The Board, consultancy fees, Mercs and how to identify a duck

[Trashbat?]

Sooner or later a Swindon fan will have a lottery win/sell their business for millions and plough their fortune into the club.

[mrverve]

What would be the point in supporting a fan owned team if all it meant was watching them in the conference every year?

I'm probably on my own here but I seriously struggle to see how on earth some people would be happy with that.

[König]

I'd rather have 20 years of excitement and ambition, than an eternity of being financially sustainable in League 2/Conference with no ambition. What would be the point in that? It's like wishing for a long, monotonous, boring life just because it means you have a long life, rather than having a shorter life filled with excitement and doing things you enjoy.

If that makes any sense.

[Dr Pierre Chang]

League Two would be achievable with the occasional flirt with League One.

Anyone who would be happy with this needs their head testing.

Konig got it spot on with his post above.

[RobertT]

All cases are unique here...for example do Exeter own the ground, and so pay no rent?  Also they were going nowhere, but had the happy fortune of getting a ManUre away in the Cup...getting a replay which brought in the money to get them back in Div 4.

Would our crowds stand up...would SBC be prepared to accept a reduced rent (we know the answer to that)

I suspect if we did go for the model, then maintaining Conference football would be about right.

Reg, our rent accounts for about 2 to 3% of our costs.

The question would be, what sort of football club do you get for about £5m worth of expenditure a year?  that is what we'd be toying with right now if the fans owned the club as is.  Now, given we are reputedly spending £4.5m on wages, you can see we'd have an issue to resolve pretty quickly, but does £5m = Conference?  More likely it equals League 1 if managed well, League 2 if spent on gash.

What none of us can really consider is what the revent could be if we had a different ground for example, and how a community owned club would engage with the Council to get that done.  Also, just because the fans owned the club shares, does not mean they could not seek alternative forms of finance when required.  A lot of unknowns.  Portsmouth are taking hefty sums from a Property developer for example.

[kerry red]

Spurs have got it right.

Football is about glory - however fleeting it may be for some (most) clubs.

If sustainability = endless mediocrity you can stuff it.

Glory for us was the Ardiles/Hoddle era and if that means somewhere down the line we have to have Malpas/Hart then so be it.

[Simon Pieman]

If sustainability means longer term success then I'm all for it.

[HexstaticSTFC]

Anyone who would be happy with this needs their head testing.

Konig got it spot on with his post above.

I suppose RobertT is correct, it all depends on how the trust could increase revenue, so we can can compete at other levels. Im not saying im happy with League 2 and League 1 but i would prefer that then no club at all.

[Bukkake Regiment]

I prefer the championship or bust mentality the club has now, at least it's exciting.

[jonny72]

I'd rather have 20 years of excitement and ambition, than an eternity of being financially sustainable in League 2/Conference with no ambition. What would be the point in that?

Why does fan ownership = no ambition?

Besides out natural level is top half of League One, don't know where the League Two / Conference comes from.

For all the money that Black et al put in to the club we're just back where we started and where we've always been. If investors are going to come along wanting to piss their money away it should be invested in the club and the ground to increase the fan base and revenue opportunities for the future. That's the only way we'll become established in The Championship.

[Costanza]

I yearn for peace and quiet - Let's either be good or shit.

All this half-decent on the pitch and not-so-good in the boardroom is just weird and making people go loco-crazy.

[König]

Why does fan ownership = no ambition?

Besides out natural level is top half of League One, don't know where the League Two / Conference comes from.

For all the money that Black et al put in to the club we're just back where we started and where we've always been. If investors are going to come along wanting to piss their money away it should be invested in the club and the ground to increase the fan base and revenue opportunities for the future. That's the only way we'll become established in The Championship.

I was just responding to those that hypothesised we'd be only be able to sustain Conference/League 2 football if we were owned by the fans. I have no idea how we'd actually fare under fan ownership, but i'd rather the excitement we've had recently than a lifetime of sustenance and possible lack of ambition.

[Arriba]

Why does fan ownership = no ambition?

Besides out natural level is top half of League One, don't know where the League Two / Conference comes from.

For all the money that Black et al put in to the club we're just back where we started and where we've always been. If investors are going to come along wanting to piss their money away it should be invested in the club and the ground to increase the fan base and revenue opportunities for the future. That's the only way we'll become established in The Championship.

I agree with this. Have we as fans not learned from the past?

[Red Frog]

I was just responding to those that hypothesised we'd be only be able to sustain Conference/League 2 football if we were owned by the fans. I have no idea how we'd actually fare under fan ownership, but i'd rather the excitement we've had recently than a lifetime of sustenance and possible lack of ambition.

What Pompey fans have had in fact. Now they're just starting to emerge from the nightmare, they may agree with you that all the cheating and its consequences were worth it for a few seasons in the Prem and an FA Cup. Let's see how long it takes them to climb back up the leagues again.

[herthab]

The model Barcelona have is a good one. They're a co operative.  Unfortunately our fan base hasn't the numbers to make this an attractive option.