The implications of relegation

He's probably written that money off already (Investment - horrible term , to get an investment means you get a return. He ain't getting just about nowt back IMO) .
Who's buyng us ?? Dont see a queue do you ?
If you do find a buyer, lets say at one million, two million, three million its fairly irrelevant what figure you come you with.
At the moment I suggest we are shedding a sh!t load of money. Who's plugging that gap ?
Rupp, dont see him putting any more money into the cess pit it that is Bradford City.
The new prospective owners ?
Why would you pay 1,2 or 3 million iwith another 1 or 2 million decifiet, with no assets.
In recent history Rupp always had the Mcburnie money to fall back onto. There's nothing like that now.

That is the reason administration is a real threat

 

I think it is that, and also because Sparks saw first hand that Stuart was shafted by Edin last time when he worked wonders with a poor squad.

It was almost like this recent offer was a belated extension to compensate for his past treatment - but he did deserve it then and doesn’t now, ironically.

 

I've no doubt we'd go bust if we went down.

Nobody is going to try to operate this club in the National League with the drastically reduced income, they'd be losing six figures on a monthly basis in all likelihood.

It takes away the option of being bought out, and if you think Rupp is going to let the money he's wasted keep increasing, you're nuts. But it's either that or invest a big chunk to chase promotion, and we can see this season he's definitely not prepared to do that.

No club this size with overheads and a stadium this big has ever managed to get themselves into non-league as far as I'm aware.

 

I cannot see anything we do in January changing much to be honest. Any player(s) in bound have to get up to speed and the will not arrive until late January because thats how we work ! I think the next 8 games or so will be proof of how bad the situation is. We have 13 points from 15 games so whats going to change to make it 25-30 from the next 15 ? No me neither ?

This is set in and come March some fans will be returning with the game all but up. Then Sparky issues a rallying call for the fans to help save our League status. At that late hour Stuart steps aside and Sparks brings in an out of work former Non-league manager with the intention that when the ship sinks we have a him in place to manage in the National League environment. Then the financial reality bites ! we're non-league in a stadium costing north of £300k pa to rent ! , zero assets on or off field and an absent owner. Attempts will be made to try to bring the club into local ownership but Rupp wants his brass back. Nothing can be agreed; resulting in no further investment from Rupp and a make shift playing squad. Nearly all of the football league squad have been jettisoned.

Sparks goes for the "even cheaper" Non League City For Fcuk All ticket at £90 a pop ! But City fans have got used to social distancing and fail to respond in there usual masses. The promotion musters less than 4000 takers. Sparks says its going to be difficult on those numbers no doubt. The ground rent to Gibb is crippling and talk is of a move to the revamped Odsal where the Super League Bulls; Stox and Speedway are drawing good crowds in the sports hungry post Covid world.

City struggle to adapt to their new lowly status and go through another three managers in a fight to avoid the drop to National League North in 22-23 !. The Wool City Derby is the first game of the 23-24 season away to Park Avenue at Horsfall.

 

Didn't Wycombe stay up on the final day recently?

They stuck with Ainsworth and now they are in the Championship.

 

I always try to be+positive because negative energy helps no one. However we have now lost 5 on the trot with difficult matches on the horizon.
Whilst I didn’t agree with it I could see the clubs point in wanting stability in management after what has happened since Parky left however it’s no longer about Stability it’s about survival.
We have five or six matches before we bring new players in who will take time to recruit and blend in during which time we could be out of sight we need pragmatism now a points at all cost philosophy and I don’t think Sadly Stuart is up to it. Bring Parky back till we the end of the season or somebody with his mindset.
Unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to happen so we just have to hope or believe we can pick a few points up here and there to give us a chance

 

We could be 10 points or more from safety by the time new recruits arrive in January, The inaction could well be fatal,

 

Difference is Gareth Ainsworth is a good manager.

 

We won't. Stevenage are awful. Even if we lost a glut of games, we would not be adrift. Southend are doomed.

 

Heard the same as we dropped in to Lge 2

 

Here pal, I backed us well to go down that year and finish bottom. We clearly was a poor outfit that season, with the background issues.

Now we have the background issues, probably worse than ever, but this league is a different kettle of fish and watched Stevenage at Walsall midweek, whom were poor (though Walsall were bloody awful). I'm no happy clapper, I don't care for the old school mentality at this club, wish Rupp would feck off but we will not be cast adrift, as per original post.

I genuinely think we will survive.

 

This has already been covered in a different topic, yes we are getting a lot less income in but the overheads are covered with the solidarity payments.
Season ticket money covers the wage budget and the sponsorship on top of that will give us a very small profit.
There may be a gap next season with less season tickets sold etc but we don't know how next year will pan out, anything could happen.

It's a bit naive to say nobody is going to try operate this club, why wouldn't they. You only have to look at recent examples of clubs that have come out of the National League to know that their are people out there that will take a gamble.
Yes we look like a basket case at the moment but if Rupp wanted to offload the club on the cheap we would have people interested.

 

Why are we looking at clubs that have come out of the NL?

They are invariably small, low cost start ups where a few million investment means you can completely transform them from the ground up, in many cases even a new stadium.

How does that compare to a bulky money pit like Bradford City, who need to be in League One minimum to be a serious going concern.

This club would be an absolute financial disaster in non league. There are no clubs with our overheads in non league. The biggest I can think of is Notts County.

 

I really do not want to see us in the National League, but if it happens and as a result we wake up and smell the coffee, it could be the kickstart we need to do what Lincoln did.

 

So a club with a 20k stadium is managing to exist in the National League.
You are making the assumption that Rupp will just throw the towel in and wipe out £5m, without making any attempt to get back to the football league.
I don't know what he will do just the same as you don't but I am as confident in him not putting the club into admin as you are that he will.
He might decide to try sell to get his money back, who knows but I am confident there would be buyers interested.
The one thing that we have over all the teams in the National league is proven potential to attract large crowds. Yes things are bad right now but how many of the teams in the National League, or even teams recently promoted from there can attract 15 to 20 thousand crowds almost overnight.

 

A very successful season (and there is guarantee of that) in the National League could still see us get 15,000 crowds and rebound us back to league one within 3 years. On the other hand it could mean administration/ liquidation. I don't want to risk finding out and would rather start a rebound from 22nd in League Two.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.somersetlive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/cost-consequences-yeovil-town-getting-2746045.amp

This is an article outlining the costs to Yeovil Town, add our ground rent to this and we'll be losing seven figures a year every year while we're in non league.

Good luck.

 

Here's some info about Notts County.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/meadow-lane-never-sold-off-3069634.amp

Thank goodness for them they are in a fortunate position with their stadium, or they would not exist. Thankfully their council is fully supportive.

Do you see the difference between them and us?

 

SO 500K in the first year and 250k in the second from the FA. That's the ground rent covered then, the rest of the overheads and team building would need to come from ticket sales and sponsorship.
A good start to the season with positive news and team building where we are challenging could easily see us getting 7k upwards in fans attending.
Look I am not saying it is a good thing if we get relegated far from it, all I am saying is we won't go bust the minute we get relegated. Rupp would either try to get us back into the league or try to sell the club to minimise his loss.

 

The only interest in buying

Ground rent eats up all the money we'd get from the FA, which would stop after two years.

After that, EVERYTHING costs money. Staff, the pitch, facilities maintenance, player wages, travel, training ground rent, youth team, friendlies, admin, marketing, web site, you name it, it costs money.

If we don't come up after two years, which is statistically super unlikely, we don't even cover the ground rent.

But yeah, it's unlikely Rupp wouldn't want to foot those bills.

If we go down, admin it is.