'ON PAPER' the concept of a supporter owned club is a fantastic idea, but 'IN REALITY' it would require a level of income that can cover the back room staff wages, rosters wages, match day costs (police/stewards etc), rent on stadium and facilities, insurance costs, travel costs to away games for all teams.....and the list continues.

If we safely assume that DH has halved his annual input from 2 to 1 million or close to it, then every one of our 250 season ticket holders would need to fork out 4 grand......or, if every member of the current trust (600) 1,666.

If we look at the trust scenario, then that's the price of a beer, every day all year..........it is doable.

BUT: What level of expertise and staffing can we get on the current budget? Sponsorship as well as match day revenues will be the 2 additional main sources of income after central funding, so how will we attract the caliber of staff that we need.....can we afford them? Can we attract the right caliber of player to make us competitive whilst we continue to grow our youth pool to the extent where we supply our own players? Can we rebuild relationships across the region and get the wider RL community on board?

I'm not pouring cold water on the concept....I'm just saying that planning a strategy NOW would pay dividends when it needs to happen.

wire-quin wrote:Worcester come on GF http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/41470141 Quote:Worcester are bottom of the Premiership table on one point, with their last victory coming against Bath in April last season. Ringing any bells? No? How 'bout this? Quote:my focus will remain on Warriors until the end of the season, where I hope to leave the club in a strong place to ensure it can be successful in the long-term ...so then. 2nd tier it is!

wire-quin wrote:Worcester come on GF http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/41470141 Quote:Worcester are bottom of the Premiership table on one point, with their last victory coming against Bath in April last season. Ringing any bells? No? How 'bout this? Quote:my focus will remain on Warriors until the end of the season, where I hope to leave the club in a strong place to ensure it can be successful in the long-term ...so then. 2nd tier it is!

Couldn't agree more and I know if you're as big a League nut as I am plans will be tumbling out all the time! One thing for sure though is that if your plan is based on replacing David's money with yours then its not a plan!
The LBSA can't have a plan, regardless of what individual members ideas may be, because its not its job to have one! I like to think we've been successful in what we do - especially our sponsorship of the Academy and re-establishing links with our great Past Players, but ultimately this is other people's money and it must be used for the purposes the LBSA was set up to achieve.
The discussion on Thursday is to change the organisation into one that can have these plans. The acid test we was members have to pass for ourselves is simple - are we up to it?
Come along on Thursday, listen to Supporters Direct and other members, and play your part if you can.

I'd love to, but the commute's a killer lol.
I will look forward to reading the minutes though as I believe that there are legs in your approach.

As for not replacing one revenue source with another, my scenario above was designed as a potential starting point and as it began to pay dividends, the reliance on "funding from any ownership" would become negated.

What isn't in doubt is that the clock is ticking on the current owner being willing to prop us up as a full time entity and if he isn't replaced, we will go part time and essentially go down to the third tier. I still think we'd get 600 on the gate and attract the level of sponsors we have then, but as Bradford will discover next season, it won't be easy bouncing back.

Nice to see a glass half full approach

sadly I think this is correct, which means somehow, we have to secure another source of funding? Would prefer a different source to a "sugar-daddy", though I would take anything.

If the league is being restructured again then we must do everything possible to secure a Superleague place. Everyone assumes Toronto will be a shoe-in, we need to make a compelling case to be the other.

That means making sure we finish top four as a minimum, and preferably top 2!!!!

I suspect there will be more to it that position. Vision, academy, finance, ground, marketing/crowds, sponsorship............sustainable plan

Then we plan for CH 1.

How did it go ?

The meeting went well. The lady from Supporters Direct explained how a trust would work, what they would be able to offer us as trust, what would be different if we were a trust and how it works in other clubs.
The guy from the Fulham Supporters Trust, who happens to be an Ealing Councillor. Spoke with passion on how their trust has been a force for good. How initially Fulham were somewhat hostile, but how they now have a good working relationship with them, that has proved to be positive for both the fans and club.
I am sure Steve will provide something in more depth later.
Sadly there was only a dozen or so of us there.