ASFC Academy

[Exile on Spencer St]

Thanks for your post, Mab.
However, as Valairian exemplifies, some fans on here (and maybe elsewhere) just don’t seem to want to believe or accept the commercial realities of trying to run a business in the UK today.
No disrespect to you, Val.

[VALAIRIAN]

Non taken Exile, it is a forum and it is about opinions

[Crown Grounder]

Originally Posted by VALAIRIAN

Non taken Exile, it is a forum and it is about opinions

WOW........Does that mean you believe no one ever tells the truth and everybody "has an agenda?" If that's the case I don't think I should post on here anymore.....

[Chewbacca]

Stanley has never been run as a business and loses money hand over fist most years. It can make profit selling a player, but those days seem long gone and there was never an operating profit in those years.

The purpose of a business is to make a profit, so it isn't a real business, run on charitable principles, asking fans to volunteer and work for nothing, and requiring cash injections of many past shareholders to stay afloat.

The almighty cock up with the Venue and they blame everyone but themselves, and blame the Council for doing their job which rather than their own incompetence.

The fact the CEO was totally in the dark about next season's budget shows he has been put there for a purpose while the decisions are being made above him.

If you run a lower league club you get Season Tickets on sale early and push their sales, as it gives longer to sell them, you get the money earlier, and most importantly you have more idea of your budget for the next year. If they had a drive of selling them back in March to keep the academy going, there would have been good will and more sold. Now you have loyal fans questioning whether to bother or not, and they have done the opposite.

[VALAIRIAN]

Originally Posted by Crown Grounder

WOW........Does that mean you believe no one ever tells the truth and everybody "has an agenda?" If that's the case I don't think I should post on here anymore.....

No and no C.G.

[Lord Stiffupperlip]

The utilitarian interior of 'Coley's Bar', open to the roof with exposed ceiling ducts etc., was obviously a design choice aimed at keeping costs down.
Unfortunately, the result is a giant tin-can echo chamber.
Perhaps the simplest option would be to install a suspended ceiling with sound proofing blanket above to help keep any sound generation within the room.
Obviously there is no remedy without cost, but surely this would be the cheapest option to help resolve the problem?

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by mab

Taken off podcast... On Friday I had a very frank, open and honest conversation with Warren Eastham CEO of Accrington Stanley regarding the events occurring at the club since he hosted the Fans Forum on Apr 28th.

What was presented then was accurate with regards to the Academy and the Hyndburn Borough Council but everything changed the following Tuesday when a club meeting was held on the budget for next season.
Everything changed then when Andy Holt advised that his financial contribution to the club wouldn't exceed £250,000.

With no income coming in from Coley's this meant expenses far exceeded income so something had to give. Other than first team players salary the Academy was the next biggest expenditure so then it becomes what is the return on investment from the Academy. The income from players sold this past season was £126,000 which is not enough to move the needle really. In March the Academy lost £27,000 and April was set to lose over £30,000.

The next determining factor was how many players would make the first team in the next two seasons or could be sold to justify financing the Academy and the answer was none. There was potential for three players in three to four years to make the first team or be sold for around £1m but only if they reached their full potential and that's a big if. In the meantime losses per month would continue.

With the limited financing from Andy Holt, and you can understand his position, on top of a canceled revenue stream from Coley's something had to give and that was the Academy.

Then in steps HBC, due to public push back, and they offer to help finance the Academy to the tune of £140,000 which sounds good but doesn't cover the losses when you see it is losing over £25,000 per month. Also it doesn't address the main problem and that is the lost revenue from the bar. If HBC had the best interest of the community at heart and really wanted to help the club then agree to put the funds towards a new roof on the main stand so an important source of income can return. Then you could look at keeping the Academy.

It looks like a good move on the part of HBC but in the light of day it was reactionary and it boils down to a political move in response to public pressure and came only after the announcement the Academy was closing.

Regarding contracts, we as fans only see the tip of the iceberg and if a player doesn't sign we have a tendency to blame the club. What we don't know is the player's demands and how it fits the wage structure and the teams budget. When the team can't meet a player's expectations and he leaves fans may look unfavourably at the club when that's not actually the real story.

Social media allows everyone to have an opinion even without having all the facts, yours truly included, and to be fair the club can't respond to each and every person especially when things change on a daily basis.
We need to have faith in the people making the decisions and trust they have the best interests of club at heart.

Accrington Stanley is a community club but first and foremost it's a business and you can't continue to operate when your expenses are more than your income, especially when an important revenue stream is taken away. Offering to partly finance the Academy isn't the answer, sorting out soundproof roof on the facilities is.

Tough decisions have been made over the past two weeks and I have faith in Warren making the right ones.
Tough decisions have to be made or we won't have a club and no one wants a repeat of March 1962.

Cheers
Tony Robinson
On Stanley On !!

So are you saying the councils figure of 140k is wrong ? because if it is you have to wonder how so seeing as their press release all but said that was the figure the club had given them.

This seems to be a very knee jerk reaction from the club given the timescales involved. I believe AH has a charitable foundation why couldnt he use this to contribute to the losses as that way HMRC would effectively be paying half of it

Another option that several non league clubs use to fund their academies [ dont forget they dont get the 500k towards its running that Accy currently do ] is by the use of funded places where rich parents effectively buy their kids an opportunity to join an academy 4 places at 35k would cover the deficit.

It just seems to me that theres currently no body at the club whos a problem solver or rule bender but to blame the current taxation rises is an absolute pile of you know what when every other business in the country has experienced the same rises as they have and the club has just increased its prices by way more than the rate of increase in the NI rises etc.

As for the Coleys problem theres a simple answer to this thats staring them in the face but it just seems to me that they arent interested in solutions just in prolonging the row with the Labour councillors when theres a way to solve it without either party needing to back down and one which when put to a vote would put the Labour councillors right on the spot Do they want to save Accrington Stanley or not ?

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by mab

Taken off podcast... On Friday I had a very frank, open and honest conversation with Warren Eastham CEO of Accrington Stanley regarding the events occurring at the club since he hosted the Fans Forum on Apr 28th.

What was presented then was accurate with regards to the Academy and the Hyndburn Borough Council but everything changed the following Tuesday when a club meeting was held on the budget for next season.
Everything changed then when Andy Holt advised that his financial contribution to the club wouldn't exceed £250,000.

With no income coming in from Coley's this meant expenses far exceeded income so something had to give. Other than first team players salary the Academy was the next biggest expenditure so then it becomes what is the return on investment from the Academy. The income from players sold this past season was £126,000 which is not enough to move the needle really. In March the Academy lost £27,000 and April was set to lose over £30,000.

The next determining factor was how many players would make the first team in the next two seasons or could be sold to justify financing the Academy and the answer was none. There was potential for three players in three to four years to make the first team or be sold for around £1m but only if they reached their full potential and that's a big if. In the meantime losses per month would continue.

With the limited financing from Andy Holt, and you can understand his position, on top of a canceled revenue stream from Coley's something had to give and that was the Academy.

Then in steps HBC, due to public push back, and they offer to help finance the Academy to the tune of £140,000 which sounds good but doesn't cover the losses when you see it is losing over £25,000 per month. Also it doesn't address the main problem and that is the lost revenue from the bar. If HBC had the best interest of the community at heart and really wanted to help the club then agree to put the funds towards a new roof on the main stand so an important source of income can return. Then you could look at keeping the Academy.

It looks like a good move on the part of HBC but in the light of day it was reactionary and it boils down to a political move in response to public pressure and came only after the announcement the Academy was closing.

Regarding contracts, we as fans only see the tip of the iceberg and if a player doesn't sign we have a tendency to blame the club. What we don't know is the player's demands and how it fits the wage structure and the teams budget. When the team can't meet a player's expectations and he leaves fans may look unfavourably at the club when that's not actually the real story.

Social media allows everyone to have an opinion even without having all the facts, yours truly included, and to be fair the club can't respond to each and every person especially when things change on a daily basis.
We need to have faith in the people making the decisions and trust they have the best interests of club at heart.

Accrington Stanley is a community club but first and foremost it's a business and you can't continue to operate when your expenses are more than your income, especially when an important revenue stream is taken away. Offering to partly finance the Academy isn't the answer, sorting out soundproof roof on the facilities is.

Tough decisions have been made over the past two weeks and I have faith in Warren making the right ones.
Tough decisions have to be made or we won't have a club and no one wants a repeat of March 1962.

Cheers
Tony Robinson
On Stanley On !!

Where can you watch the above mentioned podcast please ?

[Crown Grounder]

The Academy's gone. The club moves on. The council trying to save face with a last minute offer does not help the club. Good luck all academy players and staff.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by Crown Grounder

The Academy's gone. The club moves on. The council trying to save face with a last minute offer does not help the club. Good luck all academy players and staff.

Well if i were you guys i.d be going for the head and the job of the idiot who made that decision.

The council arent the only source of funding but given the admitted timescale of just a week its pretty clear that in that time zero effort had been made to explore alternative avenues.

I wouldnt mind betting that if theyd come out and said if we cant find the deficit to fund next season by say July 1st its closing the money from the council would have got them well over halfway there.

[Crown Grounder]

Originally Posted by NORTHERNSOUL

Well if i were you guys i.d be going for the head and the job of the idiot who made that decision.

The council arent the only source of funding but given the admitted timescale of just a week its pretty clear that in that time zero effort had been made to explore alternative avenues.

I wouldnt mind betting that if theyd come out and said if we cant find the deficit to fund next season by say July 1st its closing the money from the council would have got them well over halfway there.

1. "Idiot?" Very emotive language, is that your opinion whoever your referring to.
2. "Zero effort" ....that's an assumption.
3. Money offered by the council was under half the amount required. It was a one-off payment not a long term annual commitment from the Council.

We are just not privy to all the relevant information the Club used to make their decision. It's for the Board of Directors to make those decisions....not you or me or anyone else. It's closed and gone NS. We can only "move on" and support the team, staff and club on match days and where we can.

[Watchdog]

Originally Posted by Crown Grounder

1. "Idiot?" Very emotive language, is that your opinion whoever your referring to.
2. "Zero effort" ....that's an assumption.
3. Money offered by the council was under half the amount required. It was a one-off payment not a long term annual commitment from the Council.

We are just not privy to all the relevant information the Club used to make their decision. It's for the Board of Directors to make those decisions....not you or me or anyone else. It's closed and gone NS. We can only "move on" and support the team, staff and club on match days and where we can.

Spot on CG, what happened yesterday has gone, let's look forward to tomorrow and get behind our owner, directors and staff.
Onwards and upwards.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Originally Posted by Crown Grounder

1. "Idiot?" Very emotive language, is that your opinion whoever your referring to.
2. "Zero effort" ....that's an assumption.
3. Money offered by the council was under half the amount required. It was a one-off payment not a long term annual commitment from the Council.

We are just not privy to all the relevant information the Club used to make their decision. It's for the Board of Directors to make those decisions....not you or me or anyone else. It's closed and gone NS. We can only "move on" and support the team, staff and club on match days and where we can.

Apparently not. this Eastham guy has now admitted that the 140k from the council WOULD fund the Academy deficit for a year.

But hes not accepting it because either because he wants them to fund the soundproofing of Coleys instead [ which clearly isnt going to happen ] or because the problem will be the same in a years time and he cant be arsed to spend that year ensuring that the required funding is in place by then.

I find it unbelievable that people on here are quite content to roll over and let them remove whats seen as a vital part of a lower league football club and dont see the closure as not just the loss of the route into the professional game for local kids but the best tool that the club has to raise football fortune to provide the club with an income stream going forward and the fact that it hasnt done for the last couple of seasons or isnt expected to next season and shouldnt be seen as a reason to close it but should be seen as a reason to make it better and start finding a few more Ross Sykes.

[Crown Grounder]

Yes you're right. The £140k was a one-off. Do you know how much the soundproofing would cost and if spent if it would be acceptable to the Council? The Academy's gone. We have enough information as fans to decide what to do about tickets for next year. Another year in the football league with a new manager was a massive achievement for a club of our size and deserves celebration. Well done to everyone at the club.