The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Arendee wrote:That's a bit harsh. Very little that I've read sounds like naivety or excuses. I would say it is a group of pretty experienced people facing a horrible dilemma. I value many of the opinions on here, regardless of whether I support them or not.

*No local businesses are going to be riding in on a white horse to save the club. No rich businessman is going to come in an buy it. That's been the case for years. Max tried, and KC tried. They failed. Those views have been expressed on here. It really comes down to if we're prepared to do what Kidderminister fans did in January when faced with a similar situation and come to the rescue of our club. They did, admittedly they are not all stable, but they have some light at the end of the tunnel.

It honestly comes down to actually doing something to help or watching it fail. Those who do nothing are the ones who are burying their heads in the sand here, not those buying shares and seasons tickets to improve the club's cash flow.

If 350** people buy an early bird adult season tickets, that's £105,000 for the club (obviously not minus VAT). Are people here seriously saying denying the club that kind of cash injection is going help the situation? Come on guys let's get real. Their statements are about sorting out short term problems now. These guys had the balls to stand with our fans at Grimsby and also answer questions. That must say something about them. KC never did that.

*If we can help the Beasants out of the current situation, they are more likely to be prepared to put sponsorship in, helping the club out in the long run, if we can restore confidence in the club.

**btw before anyone says that's unrealistic, there are currently around 500 season ticket holders.

Mad Dog is right - if we sit back and do nothing we won't have a club to support next season. But the present directors are not exactly inspiring us with confidence even if, and I'll be generous, they are telling us the truth. If they said 'we're skint, the club's skint - we need you to pay up now and do everything in your power to persuade others to do the same' at least we'd know the truth of the situation. At the moment all we get is empty words and vague promises about coffee bars, community involvement officers and mystery futiure directors The loyal contributors on here do not have the finances to bankroll the team, but many of us would be only too willing to volunteer help and ideas. Your previous list of ways to raise revenue, MD, could have some mileage if managed correctly but we need to act now if the club we all love and support is not to disappear for good.

Mad Dog wrote: Those who do nothing are the ones who are burying their heads in the sand here, not those buying shares and seasons tickets to improve the club's cash flow.

Far, far from it MD....I'd like nothing more than to be able to do my bit financially but I simply cannot afford to pay out for Season Tickets, shares or donations. I'm not burying my head in the sand at all, the money isn't there, end of.

Diamondsforever wrote:Having not had a season ticket for the last 2 seasons, I'm considering one (well, 3 really!) for next season.
Getting through this season since the events of Nov/Dec last year and still having a chance of the play offs is a monumental achievement for our young squad. Each and every one of them has given us 100%. Sure, we've seen shocking football and had some disappointing results but they didn't give up and neither should we.
Steve and Liam came across very well on Friday night and they are definitely more plausible than Gary was. No one who was there on Friday could possibly doubt Justin's passion and commitment to the Club. As Pigman said, there's an air of positivity and optimism about Nene Park that we haven't had in quite a while. Come on Gary, join the party, we're going on a ride and it could be fun!

If you can't afford a season ticket anyway, fair enough. But a few shares could not hurt?

I won't disparage those that have bought a ticket as I understand why they have, I just don't share their view - at the moment. But that can change and I truly hope it will. Therefore to help move this on I've tried to think of what's concerning me and here's what I came up...

1) Will the revenue from season ticket sales be used solely for the purpose of providing finance to RDFC?
2) Is there any situation whereby the revenues generated by RDFC will be used for anything other than what would reasonably be considered to be connected with the day to day running of a football club?
3) What percentage of last years seasons ticket sales is needed to ensure that the financial status of the club is guaranteed into the new season? I don't need to know the actual cash value, just a percentage of last years sales.
4) Will the club regularly publish the current progress of sales of season tickets against the target percentage?

These are questions I want to satisfy myself with rather than expect a direct answer from the club. I guess that's what I've been hanging on for.

Arendee wrote:I won't disparage those that have bought a ticket as I understand why they have, I just don't share their view - at the moment. But that can change and I truly hope it will. Therefore to help move this on I've tried to think of what's concerning me and here's what I came up...

1) Will the revenue from season ticket sales be used solely for the purpose of providing finance to RDFC?
2) Is there any situation whereby the revenues generated by RDFC will be used for anything other than what would reasonably be considered to be connected with the day to day running of a football club?
3) What percentage of last years seasons ticket sales is needed to ensure that the financial status of the club is guaranteed into the new season? I don't need to know the actual cash value, just a percentage of last years sales.
4) Will the club regularly publish the current progress of sales of season tickets against the target percentage?

Steve has said on the OWS that you can contact him direct. Ask him the questions and see if he answers them. steve@rd-fc.co.uk

A further reply to Two of Diamonds -
“You could go out and spend £10k on a new car, as you drive it off the forecourt it loses £1k by depreciation and it might break down in a few weeks/months.”
You certainly could but I would still have a disposable asset and therefore something to show for my money. I might ask that if instead you were comparing the purchase of a football club to the purchase of a car, why would – in this case the Beasants – purchase a “car” in the certain knowledge that they couldn’t afford petrol let alone any future repairs.
“My point is, if we fail to do so we have lost it and after 40 years I'll be very sad. As Mad Dog intimates we must stop looking for reasons NOT to do something.”
The question as to whether or not to buy a season ticket of course remains one of individual choice but I am most certainly not suggesting that there is nothing to be done.
It would seem from my understanding of past events that those selected to negotiate the original sale of the club to Keith Cousins on behalf of the Supporters Trust were most unwise not to retain some form of “ransom” ownership of part of the club’s assets in order to retain an element of leverage in the event of any future ownership issues arising.
We are now in that unfortunate position and as a result of my years in business and in finding my way around Boardrooms – my own and other peoples – I would be fairly confident that Keith Cousins will not have made a similar error in finalising his own agreement with the Beasants. I would expect that in negotiating his own leasing agreement, he will firstly have ensured that he would receive the bulk, if not the total amount due to him for the lease of the club as a payment in advance and thereafter he will have ensured that should problems arise along the way, ownership of the club would never actually leave his control.
That being the case I would hope and expect that the current management of the Supporters Trust, if they have anything about them, will have already been in contact with Keith Cousins to explore the possibility of a deal being done directly between the Trust and Keith Cousins if – or rather when – the Beasants fall by the wayside.
It would seem clear to me that the current offer of “shares” in the club is simply a device to attract money away from the Supporters Trust and into the direct control of the club thus further reducing the influence of the Trust. That should tell you something(!!!) and whilst I did recently hear of the Chairman of the Supporters Trust stating that he couldn’t run a football club, the fact remains that whilst he personally possibly couldn’t, others in the past have and perhaps could do so again given the alternative fate of the club if they didn't at least make the effort to do so.

Chammy, the Trust has had next to no influence for over four years. I also seriously doubt that the Trust has the resources to purchase the land off of KC.

It is also a tax bill left by KC that has caused this problem.

I admire your optimism around the Trust position Chammie, but having been there and volunteered on one of the committees during that time, I very much doubt anyone (that is currently in the Trust) would go down that route - WHATEVER the potential outcome. It was just too much of a responsibility for a volunteer to take. The vast amount of the Trust money went back into the club in any case. Unwise they might have been but with a debt of half a million quid hanging over their heads (and yes, it was a personal liability) I understood their wish to exit the building post haste. I know I had many a sleepless night just working on a committee !
Of course it's a matter of personal choice, but we must explore / discuss the results of making those choices on this forum. For me it's either going to be a case of spend the money and survive, or spend the money and it ends. At least if it ends I can say I tried.