No fans till March

Devastating news yesterday from the government

How on earth do Town survive this??

How do they continue to pay wages and the bills etc without money coming in??

Surely the funds will dry up soon

I imagine our hopes of a proven striker are now out the window. On the flip side, other clubs seem to have been much more reckless and will probably be in very bad situations unless some form of bailout is in the pipeline

Should never have restarted the season before the green light was given for fans to return. F.uck you EFL. There will be lower league clubs that go bust because of you.

All we can do now is those who can afford it, to support Town to the hilt by buying season tickets, or buying each game on ifollow. At least it will give them some income.

I'm sorry I have revised this now, I meant ifollow not iplayer.  

Quoted from davmariner

Should never have restarted the season before the green light was given for fans to return. F.uck you EFL. There will be lower league clubs that go bust because of you.

Hardly their fault is it

Quoted from Mallyner

All we can do now is those who can afford it, to support Town to the hilt by buying season tickets, or buying each game on iPlayer. At least it will give them some income.

Don't try to buy any games on iPlayer, the BBC don't have rights.........

However, without being sarcastic this time, we have to support the club by paying for iFollow, and actually I believe if we get enough subscriptions, and presumably us being Town fans it's OUR club that gets SOME money even from away games, we can get through this.  Not with the same income, but definitely not zero.  We have a responsibility now.  There is a certain irony in this, as I vowed to give Saturday a  miss after watching 3 straight defeats on iFollow, but I'm gonna have to practise what I preach now!!

Quoted from Heisenberg

Don't try to buy any games on iPlayer, the BBC don't have rights.........

However, without being sarcastic this time, we have to support the club by paying for iFollow, and actually I believe if we get enough subscriptions, and presumably us being Town fans it's OUR club that gets SOME money even from away games, we can get through this.  Not with the same income, but definitely not zero.  We have a responsibility now.  There is a certain irony in this, as I vowed to give Saturday a  miss after watching 3 straight defeats on iFollow, but I'm gonna have to practise what I preach now!!

I've just read that Colchester statement explaining the income from iFollow - let's hope we can smash through 500 for ALL away games, but I fear we may fall a bit shy like they have so far.  However, fingers crossed........

I cant see the season going past november. for one reason or another . There is going to be more important things than a game of football unless a miracle happens . you cannot run any business  or home or car without money coming in end of.

The club appears to have budgeted based on what would have been capacity crowds this season; around the 2,000 mark. They now have the value 1,300 season tickets (which look as though they will become iFollow season tickets now), and so they're working to a deficit of 700 tickets per match.

Philip Day suggested this would equate to a loss of £250k over the course of the season, though you'd hope a portion would be offset slightly by iFollow payments. Much of that will depend on how we go on to do this season of course; there aren't too many people who are going to be happy shelling out £10 a week to watch Town struggle in an empty, atmosphere-less stadium, particularly if at some point the spectre of relegation is removed.

I firmly believe that so long as this crisis doesn't run past the end of this season and into next, Town will be ok. The club has faced bigger deficits than this before. I do however fear for some clubs; it's hard to see all of the EFL 72 coming through this completely unscathed.

I’d like to think the government and EFL are now in discussions to ensure something can be done about this.

The excuse as to why fans can’t gather outside is weak at best, they’re blaming it on the pubs outside essentially. Yet people can gather outside of shopping centres every Saturday and even if you are in a pub pre-match, it’s 6 per table at a distance, as per the guidelines. So how does it make any sense whatsoever?

I’m probably over optimistic but I do think either a cash payment or a compromise will come.

Quoted from supertown

Hardly their fault is it

Well it was there decision to restart the league on 12 September, their decision to play the league cup round 1 before the season started on 5 September and to play 2 further rounds in September and their decision to get the EFL cup underway in the first week of the season, so IMO yes it is their fault.

I recall an early interview with Ollie where he was very critical of these exact decisions and it was his opinion football should not return until crowds were to be allowed back even if that meant waiting until 2021.

Personally watching games without fans is like watching Gavin and Stacey without sound, pretty pointless and not entertaining, especially given how we’ve started!!!

Given Grimsby’s much discussed prudence we will hopefully survive by the skin of our teeth but the future has to be very bleak for many clubs at all levels from Championship to Conference North/ South etc. and the knock on effect this will have on other local businesses will be equally devastating.

Think the club need to look into season passes for iFollow, like you can get if you live abroad. It needs to be simple to use and stable in operation.

I also think that we fans have given quite a lot to the club in recent seasons and although I know the fans will rally round again if things become desperate, it has to be matched by board input if needed. They have been in the black for a while and paying back loans while times have been relatively good, so the contingency that we say we have may need to come into play. This "proof of funds" in times of need that was levelled at Shutes.

Of course, none of this will be needed should the Premier League do the right thing, or the Government come up with a rescue package as they have for the arts. Somehow though, I don't think the Governmant will look as favourably on the world of sport as they do the luvvie brigade, who are mostly London centric. We are all oiks to them.

Quoted from Poojah

The club appears to have budgeted based on what would have been capacity crowds this season; around the 2,000 mark. They now have the value 1,300 season tickets (which look as though they will become iFollow season tickets now), and so they're working to a deficit of 700 tickets per match.

Philip Day suggested this would equate to a loss of £250k over the course of the season, though you'd hope a portion would be offset slightly by iFollow payments. Much of that will depend on how we go on to do this season of course; there aren't too many people who are going to be happy shelling out £10 a week to watch Town struggle in an empty, atmosphere-less stadium, particularly if at some point the spectre of relegation is removed.

I firmly believe that so long as this crisis doesn't run past the end of this season and into next, Town will be ok. The club has faced bigger deficits than this before. I do however fear for some clubs; it's hard to see all of the EFL 72 coming through this completely unscathed.

Philip Day also stated that the club, is run within its means and does not currently have an overdraft.
The club have put things in place to protect the club as much as they could do, not signing players too early, not putting season tickets for sale too early, putting in clauses into new contracts with regards to Covid 19 (that would be Philip Day being a solicitor), promoting players from the Youth set-up (well done Neil Woods and his team). This season is all about GTFC surviving off the pitch, first. I am confident that Mr Holloway and the players will start getting the right results on the pitch, if the the season continues.
I am happy that our board have not GAMBLED with GTFC existence, depending how long Covid 19 lasts, I am hopeful that GTFC will still be standing, not sure about Blundell Park LOL.

A good interview by Philip Day

UTMM

Quoted from The Yard Dog

Philip Day also stated that the club, is run within its means and does not currently have an overdraft.
The club have put things in place to protect the club as much as they could do, not signing players too early, not putting season tickets for sale too early, putting in clauses into new contracts with regards to Covid 19 (that would be Philip Day being a solicitor), promoting players from the Youth set-up (well done Neil Woods and his team). This season is all about GTFC surviving off the pitch, first. I am confident that Mr Holloway and the players will start getting the right results on the pitch, if the the season continues.
I am happy that our board have not GAMBLED with GTFC existence, depending how long Covid 19 lasts, I am hopeful that GTFC will still be standing, not sure about Blundell Park LOL.

A good interview by Philip Day

UTMM

The ironic thing is we don't need Blundell Park right now, even the main pitch at Bradley would do.

Now they know where they stand, the club should be absolutely hammering the iFollow streams. Set a target “attendance” and try hit it for every match or run a campaign until March to hit x amount of streams. You’ve got a product available to people who wouldn’t have been able to attend previously.

They have to reimagine themselves as a streaming service until March rather than a football club, see it as an opportunity & don’t wallow in it. Make it accessible, build a culture around it. See every stream as building towards something bigger rather than just a way of watching a match.

If ever the majority shareholder wanted to demonstrate the value of his benign loans, now might be the time to invest in the club’s digital side (shop, Youtube content, get some external advice & direction), given that 99% of interactions with the club are going to be coming that way this year. Would also benefit the commercial side - who wants to pay for a pitch side hoarding when nobody sees it? Digital ads on the other hand...

Excuse my ignorance, I’ve all but stopped watching news.

Has anyone actually stated there will be no fans until March? Or is this an assumption?

Weekly raffles for signed shirts etc, do prizes on social media for the best decorated living rooms, houses etc for matches. Home delivery by Ollie for randomly selected online club shop purchases.

Quoted from ska face

Now they know where they stand, the club should be absolutely hammering the iFollow streams. Set a target “attendance” and try hit it for every match or run a campaign until March to hit x amount of streams. You’ve got a product available to people who wouldn’t have been able to attend previously.

They have to reimagine themselves as a streaming service until March rather than a football club, see it as an opportunity & don’t wallow in it. Make it accessible, build a culture around it. See every stream as building towards something bigger rather than just a way of watching a match.

If ever the majority shareholder wanted to demonstrate the value of his benign loans, now might be the time to invest in the club’s digital side (shop, Youtube content, get some external advice & direction), given that 99% of interactions with the club are going to be coming that way this year. Would also benefit the commercial side - who wants to pay for a pitch side hoarding when nobody sees it? Digital ads on the other hand...

The club have to hang their hat on this, and go for it.  There will be LOTS of fans, and even disillusioned fans from yesteryear, who might actually watch if it's from the comfort of their own home.

It's maybe over-critical, but the club don't seem to have made much of a fanfare about iFollow, but now they HAVE to.

Quoted from NorthseaMariner

Excuse my ignorance, I’ve all but stopped watching news.

Has anyone actually stated there will be no fans until March? Or is this an assumption?

It's a guess, it could be more or less, just to give people an idea to plan around. It could well be the whole of the season and beyond though, who knows?

Quoted from Heisenberg

Don't try to buy any games on iPlayer, the BBC don't have rights.........

However, without being sarcastic this time, we have to support the club by paying for iFollow, and actually I believe if we get enough subscriptions, and presumably us being Town fans it's OUR club that gets SOME money even from away games, we can get through this.  Not with the same income, but definitely not zero.  We have a responsibility now.  There is a certain irony in this, as I vowed to give Saturday a  miss after watching 3 straight defeats on iFollow, but I'm gonna have to practise what I preach now!!

Thank you and for not rubbing it in too much, I meant iFollow and I have revised it now.  

Quoted from GrimRob

It's a guess, it could be more or less, just to give people an idea to plan around. It could well be the whole of the season and beyond though, who knows?

Thank you Grim.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

Well it was there decision to restart the league on 12 September, their decision to play the league cup round 1 before the season started on 5 September and to play 2 further rounds in September and their decision to get the EFL cup underway in the first week of the season, so IMO yes it is their fault.

I recall an early interview with Ollie where he was very critical of these exact decisions and it was his opinion football should not return until crowds were to be allowed back even if that meant waiting until 2021.

Personally watching games without fans is like watching Gavin and Stacey without sound, pretty pointless and not entertaining, especially given how we’ve started!!!

Given Grimsby’s much discussed prudence we will hopefully survive by the skin of our teeth but the future has to be very bleak for many clubs at all levels from Championship to Conference North/ South etc. and the knock on effect this will have on other local businesses will be equally devastating.

Hindsight is great

Quoted from supertown

Hindsight is great

Well as I said Ollie said this well before the season kicked off, Shrewsbury proposed September be used to play EFL fixtures as these games rarely attract much of a crowd and would provide a good way of players regaining match fitness. That seemed very sensible at the time and even more so now after witnessing towns’s struggles in their opening games.

It was not unreasonable to expect that as lockdown eased and people start increasingly mixing with others that cases would rise again what is probably unexpected is the Govt hitting the panic button after businesses throughout the country, not just football, have spent considerable sums putting in place for post Covid returns of spectators and customers.

A whole season without fans must be not only be financially challenging for the Club but soul destroying and demotivating for the players.

Absolutely sick of this. As others have said, people gathering is permitted to an extent elsewhere, so just allow a restricted number of socially distanced people with masks into the grounds. Everyone going knows the risks.

My dad turned 77 in March just before this all kicked off and we went out for a meal. He's not at death's door but he's got quite a few health problems. He soberingly told me that he thinks he's got 2 or 3 years maximum left on this earth. We're told that all these restrictions are to protect people like him. Well, he doesn't want it. He's now lost 6 months of life and is being served up a pale imitation of the game he loves. What's he being protected from? He's effectively being asked to quietly die at home with his favourite pasttime ripped away from him, otherwise there's a risk he might die. Either way, his life has effectively already ended.

Treat the virus seriously, absolutely. But typically vaccines take 10 to 15 years to develop. We can't just wait and watch lower league football disappear.

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

Absolutely sick of this. As others have said, people gathering is permitted to an extent elsewhere, so just allow a restricted number of socially distanced people with masks into the grounds. Everyone going knows the risks.

My dad turned 77 in March just before this all kicked off and we went out for a meal. He's not at death's door but he's got quite a few health problems. He soberingly told me that he thinks he's got 2 or 3 years maximum left on this earth. We're told that all these restrictions are to protect people like him. Well, he doesn't want it. He's now lost 6 months of life and is being served up a pale imitation of the game he loves. What's he being protected from? He's effectively being asked to quietly die at home with his favourite pasttime ripped away from him, otherwise there's a risk he might die. Either way, his life has effectively already ended.

Treat the virus seriously, absolutely. But typically vaccines take 10 to 15 years to develop. We can't just wait and watch lower league football disappear.

This is a really interesting point you make. My wife does a lot of voluntary work with elderly people and she says a lot of them with not too long left would be happy to take their chances carrying on as normal.
Personally my interest in football is dead at the moment and I'm convinced we'd be better just stopping the lower leagues until it's deemed safe for fans to return.

Thankfully not everyone is happy to die at 77 +2 or +3 and most 77 year olds have more to live for than football. Is the disappearance of lower league football really more important than the life of those who are 75+ who want to live a little longer even if that life is a little restricted and enjoy their sons daughters and grandchildren?

Quoted from Ipswin

Thankfully not everyone is happy to die at 77 +2 or +3 and most 77 year olds have more to live for than football. Is the disappearance of lower league football really more important than the life of those who are 75+ who want to live a little longer even if that life is a little restricted and enjoy their sons daughters and grandchildren?

I never said my dad was happy to die or that he's got nothing to live for but football. FFS, I know you enjoy winding people up with your absurd posts on here, but this one is poorly judged.

Quoted from ska face

Now they know where they stand, the club should be absolutely hammering the iFollow streams. Set a target “attendance” and try hit it for every match or run a campaign until March to hit x amount of streams. You’ve got a product available to people who wouldn’t have been able to attend previously.

They have to reimagine themselves as a streaming service until March rather than a football club, see it as an opportunity & don’t wallow in it. Make it accessible, build a culture around it. See every stream as building towards something bigger rather than just a way of watching a match.

If ever the majority shareholder wanted to demonstrate the value of his benign loans, now might be the time to invest in the club’s digital side (shop, Youtube content, get some external advice & direction), given that 99% of interactions with the club are going to be coming that way this year. Would also benefit the commercial side - who wants to pay for a pitch side hoarding when nobody sees it? Digital ads on the other hand...

A proper pre match build up would be a start, highlights of previous games, fan and player interviews, skills challenge, etc

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

I never said my dad was happy to die or that he's got nothing to live for but football. FFS, I know you enjoy winding people up with your absurd posts on here, but this one is poorly judged.

I consider your post to be equally if not more poorlyjudged and my reply was in response to exactly how I understood it

Your father may not want to be protected from this awful disease and may consider the steps to keep him and other elderly people alive has been a wasted six months especially as he is now being 'served up a pale imitation of the game he loves'. Thousands will disagree and would see this as a slap in the face for those, both NHS staff and carers plus relatives who have spent the last six months fighting to keep our older vulnerable citizens, who desperately want to live a little longer (whether Grimsby Town play in front of crowds or not) alive

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

Treat the virus seriously, absolutely. But typically vaccines take 10 to 15 years to develop. We can't just wait and watch lower league football disappear.

To be fair there has never been 200 different vaccines in different stages of development before. Nothing like that. It seems we'll probably have one that works confirmed by the end of the yearl

Quoted from Heisenberg

The ironic thing is we don't need Blundell Park right now, even the main pitch at Bradley would do.

ISDN lines would need putting in, seats for journalists, TV gantry, the IFollow boxes that send live feeds to and from the ground.

It's not just a case of turning up and playing.

I would happily set up a direct debit for 20 quid a month to the club while no crowds are allowed and that’s without the ifollow subscriptions.
A thousand fans that do that is 20 grand a month or 120 grand for six months. For a fiver a week it would go a massive way to keeping the club in the black and on top of that you can add in the ifollow income.

A thousand fans doing that sounds a lot but is it really?

Quoted from monkeyboy

I would happily set up a direct debit for 20 quid a month to the club while no crowds are allowed and that’s without the ifollow subscriptions.
A thousand fans that do that is 20 grand a month or 120 grand for six months. For a fiver a week it would go a massive way to keeping the club in the black and on top of that you can add in the ifollow income.

A thousand fans doing that sounds a lot but is it really?

Or maybe some government support ??
The sum above is nothing in the grand scheme.
The arts received 1.57 billion pounds.

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

Absolutely sick of this. As others have said, people gathering is permitted to an extent elsewhere, so just allow a restricted number of socially distanced people with masks into the grounds. Everyone going knows the risks.

My dad turned 77 in March just before this all kicked off and we went out for a meal. He's not at death's door but he's got quite a few health problems. He soberingly told me that he thinks he's got 2 or 3 years maximum left on this earth. We're told that all these restrictions are to protect people like him. Well, he doesn't want it. He's now lost 6 months of life and is being served up a pale imitation of the game he loves. What's he being protected from? He's effectively being asked to quietly die at home with his favourite pasttime ripped away from him, otherwise there's a risk he might die. Either way, his life has effectively already ended.

Treat the virus seriously, absolutely. But typically vaccines take 10 to 15 years to develop. We can't just wait and watch lower league football disappear.

My father in law the same, 90 year old was out everyday, not far just to the shops but it gave him purpose... fast forward 6 months of being shielded etc. he can no longer get out his chair, let alone stroll along lord street etc. Killing them with kindness unfortunately. Is this going to be the new norm every Autumn the fear and panic grips the nation and we grind to a standstill for 6 months?

Something else to consider here is that the club may now need to issue refunds to those who bought season tickets.

Terms and conditions stated no refunds if the season was curtailed.  But they then, rather loosely, said that refunds will be given if entry is denied before any actual games commence, i.e those in October.

This would be an almighty hole in the clubs budget, even if they convert them to iFollow passes you'll expect that some people will want the difference refunding (understandably too).  Some will write it off, but not all.  Some season ticket holders might not have the facility to watch streams.

We messed up here. The club should have come out and said for this season only, season tickets are reduced. This is what I would do:

Purchasing wouldn't guarantee entry and no refunds would be given but whilst capacity is capped below 50%, fans can watch online so I would cap these tickets at 4000.

Charge tickets at £185 per bubble. For that you get 1 iFollow season ticket for home games (£8 per game instead of £10).

If your bubble contains 2 households then a portion will go round to someones house to watch the game but some will pay the £185 to watch them all in their own home.

When fans are allowed back it would be an absolute bargain as you could have a family of 4 having paid £185. Consider though that we have sold 1300 season tickets. I assume a number will be concessions but if you discard that and assume they are all full price, I think this deal would have sold more than 2600.

I feel conflicted about people doing things at their own risk.

I absolutely see why you'd want to take the risk and enjoy a 'normal' life, especially if you're old. As Meanwood says, you'd want to have a fulfilling life, if you know you haven't got many more years ahead of you, doing the things you want to do.

However, if people were free to go to football at their own risk, it's not just your life you're risking. The greater risk is spreading the disease, forcing more people into hospitals, onto ventilators and overwhelming the NHS to the point where they can't look after other people with other diseases and conditions.

Our healthcare system barely coped in the first place because it was underfunded and understaffed. Then we were hit by Covid. If things escalate as they did in the spring because we're free to take our own risks then unfortunately more people will die — not just those with covid, but those with cancer, heart problems, etc.

I'm not advocating a free-for-all. I'm just calling for a bit more "creative adaptation" to our new world across all sectors, not just football.

But football's a good, clear example of how it could progress. Let a tiny number of people into games, all wearing masks, with nobody within X seats of each other. As everyone gets accustomed to the logistics of it all, gradually increase the number. Start with just 100 people if you like. You can have a whole block of seats to yourself. At the very least the ball would come back quicker and there's practically 0 risk. There is so much middle ground between completely empty stadiums and "back to normal" that's just being ignored.

To be honest, with the pressure that's increasing on an hourly basis, I can't imagine that the Government are going to hold out for too long on not letting fans in.

At the end of the day, they're thinking about the next election and the polls.  The first game against Bradford probably won't be open to fans, wouldn't surprise me if by the Carlisle game (24th) or maybe even Harrogate (20th), there's miraculously enough evidence from the trial games for it to be deemed safe to return to the original plan.

Quoted from diehardmariner

To be honest, with the pressure that's increasing on an hourly basis, I can't imagine that the Government are going to hold out for too long on not letting fans in.

At the end of the day, they're thinking about the next election and the polls.  The first game against Bradford probably won't be open to fans, wouldn't surprise me if by the Carlisle game (24th) or maybe even Harrogate (20th), there's miraculously enough evidence from the trial games for it to be deemed safe to return to the original plan.

I hope not, surely even a twit like Boris wouldn't do a turn round like that given the recent restrictions he has brought in with a March end date

It's not like they've gone back and forth so far is it?

The March date isn't one set in stone, it's just a comment he made at the end of his statement that seemed to come from nowhere.  

Think we could be in for a shock, now Carl Henegan and Sunita Gupta are part of SAGE and are both pro the Swedish approach coupled with the fact that Vallance has been found out to have £600k stake holding in GSK(One of the proposed vaccine manufacturers) which leaves him with a conflict of interest and will either have to step down or be removed from SAGE Boris is losing a battle with increasing pressure from Henegan and Gupta to reverse on his recent restrictions.

This government gave grouse shooters exemption from the law surrounding groups so the gentry can quite happily shoot grouse in a group of however many they want. They cited the fact that they are outdoors as the reason.

One law for the ruling classes?

I was going to run two season tickets this year with one at Town and one at Brentford. I paid for the BFC ticket in May having made a deposit to reserve a seat with friends in January. I hoped Brentford would play fair with supporters if this season turned out to be badly disrupted as I expected it to be as far back as February.

I declined to get a Town ST on the terms offered. Brentford fans have been contacted today with three options. One is to freeze the 20/21 ST until 21/22 with no added cost irrespective of league status and any games seen this season offset against the 21/22 ticket. iFollow will be free until December.

Second option is a 75% refund with the 25% a deposit for 21/22. Third option is a full refund.

BFC are very upset with the way the government have handled this and don't expect to admit any fans for the entirety of the 20/21 season. That wouldn't surprise me.

I think they've handled the situation very well. I appreciate that the club have a wealthy benefactor and their business and recruitment model has made a lot of money but they have been generous to their supporters.

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Think we could be in for a shock, now Carl Henegan and Sunita Gupta are part of SAGE and are both pro the Swedish approach coupled with the fact that Vallance has been found out to have £600k stake holding in GSK(One of the proposed vaccine manufacturers) which leaves him with a conflict of interest and will either have to step down or be removed from SAGE Boris is losing a battle with increasing pressure from Henegan and Gupta to reverse on his recent restrictions.

Most of us have a stake in a firm like GSK if we have an occupational pension, I know a lot of mine was in Vodafone shares. I think Vallance worked for them at a senior level so it's unsurprising that he would have some form of holding as part of his pension.

It's one of the few British "Big Pharma" companies so we ought to be hoping that the GSK research comes good. I've junked Colgate (made in Poland) toothpaste for Sensodyne (a GSK product made in the UK or so it says on the packaging).

Quoted from Welwynmariner

Most of us have a stake in a firm like GSK if we have an occupational pension, I know a lot of mine was in Vodafone shares. I think Vallance worked for them at a senior level so it's unsurprising that he would have some form of holding as part of his pension.

It's one of the few British "Big Pharma" companies so we ought to be hoping that the GSK research comes good. I've junked Colgate (made in Poland) toothpaste for Sensodyne (a GSK product made in the UK or so it says on the packaging).

It's not "you" that has stskes/shares in the industry, it's your pension provided/trust fund that does. Vallance was gifted those shares as part of a golden handshake therefore he personally benefits from any profits that company makes hence he is now has a conflict of interest, it's rumoured if GSK get the go ahead with the vaccine he stands to make circa £12m.