New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[Nemo]

If the rent reduction is £100k, that would cover 6,250 adults entering on U18 tickets, or 20,000 of them pretending to be OAPs/Student.

[Mooneyraker]

If the rent reduction is £100k, that would cover 6,250 adults entering on U18 tickets, or 20,000 of them pretending to be OAPs/Student.

There's a "Maths with Anthony Hall" module to be done:

2 freeloaders are travelling on trains towards the County Ground. One is an OAP, one is a season ticket holder who waived his covid refund... etc etc

[RobertT]

If the rent reduction is £100k, that would cover 6,250 adults entering on U18 tickets, or 20,000 of them pretending to be OAPs/Student.

What about the Flies?  They get in free for every game.

[Batch]

What about the Flies?  They get in free for every game.

Said it before, will say it again.

Make the Town End £20. Then I get hardly any free games and everyone is happy...

[RobertT]

Fair enough, but rent ain't gone up would be a valid observation.

Yes - the club will counter with the fact they had to pick-up all the maintenance that Power had avoided while he complained he shouldn't be responsible for it.

Interestingly, Deloitte published their review of football finances which showed the average Revenue for a L2 club was 5.2m in 21/22 and an average wage bill of 2.7m.

I did wonder if Hall's moment of memory fuzziness over the FPP %'s was in fact an attempt to avoid a proper answer, and in trying to do so, he slipped out the fact our wages are much lower than allowed.  I mean, he can't seriously NOT know the % allowed and he can't seriously NOT know how much we spend.  I imagine he knows both well enough, and our % is indeed somewhere between 30% and 40%, or whatever he mumbled.  Giving clarity here, after making a specific statement about Revenue being 6.9m, would have meant having to defend us not spending 3.8m (using the 55% limit).

[RobertT]

Said it before, will say it again.

Make the Town End £20. Then I get hardly any free games and everyone is happy...

But Batch, we all know you are using an old knee injury to grab a Disabled spot when you shouldn't be entitled to it.  I imagine in future seasons we will be tipping people out of wheelchairs to double check their ability to transfer to a proper full price seat.

[Batch]

But Batch, we all know you are using an old knee injury to grab a Disabled spot when you shouldn't be entitled to it.  I imagine in future seasons we will be tipping people out of wheelchairs to double check their ability to transfer to a proper full price seat.

Yeah, "too old for hamlet, too young for Lear" on the concession tickets. Its the only way to game the system.

Hahaha, take that club revenue.
----
If so many people are taking advantage, have they considered they won't bother when the loophole is closed? I'm not suggesting it isn't the right thing to do. But it might not be the money spinner that is expected.

[Legends Lounge Lovechild]

i must say hall looked genuinely chuffed with himself when he realised he got his about 40% calc correct
"its too much"

[The Million Pound Man]

Legally where do we stand with waived refunds?

Is there a timeframe whereby the club dont need to honour it- or did they just set a 'deadline' arbitrarily? Money is leaving this club blatantly, i now want mine back.

Small claims court?

[RobertT]

Yeah, "too old for hamlet, too young for Lear" on the concession tickets. Its the only way to game the system.

Hahaha, take that club revenue.
----
If so many people are taking advantage, have they considered they won't bother when the loophole is closed? I'm not suggesting it isn't the right thing to do. But it might not be the money spinner that is expected.

I very much doubt it is an issue at all, beyond a handful a game.

It's cover for enabling them to get into the Season Ticket, Nationwide and school kid ticket "issues".  Start off by shouting about fraud, then "rationalise" the age brackets to reduce the "risk" and raise the prices while you are at it to stop all the freebies.  They already tried it, to a lesser extent, and backed off it a bit last time around.  It's not something they've just realised after a thorough cost and revenue analysis.  I think the fraud angle was their attempt to soften the response this time around (they didn't go as hard after that last time).

[Power to people]

Yes - the club will counter with the fact they had to pick-up all the maintenance that Power had avoided while he complained he shouldn't be responsible for it.

Interestingly, Deloitte published their review of football finances which showed the average Revenue for a L2 club was 5.2m in 21/22 and an average wage bill of 2.7m.

I did wonder if Hall's moment of memory fuzziness over the FPP %'s was in fact an attempt to avoid a proper answer, and in trying to do so, he slipped out the fact our wages are much lower than allowed.  I mean, he can't seriously NOT know the % allowed and he can't seriously NOT know how much we spend.  I imagine he knows both well enough, and our % is indeed somewhere between 30% and 40%, or whatever he mumbled.  Giving clarity here, after making a specific statement about Revenue being 6.9m, would have meant having to defend us not spending 3.8m (using the 55% limit).

I find it strange that Clem has never looked to appoint someone that has knowledge of football who has worked in roles at other clubs, especially the CEO position, I'm sure a lot of these things would be resolved as they would be experienced and understand how a football clubs works, rather than having to learn on the job not having been involved in running a football club previously - especially as Clem had no experience either

[RobertT]

Legally where do we stand with waived refunds?

Is there a timeframe whereby the club dont need to honour it- or did they just set a 'deadline' arbitrarily? Money is leaving this club blatantly, i now want mine back.

Small claims court?

You have 6 years to claim a debt.  You'd need to contact the club and make it clear you hold them responsible for the refund and give them a reasonable time to respond and refund.  Then you can go down the Small Claims route if they decide to hold firm.  I very much doubt there is much by way of precedent to determine the chance of success, but the agreement to NOT take a refund would likely take the form of a new contract.  As a result, you would argue you were placed under duress when agreeing to it, which makes the contract invalid (if the courts agree).  Depends how much effort you want to put in.

Now, if a cluster of people know a good solicitor, you could go down the Class Action route (mass action).

[Dr Pierre Chang]

I find it strange that Clem has never looked to appoint someone that has knowledge of football who has worked in roles at other clubs, especially the CEO position, I'm sure a lot of these things would be resolved as they would be experienced and understand how a football clubs works, rather than having to learn on the job not having been involved in running a football club previously - especially as Clem had no experience either

I agree with the sentiment but I think there would have been an obvious reason why he didn’t go down that route - ££.

[Batch]

I very much doubt it is an issue at all, beyond a handful a game.

It's cover for enabling them to get into the Season Ticket, Nationwide and school kid ticket "issues".  Start off by shouting about fraud, then "rationalise" the age brackets to reduce the "risk" and raise the prices while you are at it to stop all the freebies.  They already tried it, to a lesser extent, and backed off it a bit last time around.  It's not something they've just realised after a thorough cost and revenue analysis.  I think the fraud angle was their attempt to soften the response this time around (they didn't go as hard after that last time).

Yeah, I agree.

I'm sure the Trust will be asking them to show their working when they use this to bump up prices and eliminate the U21 category

[Mooneyraker]

I agree with the sentiment but I think there would have been an obvious reason why he didn’t go down that route - ££.

Yes, let's face it, Clem can only ever appoint someone who doesn't want to wave a flashlight through every filing cabinet.

No serious football exec would touch this club with a bargepole.