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The Voodooguru

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In the situation town are in they should of done all they could to keep hold of teare,Walker. There young and will be great players given the time and experience. This team should of been building round lads like them two plus fitzy Henson Steele Caine and a few more. Can see us struggle to sign many local lads next year 

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8 minutes ago, Town5 said:

In the situation town are in they should of done all they could to keep hold of teare,Walker. There young and will be great players given the time and experience. This team should of been building round lads like them two plus fitzy Henson Steele Caine and a few more. Can see us struggle to sign many local lads next year 

Even if it meant cutting some of the travellers , who probably would be gone at seasons end . Use that money to keep Teare and Walker , these are / were / should have been the future 

Edited by DavidM
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11 minutes ago, Town5 said:

In the situation town are in they should of done all they could to keep hold of teare,Walker. There young and will be great players given the time and experience. This team should of been building round lads like them two plus fitzy Henson Steele Caine and a few more. Can see us struggle to sign many local lads next year 

I absolutely agree, it saddens me when it's so hard to sign good young players that we give them reasons to leave. They want to enjoy their rugby but apart from getting a hiding every week where's the enjoyment in playing our "style" of rugby? Caine will be next.

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6 hours ago, pgilmour said:

I would be 100 % sure the coach would not lie about anything maybe the club have skirted around issues. U can't run a club on volunteers we need money people to move the club forward simple as. To many Directors who put loads of time into the club but not much more and I wouldn't blame them. UTT

Not according to some of the local players pal, 

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I've kept quiet on this matter for a while because I don't get there on a regular basis anymore. But the fact we are begging for money as a club is disgusting after the way that we operated in the black for years. Travelling player's who aren't good enough and I could name a few in that squad but haven't left and have taken a pay cut because they aren't good enough and will get no where else to play and we're letting local players go is beyond me. To turn up at a game with 16 players is beyond a disgrace. "We went up a year too early blah blah blah" isn't an excuse we went out last year to win that league . We didn't so we suffered the consequences of play off rugby and now we're going down or possibly might not exist next year if rumours are true. Sheer bad management and you can't just blame a coach for this it starts at the top with the people controlling the funding. Speculate to accumulate by all means but within reason. 

Edited by Town1988
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11 hours ago, Town1988 said:

 Travelling player's who aren't good enough and I could name a few in that squad but haven't left and have taken a pay cut because they aren't good enough and will get no where else to play and we're letting local players go is beyond me. 

I think the problem with that is to actually get rid of any travelling players that dont want to leave we would have to pay up the remainder of their contract in full, whereas the local players who have left have done so rather than take the pay cut.

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I've heard the club needs immediate cash injection to get through to the end of the season,  I'm sure there's all kinds of things going on behind the scenes to ensure any shortfall is plugged.

Maybe, just maybe we have to accept that League One with the occasional push at promotion is our current level if things stay as they are, but if we want to progress to be a mid-table competitive championship side, the club has to change the way it operates, and supporters need to take a more active role in raising funds and taking a more active role with supporter representation on the board, as due to location and lack of major industry, this club cannot compete for sponsorship with our Lancs and Yorkshire counterparts, and anything else at present is a pipedream and a move to a shiny new stadium as much as its needed, won't change anything! 

Running a professional sports club isn't like running a normal business as you can't make accurate cash flow forecasts, you have multiple factors to take into consideration which includes amongst other things, on-field team performance, the weather, other events (Magic weekend on a matchday - typical RFL planning!) to name but three and the days of running a professional club on matchday ticket and beer sales alone isn't sustainable as a business model that can be used in the 21st century leisure industry, and hasn't been for a long long time. You wouldn't open a shop in the town centre for 20 days a year and expect it to stay open, and that is exactly what's happening now with Town which in effect has 30+ employees on 12 month contracts and has to recoup the majority of its costs over a 20 day working year - madness!!

If there is a way out of this and supporters are against a merger, then I personally think now is the time to explore reinventing the club as a supporter's trust owned club.

There are plenty of football clubs with similar set ups, supporter base etc to ourselves who seem to thrive - AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City, Darlington, Bury FC and FC United being the obvious ones, plus numerous non-league clubs and in the case of Wimbledon and FC United, they have gone from zero to building multimillion pound stadiums in a very short time. 

If the club could engage with Townies from afar as well as locals and it was properly marketed and promoted (not just a facebook post), the club could initially set a target membership of 1000 at something reasonable - say £2.50 a week membership - that would bring in 130k per year straight away from membership alone and could possibly open the door to grant funding which the club currently can't access as they are private Ltd company.

The Supporters Trust sets the membership level so as the membership grows the income increases - that's a fixed income which makes cash flow forecasts so much easier - which in turn helps player recruitment.

The current situation sees the same old story of a new board inheriting the old boards debt/problems in a crumbling stadium and by the time they have fought through and steadied the ship, supporters have become disillusioned and stay away as the team isn't competing on the field which just exasperates the problem.

We have to accept we are on a hamster wheel, and things need to change as we have to break the status quo 

Edited by Death to the Rah Rah's
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I'm reading this with a heavy heart as I have a soft spot for Town and really wanted you to stay up this season.

Just a thought but I wonder if your BOD have approached the Barrow BOD for advice/help/assistance putting together a plan to turn things around at DP and utilise the facilities all year round?

Since Steve Neal took over as Chairman and put together a forward thinking BOD, the off field side of BRLFC has gone from strength to strength which helps generate the finances to put a more competitive squad on the pitch !!

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Lee Morton

 

Raiders have risen from the ashes

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23 minutes ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

I've heard the club needs immediate cash injection to get through to the end of the season,  I'm sure there's all kinds of things going on behind the scenes to ensure any shortfall is plugged.

Maybe, just maybe we have to accept that League One with the occasional push at promotion is our current level if things stay as they are, but if we want to progress to be a mid-table competitive championship side, the club has to change the way it operates, and supporters need to take a more active role in raising funds and taking a more active role with supporter representation on the board, as due to location and lack of major industry, this club cannot compete for sponsorship with our Lancs and Yorkshire counterparts, and anything else at present is a pipedream and a move to a shiny new stadium as much as its needed, won't change anything! 

Running a professional sports club isn't like running a normal business as you can't make accurate cash flow forecasts, you have multiple factors to take into consideration which includes amongst other things, on-field team performance, the weather, other events (Magic weekend on a matchday - typical RFL planning!) to name but three and the days of running a professional club on matchday ticket and beer sales alone isn't sustainable as a business model that can be used in the 21st century leisure industry, and hasn't been for a long long time. You wouldn't open a shop in the town centre for 20 days a year and expect it to stay open, and that is exactly what's happening now with Town which in effect has 30+ employees on 12 month contracts and has to recoup the majority of its costs over a 20 day working year - madness!!

If there is a way out of this and supporters are against a merger, then I personally think now is the time to explore reinventing the club as a supporter's trust owned club.

There are plenty of football clubs with similar set ups, supporter base etc to ourselves who seem to thrive - AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City, Darlington, Bury FC and FC United being the obvious ones, plus numerous non-league clubs and in the case of Wimbledon and FC United, they have gone from zero to building multimillion pound stadiums in a very short time. 

If the club could engage with Townies from afar as well as locals and it was properly marketed and promoted (not just a facebook post), the club could initially set a target membership of 1000 at something reasonable - say £2.50 a week membership - that would bring in 130k per year straight away from membership alone and could possibly open the door to grant funding which the club currently can't access as they are private Ltd company.

The Supporters Trust sets the membership level so as the membership grows the income increases - that's a fixed income which makes cash flow forecasts so much easier - which in turn helps player recruitment.

The current situation sees the same old story of a new board inheriting the old boards debt/problems in a crumbling stadium and by the time they have fought through and steadied the ship, supporters have become disillusioned and stay away as the team isn't competing on the field which just exasperates the problem.

We have to accept we are on a hamster wheel, and things need to change as we can't go on with the status quo 

If that's true about needing a cash injection to see the season out you need to do what we done in 2018. The fans where asked to contribute 250 quid to help the club out which meant players lost no money . We raised over 50k i think which kept us ticking over.  And the following season we won league 1 pretty easily . You would some raise some coin if you went down that route.

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26 minutes ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

I've heard the club needs immediate cash injection to get through to the end of the season,  I'm sure there's all kinds of things going on behind the scenes to ensure any shortfall is plugged.

Maybe, just maybe we have to accept that League One with the occasional push at promotion is our current level if things stay as they are, but if we want to progress to be a mid-table competitive championship side, the club has to change the way it operates, and supporters need to take a more active role in raising funds and taking a more active role with supporter representation on the board, as due to location and lack of major industry, this club cannot compete for sponsorship with our Lancs and Yorkshire counterparts, and anything else at present is a pipedream and a move to a shiny new stadium as much as its needed, won't change anything! 

Running a professional sports club isn't like running a normal business as you can't make accurate cash flow forecasts, you have multiple factors to take into consideration which includes amongst other things, on-field team performance, the weather, other events (Magic weekend on a matchday - typical RFL planning!) to name but three and the days of running a professional club on matchday ticket and beer sales alone isn't sustainable as a business model that can be used in the 21st century leisure industry, and hasn't been for a long long time. You wouldn't open a shop in the town centre for 20 days a year and expect it to stay open, and that is exactly what's happening now with Town which in effect has 30+ employees on 12 month contracts and has to recoup the majority of its costs over a 20 day working year - madness!!

If there is a way out of this and supporters are against a merger, then I personally think now is the time to explore reinventing the club as a supporter's trust owned club.

There are plenty of football clubs with similar set ups, supporter base etc to ourselves who seem to thrive - AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City, Darlington, Bury FC and FC United being the obvious ones, plus numerous non-league clubs and in the case of Wimbledon and FC United, they have gone from zero to building multimillion pound stadiums in a very short time. 

If the club could engage with Townies from afar as well as locals and it was properly marketed and promoted (not just a facebook post), the club could initially set a target membership of 1000 at something reasonable - say £2.50 a week membership - that would bring in 130k per year straight away from membership alone and could possibly open the door to grant funding which the club currently can't access as they are private Ltd company.

The Supporters Trust sets the membership level so as the membership grows the income increases - that's a fixed income which makes cash flow forecasts so much easier - which in turn helps player recruitment.

The current situation sees the same old story of a new board inheriting the old boards debt/problems in a crumbling stadium and by the time they have fought through and steadied the ship, supporters have become disillusioned and stay away as the team isn't competing on the field which just exasperates the problem.

We have to accept we are on a hamster wheel, and things need to change as we can't go on with the status quo 

Very interesting suggestion and probably worth exploring, biggest problem would be the existing shareholders there has been rumours in the past of people wanting to invest but been put off by the cost to buy the shares off those who own them

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Just now, donald said:

If that's true about needing a cash injection to see the season out you need to do what we done in 2018. The fans where asked to contribute 250 quid to help the club out which meant players lost no money . We raised over 50k i think which kept us ticking over.  And the following season we won league 1 pretty easily . You would some raise some coin if you went down that route.

there's all kinds of rumours doing the rounds Donald, I don't think any of us on here know the true facts so all just speculation unless told otherwise 

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36 minutes ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

I've heard the club needs immediate cash injection to get through to the end of the season,  I'm sure there's all kinds of things going on behind the scenes to ensure any shortfall is plugged.

Maybe, just maybe we have to accept that League One with the occasional push at promotion is our current level if things stay as they are, but if we want to progress to be a mid-table competitive championship side, the club has to change the way it operates, and supporters need to take a more active role in raising funds and taking a more active role with supporter representation on the board, as due to location and lack of major industry, this club cannot compete for sponsorship with our Lancs and Yorkshire counterparts, and anything else at present is a pipedream and a move to a shiny new stadium as much as its needed, won't change anything! 

Running a professional sports club isn't like running a normal business as you can't make accurate cash flow forecasts, you have multiple factors to take into consideration which includes amongst other things, on-field team performance, the weather, other events (Magic weekend on a matchday - typical RFL planning!) to name but three and the days of running a professional club on matchday ticket and beer sales alone isn't sustainable as a business model that can be used in the 21st century leisure industry, and hasn't been for a long long time. You wouldn't open a shop in the town centre for 20 days a year and expect it to stay open, and that is exactly what's happening now with Town which in effect has 30+ employees on 12 month contracts and has to recoup the majority of its costs over a 20 day working year - madness!!

If there is a way out of this and supporters are against a merger, then I personally think now is the time to explore reinventing the club as a supporter's trust owned club.

There are plenty of football clubs with similar set ups, supporter base etc to ourselves who seem to thrive - AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City, Darlington, Bury FC and FC United being the obvious ones, plus numerous non-league clubs and in the case of Wimbledon and FC United, they have gone from zero to building multimillion pound stadiums in a very short time. 

If the club could engage with Townies from afar as well as locals and it was properly marketed and promoted (not just a facebook post), the club could initially set a target membership of 1000 at something reasonable - say £2.50 a week membership - that would bring in 130k per year straight away from membership alone and could possibly open the door to grant funding which the club currently can't access as they are private Ltd company.

The Supporters Trust sets the membership level so as the membership grows the income increases - that's a fixed income which makes cash flow forecasts so much easier - which in turn helps player recruitment.

The current situation sees the same old story of a new board inheriting the old boards debt/problems in a crumbling stadium and by the time they have fought through and steadied the ship, supporters have become disillusioned and stay away as the team isn't competing on the field which just exasperates the problem.

We have to accept we are on a hamster wheel, and things need to change as we can't go on with the status quo 

Very good post with food for thought. Think a much needed meeting for all is long overdue 

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1 minute ago, Route66 said:

Very interesting suggestion and probably worth exploring, biggest problem would be the existing shareholders there has been rumours in the past of people wanting to invest but been put off by the cost to buy the shares off those who own them

its just a suggestion and a discussion point in these dark times, I have absolutely no idea what processes / legal requirements are, but like you I think its worth at least exploring and at least see what's involved.

Here's a link with a bit more info below

https://www.lbsa.org.uk/supporters-trust/what-is-a-supporters-trust/

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5 minutes ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

there's all kinds of rumours doing the rounds Donald, I don't think any of us on here know the true facts so all just speculation unless told otherwise 

If things really are that desperate surely it’s time the BOD swallowed their pride,let the supporters know the full facts & like Donald says even ask for help,plenty of other clubs have done similar over the years.

I really hope a solution is found to your clubs current problems.

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22 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

If things really are that desperate surely it’s time the BOD swallowed their pride,let the supporters know the full facts & like Donald says even ask for help,plenty of other clubs have done similar over the years.

I really hope a solution is found to your clubs current problems.

A new chairman and BOD wouldn't go amiss

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3 hours ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

I've heard the club needs immediate cash injection to get through to the end of the season,  I'm sure there's all kinds of things going on behind the scenes to ensure any shortfall is plugged.

Maybe, just maybe we have to accept that League One with the occasional push at promotion is our current level if things stay as they are, but if we want to progress to be a mid-table competitive championship side, the club has to change the way it operates, and supporters need to take a more active role in raising funds and taking a more active role with supporter representation on the board, as due to location and lack of major industry, this club cannot compete for sponsorship with our Lancs and Yorkshire counterparts, and anything else at present is a pipedream and a move to a shiny new stadium as much as its needed, won't change anything! 

Running a professional sports club isn't like running a normal business as you can't make accurate cash flow forecasts, you have multiple factors to take into consideration which includes amongst other things, on-field team performance, the weather, other events (Magic weekend on a matchday - typical RFL planning!) to name but three and the days of running a professional club on matchday ticket and beer sales alone isn't sustainable as a business model that can be used in the 21st century leisure industry, and hasn't been for a long long time. You wouldn't open a shop in the town centre for 20 days a year and expect it to stay open, and that is exactly what's happening now with Town which in effect has 30+ employees on 12 month contracts and has to recoup the majority of its costs over a 20 day working year - madness!!

If there is a way out of this and supporters are against a merger, then I personally think now is the time to explore reinventing the club as a supporter's trust owned club.

There are plenty of football clubs with similar set ups, supporter base etc to ourselves who seem to thrive - AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City, Darlington, Bury FC and FC United being the obvious ones, plus numerous non-league clubs and in the case of Wimbledon and FC United, they have gone from zero to building multimillion pound stadiums in a very short time. 

If the club could engage with Townies from afar as well as locals and it was properly marketed and promoted (not just a facebook post), the club could initially set a target membership of 1000 at something reasonable - say £2.50 a week membership - that would bring in 130k per year straight away from membership alone and could possibly open the door to grant funding which the club currently can't access as they are private Ltd company.

The Supporters Trust sets the membership level so as the membership grows the income increases - that's a fixed income which makes cash flow forecasts so much easier - which in turn helps player recruitment.

The current situation sees the same old story of a new board inheriting the old boards debt/problems in a crumbling stadium and by the time they have fought through and steadied the ship, supporters have become disillusioned and stay away as the team isn't competing on the field which just exasperates the problem.

We have to accept we are on a hamster wheel, and things need to change as we have to break the status quo 

Setting up a Supporters Trust is a great suggestion. Just an initial thought, but I  see there could be 1000 fans, locally and nationwide, who would start things off with  membership-giving payments of £250.

Let's face it sooner or later the BOD will have to appeal to fans for help  But this time it can't be on the old basis of getting nothing in return.

The current set up is not working. Change is needed for the future of the club .

The start has to be a public meeting where fans can  be treated as partners and their ideas  such as the Supporters Trust, can be put on the agenda. FGS stop the secrecy and the  terrible decisions taken behind closed doors that nobody wants to be responsible for or open about.

 

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24 minutes ago, REX said:

Setting up a Supporters Trust is a great suggestion. Just an initial thought, but I  see there could be 1000 fans, locally and nationwide, who would start things off with  membership-giving payments of £250.

Let's face it sooner or later the BOD will have to appeal to fans for help  But this time it can't be on the old basis of getting nothing in return.

The current set up is not working. Change is needed for the future of the club .

The start has to be a public meeting where fans can  be treated as partners and their ideas  such as the Supporters Trust, can be put on the agenda. FGS stop the secrecy and the  terrible decisions taken behind closed doors that nobody wants to be responsible for or open about.

 

I would hang fire with the public meeting while emotions are high and until there's at least been some groundwork carried out. The directors need to concentrate their efforts in getting through this sticky patch and get the finances in place to complete the season. That's when everything needs to be aired and viable proposal discussions to take place.

But you are correct, things have to change, the club has sailed close to extinction at least 4 times that I know of in the last 20 odd years and this can't be allowed to continue, even more so under the present climate with IMG looking at the overall viability of clubs in the pro game.

Same goes for Whitehaven, sure they are in a better place than us at present, but they've also been down this road multiple times and the present model for both clubs just isn't sustainable which is why both clubs have such a high turnover of directors who soon realise that being a director is more than hanging about with players and wearing a club tie.

Maybe this is the opportunity to push for a new club with both sets of supporters buying into the trust - 2000 supporters at £250 membership would raise 500k and really make us competitive .......food for thought eh!   

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3 hours ago, Death to the Rah Rah's said:

Maybe this is the opportunity to push for a new club with both sets of supporters buying into the trust - 2000 supporters at £250 membership would raise 500k and really make us competitive .......food for thought eh!   

Never thought of it like this before, that would be brilliant then add on top sponsorship money for the one club rather than 2 clubs fighting for it! 

On another point, whilst asking for help is probably inevitable for Town, I think the best way Town could do it is by being honest about how much is needed till at least the end of the season, by being honest you're much more likely to get people chipping in to help. Especially in this financial crisis we're in, people may be hesitant to part with what little spare money they have if their isn't a set target to work towards.

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7 hours ago, Brookie said:

A new chairman and BOD wouldn't go amiss

Loads of people will want to spend loads of there spare time, waste loads of money with zero chance of ever getting it back, be told how bad a job they're doing by "fans", must be a queue a mile long to take those roles.   You fancy it?

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9 hours ago, Davo5 said:

If things really are that desperate surely it’s time the BOD swallowed their pride,let the supporters know the full facts & like Donald says even ask for help,plenty of other clubs have done similar over the years.

I really hope a solution is found to your clubs current problems.

Towns B.o.D. is in my opinion correct in the way they are approaching the problem.       If they explain too much they may cause panic, say too little they create suspicion.

If to much fuss is made of this situation it may cause creditors to panic, resulting in making the problem far worse than it really is.

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11 hours ago, morty said:

I'm reading this with a heavy heart as I have a soft spot for Town and really wanted you to stay up this season.

Just a thought but I wonder if your BOD have approached the Barrow BOD for advice/help/assistance putting together a plan to turn things around at DP and utilise the facilities all year round?

Since Steve Neal took over as Chairman and put together a forward thinking BOD, the off field side of BRLFC has gone from strength to strength which helps generate the finances to put a more competitive squad on the pitch !!

To be fair Barra is about 2.5 times bigger than Workington and has a much larger catchment area for fans and players.

Town do ok using the bars etc as well. Its the travelling lads that cost money to attract playets- something that Barra find easier as they are close to a larger population in Lancashire.

Town have also spent a lot of money keeping the stadium in good condition- something Barra (right or wrong) haven't done.

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9 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

Town have also spent a lot of money keeping the stadium in good condition

And that's a good positive point you make there marra.

I arrived early for the televised London game, always do like to be one of the first in (like IanMac).

Anyway a guy approached me on the popular side asking why TV cameras were dotted about - and amazingly he was a cockney, and London fan, who'd travelled staying overnight in Carlisle without knowing it was on Premier Sport live (surely he was kidding me?) But what I really liked, from talking with him, was how much he admired Derwent Park, especially the snooker table like playing surface. He knew DP is over 60 years old and yet still looking good in his view as he had done a complete lap. His only query was the strange pinkish almost semi circles behind the sticks - speedway track remains marra was my answer.

So yes despite all this weeks sadness, with fans seemingly split 'for' and 'against' all things on the Town coach/board/players front, good old Derwent Park is still going strong eh.??????

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