[longeatonspireite]

What I find is hard is "Why now?". The finances expenditure etc must have been known for weeks. As some people say we have been conned. All talk, regretting the Davies situation, talk of signing players Higdon, trip to Portugal, Championship football etc. The incompetence continues and I thought we had heard the the last of financial disasters. This has blown me to pieces to be honest. We do have a decent team, set up etc. But why now? I have listened to and read cynical posts over the past two years knocking anything Chesterfield management. But it really looks as though I was naive in trying to be positive.
Any new support gained from last season and the talk of Higdon etc will be be wasted, and talk of extra money from gates will be pie in the sky. We will be lucky to get anywhere near 7000. One decent signing (Higdon) would have made a massive difference. To not stuggle next season will need a massive effort. I feel for Paul Cook, this must have been dropped on him. Watch this space!
I need to take some tablets to be positive again.
It could be worse there are people much worse off. Its not raining today.
Oh well soon be Christmas

[Skywalker]

It’s scary to think where the club would be without Dave Allen’s involvement. The remaining board clearly lack the funds to make a difference and I’d hazard a guess that no-one in Chesterfield is financially capable of and willing to replace them.

7000+ attendances should have been achievable last season given the population of Chesterfield and the surrounding area. The fact it wasn’t is a clear indication that money is tight and the situation will no doubts get worse as the public sector decreases in size. There simply isn’t enough Private enterprise in Chesterfield and certainly not enough that pays well.

[moondog]

Search and Destroy, on 21 July 2014 - 09:55 AM, said:

How can you set a budget of 7000 for home games before a ball is kicked?

Madness.

Exactly, very poor of Allen to blame the fans for internal mismanagement that he is responsible for

[newboldsteve]

azul, on 21 July 2014 - 10:04 AM, said:

That is very true

Only conclusion is he's decided to cut his losses.

Let's hope he not tempted to restructure the club

what do you mean by restructure the club

[brianclose]

60s 70s Spireite, on 21 July 2014 - 10:17 AM, said:

All probably true.
But, if the management hadn't got the budget last season so wrong, and worked on a budget of 6000, with equal Elton John type concert returns, would we have had players the calibre of Morsy, Ryan, Roberts, Evatt, plus even Banks and Gardner? IMO - probably not. Would we have won promotion? Probably not.

Football success at this level is almost entirely based on what the owner puts in (every so often there are exceptions eg Yeovil). On the whole, he rarely gets it back again. See Barry Hearn on the losses he suffered at a 'prudent' Leyton Orient

So what you are saying is - we can fabricate an extortionate break-even attendance figure in order to inflate a budget, in order to bring in high profile players who fit that budget, in order to win promotion, for it then the following season to all come crashing down in flames when we realise that we were never going to make the attendance figure in a million years.

What kind of prudent business plan is this?

[Brookie]

a kick in the balls, on 21 July 2014 - 10:24 AM, said:

that's a fair point - also you have to consider the historical fan base at CFC. Prior to moving grounds we were a club that averaged around 3500 - 4000 fans. We now get around 6000.

I think the size of the fan base is lost on those running the club - and they believe 6000 is the normal turnout for this club regardless of how things are on the pitch. If we did go down, there is no way the club would be selling anything like 3500 season tickets for a year in L2 - you would be back to gates of less than 5000.

The calls for fans to back the club are fair enough, but they don't seem to realise the levels of support currently at the club IS the fans backing the club!!!!!! Its unrealistic to expect 7000 fans as an average - 7000 would be a massive amount for the club, in L2, given the levels of away support.

A large dose of North Derbyshire reality is needed in the board room

The size of support we get is quite good when you consider the population of Chesterfield is just over 100K, Rotherham (sorry to mention them but its a good comparison) has a population of 250K and only averaged just over 8000

I also feel that the club has probably not taken into sufficient account the fact that we have gone through and are still experiencing the effects of a major recession and people still do not have the disposable income they had previously. There is a much wider choice for leisure time persuits compared to when I was a kid and Town had 8000 to 10000 regularly and people spend their money carefully. The Tom Jones concert was good but if they had reduced prices slightly they would probably have sold more tickets. I also think it should have been on a Friday with teenage concert on the Saturday

[azul]

newboldsteve, on 21 July 2014 - 10:28 AM, said:

what do you mean by restructure the club

Splitting the club in two, football and non football

[Wooden Spoon]

frearsghost, on 21 July 2014 - 10:15 AM, said:

This is a huge gamble for Dave Allen and his decision rests on one belief; that these players are better than 2011 and will keep us up.

to be fair - they are a heck of lot better than 2011.

The back 4 is better - and the midfield is streets ahead of what we had back then.

Even the forwards for a large chunk of it were not great - an injured Jack Lester, an offside Westcarr and the utterly hapless Mendy?

[Exharboroughspireite]

Like others I'm mystified why the 7000 figure was banded around. To set a budget for the following year in a higher division based on that seems crazy, in fact god knows what a state we would be in without the wembley run, Bowery sale and winning the league.

[Skywalker]

Brookie, on 21 July 2014 - 10:33 AM, said:

The size of support we get is quite good when you consider the population of Chesterfield is just over 100K, Rotherham (sorry to mention them but its a good comparison) has a population of 250K and only averaged just over 8000

I also feel that the club has probably not taken into sufficient account the fact that we have gone through and are still experiencing the effects of a major recession and people still do not have the disposable income they had previously. There is a much wider choice for leisure time persuits compared to when I was a kid and Town had 8000 to 10000 regularly and people spend their money carefully. The Tom Jones concert was good but if they had reduced prices slightly they would probably have sold more tickets. I also think it should have been on a Friday with teenage concert on the Saturday

Are you saying only people from Chesterfield Borough attend games?

[60s 70s Spireite]

azul, on 21 July 2014 - 10:34 AM, said:

Splitting the club in two, football and non football

Remains my biggest fear. Club ends up having to find an annual 'market' rent that it couldn't possibly afford.

[newboldsteve]

azul, on 21 July 2014 - 10:34 AM, said:

Splitting the club in two, football and non football

I don't think he can do that while we are still indebt to the council but I think he wants to that's why he wanted the council to wright of the debt

This post has been edited by newboldsteve: 21 July 2014 - 10:40 AM

[Wooden Spoon]

Search and Destroy, on 21 July 2014 - 10:20 AM, said:

Good lord, I wonder what what the masterminds in charge have budgeted for attendance wise now we have gone up!
7500 and we end up relegated with 5500
What about the finances at the end of next year?

gates will be around 7000 average this year - the sell out games against Blunts, Donny, Barnsley and Coventry will see to that. Chuck in Notts county and a few other localish sides like Vale, Wallsall and the extra away support they will bring - we will be ok for attendances.

[Tha Knows...]

brianclose, on 21 July 2014 - 10:07 AM, said:

How could anyone with any semblance of accounting sense get the attendance figure so horribly wrong?

We budgeted for a 5,000 break even figure for the first season at the ProAct. We managed just short of 7,000 with the feelgood factor of new ground, new optimism, a decent amount of local games the best strike force weve had in years, fast entertaining football and top almost from the word go.

Fast forward 2 years, weve had a shocking relegation season, unrest with the previous manager,the novelty factor of ground etc well and truly worn off, a new man who has come in who has slowly turned things around playing decent-ish football but with no real vim and vigour,a poorer league 2 composition geographically, and an underachieving 8th place finish.

Who in their right mind would budget for a 7,000 break even figure for the 2013-14 season given the above facts?

I agree with this. The recent promotion simply put us back where we were before we failed so miserably under Sheridan. It was never likely to push crowd figures to dizzy heights. To average 7000 gates the club needs to be in L1, preferably holding its own and not fighting a relegation battle from day one. Of course some fans are happy to see us yo yo in this fashion and some dont much care what division we are in - But we need extra fans and they dont fit that kind of profile! Certainly, if the club's aim is to attract extra fans then the current policy of not investing properly in players is going to have the opposite effect.

This post has been edited by Spire-Power: 21 July 2014 - 10:48 AM

[ELTON 2020]

rs1978, on 21 July 2014 - 10:21 AM, said:

Why would they budget for crowds of 7,000?

Do they factor in that most League 2 sides bring very few fans with them? Also, we averaged better crowds last time we went up due to the ground being new and the football being exciting. Last season had it's moments in terms of exciting football, but generally it just wasn't as exciting as 2010/11. 7,000 for us in League 2 - even going up as champions - is a stretch and not a sensible figure for budgetary purposes in my opinion.

Similarly, a poor turnout for the concerts...if the line up is uninspiring for lots of people, what do you expect? Putting on concerts at such expense and then being disappointed by the attendance simply suggests no worthwhile market research was carried out in terms of what the public want - too late to moan about it now.

I'm not one to whinge in general but this is bonkers. Recognising that errors were made last time we went up and vowing not to repeat them...then looking as if we are all set to repeat them.

I think it should be Paul McCartney on Friday, Genesis on Saturday, and Lady Gaga on Sunday

[Exharboroughspireite]

Elton John 1866, on 21 July 2014 - 10:44 AM, said:

I think it should be Paul McCartney on Friday, Genesis on Saturday, and Lady Gaga on Sunday

It's more likely to be Lennon and Harrison Friday, Sinatra on Saturday and James Garner on Sunday.

[frearsghost]

longeatonspireite, on 21 July 2014 - 10:26 AM, said:

What I find is hard is "Why now?". The finances expenditure etc must have been known for weeks. As some people say we have been conned. All talk, regretting the Davies situation, talk of signing players Higdon, trip to Portugal, Championship football etc. The incompetence continues and I thought we had heard the the last of financial disasters. This has blown me to pieces to be honest. We do have a decent team, set up etc. But why now? I have listened to and read cynical posts over the past two years knocking anything Chesterfield management. But it really looks as though I was naive in trying to be positive.
Any new support gained from last season and the talk of Higdon etc will be be wasted, and talk of extra money from gates will be pie in the sky. We will be lucky to get anywhere near 7000. One decent signing (Higdon) would have made a massive difference. To not stuggle next season will need a massive effort. I feel for Paul Cook, this must have been dropped on him. Watch this space!
I need to take some tablets to be positive again.
It could be worse there are people much worse off. Its not raining today.
Oh well soon be Christmas

When you look at how we outplayed Peterborough, a good League One side, for long periods at Wembley, it's heartbreaking to realise that a couple of quality players could have made us into a bl**dy good side this season. Yet the decision has been taken to stand still because we can't afford to get better. I can understand how frustrated Paul Cook is. A good side challenging in the top six would have us hitting 7k easily.

[BodieUK]

Maybe if the matchday prices weren't so extortionate they might have been able to reach 7000 a game.

I'll go whatever the price but many WON'T!

DA is right though - we must back the team to the hilt. Its good enough to stay up - just 1 striker would be very uplifting news right now!

[peakblue]

Spire-Power, on 21 July 2014 - 10:39 AM, said:

I agree with this. The recent promotion simply put us back where we were before we failed so miserably under Sheridan. It was never likely to push crowd figures to dizzy heights. To average 7000 gates the club needs to be in L1, preferably holding its own and not fighting a relegation battle from day one. Of course some fans are happy to see us yo yo in this fashion and some dont much care what division we are in!

If you didn't know any better,you'd think that CFC just use the statement theyv'e been using for the past 50 years,and just changed a few names here and there!

[Phil V 72]

harboroughspireite, on 21 July 2014 - 10:46 AM, said:

It's more likely to be Lennon and Harrison Friday, Sinatra on Saturday and James Garner on Sunday.

What I want to know is WHY we didn't bid for the Monty Python reunion gigs