Would you donate?

The chaos of the likes of myself thinking they somehow have a say in the club whilst holding a handful of shares would be inevitable. One thing this virus has highlighted if Bury wasn't a clear enough marker is that the finances of fooball as a sport are out of control. A system of serious financial regulation is a must but would never be allowed by the behemoth that is the premier league. How can a sport ever hope to be run along financial business lines when you have likes of Reading spending over £200 for every £100 brought in to the club and with no way of ever bringing those figures down without the dream of promotion?
Football needs to have massive change behind the scenes.

 

Don’t worry we’ve been treading water for years so maybe fan ownership is the best way forward

In all seriousness though, I don’t think anybody on here suggesting selling shares to fans is suggesting it as a long term practical solution or if they are I’ve missed it. It is more an alternative to raising money if it came to saving the club then the shares could/would be sold with Rupps majority later down the line when someone who is willing to take the club forward comes along.

Rhodes in his statement talks about the club becoming self sustaining, this to me suggests Rupp is unlikely to put money into the club other than for it to tread water and survive which makes part fan ownership more realistic. It’s a far better way of raising funds to keep a club going imo than asking for ‘save our club donations’.

 

So instead of selling 25% of the club sell 2.5%?

 

What would that achieve?

 

Rhodes is out of his depth running a football club. His methods are out dated and don't work. He lives day to day without any vision. 14k fans and doesn't do anything with them. He doesn't even know from them 14k what wealth groups they're in. No segmentation research done of anything.

Going forward he needs to go... we need to operate with long term vision.

 

A very good dividend I was told .

 

Why? Supporters own, say, 10% of club. New shares issued and supporters don't buy any. Supporters then own, say, 8% of club.

 

Just asking because I don't know. Does anyone know with any certainty that Rupp rejected offers to buy the club, and if so were they credible offers?

 

Rhodes is a firefighter. Good for the situation we found ourselves in post Edin and probably good for the situation today, because cost cutting is his best asset. But going forward, we absolutely need someone with a vision and direction. And to be fair I think he knows this too as I'm sure Ryan Sparks said he was looking for his replacement and came close to getting him.

 

The ship is sinking so pillage the treasure. Probably a move any businessman would make but shouldn't be forgotten when the plaudits are handed out by the forgetful.

 

Burnley FC is part-owned by its supporters trust I believe. Just a small share holding, but it hasn't stopped Burnley becoming the club BCFC might have been.

Most of the German clubs are supporter owned and I think the Dutch ones also. Plus of course Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao.

The problem with out and out supporter ownership in this country is the uneven playing field - even in non league footy - where anyone with a pot of cash can buy a club and buy success.

 

We been looking since the start of the season. I believe see offered the position to someone( so they say) and he took another job. Plenty of people out there. I am not convinced we do want to find some.

Sorry but Ryan is a tea boy. I don't care what he says. Carries no weight!

When I watched the Matter of the Heart and James Mason talk about the lack of wealth in the area, then no disrespect @wetherbywhaler mentions it it always feels like an excuse. (Bradford City don't have a clue about their 14k fans) Watching Mason say his nonsense felt like when you see charity's on TV with millionaire presenters hosting ignorant asking for people to give money.

The club is stuck in the. Rhodes way which lacks vision, drive, creativity and direction. He needs to go and go now. Forget about fire fighting. This is when a creativity and vision is required and Rhodes lacks that.

 

Have heard strong rumours of at least two consortiums being interested and am sure it's been quoted on here somewhere that the asking price brought an end to any further considerations

 

Tbh I’m not interested in our club being part fan owned I brought it up as an alternative in the first place to a simple donation which the OP was asking about, as Dennis says it should be the owners responsibility to provide any extra funds needed which the club can not get through income or through loans. But can we trust Rupp to keep funding us indefinitely even until the end of the Corona episode? Who knows it’s anyone’s guess.

Long term I think we will need a new owner if we are to survive and flourish, let’s hope he/she is forthcoming not to long after all this is over.

 

I’m probably missing something here, and I understand the financial implications for next season could be serious. But for the last 2-3 months, I just don’t see how we’ve taken a financial hit? OK, we’ve lost a bit of gate receipt revenue, but most of our gates are comprised of ST holders anyway aren’t they? So revenue won’t be down by much. And we’ve reduced our operating costs by furloughing the team and our employees. How many players do we have? 30? At £2,500 a month for each, That’s £75K per month we’re saving. Add in the other employees we have, and it’d be around £100K a month we’re saving? That’s equivalent to around 5,000 paying fans at £20 a pop. I’d be surprised if we actually had that many in a month. Am I missing something?

And if we qualify for the furlough scheme then presumably we qualify for other government loan schemes too? So the fans shouldn’t have to be ‘donating’ anything.