' at the end of the post.
Irony aside, we have a club in full austerity mode. Genuine question - is there any desire within the Trust and/or its membership to take a stab at plugging our losses where cost-cutting measures aren't the sole solution? Or are Plans A, B and C all hinged on external investment?
Some good well presented posts @Richard_Cheese (sorry that sounds patronising - it’s not meant to be).
I have absolutely zero inside knowledge but Plans A & B do seem to be linked to external investment. Plan C is the creaky old resurrection of something like the 500 club where the supporters add funding for a perceived purpose, which is where we probably are right now if/when the logistics can be sorted.
Everyone who posts on this board and everyone who sits on the trust board wants the best for Wycombe Wanderers.
It is very easy for us on this board to say the trust board should find more commercial revenue. Very rarely though do we see workable ideas. Very rarely too does there seem to be an acknowledgment that if finding more commercial revenue was reasonably achievable, the trust Board would surely have done their best to achieve it. why would they not - they want the same things as we do - success for WWFC.
Compared to other clubs of our level it seems to me we have a strong board - or at least did until Howard left. Andrew Howard's expertise was raising sponsorship funds for sports teams and love him or loathe him, Ivor beeks has decades of experience in football club management to learn from. I see no reason to believe that other lower league clubs generally have better knowledge than these guys.
we have a day to day chief exec in Michael Davies. none of us have information to fairly judge whether he does a good bad or indifferent job compared to his peers at other clubs.
@Richard_Cheese suggests that the evidence is that the club does nowhere near enough to maximise its assets but to be honest I havent seen that evidence (or to be fair evidence to the contrary).
The problem is easy to identify - lower league clubs have too high costs compared to their income but solutions are much harder to find. I read the Independent article on another thread that spent ages outlining problems but seemed to come up with no solutions at all.
its easy for us on this board to criticise the trust board. I am sure they would accept they are not perfect and make mistakes. But perhaps we should remember that anyone can stand for that board if they think they can do better. Yet even at the height of the recent criticism from one or two on this forum there was an election for the Trust Board with insufficient candidates to require a vote. I am sure the Trust board are doing the best they can. if no-one else is prepared to stand up and say I can do better, than perhaps we should just be grateful to those who have and are doing a difficult job on our behalf.
Suffice it to say that others have a very different view about the goings on there. Obviously few of us are in a position to discern the truth. I do wonder though if the fact revealed there that the PFA are paying the players direct rather than loaning the money to club to pay them is significant. Rather suggests that PFA don't trust the club to use the loan in the way intended.
Low blow indeed though to criticise the guy for not being seen at the club when he is apparently suffering from a very serious illness.
Thank you for your earlier post @DevC, it certainly encapsulates my feelings about our situation. In addition, it must be difficult to sell WWFC sponsorship to commercial enterprise when we drop into a vacuum on the local BBC South/Oxford TV Sports News.
Comments
Wow, looks terrible for them. Our survival chances improve a little!
It is set to be a weird League 1 season - Bolton and Bury in severe difficulties, and Coventry likely to groundshare with Birmingham.
And Oxford surviving yet another winding up petition from their landlords today. That's six now since 'Tiger' took over.
I am stunned... stunned... that things have gone so badly for Coventry since Wasps bought their ground.
Bolton and Bury look almost certain to start the season on -12. Very sad.
Floyd - you must know that Coventry's problems are a result of their owner SISU not Wasps.
After several years of not losing a league club or even having one go into administration, things do seem to have turned for the worse. Macclesfield also in court re winding up petitions and I think at least one more (cant remember who).
In truth if other supporters had picked up on recent announcements, they would probably have us on the "at risk" register too.
That's the thing - things are not static with football, but always moving in a certain direction, and reading the tea leaves does not take too much insight as to where it is all headed.
Though we are poor, it once again shows the prudence of that well used phrase, "cutting our cloth".
sad though the point deductions may be...a small club running on empty who failed to sign Dave Tarpey yet again might feel slightly more optimistic about another league one survival campaign. If (God Forbid) both clubs failed to survive...do two more clubs come up? (apologies if this has already been outlined in a long post elsewhere.)
Things are also uncertain for Blackpool, Charlton and others although not as bad as the aforementioned clubs.
But we have not been "cutting our cloth", hence are losing over £500k per year.
If you want a real tragic case, take a look at Bangor City. Steven Vaughan jnr son of notorious football club destroyer Steven Vaughan is involved.
My guess is that if either (or both) went bust before the season started, it would mean either reprieves for Plymouth (and possibly Walsall), or playing a season with 22/23 teams, with only 1 or 2 relegation spots. It may depend on whether the scheduling has been all hammered out. If Plymouth and Walsall are already integrated into the L2 schedule, with L1 also set, it could be a nightmare to try and integrate them.
I think the best thing would be a smaller division. It may sound mean spirited, but Plymouth deserved to go down. If a club goes bust during the season, a reprieve for someone within the season makes sense, but if you go bust in the summer, it does not seem fair to reprieve someone who went down the previous season, ESPECIALLY as neither Bolton nor Bury were even in L1!
Good point - it is difficult times either way, though I was referring more to the recent developments in releasing players, which appears to be in response to the predicament we find ourselves in.
It would be interesting to hear @glasshalffull's view on this - I remember him forcefully arguing on 5 Live for us to take up a vacated League spot the year we came joint top of the Conference, but the FL took the decision not to promote from below. Slightly different circs here, but pertinent to Wendover's qn about whether 'two more clubs come up'.
Agree with your post entirely but could the cloth be cut a bit longer?
Quick comparison with Tranmere Rovers who are getting a lot of love in The Independent today.
https://www.tranmererovers.co.uk/commercial/club-partners/
https://www.wycombewanderers.co.uk/commercial/partnerships/
They list 36 partners compared to our 11. Tranmere have the likes of AJ Gallagher and Allied Irish Bank listed, who spend budget on corporate boxes like a prepubescent teenager would spank their parents credit card buying V-Bux for Fortnite. Tranmete break even, we don't. It doesn't take a benefactor to bring in additional revenue and maximise our assets.
Indeed, my local club Banbury United (now supporter-owned) lists 37 club sponsors. Am I missing a trick or are we just poor at maximising revenues?
@Richard_Cheese I think this is where @marlowchair and @nicecarrots come in...
I've not read a lot of their posts but, I think I've seen the point made on here before that the club does nowhere near enough to maximise its assets. The evidence suggests that this is entirely the case.
indeed...I think if you have a look back you'll find we have been screwed into the ground by a shadowy power group leading to our manager leaving... I also forgot to add 'Gawd help us...' at the end of the post.
Irony aside, we have a club in full austerity mode. Genuine question - is there any desire within the Trust and/or its membership to take a stab at plugging our losses where cost-cutting measures aren't the sole solution? Or are Plans A, B and C all hinged on external investment?
Some good well presented posts @Richard_Cheese (sorry that sounds patronising - it’s not meant to be).
I have absolutely zero inside knowledge but Plans A & B do seem to be linked to external investment. Plan C is the creaky old resurrection of something like the 500 club where the supporters add funding for a perceived purpose, which is where we probably are right now if/when the logistics can be sorted.
Everyone who posts on this board and everyone who sits on the trust board wants the best for Wycombe Wanderers.
It is very easy for us on this board to say the trust board should find more commercial revenue. Very rarely though do we see workable ideas. Very rarely too does there seem to be an acknowledgment that if finding more commercial revenue was reasonably achievable, the trust Board would surely have done their best to achieve it. why would they not - they want the same things as we do - success for WWFC.
Compared to other clubs of our level it seems to me we have a strong board - or at least did until Howard left. Andrew Howard's expertise was raising sponsorship funds for sports teams and love him or loathe him, Ivor beeks has decades of experience in football club management to learn from. I see no reason to believe that other lower league clubs generally have better knowledge than these guys.
we have a day to day chief exec in Michael Davies. none of us have information to fairly judge whether he does a good bad or indifferent job compared to his peers at other clubs.
@Richard_Cheese suggests that the evidence is that the club does nowhere near enough to maximise its assets but to be honest I havent seen that evidence (or to be fair evidence to the contrary).
The problem is easy to identify - lower league clubs have too high costs compared to their income but solutions are much harder to find. I read the Independent article on another thread that spent ages outlining problems but seemed to come up with no solutions at all.
its easy for us on this board to criticise the trust board. I am sure they would accept they are not perfect and make mistakes. But perhaps we should remember that anyone can stand for that board if they think they can do better. Yet even at the height of the recent criticism from one or two on this forum there was an election for the Trust Board with insufficient candidates to require a vote. I am sure the Trust board are doing the best they can. if no-one else is prepared to stand up and say I can do better, than perhaps we should just be grateful to those who have and are doing a difficult job on our behalf.
the plot thickens at Bury: https://www.buryfc.co.uk/news/2019/may/a-statement-from-the-chairman/
Wow that s one heck of a statement.
He sounds in a really bad place health wise, why on earth did he take a football club on?
Blimey.
Accusing his own staff of faking the need for a food bank is charming. Not sure he is going to win any sympathy from anyone.
he has come over a bit Sid James hasn't he
Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it in for me.
Suffice it to say that others have a very different view about the goings on there. Obviously few of us are in a position to discern the truth. I do wonder though if the fact revealed there that the PFA are paying the players direct rather than loaning the money to club to pay them is significant. Rather suggests that PFA don't trust the club to use the loan in the way intended.
Low blow indeed though to criticise the guy for not being seen at the club when he is apparently suffering from a very serious illness.
Is DevC the chairman of Bury?
Kenneth Williams...
Indeed. BCOCK.
Thank you for your earlier post @DevC, it certainly encapsulates my feelings about our situation. In addition, it must be difficult to sell WWFC sponsorship to commercial enterprise when we drop into a vacuum on the local BBC South/Oxford TV Sports News.
Genuinely gutted to get the originator of one of my favourite lines ever wrong.
It could only really be Kenneth Williams.
Apols.