Whitehaven Shortfall

[Hate the rec]

What's people's thoughts on Haven's financial shortfall ? I'm not wanting to cause trouble just asking the question, I know it's towns page but what do folk think ? 

[GeordieTownie]

Well looking at their offer which includes season tickets for next season.......what happens to the poor ###### that contributes but they end up in the same situation next year?

[town4me]

29 minutes ago, Hate the rec said:

What's people's thoughts on Haven's financial shortfall ? I'm not wanting to cause trouble just asking the question, I know it's towns page but what do folk think ? 

Its a town page but its an open forum too so yes you can put it on here.  Looks like they are in a right mess.

[Havenfan13]

44 minutes ago, Hate the rec said:

What's people's thoughts on Haven's financial shortfall ? I'm not wanting to cause trouble just asking the question, I know it's towns page but what do folk think ? 

Its a real shame we lost our main sponsor money and have not been able to replenish the lost revenue hence why the club is struggling and for some reason aswell as the team is playing the fans are not turning up on matchdays like the club and players deserve or expected think this shows the game is dying in west cumbria    

[GeordieTownie]

9 minutes ago, Havenfan13 said:

Its a real shame we lost our main sponsor money and have not been able to replenish the lost revenue hence why the club is struggling and for some reason aswell as the team is playing the fans are not turning up on matchdays like the club and players deserve or expected think this shows the game is dying in west cumbria    

It is a shame I agree. It’s also catastrophic financial mismanagement. If you lose your main sponsor you cut your cloth accordingly. They’ve received twice as much asTown from their main sponsors for the last god knows how long and obviously haven’t used it wisely.

[Carlisle1921]

I suppose its the same as we were when Zebra Claims pulled out, if you budget for money you have been promised and are let down after its spent you are always gonna have a problem. 

I'd be shocked if their problems were as bad as they are making out though, I'd say its more of a way to guilt more people into turning up on a matchday. Rumour is they have budgeted for 800 and are averaging under 600 and that's after 2 home games v town as well.

[GeordieTownie]

2 minutes ago, Carlisle1921 said:

I suppose its the same as we were when Zebra Claims pulled out, if you budget for money you have been promised and are let down after its spent you are always gonna have a problem. 

I'd be shocked if their problems were as bad as they are making out though, I'd say its more of a way to guilt more people into turning up on a matchday. Rumour is they have budgeted for 800 and are averaging under 600 and that's after 2 home games v town as well.

They weren’t promised it though it was well documented it wasn’t going to be renewed.

But I’d agree with the 2nd part of what you say.

[town4me]

I wonder if a pay cut will happen soon if they have  to find  cash. Haven't they recently given a local player a 5 year contract too.

[Carlisle1921]

If it helps i would be happy for us to take either of their half backs off them to ease the burden a bit

[town4me]

3 minutes ago, Carlisle1921 said:

If it helps i would be happy for us to take either of their half backs off them to ease the burden a bit

Yes I'd take dion off their hands to team up with Jamie.

[The Voodooguru]

Their appeal for money has a strange structure to it IMO as they are asking for £250 of individuals which is a fair old wack of cash when folk are planning summer holidays etc. Wouldn't have been better to have bronze, silver or gold investor packages to suit all budgets? Also suppose they get 300 people taking up the offer, then next season they lose around 40% of their gate income, which means this super investor ( what are the odds on it being Sellafield based? ) and their wads of cash has to be spread thinner right from the off. Why would you do that? Am I missing something?

[gillmeister]

13 minutes ago, The Voodooguru said:

Their appeal for money has a strange structure to it IMO as they are asking for £250 of individuals which is a fair old wack of cash when folk are planning summer holidays etc. Wouldn't have been better to have bronze, silver or gold investor packages to suit all budgets? Also suppose they get 300 people taking up the offer, then next season they lose around 40% of their gate income, which means this super investor ( what are the odds on it being Sellafield based? ) and their wads of cash has to be spread thinner right from the off. Why would you do that? Am I missing something?

Your missing nothing but it seems people at Whitehaven are missing business sense. I really hope they get sorted but looking for big chunks of money as they are isn’t the way to go about it 

[shaun mc]

The roots of this 'overspending' must have been based in last year when they seemed to spend to obtain promotion, which obviously didn't happen.

Its 2 years in a row where they have budgetted for larger crowds than they are actually getting. Hope they are paying their local suppliers, but I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't, as it seems they need the cash input now from the £250 packages

Town need to monitor what the impact is of reducing admission prices to £10 as it seems to have been well-received online. However, cutting prices may pee off season ticket holders.

[Havenfan13]

3 minutes ago, shaun mc said:

The roots of this 'overspending' must have been based in last year when they seemed to spend to obtain promotion, which obviously didn't happen.

Its 2 years in a row where they have budgetted for larger crowds than they are actually getting. Hope they are paying their local suppliers, but I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't, as it seems they need the cash input now from the £250 packages

Town need to monitor what the impact is of reducing admission prices to £10 as it seems to have been well-received online. However, cutting prices may pee off season ticket holders.

Im a season ticket holder and really am not fussed about loosing money as long as the club keeps going i think the price reduction for this game could be huge and is what most fans have been wanting for some time as 16 quid for a game at this level is taking the ###### 

[GeordieTownie]

7 minutes ago, Havenfan13 said:

Im a season ticket holder and really am not fussed about loosing money as long as the club keeps going i think the price reduction for this game could be huge and i was most fans have been wanting for some time as 16 quid for a game at this level is taking the ###### 

To cut it to £10 for your biggest gate of the season is financial suicide.

Theyd need and extra 60% more adults through the turnstiles to generate the same level of gate revenue for a game people will come to anyway.

And if they get beat the floating fans won’t go back anyway so you get what you can out of them while they’re there you don’t give them it cheaper.

No wonder they’re in financial trouble that’s going to cost them £6000 on 1,000 adults.

[town4me]

13 hours ago, gillmeister said:

Your missing nothing but it seems people at Whitehaven are missing business sense. I really hope they get sorted but looking for big chunks of money as they are isn’t the way to go about it 

 Correct and it sounds like they have entered  a vicious circle now. Getting money now for next season spectators to watch fo free doesn't ound good

[Cumberland Sausage]

I take no pleasure in seeing their financial plight but there is not a lot of cash floating around in West Cumbria and both clubs are struggling to attract people through the Turnstile.I recently asked a couple of lads at work who used to follow Town if they fancied coming to the Newcastle game and the simple answer was NO !! why would they pay £15 to watch this level of rugby when they can sit in the Pub and watch top class sport all afternoon and have nearly 7 pints for the same price.

Sadly that is what both clubs are now up against.

[Bearintown]

Over the past three seasons the board have funded this shortfall (in the region of £275k) but again this cannot continue.

^ thats what really stood out to me. Basically semi pro RL isnt a viable business, its a hobby where people , whether at director or fan level, pay money into their hobby to take part.

Not good

[GeordieTownie]

34 minutes ago, Bearintown said:

Over the past three seasons the board have funded this shortfall (in the region of £275k) but again this cannot continue.

^ thats what really stood out to me. Basically semi pro RL isnt a viable business, its a hobby where people , whether at director or fan level, pay money into their hobby to take part.

Not good

How the hell have they managed to lose that sort of money in 3 years??? 

I cant believe that’s true regardless of what they say.

[gillmeister]

Just poor business sense. Ourselves and Haven have probably both allowed ourselves to let players demand wages far beyond what there worth by playing us off against each other among many other factors 

[GeordieTownie]

I can’t believe that figure. It’s not as if they’ve had a team of superstars, even Town didn’t have deficits like that when they had Fifita, Sammut et al. And Town didn’t receive as much off their main sponsors, nor did they use their stadium grant to pay their players.

[gillmeister]

9 minutes ago, GeordieTownie said:

I can’t believe that figure. It’s not as if they’ve had a team of superstars, even Town didn’t have deficits like that when they had Fifita, Sammut et al. And Town didn’t receive as much off their main sponsors, nor did they use their stadium grant to pay their players.

Agree that the 90k per annum figure seems a bit of an overstretch

[ivans82]

The frustrating thing about West Cumbrian rugby is that it doesn`t seem to matter how much you spend or how well you are doing , crowds remain around the 600 mark .It seems when you lose supporters they remain lost and never come back .People don`t seem to want to put themselves out to go down anymore .I don`t know about anybody else on here but i am sick to death of people stopping me in the street and asking what sort of team Town have at the moment , asking all sorts of questions but having no intention of going to watch them , lads that at one time would never miss.Often mentioned is the price to watch Championship 1 rugby , well i would understand that if they didn`t make trips out to Wigan/Saints/Warrington etc , which with petrol,meals ,drinks etc. would cost them about £60 quid at least , or they think nothing of spending more than that on a saturday night on the P*** .The sad fact of the matter is both Boards at both Clubs are working their socks off to keep both Clubs afloat and most people couldn`t care less apart from us die hards that is . Rant over........going for a lie down l

[Limmertime]

10 hours ago, Cumberland Sausage said:

I take no pleasure in seeing their financial plight but there is not a lot of cash floating around in West Cumbria and both clubs are struggling to attract people through the Turnstile.I recently asked a couple of lads at work who used to follow Town if they fancied coming to the Newcastle game and the simple answer was NO !! why would they pay £15 to watch this level of rugby when they can sit in the Pub and watch top class sport all afternoon and have nearly 7 pints for the same price.

Sadly that is what both clubs are now up against.

So true, its not fashionable to watch local semi pro RL, clubs could do some research as to why?....new incentives need to be made to interest more supporters, I understand a lot of the amateur clubs are well supported so the interest is there, just need to understand what are the main reasons for fans staying away? would changing KO times work? are the prices for attending reasonable? Kids for a £1 and a free drink with a paying adult? Also look at local/national events and if needed, move kick off times to accommodate.

[Limmertime]

Just noticed Town v Hemel, 24th June is a 3pm kick off.....England v Panama is a 1pm kick off, I know fans can just about watch both at a struggle but could we move kick off to 3:30 to allow fans watching at home/town time to get down? could we market the fact the game is on at DP with drink promotions and free hotdogs or something? I know Hemel will have to agree but at least it gives fans opportunity to comfortably watch both if they want - removing the barriers/excuses