The Blue Square leagues have even stricter rules as regards expenditure/turnover than the Football League.
£75000 in a part time league with the added advantage of gates 4 times those of the remainder of the league. Ground not owned by the club-no surety. I would rather have Roland managing the finances than a bunch of profligate amateurs. We moan about Swindon etc over extending themselves unfairly to others. What about this lot? I wonder if Guisely etc are complaining.
"a bunch of profligate amateurs"... they were owned by that robber Gutterman, then that American nutcase Terry Smith, then that idiot, gangster and highwayman Stephen Vaughn who then killed the club completely all were paid Chairmen (there by the grace of god goes us).. They have then rose from the ashes with fan ownership and won three championships on the run!! Chester announced a profit of £107,626 in their first season, and a loss of £2,970 last year, but the club are expecting a loss of up to £75,000 this year following an announcement made at Wednesday’s City Fans United meeting with another £35.000 secured in the fans trust..so in real terms they are not running at a loss, they are still running at a profit!! and have no problems with The Blue Square whatsoever.....but what they are doing is giving their fans the success that they crave!!...unlike here ...I suppose not bad for a bunch of profligate amateurs.......and it will be another big fat cheque that they will be picking up when they win their Fourth championship title in a row...so i think that 75K will be well covered
Overseen by a bunch of amateurs £20000 has gone missing from the clubs accounts. They already charge higher admission prices than anyone else. Are we expected to pay 50% higher than other clubs for admission to Shrewsbury in the Utopian world of a supporter owned club?
the £2000 theft was made by an accountant at an accounts firm not tied to Chester football club and will be paid back in full by the end of next week (people and establishments do have thefts its endemic in a country being destroyed by Tory rule)..ground prices £14.00, £10 concessions juniors £5 and £3.00, which i don't think is too bad for a new'ish ground and four years of unbridled success, and remember who have agreed these price's, they are the fans themselves, because they are the owners, so they know the gate money isn't going to be held on to like Rowland or pocketed like Vaughn and Gutternan or some idiot like Terry Smith to squander it ....its all going on team building and that is shown as evident by four years of fantastic results....KDS, instead of being jealous of other clubs successes you should look at the bigger picture and see fan ownership is the way forward, and whatever happens to Chester in the future weather they triumph or fail, it will be all down to the owners which as i say the fans themselves.....but 100% for sure is that they will never have a Gutterman,Smith or Vaughn there to destroy their club ever again!!...which cant be said about ourselves !!
You started a great thread tinned hats and it's being fun BUT don't bring politics into it (dabbling in the FA by politicians is threat enough). Blue and Red have both screwed this country and the other lot who were great councillors in Shrewsbury are doing no better. Just like some football club boards they only have self interest at heart..... a plague on all their houses!
Off the top of my head-supporter owned clubs. AFC Telford, one of only 4 BSP clubs playing part time and inexorably drifting to relegation. Ebbsfleet (full time, I think) but the same. Exeter slipping after relegation. Swansea are the only leading light but with the natural advantage of being a large city and captive hinterland. Feel free to add to this list-good or bad. The key generally is owning your own ground. (Chester could still go the way of Darlington etc)
KDS, i think your missing the point...fan owned clubs doesn't mean you are guaranteeing success, that's all down to the manager and players he sign's, and of course funds available, but it is by no missed point that Swansea, Wrexham and Chester are doing very well...and owning your own ground helps in what way?.. maintenance bill's, up keep, regeneration after a few years, modernization a massive drain on resources, and as soon as you need to put it up for surety that only means one thing your in dire trouble aka Darlington & Wrexham etc....the Chester way, owned by the council and they pay a peppercorn rent but Chester council pay the upkeep, Wrexham owned by Glyndwr University and rented back £110.000 a year, but Wrexham get £112.000 a year sponsorship off them so a free ground, and because Glyndwr are a registered charity they get Welsh and European grants to plough back into the ground, again with no upkeep to Wrexham football club ...you mentioned Chester can just as easily end up like Darlington ..NO!! they now got that covered its owned by the fans for the fans, if they struggle they can just put more money in the pot, but the supporters being owners don't mind that because its their club and no board of directors that are skimming the cream off. WE are the ones who could easily end up like Darlington in a few years time if we have someone come in like a George Reynolds, Mark Gutterman and Steve Vaughn..this list of shysters goes on and on in football take overs, when Rowland decides to retire, he alone will choose who to sell our club too, and there's not one thing us supporters can do about it!!..then what worth is the bloody ground!!....every single penny that goes into these clubs goes directly to team building, the only wages are players and coaching staff, the fans who as i say are owners feel a big part of the club and get to vote who goes on the board ever year....no, i agree it doesn't buy you success on the field, but it give's you a bloody good advantage over your rivals....and wouldn't you like to be a part of Shrewsbury football club instead of being on the peripherals? ...I would..
I would rather have a modicum of success with an owner, rather than struggle as a co-operative. Regrettably the whole history of the latter has proved to be a failure in whatever branch of industry. Would love it to be wonderful but it was always a dream that became clouded or developed into a nightmare.
I can name scores of clubs that have hit rock bottom by unscrupulous owners, but i don't have to, because you know them already if your a football supporter, and its virtually in the papers every week about some club struggling when the owner runs out of money once he's fizzled it elsewhere...so that to me suggests this arrangement is very scanty in the outset , even if clubs aren't going bankrupt these days many, many are struggling ...cant name many supporter owned ones that are struggling though...and "struggle as a co-operative" , well it isn't a co-operative, its die hard supporters who are supporting their own team and making sure of a brighter footballing outlook, you know the ones that have suffered under these criminal owners, not people working in a mill for 70 hours a week...so sit back and enjoy your modicum of success, you like me have got years of it to come under the leadership of Rowland, but whats more frighting....who will be the next man in his hot seat?.....you talk about cooperatives not working, what about dictorial rule, thats never gone down as a hoot either.....to be honest KDS, your argument is very weak.....
History supports my stance against all forms of co-operative/public ownership. It is inefficient, therefore, can never realise it's true potential. We have to beg to differ.
and mine too on Dictatorships...Adolf Hitler,Ken Richardson Doncaster, Kim Jong-Il,Darren Brown Chesterfield, Robert Mugaby,Anton Johnson,Rotherham Southend Scarborough, Peter Ridsdale Leeds Utd, Barnsley, Freddie Shepherd,Newcastle. George Reynolds Darlington Douglas Craig York City Robert Maxwell,Oxford Utd, Derby County Stan Flashman Barnet.....the list goes on and on.....
Roland Wycherley, to be honest i know i moan about the old fart but i don't think he will never take us to the brink of going out of existence while he's at the helm, then again i don't think we are ever going to hit dizzy highs either.The sale of Dave Walton to Crewe saved our bacon in 97 as we were really on the cusp and we must be thankful that as a club we have grown, but we mustn't stop here, we have to carry on growing, and Rowland is no longer a spring chicken and neither is GT either, I would like to see some form of fan involvement and kick on even further....because as time goes on the sharks will be circling !!...and we could easily slip back to the place we where 16 years ago....
we are never going to have a huge fan base so will never have a big financial clout regarding players coming here, and all those elsewhere calling for the corners to be filled should take note of the amount of empty seats at the club. Success brings fans and in turn money to the club; but this needs supplementing by a canny chairman, a decent youth set-up and some stella signings found on the cheap
what a great thread. i am probably alone in my thinking, but can we seriously expect, in a couple of years, town to get promotion to champions league and stay there. with limited funds and gates, i think league 1 is our optimum. but we can all dream.
i was watching a debate in parliament this morning, and a lady mp for portsmouth, rose to ask the minister to congratulate the fans of portsmouth fc for saving the club. the minister rose and did just that!
AJ, i think within the next 20 years you will see a massive change in fan owned clubs taking over, basically most fans now have had enough of being fleeced, and with the influx of eastern European money being laundered into our football teams it could mean the end of the beautiful game in this country as we know it!!....its hard now but its going to get a whole lot harder!!
th, exeter and portsmouth have large connurbations. where are all the fans to come from in thinly populated shropshire and mid wales?
AJ, its not about where the fans are coming from, its how much money you save on salary and wages of non essential staff!...Wrexham and Chester don't have to pay a chairman and a board of directors...we do though!! and that comes very expensive.. that's the very main difference, but also you know for ever and a day you will never ever get a rouge chairman coming into your club, and the supporters and local sponsors will always dig deep if times get bad because they know all moneys go directly to saving their club and aren't sheared with third party's (ie, Chairman ,directors,Banks and hangers on) ...if we ever got in trouble Rowland might financially help us out, but at some stage down the line he will want that money back with interest!!,as they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch..so whats the point in having him?. take a look at Fleetwood, and Andrew Pilley, a very honorable man people might say and has pumped millions into the club since 2003, but still they can only achieve crowds of 2,500 on average...when he moves on Fleetwood town will resort back to a pub team with crowds back to around 350 with massive debts, and that is a committed supporter of a chairman, never mind being a shyster!!...look at it as masses compered with the individual, 5000 Shrew fan's could raise much more capital as one Rowland can...so why pay his wages?...as ive said it doesn't guarantee success on the field but you will have a secure club, committed fan base, your not left in the dark about policy agreements and save a ruck of money from the outset to plow back into team building!!.... So If your Barcelona or Chester, its always going to be a win win situation..
