WHITEHAVEN directors – who have revealed the Championship club came close to closure last year – have appealed for fan power to help provide a brighter future.
Officials at the LEL Arena are desperate to attract higher crowds, starting with three home pre-season games, the first against neighbours Workington in the annual Ike Southward Memorial Trophy clash on Sunday (3pm).
Workington also went through worrying financial problems last year, with contracts having to be renegotiated mid-season and a number of players leaving as the Derwent Park side slid towards relegation to League One.
Whitehaven, who claim coach Jonty Gorley’s squad has been put together “on possibly the smallest budget” in the second tier, say if they could attract at least 1,200 on average – last season’s figure was 1,086 – the situation at the 74-year-old club would improve.
After the visit of Workington come games against Super League visitors – Wigan on Sunday, January 22 and Castleford on Sunday 29 (both 3pm).
The club said in a statement: “During the off-season, three events were organised to help generate much-needed cash flow.
“But for all three events, we didn’t get to double-figure (ticket) sales, resulting in them all having to be cancelled.
“This isn’t us having a go at the fans, this is us trying to explain.
“Contracts run until October with games ending in early September but bills continue to come in, so it was obvious that cash flow would be an issue.
“We will admit we came close to closing the gates for good with a big cut in RFL funding and debt from the 2020/2021 financial year.
“But with directors putting personal money in and new sponsors, we’ve managed to get by.
“Unfortunately during this time payments to players were made late but all payments to current squad members have been made.
“For this we will hold our hands up and say it’s wrong, but in the grand scheme of everything else, we kept our promise that the money would be paid.
“We’re going into a very, very tough year and supporters will have seen what the other clubs around us are spending.
“All we can ask is that the fans support us and try get this great club back to where it deserves to be.”
