ASFC Academy

[widnes viking]

I could see the council putting in the £140k to maintain a youth set up in the borough but I’m not too sure they could legitimately offer the money for the roof, in short I don’t see it as an either/or

[Crown Grounder]

Originally Posted by widnes viking

I could see the council putting in the £140k to maintain a youth set up in the borough but I’m not too sure they could legitimately offer the money for the roof, in short I don’t see it as an either/or

Some Councils widnes, like the City, Unitary and larger County Councils support business and have the knowledge and financial acumen to do it...but small district and borough councils have the specialist managers and accountants with time and desire to do it. As for the local councillors in Hyndburn they haven't the skills or background to understand what's necessary nor the knowledge about readily available Prudential Borrowing to support long term Capital Projects. Plus they've got their own headaches coming constantly from residents and local voters. In short, they neither have the skills, knowledge or understanding of business and only do what might get themselves re-elected.

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by Crown Grounder

Some Councils widnes, like the City, Unitary and larger County Councils support business and have the knowledge and financial acumen to do it...but small district and borough councils have the specialist managers and accountants with time and desire to do it. As for the local councillors in Hyndburn they haven't the skills or background to understand what's necessary nor the knowledge about readily available Prudential Borrowing to support long term Capital Projects. Plus they've got their own headaches coming constantly from residents and local voters. In short, they neither have the skills, knowledge or understanding of business and only do what might get themselves re-elected.

Borrowing from the PWLB isn't complicated and everything was relaxed under localism and GPoC.

Spending on the Academy will be mainly revenue and not capital, plus how do you pay back the PWLB if it is projected to lose money?

With funding being cut again in 2026/27 to break even, this isn't the last of the club cuts, and bar big away cup tie draws or players sold for good money, it is looking bleak.

[Crown Grounder]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

Borrowing from the PWLB isn't complicated and everything was relaxed under localism and GPoC.

Spending on the Academy will be mainly revenue and not capital, plus how do you pay back the PWLB if it is projected to lose money?

With funding being cut again in 2026/27 to break even, this isn't the last of the club cuts, and bar big away cup tie draws or players sold for good money, it is looking bleak.

1. I wasn't suggesting borrowing as a solution for the Academy. Your right you never borrow for revenue costs ....unless you are the Government...and we all know how that's going to end.....AND IT WON'T END WELL. tHE academy cost us a lot of money since inception and is a dead duck. The Council offered one-off support to make it look like it was offering help knowing it would never be taken-up.
2. Who knows about the playing budget or budget in general. I suggest no-one on here. We'll have to wait and see how the season pans out.

[VALAIRIAN]

Confirmation.......



https://www.accringtonstanley.co.uk/...re-of-academy/

[Exile on Spencer St]

Not just Stanley’s Academy that is suffering under existing and emerging financial circumstances….

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/c9wgg8y881lo

[VALAIRIAN]

20+ minute interview with Eastham on Twitter.......

[VALAIRIAN]

As I am listening to it, questions to myself.......

If players are moving on to better Academies - Cat 1 - why are they not good enough to play for Stanley?

[AccyMad]

Originally Posted by VALAIRIAN

As I am listening to it, questions to myself.......

If players are moving on to better Academies - Cat 1 - why are they not good enough to play for Stanley?

Thinking more & more we are being treated like mushrooms

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by VALAIRIAN

20+ minute interview with Eastham on Twitter.......

Well give the Guy credit for coming on and speaking to Dan for 20 minutes on a not very comfortable situation.

But i for one feel hes created a massive rod for his own back here in any number of ways the first and the one that relates to the Academy is that going on the figures hes provided the club were only spending 160k a year on top of the 500k the EFL gives them and it doesnt take a genius to work out that after the 140k the council offered them they would have only had to find 20k to fund it for the next year which would have given them 12 months to get something in place to fund the 160k a year going forward and for a start i know of at least two locally based companies who would have probably been willing to cover it all if the club had been willing to give them the publicity opportunities and a bit of an incentive or two.

That would then give Eastham 12 months to put the necessary funding in place to cover the 160k each year going forward and lets face it if he couldnt do that then he shouldnt be in the job.

But it doesnt even have to be that big a job from a bit of digging i understand the academy were operating with 3 members of staff more that the EFL stipulated minimum so theres a saving of 75k to start with and how big a job would it be for Shaun Whalley or whoever is going to be club captain to stand up and say to the players we.re all going to throw 20 quid a week in 30 players and staff £20 52 weeks and youre looking at 30 grand a season.

The decision was made way too quickly for me and if Eastham had the balls given what he said about Andy Holts pride in the academy i.m sure afer a few beers he couldnt have persuaded AH to fund the 20k just for this year in able to avoid shutting down the academy and avoiding all the grief heartache and bad publicity that this has brought not just on the club but on AH himself the town and to an extent the council before they at least made an effort with the 140k offer.

Which leads us on to what i.m pretty sure is the crux of the matter and why they wouldnt take the 140k from the council as it would have muddied the water regarding the other matters but would have saved the academy.

And on then we go to the other matters there were a number of things in the interview that were very hard to believe are true and as someone who spent over 25 years working in the management development and marketing of licensed premises astounded me.

Firstly did the plans that HBC passed include any soundproofing and if they didnt why didnt the planners pick up on that or was it in the plans and simply omitted from the build to save money and in that case why didnt the councils building control pick up on that before issuing the certificate ? There really does need to be clarity on this as without it its very hard to determine whos actually at fault here.

Then on to the matter of the licence WE says that there was no point in appealing well i.m sorry but doing that can if handled correctly can buy you up to 20 weeks during which time you can continue to trade and specialist licensing solicitors would have told them that and then we get to why they hadnt they taken out loss of licence and premises closure insurance which on a new build is something that you just wouldnt open without. And during that time you can agree a way forward with the council that would avoid them continuing with the licence suspension action.

But as i.ve said before the biggest mistake they made was in hoping this mad woman doing all the complaining would just go away because in my experience they dont and you need to be firm and proactive right from the start but this isnt the place to discuss the methods i.ve used in the past but i can assure you that had i been involved this matter would have gone away a long time ago.

What happens next will be very interesting but i cant see any way out other than AH paying to all but lift the roof and put it back on again with a good dose of soundproofing and then you come down to who pays for it well if me Eastham wants to contact me i.d be happy to explain to him how i think it could be done at no cost to anyone.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by AccyMad

Thinking more & more we are being treated like mushrooms

Mushrooms is only the start its what they cover them in that you have to worry about.

[VALAIRIAN]

I agree 100% with your first bit - about funding

You are about right with most of the other stuff, not to sure about the players giving £20 a week though.....

All in all, you are right in most of what you have said and I was thinking along the same lines....

Let us all hope we are wrong......

[Chewbacca]

The timeline does not make sense as after the Carlisle game the GD was always going to be enough.

Saying we needed a win from out last 2 is completely incorrect, mathematically we needed a point, but in reality we knew we were safe

I know WE tried to explain we were in a different situation on 6th May than at the Fan Forum about 2 weeks early, but football wise it was either the same or better.

WE only found out the financial situation and the need for cuts on 6th May, the Tuesday after the Chesterfield match he states, and after that they had to look for cuts. However they announced to the world the academy was being closed on 6th May, it was an extremely quick decision and any conversations he states happened would have been short and little time to give any reasonable consideration.

The money from HBC wouldn't help long term as they are losing another £250k next year expected to break even for the 2026/27 season.

The Venue is an unlawful development as it was not built in accordance with planning permission, and it isn't just the sound insulation, the internal layout changed bringing sound, exits and people leaving closer to the houses.

No doubt there would still be noise complaints if it was built according to PP, but there would be more scope for a solution, e.g. even the Royal Albert Hall pulls the plug at 1030pm if bands have not completed their sets as Kensington and Chelsea Council are strict on this condition. But without a lawful development the Club has shot itself in both feet.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by VALAIRIAN

I agree 100% with your first bit - about funding

You are about right with most of the other stuff, not to sure about the players giving £20 a week though.....

All in all, you are right in most of what you have said and I was thinking along the same lines....

Let us all hope we are wrong......

Half of those very players will be the products of various clubs acadamies and will be fully aware of the value of them not just to a club but to the community that supports it and as a route for players released from further up the food chain to get a second chance of a career in the game but the way this was done the supporters wernt even given the time or opportunity to come up with a worthwhile solution.

I.m pretty sure that if the Trust can raise 20k for a mural i.m pretty certain they could have raised a similar amount to cover the 20k Academy shortfall for next season.