Lincoln City

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I suppose people felt "that boat has sailed" numerous times over the generations regarding various things, but the sun always comes up and undoubtedly there will be opportunities in the future for us to move/improve and take advantage of new situations as they arise.

We have to believe better days are ahead for the club to keep everyone motivated.

It's better now isn't it ?

No false promises , a relatively stable club with a goal to continually improve . I think we have it quite good really .

I think things will continue to improve in a gradual fashion what that looks like in 10 years time who know's , but I think we will be in a much better spot than 2023 for sure .

Quoted from Mappers

I'm not sure they were privvy to the 10 year audit , and if they were the amount of work required from it was a shock ; on the DN35 podcast interview that's the impression I got anyway . Is there another inteview with Pettit?

Everything is a shock. It fits the poor weee narrative and fuels the fans. And yes Andrew confirmed they were given the document.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I think any club that is having significant sums pumped into it has a right to get nervous once it stops progressing at the current level of investment. Lincoln require £3m a year to finish mid-table in League One. The King's Lynn owner is now begging for investment and saying he won't plug the £300k gap in the finances this season. They are full-time with crowds of 800 in the NLN, and currently 21st. The original club, King's Lynn FC folded in 2010 after getting kicked out of the NLN for their ground not meeting requirements following promotion the previous year. I don't think there is interest in King's Lynn for a full-time team, but their owner has pumped money in, taken them to the NL, got relegated, almost got promoted last season, and now it's tough, he's spitting his dummy out. It happens all of the time and I do wonder when the Lincoln investors decide they aren't going to cover the losses anymore.

I know someone who’s well informed at KLT and Stephen Cleave is skint. It’s not that he doesn’t want to continue bankrolling the club. It’s simply that he no longer has the money to.

I applaud the Lincoln fans for thinking their club is financially ok, surely if a sugar daddy is having to pump in £3 million a year just to standstill, it should be a concern. If I had a shop and it was losing £80 grand a year it wouldn’t be long before it was closed.

Quoted from GibMariner

Stupid we turned our back on relocation. Chance won’t come again without a sugar daddy.

Interesting to hear AP stated in a podcast they were privy to the 10 year BP status report when buying the club.

You would have thought buying GTFC was a dream, according to the accounts it was sustainable, no profitable, with no outside debt and 800k in the bank. Few players on the books (a mangers dream). Playing assets soon to be sold for next to nowt. Relocation options, fish docks / freeman street. Fans backing.

Yet JS stated at the beginning that BP had potential as the ground was not full every week and the club must be sustainable.

Sounds to me like the buyer was made aware and they should have a plan. Or at least I hope they do have one.

The fact they we don't fill BP week in week out so we don't need a new ground is a pretty poor argument. However I do understand the need to concentrate on other areas of the football club first. But a long term future will require a new ground. 4K plus attendance at the roads and streets are gridlocked, the ground has poor facilities and can't be improved significantly to make it a long term viable option to take the club forward. It's a dump but all we have at the moment. Teams like Rotherham, Hull, Shrewsbury, Colchester, MK Dons (sort of), Boston, York, Chesterfield to name a few didn't fill their grounds and they seemed to have the ambition to move and improve the fan experience. Attendances will increase because of this and then it's up to the management and players to keep them there and increase attendances further.

Quoted from Dogger Bank

The fact they we don't fill BP week in week out so we don't need a new ground is pretty poor argument. However I do understand the need to concentrate on other areas of the football club first. But a long term future will require a new ground. 4K plus attendance at the roads and streets are gridlocked, the ground has poor facilities and can't be improved significantly to make it a long term viable option to take the club forward. It's a dump but all we have at the moment. Teams like Rotherham, Hull, Shrewsbury, Colchester, MK Dons (sort of), Boston, York, Chesterfield to name a few didn't fill their grounds and they seemed to have the ambition to move and improve the fan experience. Attendances will increase because of this and then it's up to the management and players to keep them there and increase attendances further.

Over half of your examples for me at least underpin why we should look to enhance BP and try to find a way to increase capacity there with better facilities /commercial opportunities - impressed with stadium MK but oversized , only possible because of a giant retail park /Winklefella , Chesterfield pretty poor for me , Boston ok but tiny and out in a village with a Greggs and burger king as food choices, no bars other than in the ground . York not upto much as far as a football stadium goes and has a weird variation of coloured seats ; Colchester the worst of the lot and a long walk from the town with nothing close by at all .

Rotherham I like and the KC was good I'm sure that's showing it's age now though as I have not been for 15 years ?

I still think there is room for the old traditional stadiums and some clubs are redeveloping grounds in tight areas - Pompey , Fulham ,Exeter ,Wrexham and Stockport all rebuilding to some degree ; it can be done but exactly like a new ground obviously costs a hell of a lot of ££££££ .

Quoted from Mappers

Over half of your examples for me at least underpin why we should look to enhance BP and try to find a way to increase capacity there with better facilities /commercial opportunities - impressed with stadium MK but oversized , only possible because of a giant retail park /Winklefella , Chesterfield pretty poor for me , Boston ok but tiny and out in a village with a Greggs and burger king as food choices, no bars other than in the ground . York not upto much as far as a football stadium goes and has a weird variation of coloured seats ; Colchester the worst of the lot and a long walk from the town with nothing close by at all .

Rotherham I like and the KC was good I'm sure that's showing it's age now though as I have not been for 15 years ?

I still think there is room for the old traditional stadiums and some clubs are redeveloping grounds in tight areas - Pompey , Fulham ,Exeter ,Wrexham and Stockport all rebuilding to some degree ; it can be done but exactly like a new ground obviously costs a hell of a lot of ££££££ .

I agree with your descriptions of some of the grounds and not what I would want if we ever went for a new home. That wasn't my point though, just examples of clubs who didn't pack their grounds out (some far from it) but they moved to try and take their club forward. I would assume the maintenance costs of running those grounds is significantly lower than trying to maintain an older ground and keep it up to standards to allow them to operate. Older grounds are romantic and part of the football heritage in this country, that doesn't mean we should keep them.

Blundell Park for me can't be improved drastically to make it viable long term. Surrounded three sides with terraced housing and a road/railway line the other. Any expansion (if that was possible) would cause even more traffic, parking and pedestrian issues in the surrounding area. There have been new grounds muted over a long period of time but none of come to fruition for various reasons. There have been good reasons why we should move and they still apply. As Andrew Pettit said at the forum any new ground would have to incorporate many  areas of use aside football to make it financially viable to run. It's not top of the shopping list for the club at the moment but long term we go nowhere staying at BP as a club, attracting players or new fans for that matter.

Quoted from Dogger Bank

I agree with your descriptions of some of the grounds and not what I would want if we ever went for a new home. That wasn't my point though, just examples of clubs who didn't pack their grounds out (some far from it) but they moved to try and take their club forward. I would assume the maintenance costs of running those grounds is significantly lower than trying to maintain an older ground and keep it up to standards to allow them to operate. Older grounds are romantic and part of the football heritage in this county, that doesn't mean we should keep them.

Blundell Park for me can't be improved drastically to make it viable long term. Surrounded three sides with terraced housing and a road/railway line the other. Any expansion (if that was possible) would cause even more traffic, parking and pedestrian issues in the surrounding area. There have been new grounds muted over a long period of time but none of come to fruition for various reasons. There have been good reasons why we should move and they still apply. As Andrew Pettit said at the forum any new ground would have to incorporate many  areas of use aside football to make it financially viable to run. It's not top of the shopping list for the club at the moment but long term we go nowhere staying at BP as a club, attracting players or new fans for that matter.

But where are we going to get the £40 Mil+ from to build the ground?

Quoted from 123614

But where are we going to get the £40 Mil+ from to build the ground?

Most of the aforementioned clubs managed it by the owners being smart…….

It’s a a good point - we’d need £40m-plus, no doubt, but others have managed.

Blundell Park isn’t good enough now, and it’s only gonna get worse. I suspect it will be the one issue that encourages JS and AP to get the hell out of dodge at some point, and that’s not a criticism of them, it’s just gonna be tough getting the funding.

Blundell Park should have been demolished in the 20th century, and we’re already 23 years into the next one now!

For what it’s worth, and I admit it, I have zero clue what the solution is.

Other clubs managed it in different financial times.

We can't currently afford a new ground. Building costs have shot up and anchor tenants have faded away.

Not much point speculating on what we need/want, when it isn't going to happen for the foreseeable.