But owning your own ground isn't a universal panacea, it's overwhelmingly likely to involve a mortgage which could be just as onerous as rent. And what are the costs even of employing and equipping your own ground staff?

As things stand Spytty would be good only for Conference South - has the reported structural problem on the covered terrace been fixed?

Two big questions for me are:
- even if there was a timetabled plan to move back there, with removing the track essential, could we afford to fund a team good enough to retain FL status in the meantime?
- and even if we did, would people then turn out in sufficient numbers given we'd have left a much more convenient location?

I agree with your summation George.

George Street-Bridge wrote:But owning your own ground isn't a universal panacea, it's overwhelmingly likely to involve a mortgage which could be just as onerous as rent. And what are the costs even of employing and equipping your own ground staff?

As things stand Spytty would be good only for Conference South - has the reported structural problem on the covered terrace been fixed?

Two big questions for me are:
- even if there was a timetabled plan to move back there, with removing the track essential, could we afford to fund a team good enough to retain FL status in the meantime?
- and even if we did, would people then turn out in sufficient numbers given we'd have left a much more convenient location?

As far as the WRU are concerned, their recent actions have shown that we are as welcome at RP as a fart in a spacesuit. Their strategy seems to be to price us out of our tenancy agreement and this is already having a significant adverse impact on our playing budget.

Providing decent transport links can be established to Spytty then the attendances should hold.

On the plus side the Club would gain all the commercial rights over advertising, bars, catering etc. One major obstacle would be the running track and the Harriers tenancy agreement. According to Kevin, Newport Live has to become self sustaining, so I suspect the potential rental income from County is very attractive in achieving that objective. If so, then perhaps they should consider the WRU tenancy strategy to remove a problem, it certainly seems to be working at RP!

Finally, from the Newport Live website is the statement that 'Newport Stadium meets Football League standard'.

George Street-Bridge wrote:But owning your own ground isn't a universal panacea, it's overwhelmingly likely to involve a mortgage which could be just as onerous as rent. And what are the costs even of employing and equipping your own ground staff?

As things stand Spytty would be good only for Conference South - has the reported structural problem on the covered terrace been fixed?

Two big questions for me are:
- even if there was a timetabled plan to move back there, with removing the track essential, could we afford to fund a team good enough to retain FL status in the meantime?
- and even if we did, would people then turn out in sufficient numbers given we'd have left a much more convenient location?

I agree.

As I have said moving back to Spytty would entail very quickly finding ourselves in Conference South. Now we are also told that the rent being paid for Rodney Parade is unsustainable. So unless Kevin Ward is wrong leaves us in a somewhat precarious position.

Let's develop this. What do we do? It seems to me that there are two possible solutions. Hand the club back to private ownership being the first. That's really worked out well in the past hasn't it?

The trust option. It's the one I favour but it is not working. As has been said £30,000 pa is not enough. My view here is straightforward. If Newport County want the good people of Newport to hand over cash then Newport County have to engage with the supporters and potential supporters in a far more open way. In fairness that has begun but there is a long way to go.

For me the first step has been made. The club has let it be known that the £30,000 pa presently being collected is not enough. Fair enough. However thus far the obvious second question has yet to be asked of the supporters. Knowing as we do that the directors of Newport County read this board I am more than happy to assist by pointing out what the obvious second question is.

If £30,000 is not enough to make Newport County sustainable could you please tell us what amount of money per season would make Newport County sustainable?

You see having a target gives you something to aim at. Go to your bank and ask for £5,000 to buy a car and you come across as knowing what you are doing. You may or may not get the advance but you will be taken seriously. Go to your bank and ask for an unspecified sum for an unspecified purpose and the negative outcome is assured. It's exactly the same for Newport County.

During the Q&A session at the meeting:-

Question:
The second point is that the supporters will not want to lose the Supporters Trust - what is amount per month the Trust would need to put in to make the Trust Viable?

Shaun: We think around £10,000 a month to make the Trust viable. At the moment, the trust contribute around £40,000 per year.

Would the fact that the club has now got a Grade 3 Academy status and funding allow some of the money that was spent on it be 'released' to the main club funds?

Willthiswork wrote:Would the fact that the club has now got a Grade 3 Academy status and funding allow some of the money that was spent on it be 'released' to the main club funds?

Wouldn’t much of the funding go on salaries for much increased coaching staff? Just asking. In any case money for the academy should go on the academy. The advantage of our improved status is that we can now get compensation for poached academy players.
Surely with a decent publicity campaign and a properly designed scheme we can triple the monthly amount from B & R ? Shouldn’t be that difficult if we sell it properly with the right benefits.

County Exile wrote:During the Q&A session at the meeting:-

Question:
The second point is that the supporters will not want to lose the Supporters Trust - what is amount per month the Trust would need to put in to make the Trust Viable?

Shaun: We think around £10,000 a month to make the Trust viable. At the moment, the trust contribute around £40,000 per year.

Assuming a shortfall of £90,000 pa it would mean that the £700,000 profit from the Cup run would make us financially secure for the next seven to eight years. We are though told that the Cup money is merely 'plugging the gap'.

Either position could be correct. Both can't be. It is this type of mixed up thinking which drives me to despair.

lowandhard wrote:

Willthiswork wrote:Would the fact that the club has now got a Grade 3 Academy status and funding allow some of the money that was spent on it be 'released' to the main club funds?

Wouldn’t much of the funding go on salaries for much increased coaching staff? Just asking. In any case money for the academy should go on the academy. The advantage of our improved status is that we can now get compensation for poached academy players.
Surely with a decent publicity campaign and a properly designed scheme we can triple the monthly amount from B & R ? Shouldn’t be that difficult if we sell it properly with the right benefits.

That's what I mean - what we currently fund the Academy should be covered by the new grant - including the new staff salaries?

What's our "die-hard" supporter base these days? Based on current trust membership levels and some of the attendances when things got really bad under Westley, I'd say it's 2,000 at the absolute maximum. Now, 500 or so of those will be kids and not financially useful in terms of fundraising TODAY.

So, if we have 1,500 people donating to a shortfall of £350,000 a year we are asking everyone to pay an additional £233.33 a year, on top of the season tickets / merchandise / programmes, etc (assuming all 1,500 are able).

Sorry guys, but that isn't going to happen in Newport; not in a million years. Trust ownership served a purpose in terms of stabilising the club when Les packed up, but if we can find another rich man who wants to have a play around for 5-10 years I'd sell the club tomorrow, because if we don't we will find ourselves without a ground, and most likely in the Conference or lower by 2023.

If the trust wants to safeguard the future of the club, they should remain in existence after selling the club continuing to push for membership and maximising contributions, but with a different emphasis - a stadium fund, or a rainy day fund. If the new owners (whoever they might be) get bored in 5 years time, but the trust has £500,000 sat in a slush fund, we'll all sleep a little easier at night I imagine.

County Exile wrote:During the Q&A session at the meeting:-

Question:
The second point is that the supporters will not want to lose the Supporters Trust - what is amount per month the Trust would need to put in to make the Trust Viable?

Shaun: We think around £10,000 a month to make the Trust viable. At the moment, the trust contribute around £40,000 per year.

What we could do with is a poll to ask supporters what they'd like to see the funds in the B&R Scheme used for. Give them about 5/6 options and ask them to list all options in order of preference. This would give us a good consensus as to what the fans' wishes are.
Then we need 1500 fans, donating an AVERAGE of £20 per month each.... some will give more, some will give less, some will give nothing at all, but £20 pcm on average....... £20 x1500x12 = £360,000
I know Shaun Johnson only suggested £10, 000 pcm, but for a bit more effort on the part of THOSE WHO ARE ABLE, we could raise enough to cover about a year's losses.
Then we could do with BUSINESS version of the same thing..... giving appropriate commercial type rewards, in exchange for an appropriate monthly donation.
The whole thing wants a revamp, starting with a poll of the fans to find out what they AS A GROUP would prefer it to be used for. Involve people from the start, and it'll feel more like it's their idea.

It was mentioned in the Exeter v Coventry commentary yesterday that the Exeter trust contributes £90k pa. That plus the tv, league monies and players transfers in recent times has kept the club afloat. 2 player sales alone in past year raised £4.5m. Hopefully our new academy can produce similar gems.
Btw the references to the FA Cup profit filling the gap in our finances - has it been confirmed that it has already been spent this year to plug a gap or will it be used to plug gaps in next few years ?

newgroundrodney wrote:

County Exile wrote:During the Q&A session at the meeting:-

Question:
The second point is that the supporters will not want to lose the Supporters Trust - what is amount per month the Trust would need to put in to make the Trust Viable?

Shaun: We think around £10,000 a month to make the Trust viable. At the moment, the trust contribute around £40,000 per year.

What we could do with is a poll to ask supporters what they'd like to see the funds in the B&R Scheme used for. Give them about 5/6 options and ask them to list all options in order of preference. This would give us a good consensus as to what the fans' wishes are.
Then we need 1500 fans, donating an AVERAGE of £20 per month each.... some will give more, some will give less, some will give nothing at all, but £20 pcm on average....... £20 x1500x12 = £360,000
I know Shaun Johnson only suggested £10, 000 pcm, but for a bit more effort on the part of THOSE WHO ARE ABLE, we could raise enough to cover about a year's losses.
Then we could do with BUSINESS version of the same thing..... giving appropriate commercial type rewards, in exchange for an appropriate monthly donation.
The whole thing wants a revamp, starting with a poll of the fans to find out what they AS A GROUP would prefer it to be used for. Involve people from the start, and it'll feel more like it's their idea.

So we want Newport County, with the wealth demographic of the area and average crowd, to raise 3.5 times more than what Wimbledon, with their wealth demographic and higher attendances are generating?

Sorry people, but it's time to pull your heads from out of the sand. The ordinary people of Newport are not going to plug this gap - not in a million years. And they shouldn't have to either, there are plenty of wealthy individuals who would gain a satisfactory level of free advertising in exchange for plugging gaps of this magnitude. Why should it always fall at the door of the average Joe?

There is a reason that the average League Two club loses £500,000 a year - it's because the people running these clubs view that level of loss as a reasonable expense for what they get in return - otherwise it wouldn't be happening all across the country.

The £30,000 a year generated by the Rewards and Benefits scheme needs to be broken down into a simple calculation so people understand the paucity of people contributing.

I give £30 a month via this scheme, which is £360 a year by Direct Debit. To achieve the £30,000 figure there are 82 other people also giving £30 a month.

Now obviously not everybody will be giving £30 a month, some will give more and some less.

If an average of £10 a month were giving there would be 250 people currently in the B & R scheme, £20 means 166 people are contributing, £40 and we're down to 63 people, £50 would be 50 people.

It's a simple calculation. Under the current model County can only really survive (or grow) if supporters accept that they need to be putting something into the pot throughout the year. I accept that many wont until they see greater transparency about where monies are going and many can't financially take on such an obligation, but many more could and perhaps should be making some contribution to keeping County going.

wattsville_boy wrote:The £30,000 a year generated by the Rewards and Benefits scheme needs to be broken down into a simple calculation so people understand the paucity of people contributing.

I give £30 a month via this scheme, which is £360 a year by Direct Debit. To achieve the £30,000 figure there are 82 other people also giving £30 a month.

Now obviously not everybody will be giving £30 a month, some will give more and some less.

If an average of £10 a month were giving there would be 250 people currently in the B & R scheme, £20 means 166 people are contributing, £40 and we're down to 63 people, £50 would be 50 people.

It's a simple calculation. Under the current model County can only really survive (or grow) if supporters accept that they need to be putting something into the pot throughout the year. I accept that many wont until they see greater transparency about where monies are going and many can't financially take on such an obligation, but many more could and perhaps should be making some contribution to keeping County going.

I'm not convinced that greater transparency will improve the figures anywhere near enough. This is broadly what is expected/needed for the club to be sustainable under the current model;

Home tickets each month = £50 (assuming no kids)
Home programmes = £6
Trust membership / R&B scheme = £40
Food / drinks each month = £15
TOTAL MONTHLY COST for an average adult = £111

Sorry, but that's ridiculous and is never going to be achieved in a million years in this area.