12 Jan Trust Webinar
Very good webinar tonight, thought Rob came across really well and clearly set out his & the boards thoughts going forward.
He & Missy talked about merchandise sales and he estimated we are likely to see the reach well over £500k this year and £1m next year.
Priority fixes to the stadium include toilets & FA roof - likely over the summer months
Wycombe TV is likely to be up and running by Feb seeing an end to the i-follow platform for our home games, with Rob stating he wants 4 or possibly 6 camera coverage on our new channel.
Looking further ahead proposals include redevelopment of the PreSonus stand and the terrace, though initial cost estimates are in the region of £6m so there is a lot more work to do before these come to fruition.
On the playing side the club are not looking to buy anyone this month and more importantly are not in a position of having to sell either. Rob did say they are being approached by lots of Premier & Champ clubs about possible loanees coming here and he did not rule that out.
Overall I am feeling really positive about the future
Comments
He mentioned the costs of £125K for redoing the toilets and £250K for the Frank Adams roof could be covered by general club revenue, but the would probably need to look at different options for raising the £6 million currently quoted for the redevelopment of the terrace and the other smaller stand
£125k for some toilets? Are they taking the piss?
@Croider thanks for adding the cost of the toilets and roof - realised I had missed them when I hit post
POTD! That's POST of the Day BTW.
@ReturnToSenda to be fair if the club go for anti-vandal sanitary ware and they should, that alone is going to cost in the region of £25k to provide the statutory minimum amount of toilet/urinals/hand washing facilities necessary, add on all the plumbing, possibly water heaters, etc plus labour then £125k looks reasonable as a ball park start figure before haggling commences.
I made that comment purely for the play on words, but now I am genuinely fascinated by the concept of anti-vandal sanitary ware, which sounds like the title of a psychedelic rock album from the 70s.
Thanks @Erroll_Sims for the summary.
Any more detail on what changes are being proposed to the main stand and the terrace? I always thought we were restricted to a 10k capacity unless the access was improved.
Surely the redevelopment of the stand and terrace isn't really realistic as the Trust would need to stump up around £1.5m as its contribution?
Rob did mention the need to sort out the road access first.
Regarding the terrace he talked about bringing fans closer to the pitch, incorporating an area for disabled supporters and having possibly 3 tiers including standing on the lower tier, rail seats on the second and normal seating on the third and to incorporate a bar, As for the PreSonus he felt it held too few seats at the moment and wanted to explore ways to increase the capacity as well as incorporate more boxes etc.
He also intimated that there were numerous options re funding the future development but that he would not consider anything that put the club or its infrastructure at risk.
He also mentioned the possibility of further investment from him &/or loans from him & Missy
Does seem a lot but would be reduced if the club could earn some profit along the line somewhere possibly by going up again or player sales and it wouldn't all be needed in one go right away. Lofty ambitions but some smaller stuff will happen first and some of the progress to date is impressive . The increased sales figures from the shop based on a bit of worldwide interest and not covering items for the sake of having them is remarkable.
Excellent
Ground improvements at circa £6m…..I wonder where that £6m may come from?? (Tongue in cheek Derby fans!)
Gone are the days when we haven’t got a spot to piss in
Toilets clearly important, especially after a few beers but interesting Rob also mentioned possibility of loanees. We have had some excellent loanees in over the last couple of years. It would be good to get a couple in to boost the squad to keep our momentum going.
Was there any comment around funding for the womens team at all? Cheers
I think he mentioned the new Terrace end having a capacity of 1800-1900, so a small increase on the current figure of 1429, and still keeps it within the overall maximum capacity of 10,000.
Not brought up @peterparrotface. Anyone can start the scheme but, as the Women’s teams come under the wing of the Trust, their thoughts on funding them would be welcome.
He seemed to be talking of positive progress on getting the new road out finally, if that happens we could presumably go a bit higher if we wanted or needed.
He also commented on the wish to improve the Disabled facilities in the ground and also the Terrace which I guess may slightly reduce standing capacity.
How would that happen out of interest?
I thought we'd all agreed that we'd just install a chairlift over the hill to West Wycombe instead?
Thanks Steve
@ReturnToSenda Hmmmmmm ... a funicular railway, maybe. Even Eddie Monsoon might come back for that.
Bloody hell can you imagine the queue after the game?
I'm sure someone suggested one of those little ones where you sit on the train
True, but it'd probably be quite fun after a few pints
The Mel Morris Stand would seem respectful
Anyone any idea what this is about?
Email summary from the Trust:
An audience with Rob Couhig last night
This was held in the Woodlands Lounge with about 20 people physically in attendance and another 83 joining via Zoom.
There were a mixture of questions put by Nigel Kingston, Trust Chair and questions from Trust members. Here is a summary of the questions and answers from last night.
Football: Feels positive about chances of promotion. Squad has quality in depth, no 'need' to get more players in, but if good opportunity? Not looking to sell, don't want to hurt squad quality, but if 'silly' offers received? No loan players required so far due to development squad and not desperate to get any loans in. Premier League clubs offering us players on loan.
Derby: everyone knew they were cheating. They acknowledged they deliberately didn't submit their updated accounts to EFL as would have resulted in points penalty. EFL reasons for declining Middlesbrough request to intervene in original case against Derby actually lends clear support to our position. We have not sued Derby but have submitted a claim against club, via administrators. Rob has fiduciary duty to both club and Trust to pursue financial recompense.
Crowds: average up nearly 1,000 over two years ago. Nearly 7,500 fans against Sunderland and hope to have close to 8,000 for Oxford. COVID still having adverse effect. Hope to make exciting announcement regarding ticket prices shortly. Trust members can help attendance by telling family and friends about value/entertainment and get as many as possible to come. Let Rob/Pete know of any ideas to attract more fans. Club focus on maximisation of opportunity not response to lowest common denomination, whereas Trust previously had to take account of all members opinions. Reaffirmed club has zero tolerance to abuse.
Exit Road: high priority and working with local authorities/Dashwwod to try and make it come about.
Merchandising: Pre sale of club, merchandise sales c.£95k with cost of sales c.£50k. Sales last year c.£275k, much of this on-line. In under 5 months this year, already exceeded last year's sales, 18%/19% of which made overseas. Projecting £550k/£600k full year. Move to 'worldwide' marketing rather than focusing on local area with high competition, proving successful. Larger range of products being added. Home kit back in stock last week January
Half-time entertainment: Penalty shoot-out for kids raised and club will look at it.
Fan Led Review: Rob and Pete met with Tracey Crouch. Growing number of owners acknowledging unsustainable to keep throwing money at player recruitment. Uniform cost controls idea raised: capping player costs at level of solidarity/media income. Support increasing distribution from Premier League to 25%/30% and not allowing clubs to leverage stadia. Rob not pro-regulator, although Pete is. Believes there will be some change, probably more funds distributed accompanied by more regulation. Tracy Crouch accepted invite to come to Wycombe match.
Kit supplier: didn't know position ref whether O'Neill's will remain the kit supplier next year..
Training Ground: huge amount of work completed, much by volunteers and site now as good as all but the biggest clubs. Attractive facility to potential players. Day for Trust members to visit will take place when virus conditions allow.
Real Ale Bar: No specific plans for re-introducing the real ale bar, but one real ale available in most bars.
Food: No plans to reduce cost of food offered. Focusing on better quality and making offering revenue generating rather than being a cost to club.
Stadium development: plans not tied to whichever league we are in. Aim to get to 10k/12k capacity with ability to drive revenue from number of sources. Next priority refurbishment toilets, roof, etc. should be capable of being financed from revenue. West terrace needs work - vision to move it closer to field of play, include seating / standing ability, site for disabled supporters and bars, aiming for 1,800/1,900 capacity. Pre-Sonus stand c.1,200 seats at present but not efficient use of space, looking at longer term re-development also. Total cost c.£6m for both, but working on reducing this. Not looking at borrowing to fund.
Wycombe Wanderers TV: will be moving away from iFollow, hopefully February. Will also migrate away from existing EFL website and develop our own. Cost of running c.£100k pa, but confident will be strongly revenue generating. Announcement on who will lead it to come shortly. WWFC have active fan groups in 70 countries, up from 7 pre purchase. Looking to have games on Wycombe TV covered by 4-6 cameras, away games will be shown by taking iFollow feed.
Environmental impact: looking at potential for use of solar power especially in development of Pre Sonus stand.
If you have any queries on the above please let me know.