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Helpful trigger warning. Apart from Butler going off on this weird and unnecessary tangent in the first place, what was he seeking to achieve?
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The questions for me are more about whether or not have the foundations and, under the current ownership, a sustainable model financially? As a minimum, we need a complete overhaul of the pitch, our own ground staff as well as security over the future of our training ground. That’s before you think about the playing budget and re-establishing an academy. I would be as delighted as anyone if we got promoted this season, though I think it remains improbable. My worry would be that we are simply not ready to sustain League 2 football.
I would love to know more about the current financial position. Accounts should soon be filed for 2024-25 and I hope we get an update from the club then.
No.
Wealthier owners or additional opulent owners needed.
Current squad is sub standard.
A complete squad overhaul would be required for L2
Could the current owners finance that … outright … or … with more loans?
It’d be like trying to nail jelly to a wall in L2.
Consolidate, strengthen, continue rebuilding.
If we’re still selling scratch cards and having bucket collections – then we aren’t L2 quality.
Thoughts?1 user thanked author for this post.
With Farrell doing well, I would send Carlton out on loan and recall Howe.
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I said much the same on X yesterday about the club’s failure to recognise the Trust. Bernard does fantastic work as leader of Irish Iron and deserves recognition, but so do the Trust. The bizarre thing about this as that many of II members will also be Trust members.
Neil was and still is a fan Deerey, and at the time you were the club basher not me I supported Swann.
On the club bashing itself its only their continued actions that get my goat, they’re the ones sucking up to different groups at the cost to others. And try selling us all types of snake oil at every opportunity. Selling us down the river with FC 100,000. They are not to be trusted imo.Take the latest on the Official web page, couple of pages on praise for the Irish irons £500 donation towards the pitch fund, did the trust get as much praise for their £13,000 share purchase.
Isn’t that a clear indication where the club is.3 users thanked author for this post.
An elected, properly constituted fans’ group affiliated to the FSA seems to be valued less by the club than self-appointed uber fans such as PD. Sadly, the club prefers this engagement to listening to supporter elected reps who work quietly, skilfully and diligently (and with little recognition) for the collective good.
I don’t blame the VoF “reps”. They seem well meaning, though the fact they are club appointed undermines their ability to speak truth to power and act independently. I mentioned this to one of the “reps”, though this isn’t documented anywhere. (I also believe that one of the three remaining “reps” has only attended one home game this season, so I am not sure how they keep abreast of supporter views?)
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I think you have hit the nail on the head, ironlion. The club seems to only want contributions from fans in the form of pro bono services and donations, but doesn’t appear to value the role of the Trust as a/the key channel for fan engagement.
We know the fans are the constant while owners and Directors come and go. This
current fundraiser begs the question why can’t we pay for pitch maintenance as part of running costs and from current revenue. (It also looks desperate and amateur). More importantly, is the current regime sustainable financially? I get that they inherited debt and that needs to be cleared, but where does that stand now? As others have said, we have we have no reserve team, academy or our own ground staff. Our training pitch will need to be replaced, or bought or leased from NLC. If we want to progress further, we will need more investment and I don’t see that coming from the current model.
That’s not to say that the current owners have not done a huge amount in bringing the club back from the brink, making progress on the field and in stabilising things off it. It is also great to have genuine fans at the helm.1 user thanked author for this post.
It’s good for this forum to be able to take the moral high ground on this. It’s a shame that the FB fans’ group doesn’t take a similar approach to moderation. There has been some horrific doxing there in recent days. Most of the offending material remains online and so must have been deemed acceptable by its admin.
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Yes. I am disgusted that the club hasn’t acknowledged or thanked the Trust publicly for its fund raising work. It’s insulting and disrespectful. I shall not be contributing to this current crowd funder or any other unless the club’s current owners (i) set out clearly and openly their plans to operate sustainably and (ii) bring the Trust on board as a partner.
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A few thoughts.
1. Why wouldn’t the club partner with the Trust as a reputable, properly constituted supporters’ group with a successful track record in fund raising and crowd funding?
2. If the club can’t cover running costs on current gates, perhaps they need to be looking for new investors? Crowd funding basic running costs isn’t sustainable.
3. As a minimum, the club should be opening up the books to fans to show why it can’t currently cover running costs.Personally, I am having nothing to do with this as things stand.
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That game is a little before my time, so only going off online records.
Please accept my apology saleiron, you are right. John Radford played in the match not Ray Kennedy- over time I always associated them as a partnership! Thanks for correcting me.
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