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Post by localboy86 on Jan 19, 2021 7:20:51 GMT
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Rambo
1st team Player
Posts: 1,691
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Post by Rambo on Jan 19, 2021 10:26:06 GMT
There was lots of discussion about this all over Twitter yesterday, including "Opinions" by Gandermonium & Paul Doswell
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Post by boomboom on Jan 19, 2021 10:26:25 GMT
No it doesn't sound good but I guess it depends on the terms of the loan, ie period of repayment and interest (if any). Maybe the details will emerge later and hopefully be favourable.
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Post by Stewart on Jan 19, 2021 11:13:58 GMT
There was lots of discussion about this all over Twitter yesterday, including "Opinions" by Gandermonium & Paul Doswell For those who don’t do Twitter. |
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Post by Amber Aleman on Jan 19, 2021 12:59:19 GMT
This looks pretty serious. Not many NL clubs will want to take on extra debt at this time, especially without knowing when fans can be re-admitted to stadia and when bars can reopen. If most revenue streams for a club like ours remain cut off for the next four months then, at a rough estimate, borrowing would need to be around £250k. Unless there's a windfall, such as from an FA Cup run, that would take a long time to pay back. If not written off, the debt could well break some clubs.
I suspect that when this season started, and the initial £10m lottery funding was secured, there was an expectation that things would be getting back to normal by now. If so, that was a naive belief. There doesn't seem to have been much contingency planning. Now we're on the brink of a crisis, and there must be major doubts about whether the season can finish.
Let's hope there's a change of mind at the DCMS.
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Post by Del on Jan 20, 2021 22:26:00 GMT
looks like there are 3 options
1) Clubs take a low interest, long repayment loan.
2) National league take the loan and distribute to clubs which will in turn reduce the amount clubs receive from the league.
3) The season is suspended.
Clubs to decide by Friday. Saturdays fixtures to go ahead.
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Post by os on Jan 21, 2021 0:14:24 GMT
I cannot see the season being suspended actually making any sense, I mean if that happened the players presumably would go on job retention and the government would have to pay them anyway for doing nowt?
I really think its time for some in NL to get their head out of their bums, many have just taken the money and spent it presuming there was more coming. You have got to look at a lot of clubs for the way they have failed to adopt proper digital practices. Although no one could have foreseen this Pandemic the writing has been on the wall for years that even NL clubs would need to adapt to the digital media world. No where near enough effort has been put into advertising and sponsorship in the new digital world. Old perimeter boards and paper programme adds are old news.
It is way past the time clubs need to move forward.
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Post by garethl on Jan 21, 2021 9:30:11 GMT
Not sure what this has to do with digital media tbh. How much money do you think there is in 5th tier football for having a well run online presence? Not sure it fills in the gaping hole provided by fans in stadiums!!
I personally think it’s madness to continue playing football if there is no proper funding (grants). Loans to saddle the league and/or clubs with (more) debt is crazy. Most spend what they have (and more) so a loan will make future seasons harder, if not impossible. Plays into the hands of those with big investors who chuck as much money as they fancy at it. Whilst I want the season to go on as still enjoying from afar it makes no sense to continue if it means taking on debt or reduced central payments in future seasons. The season should be suspended and staff furloughed unless the government stump up and recognise (if what has been put out there is true) that it is less expensive than furlough!
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Post by sallycat on Jan 21, 2021 15:19:45 GMT
I'm a bit confused about the relevance of the sponsorship too. How much are sponsors going to want to fork out to sponsor a team that's rarely or never shown on TV, is playing behind closed doors and only ever gets a couple of hundred or so viewers on its live streamed matches? I think os must have meant something a bit different but I'm still confused because sponsorship needs advertising which needs viewers.
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Post by garethl on Jan 21, 2021 15:49:19 GMT
Strong statement from H&W who are self imposing isolation for 10 days. Seems like covid has ravaged them and sorry to hear of the death of Roarie Deacon's father. When put in those terms you'd find it hard to argue with stopping football.
Concord Rangers have also said they're not playing Saturday in any case and they were due to play each other.
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Post by medyel on Jan 21, 2021 17:11:09 GMT
Tonbridge Angels have also gone public saying their Board are voting for option 3 of season suspension. I would do the same. Let the National Leagues recommence in say May when the vaccine picture will be far clearer and the need for an ambulance to be waiting outside a ground is under far less pressure than now. Finish the season when its safe and if that means 21/22 is half a season starting in Jan 22, so be it. To have been carrying on any team sport with medical needs and travel all over the country since Xmas at any level, not just NL, seems plain wrong wrong to me even if SUFC are flying on the pitch. Let us come back to this in safer times.
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kpinwp
1st team Player
Posts: 1,248
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Post by kpinwp on Jan 21, 2021 20:05:26 GMT
Not sure what this has to do with digital media tbh. How much money do you think there is in 5th tier football for having a well run online presence? Not sure it fills in the gaping hole provided by fans in stadiums!! I personally think it’s madness to continue playing football if there is no proper funding (grants). Loans to saddle the league and/or clubs with (more) debt is crazy. Most spend what they have (and more) so a loan will make future seasons harder, if not impossible. Plays into the hands of those with big investors who chuck as much money as they fancy at it. Whilst I want the season to go on as still enjoying from afar it makes no sense to continue if it means taking on debt or reduced central payments in future seasons. The season should be suspended and staff furloughed unless the government stump up and recognise (if what has been put out there is true) that it is less expensive than furlough! I can't find anything to disagree with in that hard-headed financial analysis. Wish I could. |
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Rambo
1st team Player
Posts: 1,691
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Post by Rambo on Jan 21, 2021 23:27:52 GMT
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Post by os on Jan 21, 2021 23:33:48 GMT
I'm a bit confused about the relevance of the sponsorship too. How much are sponsors going to want to fork out to sponsor a team that's rarely or never shown on TV, is playing behind closed doors and only ever gets a couple of hundred or so viewers on its live streamed matches? I think os must have meant something a bit different but I'm still confused because sponsorship needs advertising which needs viewers. You are right I am not saying that digital sponsorship etc will plug what is a huge gap now faced by clubs, I can't offer a quick fix to the problem. There are 2 elements to what I have said, the 1st being that these Pandemic has meant uncertainty for the majority of us, I personally would not start a journey especially at this time for which I could only get halfway without some idea of how I was going to complete that journey. So my 1st question is how on earth has the league/clubs got themselves to this point, I don't think they are ostriches, and would have realized that there was never a guarantee of any more free money, its no different from the furlough scheme or self employed support program, its not guaranteed. The 2nd point is that it has been clear from before the Pandemic that the modern world has afforded opportunities to clubs to branch out and add to what has basically been just at the ground activities. Many of the traditional forms of club revenue from sponsorship / advertising such as program ads, perimeter hoarding's, sold by the likes of the Eric Hall type characters, have been on the decline from well before the Pandemic. Advertisers and Sponsors want to reach a modern audience in a modern way, and that means animated ads, online presence etc. I am not saying this would have solved a crisis of this magnitude but put together with due diligence and part one of my point maybe clubs would have got a lot further into the journey before hitting a brick wall. I don't know what is going to happen this season, but I do know the need for structural and systemic modernization of the game at lower levels is way overdue. Just seen Rambo's post above, from the stories coming out tonight, the National league season has and is falling apart with clubs saying we are just not going to play |
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Post by Andy K on Jan 22, 2021 9:12:59 GMT
And we've not www.suttonunited.net/a-time-to-decide/In that BBC article, there isn't one VNL side named. Although we're in the same league system as them, how to approach this from a regional (N/S) league compared to a national one will be different. My personal opinion is that the choice that the club made out of the 3 was the best out of the 3 bad ones. I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that our MP has not responded or been available to speak to the club. The most direct way to talk to a government department to lobby how these options are all bad is via the member of parliament who is paid by their constituents to represent them. |
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