SUFC: The Future Next season

[stewart]

I see Spurs have released a few from their youth ranks ,i wonder if our management are looking at any off them.

 

[londonblue]

How does one generate such fees pal? By scouting and developing good players, isn't it?

And not being in such a desperate financial state that you cash in your sell on fees for a fraction of their worth. We're now starting that whole process again... from scratch.

 

[Holy Joe]

I see Spurs have released a few from their youth ranks ,i wonder if our management are looking at any off them.

Every premier league club, every season, release many players

 

[DonnyLes]

Was their player of the year. Can't see him coming down to National League. I see him joining Orient

Recently a player from Leicester City has moved to Boston. So it can happen. Make Oluwa your captain and he will get Southend to the EFL. Watch videos of him playing last season and you will see how effective he is both in defence and attack
The most important thing for him is being at the right club, not the salary. Hope you can get him, it would be a real coup for Southend.

 

[Swiss Tony]

Yep. On the whole our fans have understood the situation of the last few years and allowed for that.

Next season however the honeymoon period is over, it will be an entirely different story. If we aren't right in amongst the top 7 (at the very least) then the crowds will show their feelings vocally and with their feet.

Big, big, summer coming up for COSU this. They have to back Kev financially in producing a side capable of challenging York, FGR, Carlisle, Dale etc, or there will be calls for heads by Christmas.

Absolutely this,the club has served it’s time, we now are looking for a release date.

 

[Bazza the dog]

There are a few people talking about Barnet having a lot more money than us but I think we should also think about the following before coming to that conclusion.

1: Their fan base/home gates were about 1/4 of ours, which means that our gate receipt dwarf theirs in terms of revenue.

2: We will have had a nice chunk of change from the play off run including both legs, the home beam back and of course Wembley final, not to mention any extra TV money.

3: We also sold a player or two.

I get that we shouldn't be going stupid in terms of splashing the cash but a average crowd of 7000 should be getting a bit more back in terms of players but given a proper pre season/no embargo, I have no reason to doubt this won't happen.

 

[londonblue]

There are a few people talking about Barnet having a lot more money than us but I think we should also think about the following before coming to that conclusion.

1: Their fan base/home gates were about 1/4 of ours, which means that our gate receipt dwarf theirs in terms of revenue.

2: We will have had a nice chunk of change from the play off run including both legs, the home beam back and of course Wembley final, not to mention any extra TV money.

3: We also sold a player or two.

I get that we shouldn't be going stupid in terms of splashing the cash but a average crowd of 7000 should be getting a bit more back in terms of players but given a proper pre season/no embargo, I have no reason to doubt this won't happen.

It's like groundhog day! The size of their gates is irrelevant. They are a very well run club who aren't and haven't been paying off millions in debt for many years. They have facilities that are used day and night that bring in a lot of revenue. We tried to hire one of their 2 function suites for a party and couldn't afford it. They charge a minimum of £10,000 per party for their bigger hall, and that's just the basic price without any add-ons. From what I gather, that hall is used around 4 times a week in the evenings. Even at that conservative estimate it's bringing in around £2m a year. And that's before you take into account their other hall, their plastic pitches that are hired out and are in near constant use, and the fact that the bigger hall doubles up as a conference facility during the day.

That is why COSU want to rebuild the East stand.

 

[E for B and Billy Best]

From Sutton away to the play-off final, over 90 minutes we only beat Ebbsfleet and Wealdstone, but lost to Solihull and drew with, Sutton, Braintree, Gateshead, Rochdale, Forest Green and Oldham. That sort of form won't be good enough to get top spot next season. There is no doubt we stumbled into this years play-offs and if we had got promoted would probably had a season long struggle next season.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

There are a few people talking about Barnet having a lot more money than us but I think we should also think about the following before coming to that conclusion.

1: Their fan base/home gates were about 1/4 of ours, which means that our gate receipt dwarf theirs in terms of revenue.

2: We will have had a nice chunk of change from the play off run including both legs, the home beam back and of course Wembley final, not to mention any extra TV money.

3: We also sold a player or two.

I get that we shouldn't be going stupid in terms of splashing the cash but a average crowd of 7000 should be getting a bit more back in terms of players but given a proper pre season/no embargo, I have no reason to doubt this won't happen.

I get that you're trying to see positives but this topic has been covered so many times.

You simply have to forget the size of the fanbase in regards to turnover. The cost to run the Hive is absolutely miniscule in comparison to the cost of running Roots Hall.

Our East Stand is an absolute disgrace and wouldn't look out of place in Chernobyl, it's no wonder it costs so much to pass a safety certificate. Barnet don't have that monumental cost. Furthermore, they produce revenue for the whole year, not just on a matchday. You mentioned our playback of the playoffs, that's only two days of extra revenue we produced, they are getting that for the entire year with their banqueting, office and conferencing areas.

COSU have stated so many times that until that East Stand is rebuilt, we will carry on making heavy loses. Barnet aren't currently having to do that.

The 7000 fans paying for tickets is definitely a welcome income, but that's just offsetting some of our annual £2m loss each season. It's not net profit that we can go and freely spend unfortunately.

Of course it's frustrating because on the surface a big fanbase indicates a big club and therefore a bigger expectation, but it's not the only barometer that constitutes justification for spending.

 

[NZamba Legend]

From Sutton away to the play-off final, over 90 minutes we only beat Ebbsfleet and Wealdstone, but lost to Solihull and drew with, Sutton, Braintree, Gateshead, Rochdale, Forest Green and Oldham. That sort of form won't be good enough to get top spot next season. There is no doubt we stumbled into this years play-offs and if we had got promoted would probably had a season long struggle next season.

Chances are we won't get top spot next year-- we have only won two titles in our entire history--but we'll have a good chance again the play offs. Got to factor both into our planning.

 

[Supershrimper]

It's like groundhog day! The size of their gates is irrelevant. They are a very well run club who aren't and haven't been paying off millions in debt for many years. They have facilities that are used day and night that bring in a lot of revenue. We tried to hire one of their 2 function suites for a party and couldn't afford it. They charge a minimum of £10,000 per party for their bigger hall, and that's just the basic price without any add-ons. From what I gather, that hall is used around 4 times a week in the evenings. Even at that conservative estimate it's bringing in around £2m a year. And that's before you take into account their other hall, their plastic pitches that are hired out and are in near constant use, and the fact that the bigger hall doubles up as a conference facility during the day.

That is why COSU want to rebuild the East stand.

Absolutely this.

With the revenue from a rebuilt East stand it will more than recoup our losses. The money from the East Stand should more than cover the running costs of the club on a day to day basis (and enough to pay back some of the undoubted loan that would be required to re-build the East)

That would then mean that our support and money raised from the footballing side can be ploughed straight into the footballing side.

Only once the East is re-built and its a more sustainable business model which can operate 365 days a year rather than 23 or 24 days will we be able to say our increased crowds give us more clout. At present, its just a face in the crowd whose money will probably be used to maintain the upkeep of the stadium rather than pay the players on the pitch.

It can't come soon enough. For the Sittingbourne game I ventured into the South Stand. The facilities behind there (I know not in use) looked like something out of a zombie film. In the toilets I the East stand kiosk that feeds the South Stand i did venture into the toilets there. Makes me realise just how lucky I am to sit in the East reds. Those toilets looked grim, and through the couple of missing ceiling tiles you could see the underside of the floor. I presume it was concrete but to me it looked quite bubbly to me similar to RAAC concrete.

 

[Che's Left Foot]

Any news on the fanzone/outdoor drinks situation?
Boxpark on Sunday was a nice little reminder how decent a pre/post match space would be

 

[CrippsCorner]

I just want the bloody toilets fixed in West please, proper disgraceful in there.

 

[The General]

Any news on the fanzone/outdoor drinks situation?
Boxpark on Sunday was a nice little reminder how decent a pre/post match space would be

Take the parking away and you’ll get the moaners out in their droves.

For me, and I’m not sure if there is room, but the space behind the North Bank must be a viable option, especially as it actually seems pretty flat, unlike most of the car park. The other decent spot would be over at PP but not sure how viable that is as would take a lot of setting up / taking down. Having a fan zone area would be a brilliant addition which is both adult and children friendly!

 

[Medway Blue]

What exactly did he say because I get through impression he's been misquoted. COSU have said all along we need to operate in a financially sustaining way. By saying "we're going for it", I believe he feels we have a genuine chance of competing. It doesn't mean we're going to throw endless money around like FGR. They "went for it", but that model is not gustenteed to work. Fans should not start calling on COSUs heads because we haven't won the league. They set a 5 year project I recall .....

I think people are reading what they want it to mean. I imagine he's referring more to hitting the ground running next season, by doing early transfer business and having a proper pre-season in proper training facilities.

I think there will be a budget increase, but nothing stupid.

People need to get heads around the fact that no stupid risks are going to be taken when the owners are already having to plug a £2m loss each season.

It's like groundhog day! The size of their gates is irrelevant. They are a very well run club who aren't and haven't been paying off millions in debt for many years. They have facilities that are used day and night that bring in a lot of revenue. We tried to hire one of their 2 function suites for a party and couldn't afford it. They charge a minimum of £10,000 per party for their bigger hall, and that's just the basic price without any add-ons. From what I gather, that hall is used around 4 times a week in the evenings. Even at that conservative estimate it's bringing in around £2m a year. And that's before you take into account their other hall, their plastic pitches that are hired out and are in near constant use, and the fact that the bigger hall doubles up as a conference facility during the day.

That is why COSU want to rebuild the East stand.

Great post. It will click with people one day!

We also didn't become more attacking. We have always looked to attack first and foremost. Unfortunately in the first half of the season we weren't able to attack teams as much because we didn't have the ball.

Spot on.

The more this misguided opinion gets debunked (along with "Maher only changed because he listened to us"), the better. Perhaps @ShrimperStats can help out there.

 

[Flinty]

I thought we became more direct over the final half a dozen games…we certainly removed a lot of the sideways and backwards passing across the back line

 

[Jai]

I thought we became more direct over the final half a dozen games…we certainly removed a lot of the sideways and backwards passing across the back line

Yes that was definitely noticeable. Again, one of the advantages of a player like Hopper. You can play like that knowing if the defender wins the first ball, he'll do so under pressure and you're more likely to pick up the second high up the pitch.

It's also likely to be as a result of Golding's injury. Goodliffe is nowhere near as comfortable on the ball.

When we didn't have a viable target to aim for, the passing out from the back was done to lure teams forward and play through them. It is risky though and I totally understand why people don't like it.

 

[Ailsa Road Shrimper]

Gateshead are experiencing ongoing issues and are currently under a FIFA transfer ban…even in our bad days we didn’t have FIFA on our case!

They will more than likely continue to lose their better players, there could be options there we could utilise. In particular Luke Hannant who has a very good record as an attacking midfielder with 24 goals in 88 games. Also he has spent a chunk of his career in and around the Anglia area so a move back to his home region may be appealing.

Proven players at NL level can hit the ground running next season, compared to NLS prospects that may take a while to find their feet at this level or not make it at all.

 

[Smiffy]

Gateshead are experiencing ongoing issues and are currently under a FIFA transfer ban…even in our bad days we didn’t have FIFA on our case!

They will more than likely continue to lose their better players, there could be options there we could utilise. In particular Luke Hannant who has a very good record as an attacking midfielder with 24 goals in 88 games. Also he has spent a chunk of his career in and around the Anglia area so a move back to his home region may be appealing.

Proven players at NL level can hit the ground running next season, compared to NLS prospects that may take a while to find their feet at this level or not make it at all.

He’s spent the last few days ****housing our fans on X. He can join the same bin as Nouble. Absolute ****er. Col Ewe mug.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1929221322015433200

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

He’s spent the last few days ****housing our fans on X. He can join the same bin as Nouble. Absolute ****er.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1929221322015433200

What's his problem with us, jealousy?.