The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this forum belong solely to me a fan & supporter and in no way represent the club, organisation, committee or other group or individual.
Some really good posts on the previous topic. However I would say this:
At the July Council meeting there was much celebration at the end in particular from Alan Turvey. The club had been saved and he was beaming. Surely hand shaking and back slapping was the order of the day. Councillor Bounds indicated the deal had been done and the big future at Winklebury.
At the meeting I made it clear with the few other folk allowed to speak we were against the plan. That of course is now history.
My feeling is that if this venture is starting to flounder as many of the posts indicate then surely it is time that Alan Turvey and his pals were made to get involved again. It is unfair to put any more burden on the loyal fans.
The new Community Group does appear to be low in numbers. Even the Bridge and Chess Club to which I belong has higher numbers of members and they are not asking for Council hand outs.
By now one imagines the Community Committee must know what the figures are for the upgrade of Winklebury and what the program of works is. The usual March deadline for ground inspections is fast approaching and so far apart from a few fun sketches there is little detail.
Basingstoke Town are in this mess because of gross mis-management. This is shown in the lack of ground improvements over a very long time. In addition Mr.Razaak patted himself on the back for screwing over the local business's with his Voluntary agreements. From discussions I had with local business's at the Expo and a few in the last few weeks they have not forgotten.
So the fans left at Basingstoke are loyal and deserve so much better. What is needed now is some statements as to what is actually happening; confirmation that the funding is in place and details on the playing side.
With all due respect, David, you are increasingly remote from the Club.
The Community Club floundering already?
Depends on your definition of floundering.
The money used to be the sole concern of Rafi Razzak and the Board.
Now it’s everyone’s province.
Rafi was lending money at the rate of £180,000 a year at the end - he’s ceased and that’s an impossible £900 per fan financial hole for the remaining 200 hardcore.
That’s far too much per capita of a hole to plug in order for the Club to be able to operate at Step 3 the way we did.
So EVERYTHING is up for discussion - the Manager’s wages, the Assistant, and other coaches or people on the payroll and the players.
But make no mistake the CC will work on some level - it’s whether that level is Step 3, 4 or 5 which is the issue here.
Hard decisions at some point will have to be taken - to me, Terry Brown adds great value to the Club, is our biggest asset and would be a massive loss, but every asset has a price and a scenario in which it’s no longer affordable.
Ditto Jason, ditto every player.
And in the coming months the Club will no doubt be looking at what it can sustainably raise and who it can consequently afford to keep.
Full time squad, U21s, coaching and playing staff - it’s all up in the air and open to possible change.
We might even go back to part time as Lee advocates.
But one thing is fur sure - the Club still has more fans than other Clubs in this area and it will survive in some shape or form.
Please don’t misrepresent my postings by implying I might be suggesting otherwise.
You are probably right I am out of touch (thankfully !!). However I can only go on what is being posted, what I seen and heard at the Council meeting and the seemingly endless lack of concrete information.
In regard to the playing side I will take your word for it. Looking at the league table I cannot see the team being more than half way up and hopefully the cups may bring some cheer.
However at the July meeting a bright future was promised at Winklebury. Very positive noises all round; plenty of smiles and back slapping. So what is the situation now ?. Surely some sort of explanation is required. If the whole plan is to rely on the income from the fan base then there could be problems.
The whole situation looks as though it is going to be challenging in respect to the ground. A simple question. What happens if it is not ready by next season ?. Farnborough ??.
Post by davidpartridge on Dec 4, 2017 19:00:02 GMT
Speaking after the meeting, BDBC councillor Simon Bound, cabinet member for communities and community safety, said: “This is a new era for the club and for football in the borough as a whole. As a council we have encouraged a collaborative approach involving the newly formed community-owned club committee, the football club’s Interim Management Group and Hampshire FA, as our county advocates for football.
"Working together with the fans and the community of Basingstoke, they propose to develop and deliver a realistic, sustainable and supported plan that allows Basingstoke Town Community Football Club to thrive and achieves wider community benefits. "
I seem to remember the council were going to be involved in this process and that cross party groups would be formed. I am also remote, David, and unfortunately for the club so are the majority of the town! I haven't had the time recently to seek out information from council meetings and I have seen nothing from either club or local press to indicate that any of this is happening. How did the consultation at Winklebury go? Seen no update on this, or any engagement with any other areas of the town. Haven't found any evidence of planning applications as yet, have these been submitted? You're right, David, time is marching on, so what is happening? Who knows? Someone must.
Of course, I wasn't here for the glory years But, never mind, Nev'll Fix It!
This is still clearly a very difficult time for the club and moving forward the financial challenges will remain. I happen to agree with a lot of what Lee and Ian have said. The hard core fans have done remarkably well to support the club through all this and no doubt many if not all will continue to support them in the foreseeable future but the question as Ian and Lee says is for how much longer.
Whilst the community club is a great idea and I do support it, a consortium or wealthy individual (who knows what they are getting into and would not stitch the club up again) would I think be better because I worry that not enough support will come just from the people of Basingstoke to sustain the club at a decent level. However, in saying that it will be interesting to see when the man who has stitched the club up finally departs and has absolutely no connections left with the club, if, like has been suggested other businesses will come forward to support the club?
RIP CAMROSE - SADLY AND UNCEREMONIOUSLY TAKEN AWAY FROM THE PEOPLE OF BASINGSTOKE . NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN
Prejudice is a great TIME SAVER. You can form opinions without having to get to the FACTS.
The loyal fan base won't be enough to carry the club financially end of. The key as mentioned by people is the engagement with the local community.
I fully expect that most local people don't know about the club or where they even play. Standing in Festival Place with Smarty, Dunny and Stokie a few years ago about 70% of the people we spoke to didn't even know the club existed or where we even played. (funny that all of them knew Toy R'us though!) One of the quotes from Terry was clearly hinting that Jason will be taking over and him stepping down in the very near future and the type of man Terry is he would certainly step down if required.
Good old fashion flyering is what is required, posters in the shops advertising the games.
Also the price will still be putting a lot of people off. Make kids free to attend and shout about it. Are the club still engaging and visiting schools? Why don't the club give Power League loads of free kids tickets that they can give out at kids birthday parties.
So many simple little things that could help generate revenue:
Maybe time to start a proper online club shop back up. Paul did a fab job with this, I remember that the December he had it going loads of Christmas orders were coming through.
is the club doing a Christmas party for the kids? Take advantage of the current stakeholders such as the Dragons Club.
The clubs at home on Boxing day - what a great opportunity! Start promoting that now!
Send residents in Winklebury a Christmas Card with a couple of free tickets in for a certain game with the message looking forward to seeing you 2018, but in the meantime come and watch us for free.
As secretary of the Community Club , let me update you as far as I am able. It has not always been possible to get timely messages across because of confidentiality restrictions. with apologies if this seems boring. Let me first start with the joint statement on 17 July between the newly formed Community Club and Hants FA , supported in principle by the Council, to develop the facility at Winklebury and for the club to make this our new home. That was great news and a considerable achievement after a lot of hard work , against the backdrop of the Council's previous position of no suitable site within their ownership in the town, and HFA's resistance to us coming to Winklebury.
Making progress on this front takes time due to the various hurdles that need to be overcome. It is a lot of work by our volunteer base (it has almost been a full time job for me). The council made clear that their procedures required a full programme of community engagement in Winklebury ( 5,000 plus leaflets delivered to homes and businesses , 7 drop in meetings , meetings with Winklebury Community Action Group, contact with Winklebury Councillors. The consultation brought positive reaction but with understandable concerns about car parking. We need to be a little guarded about what we say because the next stage is an planning application which allows people to formally comment /oppose. We are confident that we can address those concerns about car parking. But to support that we have to produce a travel plan that shows how adverse impacts will be addressed. To this end we conducted a travel survey at the Biggleswade game.
We are now working with Hants FA to put in a joint planning application covering the 3G pitch and stadium improvements. We are in Hants FA hands as to when the planning application goes forward - but we are advised it will be this month.The target date for availability of the 3G is September 2018 is achievable. There are two other areas where we are working with the council. For them to fully support our move, we need to demonstrate that the new community club is a competent and financially viable organisation with a realistic business plan ( a draft document currently runs to nearly 5,000 words) and have in place a proper agreement to manage the relationship with HFA and run the facility for the benefit of the community (another 5,000 words!).
The draft business plan will be an iterative process , ensuring it covers all the areas to the council's satisfaction (they don't want to have another ice rink situation on their hands). It will cover all aspects of our income and expenditure , including many of the points covered in Ian Davies's post. I envisage we shall be sharing the key details finalised business plan with Community Club members in late January /early February. We are confident that we shall be able to satisfy the Council and that with support we shall have a viable club. We recognise that hard decisions will need to be made and that new sources of fund raising will be needed ( not just asking the usual folk to dig deeper).
Now let me turn to the £20,000 funding target . In a nutshell, this does not mean the Community Club is a failure or that we are doomed for the future. We are having to address the commitments that were necessarily made before the community club was fully operational. Let me make clear what we would like supporters and those with a general interest in the club to do:
- Sign up for the 200 plus club at £10 a month (and 50/50 prize money) 200 members would bring us in £12,000 annually. I can't believe the number of real supporters who have not signed up when people who have not seen us play / and never will have signed up because they care -Be a volunteer , whether or not you can financially help , sell Lucky Sevens (£1 a go ) to friends and work mates , help us take forward the kind of thoughtful initiatives that Simon H suggests ( we simply don't have the resources), introduce us to businesses /your employer who might be willing to sign up for £100 as a founding corporate member of the community club in return for a framed certificate and other business benefits.
Volunteers are needed in all different spheres , for whatever time you can give . Whether it is a pair of hands distributing leaflets , helping on match days , providing specialist skills in IT , marketing , graphic design, communication, organising events. Six people on a board can't do it alone. We are also setting up a number of sub committees chaired by a board member to cover a greater range of activities.
The point of a community club - vital now and when full ownership is transferred - is that it is the members that run it and ensure its success or otherwise . There is nothing to be gained by not getting involved (as much as each person can contribute). The question to ask is what you can do to make the community club successful (and enjoy the added pleasure of being part of that success because it will be a success).
If anyone wishes to contact me , ring 07966921584 or email stewill@hotmail.co.uk best regards
Thanks for this. Detailed and informative update on the Community concept and how it is progressing. Much appreciated.
I suppose the only question in my mind, leaving aside the thorny issue of whether a "Community" can be found in a town which historically has offered little evidence that it has one, is next season`s home venue (assuming the club survives that long). It sounds like the season starts at Winklebury on grass, and then transitions to 3G in September. Presumably this change has been verified with the SPL.
Otherwise, we are all hanging on grimly to the bumpy ride ahead.
Its proposed to play the first home game on the 3G at Winklebury in September provided everything is approved and ready.
Clearly we shall be monitoring progress and make any necessary contingency arrangements.
We shall also be monitoring progress on the redevelopment of the Camrose because on the sale we shall take on ownership of BT Limited, with all that entails eg debt free, with a promised cash injection which we shall generally use towards a permanent clubhouse.
We aim to provide key updated info when we can but certainly detailed info in Jan /Feb.
A final thought - 'Community' can be viewed as a two way thing and certainly we need to do what we can to generate community spirit. There are many people and businesses that value their home town.
