Congratulations / UCL plans.

[Downsie53]

Hi all,

I have sat back and watched the developments of AFC R&D with great interest, having been a supporter of R&D since 1995. First of all, may I congratulate every single one of you who have made contributions towards the new club, I, more than most others, appreciate how difficult such a task is.

Two seasons ago, I began to get extremely disillusioned at NP, and decided to go back to my roots and form my own football team in the Northants Combination. It is an extremely time consuming task, and I have the upmost respect for all those who contribute.

However, having played in, and watched, many UCL games over previous years, I do wonder what the proposed plan is for next season??

The fact of the matter is, the UCL sides that do well, pay money. I just wondered whether this would be the case with AFC R&D next season, as otherwise, the UCL will not be as easy as some seem to think!

Congratulations to all concerned for last night's result.

Downsie.

[BartonRaz]

I expressed some concerns myself a few months back about what would happen next year. I highly doubt the commitee (or whoever will be involved in setting the budget for next season) would be naive enough to think we'd get promoted with ease, but in my opinion we have got to get out of the UCL asap or the fanbase will drift away, and the budget should reflect that. This is where the likes of Steve Witney and Mark Starmer come in I guess.

I'm convinced there will be more people watching the senior side next year than are currently watching the U18's, and if that's the case then our attendances will be enormous for that level, and should stand us in good stead financially. As i've said a million times, history suggests phoenix teams return to their natural level, if the process is done properly.

[Sid]

We will I am sure start in Division One where no one is paying much, maybe Huntingdon, Eynesbury, one or two others, some other sides tipped to do well don't really have any playing budget.
In the Premier it is a bit different with Kings Lynn rummoured to be paying well over £100,000 in wages this season, but they will almost certainly be promoted. Spalding and Long Buckby are perhaps next highest, but their budgets would be less than a third of Lynns.
Of course all of this is just what people claim, no one really knows about any other clubs budgets. :?

[bozzer]

We are going to start planning for UCL in a while and we will have all this season and sponsorship for next year to raise funds for this, as i think someone else mentioned with crowds like last nights we should be able to compete quite well financially with the rest of UCL and most of the prem.

We are taking advice from everywhere to give us the best possible chance for next season, if anyone wants to add advise help in anyway do let us know.

[BartonRaz]

Bozzer - I think i had assumed that we would go straight into the UCL Prem. Is this the case? Or would it be more likely that we're in Div 1?

[Three of Diamonds]

Bozzer - I think i had assumed that we would go straight into the UCL Prem. Is this the case? Or would it be more likely that we're in Div 1?

In one of the early club meetings it was mentioned that we (ie the Comtittee) would have to present a business plan to the league and they would have the final say, however that's never been confirmed and is probably far too simple !

[Sid]

I would be amazed if as a totally new club, absent from mens football this season, we were allowed straight into the Premier. What about all the Division 1 clubs many who have the facilities and the ambition to move up, what about Raunds Town for instance? It would create a huge amount of bad feeling towards our club. In most other parts of the country, where there is effective promotion at Step7 level we would have to start lower still.

[Three of Diamonds]

The UCL prem is the level we are allowed to apply for according to the FA apparently. Other clubs have alreay started above there (Aldershot, AFCW, Chester, FC Halifax to name a few - all these clubs went defunct), but the FA rules have changed.

[wewantourdarbyback]

the Comtittee

I didn't know we were that kind of club

[bozzer]

I think it's a case of seeing what the league would require of us for each league and then the hard work would start to satisfy those requirements, we obviously want to enter as high as possible, however nothing is guaranteed we will work closely with the ucl, the fa and have the assistance of supporters direct too