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Post by billyw on Mar 19, 2018 8:47:14 GMT
Private ownership? No ta. Still got the mental scars from the last bunch of vindictive clowns. The day we return to private ownership is the day I turn my back on the football club. But we may not have a club in a few weeks.
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Post by Al on Mar 19, 2018 8:53:23 GMT
Private ownership? No ta. Still got the mental scars from the last bunch of vindictive clowns. The day we return to private ownership is the day I turn my back on the football club. But we may not have a club in a few weeks. What are you going to do about it then Bill? Its a problem that we have collectively caused through complacency. Complacency let the last board and them before it get elected at the AGMs, and now when we need people back on board instead of people fighting for the future of this football club they're trotting out the complacent 'let's get investment' line instead of fighting for the future of this football club. Each and every one of us needs to have a good hard look in the mirror today, and ask ourselves. Do we want a football club in Chester? Yes? Then fucking fight for it then
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Post by Jack on Mar 19, 2018 8:56:08 GMT
What people are saying is that we need an owner who is prepared to put their hand in their pocket to fund a good team for us to watch. That would increase the crowds, and help us to survive at the highest level possible. How about a thousand owners who actually love their club putting their hands in their collective pockets? How good would that be? No crooked, self centred owner who then decided they want their money back and leave. If a thousand owners chip in an average of £100 on top of season tickets or turnstile cash, that's £100k. That would increase next season budget by 40%. The Squad builder allows you to pay a monthly amount by DD. £10pm each would bring in £120k. £25pm bring in £300k. That doubles our budget. Then we'd likely have a team worth watching. Is that worth £10 - £25 PM to you? That is the ideal owner(s) for our club. Maybe we need to take some responsibility in our club instead of bleating about the model. Unless more people do something to change things those wanting an outside owner will either get one, or more likely, have no club to support. Could go either way imo. Fantastic post, and although it sounds daft, I’d never really thought of it like that. The club needs to bang that drum, I could spare £10 a month on a direct debit and I’m absolutely certain loads more would do the same. How the club market it, in a way that doesn’t just come across as milking the same cow, is crucial. Maybe a #BluePledge system, can we get 500 people to join in? Could there be a visual board/totaliser to show it. 1000 people paying £10 a month doesn’t seem so very far fetched, and you’re dead right that if we want a successful team then we have to fund it too.
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Post by bluetartan on Mar 19, 2018 9:31:33 GMT
CFU members none CFU members and everyone that supports this club of ours in any way are all guilty in varying degrees of letting this club get to where it is. I am just as guilty, I live away from Chester and have hardly attended any matches for a number of years, but when I’m in Chester and a game is on I go. I try and do my bit I’m a CFU member and always have been, I play the seals lottery, I have donated I have travelled to games, I have bought merchandise etc etc just like you all, but fan apathy has without doubt coupled with appalling management and horrific boardroom decisions have Led us to where we are. I travelled down and was there at Bury when we played F.C. united and felt so proud to stand with thousands of Blues “yellows” and of what we had all achieved, I was there to see Matty Mcginn smash In the equaliser to gain promotion and for the first time saw Chester supporters turn out on mass to fill all four sides of the stadium the noise and the sight almost made you cry with pride. Slowly but surely the wheels have fallen off, the magic has ebbed away and the fans have drifted off. This is really really hurting the club, our only real source of income and smaller attendances mean ultimately a weaker squad and further deterioration arguments, bickering etc. I know it’s hard to motivate when utter garbage has been served up for three years or so but we are different from every other club, our club needs us and always will, that’s what fan owned is and we all have to constantly dig deep in any way we can, it’s not really about the CFU in fact aren’t we all bored of the same old arguments spouted on here, Chester football club is US ALL, yes joining the CFU is I see as fundamental, as it’s a way to feel even in a small way that you are the club and it’s generates further income, but if you don’t want to join don’t join. At the same time CFU members shouldn’t point fingers at none CFU members and vice versa, WE ARE ALL THE SAME. I have supported this club for 44 years, we all all know the heartache of supporting this club and how historically she normally let’s us down But then we think of the few times of magic that plucks the heart strings and makes us realise why we love this club like we do, but none so more than the galvanisation and the way this club dragged itself from the gutter lead by a few and supported by many after the horror show that was Gutterman, Smith and Vaughan. Funding is an issue and always will be, but if we want to remain fan owned then we absolutely all have to do so much more and maintain it through thick and thin to not do so gets us back to where we are or worse. If we don’t or can’t do this then the fan owned model is destined for failure as is this club our club. Some form of outside investment may be necessary but that would feel like failure would it not, I don’t have the answers how to achieve it, but to drag back the missing 50% is absolutely paramount and then we need to keep them/us engaged and then grow, without them we are destined for even darker days.
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Post by rcb on Mar 19, 2018 9:45:29 GMT
Pie in the sky nonsense. £10 a month equates to an increase of £5 per home game, and it has been proven that a large number of people are not happy with paying more. Fan owned can only be successful when gates exceed 2000, and that the gates need to rise as the costs rise. With higher costs at National League level then gates need to be 3000 and prices at a level where non “owners” are happy to pay and feel it is value for money. As the gates increase so the potential for more sponsorship increases. Where the product is right people will buy into it. Remember the 5000 against Northwich? The “owners” have had the chance before, and it has not worked. Some say McCarthy, whilst others say it was Maguire who almost killed the club. The reality is it was the “owners” who employed them both. When large numbers saw the truth so it was the “owners” who refused to accept the will of the sensible fans and kept both clowns for far too long, thereby creating what may yet prove to be a terminal decline. When concerns are voiced via alternative opinions then some articulate owners calll people “f*cking idiots” and that they need to “fucking fight”. What a great way to sell the club! Remember that people always have a choice. The city of Liverpool caters for the privately owned, and highly successful football clubs that are Liverpool and Everton, whilst also catering for those who prefer a smaller fan owned model as in Marine. www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/oct/08/marine-football-club-liverpool-non-league-dayI doubt Chester has the level of passion to cater for both models, but I am of the opinion that the fan owned model, like Marine, has a ceiling at level six or seven at best. Some chances in life only come once, and the contract extension given to McCarthy killed that chance.
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Post by paulie on Mar 19, 2018 10:04:30 GMT
I don’t understand how supporters of a club who’ve suffered as much at the hands of private owners in the past as we have could seriously want to go back there. Christ, everyone else must be laughing at us because owning your own club is something to be envious of and people want to pack it in because they can’t be bothered rolling their sleeves up. We are now also suffering at the hands of our own fans.
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Post by Harry Lime on Mar 19, 2018 10:53:01 GMT
What people are saying is that we need an owner who is prepared to put their hand in their pocket to fund a good team for us to watch. That would increase the crowds, and help us to survive at the highest level possible. How about a thousand owners who actually love their club putting their hands in their collective pockets? How good would that be? No crooked, self centred owner who then decided they want their money back and leave. If a thousand owners chip in an average of £100 on top of season tickets or turnstile cash, that's £100k. That would increase next season budget by 40%. The Squad builder allows you to pay a monthly amount by DD. £10pm each would bring in £120k. £25pm bring in £300k. That doubles our budget. Then we'd likely have a team worth watching. Is that worth £10 - £25 PM to you? That is the ideal owner(s) for our club. Maybe we need to take some responsibility in our club instead of bleating about the model. Unless more people do something to change things those wanting an outside owner will either get one, or more likely, have no club to support. Could go either way imo. I agree with you and I will happily give yet another £100 donation so you only need another 999 to do likewise - good luck with that. That is my point really. People shout and moan about how we want someone else to fund our club. Yet are unwilling (or unable) to contribute themselves. Some don't even bother going to the home games, yet bleat on here every week. I'm not happy paying £18 to watch this at the moment either. We have three choices, something about it, accept it, or give up. Stark choices. To be fair to Wrexham fans they do put their hands in their pockets. Ok there are more of them, but they do more than we do.
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Post by Arthur's Carpet slipper on Mar 19, 2018 11:19:47 GMT
Great points made Harry. I'd happily donate more money to the club monthly to ensure our heritage is not lost to some private owned person with his / her own agenda.
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Post by gezzer on Mar 19, 2018 12:23:02 GMT
Great points made Harry. I'd happily donate more money to the club monthly to ensure our heritage is not lost to some private owned person with his / her own agenda. What about a private owned person whos only agenda is to see their hometown club in the Football League again? Lets face it who is going to invest in a football club with no assets, fickle fans who come and go as the wind changes in a city that clearly does not support its football club?
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Post by Arthur's Carpet slipper on Mar 19, 2018 12:40:37 GMT
How many private owners have done that in the last 30 years. They don't exist - there will always be a compromise for the genuine supporter. We have a unique opportunity to define the destiny of our club by collectively pulling together
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Post by billyw on Mar 19, 2018 12:45:54 GMT
What people are saying is that we need an owner who is prepared to put their hand in their pocket to fund a good team for us to watch. That would increase the crowds, and help us to survive at the highest level possible. How about a thousand owners who actually love their club putting their hands in their collective pockets? How good would that be? No crooked, self centred owner who then decided they want their money back and leave. If a thousand owners chip in an average of £100 on top of season tickets or turnstile cash, that's £100k. That would increase next season budget by 40%. The Squad builder allows you to pay a monthly amount by DD. £10pm each would bring in £120k. £25pm bring in £300k. That doubles our budget. Then we'd likely have a team worth watching. Is that worth £10 - £25 PM to you? That is the ideal owner(s) for our club. Maybe we need to take some responsibility in our club instead of bleating about the model. Unless more people do something to change things those wanting an outside owner will either get one, or more likely, have no club to support. Could go either way imo. The Squad Buider has been running sine Burr was here so fans have had plenty of opportunity to donate. If they haven't already signed up what makes you think they will do so now. It would be interesting to know how many make a monthly contribution to Squad Builder - I would be surprised if there are 100 of us so hoping for a thousand to do so is wishful thinking I'm afraid. Your suggestions are quite right though - the only way a fanowned club can survive is a) by having enough fans to make it viable and b) for those fans to dig DEEP into their pockets. Sponsorship, fund raising etc. plays a part but ultimately it is down to the fans - if they want their own club they must be willing to pay for it.
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Post by Malcolm Tucker on Mar 19, 2018 13:00:48 GMT
I don’t understand how supporters of a club who’ve suffered as much at the hands of private owners in the past as we have could seriously want to go back there. Christ, everyone else must be laughing at us because owning your own club is something to be envious of and people want to pack it in because they can’t be bothered rolling their sleeves up. We are now also suffering at the hands of our own fans. A solution is in progress, the suffering is coming at the hands of people not bothering going to the games etc. That will be an issue whether fan owned or not. Remember Vaughan threatening to pull out his investment every time we had a poor crowd? To want to go back to private ownership is ludicrous IMO. Investment fine but advocating private ownership is tantamount to a death sentence for the club at some point down the line and we’re right back to square one. The one time since reforming that things get tough and people want to go back to where we came from. It’s embarrassing considering most supporters would kill to own their club.
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Post by devablue on Mar 19, 2018 14:17:57 GMT
Say a well respected, particularly wealthy, local fan/investor did come along with promises to add finance to the first team and improve the clubs infrastructure. I would like to think it would go down to some sort of vote/poll of current CFU members. I mean, i highly doubt anything like that is in place, but worth a thought. What are you on about, there is no need for an y votes or polls they can do that now - and already are doing it now, how do you think the youth academy survives! I'm not talking about the youth academy.. I feel like moving away from the fan-owned model is something all cfu members should get a say on.
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Mar 19, 2018 14:34:26 GMT
It'll only be as successful as we want it to be. Clearly there are some on here who don't want it to be.
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Post by eltonblues on Mar 19, 2018 14:52:02 GMT
Cheers everyone overall a decent debate! The only challenge that I see is that it is the same small group of fans putting our hands into our pockets all of the time and that will always restrict our progress.
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Post by South Wirral Blue on Mar 19, 2018 16:54:20 GMT
Not saying I'm for private investment but let's be honest, we were within weeks of folding not so long ago under this 'great' fan owned model. We're not exactly a convincing advert for sustainably living within your means.
We've dismissed sugar daddy clubs as unsustainable and yet we're looking exactly that ourselves.
When fans do as dreadful a job of running things as our lot, it's totally understandable that people will question our model. The only example our directors have set over the last year is to ignorantly overlook the pleas of fellow owners who knew more about the situation than they did.
I'm still for being fan owned but I'm resigned to the fact that we'll likely now be an uncompetitive regional club for a long time to come. Brilliant.
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Post by BarntonBen on Mar 19, 2018 18:37:12 GMT
It doesn't really have to be one or the other.
The club chose the one member one vote system which means any investor would not have any more say than someone who put a £1 in.
But why not have the 51% model that they have in Germany? The CFU will always have 51% but investors can buy shares up to 49%. This means the CFU would always have the final say, but investors could have a greater say in the running of the club depending on how much they invest.
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Mar 20, 2018 1:28:02 GMT
There are no shares to purchase so unsure how that would work.
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