Kevin Nicholas

Just so you know the Club did not announce game was being played at Blaydon RU because we were told it was not resolved. However we are now advised that indeed is the venue. By the way our next game is scheduled at home next Saturday 18/1 with a 2pm ko against Midland Hurricanes and we would like support at both games obviously. Next Saturday it is £10 Admission and under 16’s free. Last Bulldog Standing football competition at £20 starts next week as well if anybody fancies joining to help us buy an Ergbike for our gym at £1,200 cost to help Mark Barlow get us in best possible physical condition. See social media for how to join.

IMG Grading is a hot topic . Floodlights are nothing to do with our Grading information going in 2 days late by the way. It is now sorted and although it is not the score we wanted it is what it is. We have put forward a Resolution supported by Dewsbury to allow promotion from Championship whilst still having Grading so see what happens when voted upon on 4/12. Going forward we know what we can and can’t do to improve our Grade going forward and will work on it with everything else as frankly we should have done a bit better this year.

DR is always a tricky topic with mixed views to say the least. I personally am unsure about it but the discussions we have had with Wakefield has filled us with more optimism than ever before. Only time will tell but if this relationship does not work we will be surprised and obviously disappointed. All i can say is that we are very positive that it can work hopefully for both Clubs. Ste Mills at Wakefield has had links with us doing work for coaches for a few years now and knows Moko well. Then Matt Ellis as new to RL administration is a breathe of fresh air for our sport of that there is no doubt. Once he gets settled in SL and then knows how it works at both levels of our sport he will bring a lot of integrity and common sense to the table which is very promising going forward.

This Thursday in Rons Lounge both the Home and Away shirts will be launched and available to purchase. This is probably slightly earlier than recent years as thankfully we have secured sponsors that bit earlier which is good news. Also players will be in attendance as they are also training that night and there will be an opportunity to ask Mark Moxon questions. If things go to plan we may have a couple of items of news to share regarding off field issues but that’s not definite as we have been working on things and we hope they come to fruition in time but we are relying on third parties. Worth a trip to Club though with bar open as well.

All this is fair criticism i think. We are on with this ( not me!) at the moment to try to sort it in next couple of weeks then get a plan to keep it updated. We have to accept that for various more pressing issues we have neglected the website despite getting a new one. The proof will be in the pudding whether this is an empty promise or not.

On the Football competition at last count we had 85+ joined but we still have time to get initially to a target of 100 to cover £1,000 prize and make £1,000 for Club then 120 where prize would be £1,200 and £1,200 for Club which would be used to buy a Ergbike for our players gym where one has already been bought by Tuesday Breakfast Club and Mark Barlow has asked us to try to get 3 in total which would complete our gym for the season and certainly help him do conditioning to get us in shape. We think Mark did a superb job last season and want to support him if we can. its £20 to join so not a great loss we you don’t know loads about Football. Who does?

Just read back all comments on this thread.We are not naive or inept and as a solicitor i have not somehow been incompetent as i knew exactly what was involved with the SL release clause. Let me keep it very simple some ambitious young players particularly who have been at a SL Club through their agents want a SL release clause or are reluctant to sign. Some wont agree to inserting that we get an agreed transfer fee either so if we don’t agree they won’t sign. What do we do if we want them? Answer from now on is we don’t sign them its again that simple. Whether it’s fair on not is irrelevant as it is what it is. Maybe this year was a one off year with London’s circumstances but the decision is made it will not happen again. I don’t believe we made a mistake by agreeing to the clause but if someone thinks we did then so be it. The whole recruitment process for us is very difficult when other Clubs often offer more salary but with the players that we get i am very proud as i think they have been superb for us. Also good luck to any player who achieves his ambition and gets a FT contract so we also take pride on helping them do that. It is not easy but the challenge is something to relish and the chance of 4 wins on the bounce this week is also something to relish!

A good performance today which makes it 3 wins out of 3 and we will be favourites to beat Rochdale next week which would make it a perfect month rugby wise and a perfect start for Mark and our new coaching team. Financially it makes it a very challenging start to say the least. It’s what we wanted but it means we have to get in whatever monies we can and as quick as we can. That means hoping to get a decent gate this week to watch a winning team, helping by joining the War Chest and buying draw tickets because £1,000 prize and £1,000 in Club funds is certainly welcome. Please therefore help as much as you can.

Draw has been busy today so now nearly sold out just about another 20 or so tickets to sell so hopefully a few more will buy a ticket and we get draw done Thursday or Friday at latest. £400 a fair amount to win to help pay off Christmas bills!!! Thanks for support in these testing times.

Meadows, Kibula & Rourke were all signed for 2024 season but all had a release clause for no transfer fee if got a Full time contract with a SL Club. I have done a video about it. It is good for the players if they get a chance but puts our planning into disarray really so it is difficult. We are to blame for agreeing the clauses. In future we might take a different view and miss out on signing a player who insists on such a clause. It is a difficult one so maybe view it in future on a case by case basis. There is no ill feeling as in a way we should be proud of a set up that helps develop players so they can get a FT contract and in some cases play for England. Luke Hooley ,Josh Hodson, Samy Kibula, Jimmy Meadows, Josh Rourke, Sam Wood, Jack Broadbent, James Harrison, Tyler Dupree & Alex Walmsley to name but 10!!

Just to be clear- Only Concessions are for Season Tickets if you are over 65 and price £150 instead of Adult £180. Kids £20. Matchday Admission is £20 Adults & £5 Kids whether cash on day or online ticket. All Cup games are shared gates so All pay and not included in Season Ticket which only covers 13 League games. There is a chance of a Discount or Free Admission at a game during season but may not be as nothing sorted yet.

Just to clarify the tickets are on our new ticketing site which automatically generates a QR code to be scanned on phone or on a paper ticket when used. However for the draws this is irrelevant so can ignore it. The system can create a list with names for every ticket purchased so if buy 10 tickets your name is there 10 times. Then the random number is picked and used against that list. Not sure about publishing the full list everytime but will check if can know your number individually. Response so far superb as now on £300 draw but obviously each time the prize goes up we have to sell more tickets. Putying our financial position to one side for 5 mins! We are having our structural report done on our floodlight pylons today thanks to help from Peter McVeigh. LED lights i believe are heavier than halogen soneed to check no issues with 30 years old pylons and how many lights we can get on each one if we can afford them. 8 pylons at moment with 6 lights on each so 48 we have now although mot all working!!! Next job then costing and trying to get some funding but it won’t cover the cost even if we get it. We just need to not be at risk of them failing and save electricity costs going forward nevermind actually improving them which is a bonus.

We get to know our Rfl distribution amount tomorrow so then we know a bit more about the financial challenge ahead. It will be reasonable news if we are £35,000 down on previous season but anything more will not be. So make no mistake we are in difficult times which we are working through. We got a team which took us to a Grand Final and we reduced our Admission to £10 and our average gates went up about 250 which doesn’t fill anyone with confidence going forward so we have to take that into account. So we have to think things through very carefully to get to where we need to be. No we will not spend big money we can’t afford on so called “ big named players” who in reality are coming to the back end of their careers and may not be ready to put hard yards in for Batley when going gets tough. So good luck to other Clubs in that respect. We have re signed our own players who we know can perform and will try their very best so that’s a big start. We have added some young players to try a rebuilding process. We may run with a slightly smaller squad in hope DR works and we will look for players that could better our squad at the cost we can afford. Off the field we also need to try to progress. So some may be apprehensive or even disappointed about some things because that’s understandable but it is what it is and we will try our very best to put a competitive team out that we can be proud of but we wish to remain stable and we have a lot to sort this year. Ending on a positive note we have had some good meetings this week which give us some financial comfort going forward so we are progressing in the right direction at the moment.

Most Clubs appear to be spending more than they have and to an extent so are we. We have to look at ways of cutting our costs but we run on as low a cost as possible so there are limited opportunities there. So we have to look at ways of increasing our income firstly to cover the present likely shortfall and secondly to progress so we can be competitive with other Clubs who have a greater income because they get bigger crowds or have someone or some people able to put more significant sums into the Club to prop it up. We will try to do that. That has always been the problem to be honest but presently it has become worse but we shall see. We need a figure to work to then a plan but we will do it.

Just to clarify the shortfall i mentioned of £30,000 is after taking into account sponsors help to reduce price to £10 so yes it is very worrying. We hope to get news on Rfl distribution this week but i do not expect that to be good news and the only issue is how bad it is.

Just to clarify at some point i will be referring to that same old chestnut that finances are extremely difficult. I have just returned from holiday and first job is to pay the players for October then look again at finances where as of today we have had to find £30,000 to get through the season which is the worst we have been for probably 20 years so we are working on a plan but as of today we don’t know the League structure and we don’t know the Rfl financial distribution to Clubs other than it is likely to be significantly less than last year where we were already losing money so whether we like it or not that is challenging to say the least!! Other Clubs can do what they want regarding signing players with such uncertainty and we ourselves are still doing that to some extent but we have to try to keep finances as level as we can. We have players to announce as signings and we have still some players to sign and it is frustrating I understand that if we see some Clubs strengthening but we will put out a competitive team eventually i am sure. By the way us overachieving against teams with bigger budgets is NOT luck but whether anybody likes it or not it is skill both on and off the field so we don’t seek pats on the back but such a comment is offensive to our players and the Club generally. i will say it again for probably more times than i care to remember but our supporters are brilliant but we have not got enough of them so that is the single reason why we are held back but it will not stop us trying and it will not stop me enjoying my rugby league. Anyway let’s see what we can do to improve going forward and more signings will be confirmed shortly. Whatever new players we would like let’s remember our players in 2023 are decent Championship players who got to Wembley and won a significant amount of League games as well so it’s not that bad at all.

I am away on holiday until tomorrow but did send an initial statement through which should be out there soon i think. Batley Bulldogs voted against Grading as it was very vaguely presented so I certainly am not positive but when we have chance to review it there will be a more detailed response. BUT i can say when i get back Grading is not our priority at the moment

You are correct that people are on hols and need a break also. £10 entrance did not work to the extent we hoped. I personally am glad we did it but it has left us with a shortfall. Approximately attendances went up by an average of 250 and spend at the stadium went up but this was not enough even with sponsorship we obtained. We do not want to go backwards so my priority at the moment is to get all monies in and assess our final losses then get a plan to bring more money in going forward. There is no criticism whatsoever of the support given by our supporters but the continual issue is that we do not have enough of them whether we win or not and whatever the price of admission is. As a general rule attendances reflect the size of the Club and as soon as you finish on the field higher than your attendances relative to other Clubs you are punching above your weight which is exactly what we do year in and year out and it is what we will continually try to do in the future. Its called doing your best both on and off the field and thats what we do whether that is good enough or not is another issue. Looking forward to the challenge of next year already but it will be a challenge make no mistake about that. This season was difficult but next year will be more so.

Just to clarify the York game was a shared gate. We will not make anything whatsoever money wise on this fixture. Our aim is to not lose money on any coaches run and to seek to raise monies through sponsorship etc to break even with the cost of player wages and all the expense of travel, accommodation, meals etc. if we do that we will be very happy. I will not say anything more on this topic as i want to focus on the positives which is the achievement of getting to Wembley and enjoying the occasion. We know we will have good support which is another positive. So just enjoy the build up and the day.