Darlo saved (again)

Quoted from 891

Think your problem will be this is just another gamble if it works great, but if it does not work then back to square one again.

IMO i hope it does all work out but i don't think it will

Indeed, it is a gamble. However, this is probably the last avenue we can explore. The past two deals have been scuppered by Singh.

In order to have a competitive team of full time pro's in this div you will need prices around the £16/17 price. Most clubs vary between £12 - £17 range. This division ain't a cheap viewing experience. Prices about the same in div 2.

Quoted from ticker_1610

In order to have a competitive team of full time pro's in this div you will need prices around the £16/17 price. Most clubs vary between £12 - £17 range. This division ain't a cheap viewing experience. Prices about the same in div 2.

No, this league isn't cheap. However, £18 is a rip off and it has cost us.

The gap between an U-16's ticket and an adult ticket is huge. We must of lost a lot of fans who had turned to the age where they had to buy an adult ticket. It would of been £13 pounds extra every 2 weeks.

I'm not saying we should reduce it to £10 or something daft. I feel that £15 for an adult matchday ticket is about right. It sounds a lot less than £18 and saves you £69 per season.

Best if luck with the fund raising DarlingtonFC1883 I hope it goes well for you.

Quoted from DarlingtonFC1883

No, this league isn't cheap. However, £18 is a rip off and it cost us.

The gap between an U-16's ticket and an adult ticket is huge. We must of lost a lot of fans who had turned to the age where they had to buy an adult ticket. It would of been £13 pounds extra every 2 weeks.

I'm not saying we should reduce it to £10 or something daft. I feel that £15 for an adult matchday ticket is about right. It sounds a lot less than £18 and saves you £69 per season.

But to reduce ticket prices will mean reducing playing staff and that wont be easy as Darlo are a big club ... so players will want more money followed by fans wanting better things etc

I do agree Singh has cost you so far and he will be the major problem

I do wish you the best

Quoted from 891

But to reduce ticket prices will mean reducing playing staff and that wont be easy as Darlo are a big club ... so players will want more money followed by fans wanting better things etc

I do agree Singh has cost you so far and he will be the major problem

I do wish you the best

Obviously going back to our normal crowds of about 1,800, let's just say that we have 400 adult's paying on matchday...

400 adult's @ £18 = £7,200
400 adult's @ £15 = £6,000

Obviously there is a £1,200 gap. However, the cheaper the tickets, the higher the amount of fans. This has been proved by Darlington's average attendances before and after the ticket prices were increased.

We would only need 80 more adult match day payers to make the same amount of money that we were making with the £18 ticket prices.

480 adult's @ £15 = £7,200.

Then you have more money made from the catering and car parking.

Regarding wages, I think that our budget next season will be about £500k-£600k. Hopefully it will see us make a slight loss or possibly break-even which would be a change.

Quoted from supertown

£16 matchday ticket, on street free parking and food at home before or after you go. Thats £16 a game for me

There is no on street parking at the DA.

The shareholding targets:

1st - 5,000 shares purchased for £250,000 will pay the football creditors. -

The wages the players are owed. I am presuming this is from November 2011 to February 2012.

2nd - 2,500 shares purchased for £250,000 will pay the non-football creditors. -

Raj Singh is the largest non football creditor however he is apparently behind the concept of a community based club and will waive his loans. The other creditors will be minor.

3rd - 2,500 shares purchased for £250,000 will give a sustainable future for Darlington Football Club. -

This is how we kick start the community based club. The extra £250,000 would give us a war chest.

I think your budget will be a lot less than £500k, your revenue stream isn't enough for you to compete at the moment never mind raise a playing budget of half a mill. At the moment your trying to raise 750k to survive, whilst finding the finance for your weekly operating costs. You are also in freefall in the league. If you get relegated gates may drop further, and if not out of admin in time relegation is automatic maybe two divisions. Sorry if I'm so negative but trying to be realistic. Good luck tho!

Quoted from ticker_1610

I think your budget will be a lot less than £500k, your revenue stream isn't enough for you to compete at the moment never mind raise a playing budget of half a mill. At the moment your trying to raise 750k to survive, whilst finding the finance for your weekly operating costs. You are also in freefall in the league. If you get relegated gates may drop further, and if not out of admin in time relegation is automatic maybe two divisions. Sorry if I'm so negative but trying to be realistic. Good luck tho!

We are becoming a community based club in order to increase revenue streams.

The playing budget:

First off, our budget at the start of the season was £900,000 - £1,000,000. Cut that down to £500,000. £450,000 saved immediately. Only run the contract's to April so we can squeeze more money out of the budget. Roughly about £500,000 saved already. That is our losses halved.

Sponsorships:

With Darlington Football Club possibly becoming a community run club, get local businesses on board. How about several businesses paying the player's wages for x amount of months? In return they get a mention in the match programme. Regarding shirt sponsorship's, we had Raj's care home business sponsoring our shirts so we were getting effectively nothing from that. In 09/10 we had Darlington Building Society and 10/11 The Morrit sponsoring our shirts. We should be doing this sort of thing next year and it will bring in a little more revenue.

The Arena:

A local group a businessmen who are now situated in a group called 'Darlington 1883' want some sort of Creche at the Arena. Things like car boot sales and carvery's on a Sunday can be exploited in order to make a profit. Gym's and a boxing ring are hardly ever used by the public of Darlington so it is common sense to advertise these so ordinary people  can come and use the Arena on non-match day's.

Get volunteers to do pitch work as well as maintenance. Raj Singh said that he wanted Darlington to aspire to AFC Wimbledon's voluntary service however nothing really was done about it. With us becoming a community based club then this is the perfect opportunity to get volunteers on-board in order to do tasks which would of cost the club money. Get the catering back in house and get volunteers to man the kiosk's.

This is common business sense as the asset's at the Arena really need to be exploited given that the stadium is rented for a nominal amount of £10,000.

Matchday prices:

£18 is a rip-off for an adult ticket. Decrease it to £15 and your saving £69 per season. In order to bridge the gap, increase the U-16 ticket prices to £7. A lot of younger people such as myself would not mind parting with an extra £2. Not only would this increase the amount of fans but it would also decrease the amount of pounds between an U-16's ticket and an adult ticket too. This is where we have failed so badly and lost so many fans.

A lot of people are going on about how we are trying to find £750,000 to survive. However, this £750,000 isn't just to see out the season and that's that. It pays off the football and non football creditors, get's us out of administration and kick starts our community club.