Lost [ Sat 19th Aug ] v Fakenham Town, KO 3pm FACPR AWAY

[AFCRD_Dan]

A small thing, could you put a link onto the match day program that would allow you to make a donation like some online papers do? I would be happy to pay to read the program each time.

It’s online now, no programmes for sale on match days, but definitely something you should suggest to the club.

[diamondsteve]

Surely we have a budget which is more than half of our league surely?? I means teams which struggle to get over the 100 att mark .

We definitely should have a stronger budget to play with than our opponents today .

Scratching my head thinking “how do we have it so much harder than village teams in step 5-7”

What we don't have, which most other teams do, is an individual, or a group of individuals, willing to put their hand in their pocket to fund what they're doing. If it gets to the point we have no money, the Club folds, it's as simple as that. There is nobody to say "oh here's another 10 grand." We can't actively make decisions that leave us in a position whereby that situation becomes a possibility.

On top of this, we don't have any facilities to sweat or hire out. We don't have a bar. We don't sell our own food. All of the things the club's you're referencing probably have, we don't. Our attendances are the reason we can sustain a team at this level.

I thought as a board we had done enough to explain to people the situation we are currently in. It is genuinely miraculous we even have a club to support this season and a large part of the reason we do is down to our current manager, who could have taken much easier options this summer, but opted to stay. The same manager who 3 games in to a new season, following two games against teams under massive pressure to win the league, is faced with people berating him and refusing to shake his hand.

I'm gutted today like we all are, but honestly I despair at times.

Alex I hope your not insinuating that I am one of those people?

As I’ve never had a bad word about Chris and think he’s one of the nicest men we’ve ever had at this club. And would be devastated if he walked.

[diamondsteve]

So what can we do to help, can we have a lottery push to boost the budget, get more people to the ground, buy more stuff in dales bar and the club shop, can we suggest players, are their loans from league teams, from step 2 teams, step 3 teams (I saw Drury offer something out on Twitter) is there a northern league ex manager or coach we can tap into re players they may know (like harborough have done with Staffy) , is there a scout we can do the same with, or one who can go and look at players for us. Can we all assign ourselves to a team and go and scout them and feedback to Chris?
Is there anyone who came to the legends game who can help, an ex player at a pro club letting us have a promising player on loan, can we pay Simeon Jackson to drive 140 miles on matchday to help the club, can we raise some money to cover that, would we take Ben Farrell, alfie Taylor or anyone else still playing who came along.
Can we all trawl the top goal scorers at step 5 and scout them for Chris?
It’s crucial we don’t fall into the ever decreasing circle of not able to afford Nat Ansu, Dylan Wilson, Tendai Daire, Albie Hall, then sitting in the bottom and even ones we can afford not wanting to come as we are where we are in the league.

Can we trawl the top goal scorers in step 5 and scout them for Chris. Can we get some more sponsorship for a player or the club to help the budget, what about the fans pay an extra £1 on their ticket from now onwards and it go towards the budget £500 a game would help wouldn’t it, do a pay way you want boost the budget game, are there any items we can auction off left from the legends game, can we get the team to sign some shirts this season and they be auctioned off, can we sell a a sponsored standing spot at hayden road, like we did with the seats in the stand, can we get a mural put up on the out of use stand and sell space to put images of fans current or departed like they did at grounds during covid.

We can do anything, we flipping lost our club, and re built it from nothing, we can do anything. It’s time to be positive, try different things, help all we can, try players etc it won’t all come off but at least we can try.

.I know few of these are going on in the back ground and being worked on and some great ideas. Like you say we know things are tight/difficult but do have a club and people are working relentlessly! The catchment locally for players is being driven by ridiculous money as we know. We've had a real tough start, had zero luck & horrendous luck with injuries. All these negative opinions won't help anyone especially when most not either there to have one. Lets pull together and help OUR club imo you won't get a better manager than the one we've got.

Mark sorry but this has really wound me up, the snide comments about people shouldn’t have an opinion about the squad if they haven’t been at the latest game.

Really hope there isn’t becoming a home&away tight nit community. And others which cannot see every game and whilst donating and being part owners get shut down instantly.

No need to bring up the Andy peaks stuff either as this isn’t about managers.

Kerrins was brutally honest in his negative interview , add Chris interview and it seems we are all on the same page here.

As I’ve said during pre season defensive we are sound , even with injuries with Tagoe coming in it’s ok. But not hitting the net will hurt us and so far has showed.

And yes I know that there is stupid stupid money being thrown around and god knows where it’s coming from , could be money laundering for all I care . What I am trying to compare ourselves against is the likes of Quorn Lye Anstey Walsall loboro boldmere Hinckley wboro desboro cog . And I don’t know the answer to that….. And I know that ppl like you might know the answer because i respect you for your knowledge of non league and local areas and money etc. Just don’t shut down others genuine voices as you’ll end up losing fans not gaining .

Up the diamonds and I’ll there Tuesday to support Chris and his team .

[BartonRaz]

Surely we have a budget which is more than half of our league surely?? I means teams which struggle to get over the 100 att mark .

We definitely should have a stronger budget to play with than our opponents today .

Scratching my head thinking “how do we have it so much harder than village teams in step 5-7”

What we don't have, which most other teams do, is an individual, or a group of individuals, willing to put their hand in their pocket to fund what they're doing. If it gets to the point we have no money, the Club folds, it's as simple as that. There is nobody to say "oh here's another 10 grand." We can't actively make decisions that leave us in a position whereby that situation becomes a possibility.

On top of this, we don't have any facilities to sweat or hire out. We don't have a bar. We don't sell our own food. All of the things the club's you're referencing probably have, we don't. Our attendances are the reason we can sustain a team at this level.

I thought as a board we had done enough to explain to people the situation we are currently in. It is genuinely miraculous we even have a club to support this season and a large part of the reason we do is down to our current manager, who could have taken much easier options this summer, but opted to stay. The same manager who 3 games in to a new season, following two games against teams under massive pressure to win the league, is faced with people berating him and refusing to shake his hand.

I'm gutted today like we all are, but honestly I despair at times.

Alex I hope your not insinuating that I am one of those people?

As I’ve never had a bad word about Chris and think he’s one of the nicest men we’ve ever had at this club. And would be devastated if he walked.

No I'm not, I'm saying that's what he was subjected to yesterday.

[fentiger79]

Could we have a bucket at all home games where we can put it money to help the squad. I know we have the lottery which I support already but this will allow people to put an extra pound or whatever into helping. It will also allow people who want to pay for the programme to donate too. I pay by cash and always have some loose change passing through the turnstiles.

[diamondsteve]

Could we have a bucket at all home games where we can put it money to help the squad. I know we have the lottery which I support already but this will allow people to put an extra pound or whatever into helping. It will also allow people who want to pay for the programme to donate too. I pay by cash and always have some loose change passing through the turnstiles.

What about asking the lottery winners to donate 25% of winnings back into the club. That’s what I did a few months ago when I WON it!!!

[fentiger79]

Sounds good. Maybe reduce the prize money, if the majority of people in it are fans I’m sure people wouldn’t mind. Instead of £500 make it 350. Could drop the quarterly prize too. Obviously don’t want to do anything that’s going to impact the lottery so need to be careful. The power of building our team is in our hands and with some further support/ideas we can get an extra amount per week. Sponsor a goal, pound per goal scored, etc.

[Dazzler]

Match highlights from AFCRDTV

[Olly]

Sounds good. Maybe reduce the prize money, if the majority of people in it are fans I’m sure people wouldn’t mind. Instead of £500 make it 350. Could drop the quarterly prize too. Obviously don’t want to do anything that’s going to impact the lottery so need to be careful. The power of building our team is in our hands and with some further support/ideas we can get an extra amount per week. Sponsor a goal, pound per goal scored, etc.

I did mention this a while back I seem to remember, asking the question can we put more of the fund towards the budget and slightly reduce the currently very generous prizes as I believe most, if not all those who contribute to the lottery including myself do so mostly motivated by wanting to help the team. So is it worth doing a survey of those who contribute to the lottery, would they still contribute what they do if we were to change the 50:50 ratio to help the team?

[oliv272]

Sounds good. Maybe reduce the prize money, if the majority of people in it are fans I’m sure people wouldn’t mind. Instead of £500 make it 350. Could drop the quarterly prize too. Obviously don’t want to do anything that’s going to impact the lottery so need to be careful. The power of building our team is in our hands and with some further support/ideas we can get an extra amount per week. Sponsor a goal, pound per goal scored, etc.

I did mention this a while back I seem to remember, asking the question can we put more of the fund towards the budget and slightly reduce the currently very generous prizes as I believe most, if not all those who contribute to the lottery including myself do so mostly motivated by wanting to help the team. So is it worth doing a survey of those who contribute to the lottery, would they still contribute what they do if we were to change the 50:50 ratio to help the team?

Equally it's worth looking at increasing the lottery by £1-£2 but keep the 50-50 so there are bigger prizes and a bigger contribution to the club (assuming it doesn't scare people off). Or I mentioned on the members forum a while back changing it so the minimum contribution is £5 for a ticket, give all existing contributors 2 tickets for their £10 a month. Provides a low entry of commitment for fans and then those that want to add a bit extra can by £5 increments instead of the current £10.