How's the stadium plan coming along?

Frosty

Hello all, how are the plans for the stadium progressing?

How long do you reckon before you get the finance together? Have there been any plans drawn up, potential sites and the like?

I'm interested to hear the various views and predictions from all the fans here. Plus I'd like to get more than two responses in this thread

mickthered

The club are still in the process of working with the council identifying various sites

Hopefully we will find out more at the next Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 23rd October

robertsoncrusoe

Here's one response to get the ball rolling- I've no idea what's happening about the stadium, but they'd better hurry up because the rent at Bury seems to be a big handicap.

mickthered

I think we will still be there next season

Frosty

How much is the rent at Bury setting the club back? I mean both in terms of actual capital as well as development. Have there been discussions about how the money saved from renting a stadium would be spent?

robertsoncrusoe

Some will say it's a slippery slope, but here's the rub- they need the money paid out in rent and the extra income that their own stadium would bring in to increase the amount they can pay the players- more money= better players= higher league position.
Where have you heard that before?

mickthered

Rent at Bury is around 5 grand a game
But as well as that the club also lose out on ground side sponsorship catering and bar takings etc which at this level means quite a bit and most clubs rely on this more then the actual gate money
Although this year some people have volunteered to act as stewards and will be getting trained up this will also save some money as at the moment part of the agreement is that the club also use Burys stewards


Any money saved/earned when the club moves HAS to be spent on the club itself or any community projects the club are working on

WeWonItTwoTimes

Mick, I know of a certain American benefactor who would be very willing to help you guys out. Shall I get in touch with the individual in question?

Frosty

Five grand a game?! That seems like an obscene amount of money...

How much needs to be raised for the stadium by the fans in order to get this project going? I'm interested in helping out if I can.

mickthered

A tenner a month and the chance to win a holiday each month

Plenty of other sponsorship things going on from match day sponsorship down to the players socks and other things

http://www.fc-utd.co.uk/documents/sp...09ratecard.pdf

hotshot2004

I have got couple of mates, who are willing to get an extra sponsor for the team on yearly basis. when i told them about the situation.

mickthered

As long as he understands that no matter how much he puts in he will still only get the same say as you or me and still only one vote

Tony7

maybe you can move into eastlands when they anounce next week plans for 800,000 all seater stadium

77

Isn't Eastlands a community stadium...?

mickthered

Yes but not much good for FC as some massive reserve team already play there and somehow I don't think they would let FC play at the same time as that other team at the slightly bigger stadium next door

Also with the Athletics track, the drainage on the pitch is not good enough to sustain two teams

And now with the take over the chances are that the new owners may want to buy the stadium and surrounding land

WeWonItTwoTimes

A few questions Mick if you don't mind.

Which other clubs have you looked at with regards to ground sharing?

Surely there must be cheaper options available and another club may well let you keep more catering/bar income. Does Bury really take all of the catering/bar income for your games?

Roughly how much are the sites you're looking at going to cost to buy and where are the sites located? Are you looking at renting land from the council?

As I understand it the development fund will go towards the cost of buying/constructing your own ground? Any idea how much has been raised?

I see you have standing orders of around 50k a year for the development fund, which is impressive but probably not enough to make a serious dent in the purchase/construction cost.

As I understand it you can get up to 40% of construction costs paid for by grants (Football stadia improvement fund) which would obviously be hugely beneficial to yourselves. Is that correct?

Do you know what the minimum stadium requirements (capacity, number of seats etc) are for a club to be able to participate in the footall league?

mickthered

A few questions Mick if you don't mind.

Which other clubs have you looked at with regards to ground sharing?

The club have looked at quite a few options with many clubs
Radcliffe seemed to be the best offer happy with money from the bar takings plus expenses only problem here that its an awkward place to get to and back from especially night games chances are that the money saved would have been lost had some people stopped going


Surely there must be cheaper options available and another club may well let you keep more catering/bar income. Does Bury really take all of the catering/bar income for your games?

Bury have sold their catering rights to an outside company which take all the profits even for the Bury games The catering company also set their own prices which are expensive
FC have the use of a small bar before the game where they put food on and sell bottled drinks and cans etc but its only a small bar and can only fit a few people in

Roughly how much are the sites you're looking at going to cost to buy and where are the sites located? Are you looking at renting land from the council?

The Board are working with local councils (Manchester and Trafford) looking at various sites they are looking at getting the land from the council and also working with them after the ground is built

As I understand it the development fund will go towards the cost of buying/constructing your own ground? Any idea how much has been raised?

last I heard was around £180,000

I see you have standing orders of around 50k a year for the development fund, which is impressive but probably not enough to make a serious dent in the purchase/construction cost.

As I understand it you can get up to 40% of construction costs paid for by grants (Football stadia improvement fund) which would obviously be hugely beneficial to yourselves. Is that correct?

That sounds about right but there are also lots of other grants and fundings available (One of the reasons the club is doing so much community work (although its not just to get the money one of the main objectives of the club is its continued community work)
One of the board members is also an expert on grants and funding
The club are aiming for around 500,000 to start the actual building of the ground

Do you know what the minimum stadium requirements (capacity, number of seats etc) are for a club to be able to participate in the footall league?[/quote]

For the conference its a 4000 capacity with a potential and planning permission to extend to 5000 to meet the league criteria and a minimum of 500 seats for the league 250 for the conference

WeWonItTwoTimes

Thanks for the excellent reply Mick.

Do you by any chance have a copy of FC's latest financial results?

Hope you don't mind me asking, PM me with them if you don't want everyone to be able to access them.

Perhaps a couple of years of consolidation at your current level in the Northern Premier wouldn't be such a bad thing. You could get the stadium issue resolved and then with increased funds you'd be able to compete very strongly at Conference North and then Conference National level.

There is perhaps a danger of overstretching yourselves if you continue to achieve immediate promotion.

As I'm sure you're aware, AFC Wimbledon had a few years at the same level you're at currently. They paid back the loan they took out to buy the ground and now with increased resources and greater stability sit top of the Conference South after nine games.

Best of luck anyway. Hope you get the right result tonight in the cup.

mickthered

Only old ones as the next AGM is only a month away

As for over stretching that wont be happening wages wise the board now how much they can spend on wages and wont break the limit only problem is at the moment a lot of other teams are paying over the odds with a lot paying players 10 times and more in wages
Patterson was one of the players on a contract and was on around £100 a week now getting around £500-600 a week at BPA £5000 signing on fee and a goals bonus on top of that as well
FC players are still getting paid around the same amount as when the club first came into existence

The club will also save around £30 grand a year once the volunteer stewards are up and running

Twisted_Woody

There is too much fake money invested in football. It's better FC take a stingy approach with the finances. When the finances go to hell and people default on loans then FC will rise.

Look at the premier league. United has a huge debt, Liverpool has a debt. If people start defaulting on loans then there will be big problems. Leeds United level problems. United are worse off than Liverpool but the writing is on the wall for all clubs. You just need to look at the banks in the US as an example.

I deviated from my original point but I think I sufficiently backed up my argument that FC should consolidate while everyone bankrupts themselves.

ladybarnred

Biggest problem is if FC don't move from Gigg Lane in the next few years and get the revenue from beer, food, full gate receipts etc. etc. Then there will be no more FC.

FC will need to borrow a small amount of money to get a ground. The rest will come from other third-party donations (Football foundation, Sport England, Manchester City Council, Lottery Commission etc.)

WeWonItTwoTimes

How much money are you losing?

I thought you were still alright financially even though you're missing out on a significant amount of revenue.

Twisted_Woody

:S That's not good.

hotshot2004

i wish we could do something about these, i will do my part spread the word around for help. i really want FC to go on. Hopefully we could make through this tough times.

ladybarnred

Not shitloads, a few grand... and it's a decreasing loss each year as we negotiate with Bury and trim costs by using our own stewards and stuff.

That said we should be MAKING loads of money instead! and effectively that can't start (and the losses stop) until we leave Bury.