Quote:
Originally Posted by maccawozzagod
with regards to income and how best to generate it, I would suggest that our club WILL always struggle to make ends meet through the gates. One thing I suggested to Mr Marsden when he took the Chair was that we absolutely must learn the lessons of history and this club is doomed to always be the underdog. Does that mean we give up? Absolutely not, but we need to devise ways around it.
How many people get a taxi or bus to the ground? we need to be taking that money. Stan Lee's Taxis?
How many pints do our fans drink on matchday in establishments other than ours? We need to be taking that money.
How many people buy food on matchdays from establishments other than ours? We need that money
How many people have gym memberships? we need to be taking that money and it would also be a place for our players to go.
The last comment is a crucial one for me. It's not just the gym idea, there are others. But something that the club may spend money could be turned into a business idea under our clubs umbrella. The club premises do not need to stop at Livingstone Road. We absolutely could have Stan Lee's Gym. There is nothing to stop you or I opening a gym in the town so there is nothing to stop the club doing so. Owned and operated by the club as a subsidised service for the squad but also ran as a standalone enterprise with all money going back into the club. Taxi's, catering establishments, whatever can all follow suit.
It's no good bemoaning the extra 1500 people who watched the culmination of the Conference season as times have changed in that ten years. We need to be brave and embrace an entire new way of operating where the gate money is not king.
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While I agree with the sentiment I would suggest the logistics would not make it worthwhile other than the gym.
Taxis, food and drink would be restricted to a very small window once a week on average and probably only cover a couple of hours before and maybe an hour after if that.
People in general are creatures of habit and will drink in their usual pub, get the first taxi they can and if they choose food will expect it quickly.
Does the Crown make much of a profit over a week and would it take as much if there was an alternative?
Big away supports usually mean those horrible plastic glasses so another reason to go elsewhere away from the ground.
At the moment those ideas would be too risky for set up costs and staff unless you were going to run them full time and would it be wise to try to compete with existing businesses?
I can't honestly thing of alternatives that would generate significant revenue based on the size of our support and I would also be cautious about not having a back up plan because promotion is by no means a certainty. Chickens and hatched spring to mind.