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Colchester

Surely Cowling isn't going to stand for this and he'll leave them to cope on their own? That's an absolutely pathetic attendance for what is a relatively local game.
 
Yep we are in a terrible state, new stadium, brand new training ground about to open at a cost of 3.5 million, established the team in league one, just signed Sears on loan from Wet spam, who cares about the crowd the other night (It was Valentines day after all). The future will not be in the crowd size it is more about the youth academies which we have also upped the anti on, there will be a big push on this from now on as the training facility and centre of excellence really push on. There are some good names in there including several who have moved from the very succesful set up at Ipswich to us, look at the line up below which has since been boosted by Fabian Wilnis who will be working as a coach with the youngsters.
Although I miss Layer Road this new set up is really paying off, there are loads of new people working with the 1st team including a Sports Scientist and a performance analyst so things are moving on nicely towards the dream of getting back into the Championship. The cash through the gate will improve over time but this is becoming less and less important because of all the cash they make on the hospitality side of things.

Head of Youth
Tony Humes

Centre of Excellence Manager
Sean Thacker

Development Coach (U14s to U21s)
Richard Hall

Technical Development Officer
John McGreal

Administrator & Child Protection Officer
Jennifer Aves
 
Yep we are in a terrible state, new stadium, brand new training ground about to open at a cost of 3.5 million, established the team in league one, just signed Sears on loan from Wet spam, who cares about the crowd the other night (It was Valentines day after all). The future will not be in the crowd size it is more about the youth academies which we have also upped the anti on, there will be a big push on this from now on as the training facility and centre of excellence really push on. There are some good names in there including several who have moved from the very succesful set up at Ipswich to us, look at the line up below which has since been boosted by Fabian Wilnis who will be working as a coach with the youngsters.
Although I miss Layer Road this new set up is really paying off, there are loads of new people working with the 1st team including a Sports Scientist and a performance analyst so things are moving on nicely towards the dream of getting back into the Championship. The cash through the gate will improve over time but this is becoming less and less important because of all the cash they make on the hospitality side of things.

Head of Youth
Tony Humes

Centre of Excellence Manager
Sean Thacker

Development Coach (U14s to U21s)
Richard Hall

Technical Development Officer
John McGreal

Administrator & Child Protection Officer
Jennifer Aves

Given the plans to change the entire youth set up I would be wary of placing all of my financial eggs in the developing youth basket.

the general concencus is that income from the sale / transfer of youth players is going to drop to about a third of current levels.

The main costs for teams such as Col and us is the wages and these will be roughly the same regardless of whether the player arrived on a free, was paid for or came through the youth set up and any wage cap will be directly linked to the income and I am sure that the incoming transfer fees will not compensate for gates of 3K
 
Head of Youth
Tony Humes - ****

Centre of Excellence Manager
Sean Thacker - muggy ****

Development Coach (U14s to U21s)
Richard Hall - dirty ****

Technical Development Officer
John McGreal - cheese pervert

Who are those clowns above anyway

Administrator & Child Protection Officer
Jennifer Aves
 
Yep we are in a terrible state, new stadium, brand new training ground about to open at a cost of 3.5 million, established the team in league one, just signed Sears on loan from Wet spam, who cares about the crowd the other night (It was Valentines day after all). The future will not be in the crowd size it is more about the youth academies which we have also upped the anti on, there will be a big push on this from now on as the training facility and centre of excellence really push on. There are some good names in there including several who have moved from the very succesful set up at Ipswich to us, look at the line up below which has since been boosted by Fabian Wilnis who will be working as a coach with the youngsters.
Although I miss Layer Road this new set up is really paying off, there are loads of new people working with the 1st team including a Sports Scientist and a performance analyst so things are moving on nicely towards the dream of getting back into the Championship. The cash through the gate will improve over time but this is becoming less and less important because of all the cash they make on the hospitality side of things.

Head of Youth
Tony Humes

Centre of Excellence Manager
Sean Thacker

Development Coach (U14s to U21s)
Richard Hall

Technical Development Officer
John McGreal

Administrator & Child Protection Officer
Jennifer Aves

Who cares about crowds ?What planet are you on ?

You can have training academies on mars but if your club has no support it has no point.

You highlight all that is great about Col U yet no body is coming to watch, your crowds are hardly better than layer road.

This actually is a worry as a new stadium has obviously not helped Col U so will it actually not help us when ours is maybe possibly built ?
 
your crowds are hardly better than layer road.

They are lower Jam .. probably the only club in history to build a new ground and see their crowds diminish

I honestly think its cos at Layerbout Road they were treated like cattle and pushed into pens, which they obviously liked
 
Who cares about crowds ?What planet are you on ?

You can have training academies on mars but if your club has no support it has no point.

You highlight all that is great about Col U yet no body is coming to watch, your crowds are hardly better than layer road.

This actually is a worry as a new stadium has obviously not helped Col U so will it actually not help us when ours is maybe possibly built ?

Clubs want crowds for the income other than that the people who run them don't give a monkeys about them, so it follows if clubs like us make more money out of other areas of the club the home gates are irrelevant, as long as the 3k to 4k we get each game keep on coming I don't think it will be an issue.
 
They are lower Jam .. probably the only club in history to build a new ground and see their crowds diminish

I honestly think its cos at Layerbout Road they were treated like cattle and pushed into pens, which they obviously liked

Loved Layer Road BB as I am sure you will miss Roots Hall if your new stadium ever gets built but small clubs like ours are going to have to live with smaller crowds, the Prem has all but killed everyone else off, there is going to be some major cut backs on playing staff at our levels this Summer, we could all be part time clubs in about 10 years time.
 
Given the plans to change the entire youth set up I would be wary of placing all of my financial eggs in the developing youth basket.

the general concencus is that income from the sale / transfer of youth players is going to drop to about a third of current levels.

The main costs for teams such as Col and us is the wages and these will be roughly the same regardless of whether the player arrived on a free, was paid for or came through the youth set up and any wage cap will be directly linked to the income and I am sure that the incoming transfer fees will not compensate for gates of 3K

Know where your coming from Firestorm but it is not just the youth set up which will help keep our heads above water it is also the off field activities which rake in the cash, it would be great to get much bigger crowds but unless we go up a league it is not going to happen.
 
Know where your coming from Firestorm but it is not just the youth set up which will help keep our heads above water it is also the off field activities which rake in the cash, it would be great to get much bigger crowds but unless we go up a league it is not going to happen.

Additional revenue streams, ah yes we have heard about them....

The difficulty is maximising them, I understand that Col U don't own the ground so how will the off the field activities work

We keep hearing about additional income from FF but as none of the money from the ancilliary development will be going directly to SUFC its all very vague about how much will filter through and when.

To be honest i still feel that Fanbase is king, particularly outside of the prem, Man U might be able to cope with gates dropping so long as 20 million sheep worldwide by every bit of Man U merchandise, but generally teams without crowds are reliant on benefactors (as Col U have evidenced recently).
 
Additional revenue streams, ah yes we have heard about them....

The difficulty is maximising them, I understand that Col U don't own the ground so how will the off the field activities work

We keep hearing about additional income from FF but as none of the money from the ancilliary development will be going directly to SUFC its all very vague about how much will filter through and when.

To be honest i still feel that Fanbase is king, particularly outside of the prem, Man U might be able to cope with gates dropping so long as 20 million sheep worldwide by every bit of Man U merchandise, but generally teams without crowds are reliant on benefactors (as Col U have evidenced recently).

Yes we don't own our ground but get a decent income from the profits it generates, I think the club get something like 22% of the profits made by the catering company from match day sales but considerably more from other events such as weddings etc, there are also monthly comedy club events (No not the matches!) fight nights, lots of big Christmas do's craft fairs etc etc
 
Clubs want crowds for the income other than that the people who run them don't give a monkeys about them, so it follows if clubs like us make more money out of other areas of the club the home gates are irrelevant, as long as the 3k to 4k we get each game keep on coming I don't think it will be an issue.

When all of your other incomes are not football related and the club is only a cost then what is the point in the club ?

If they want to make money from comedy nights they dont need a football club.

A football club is about supporters and the dreams and hopes, nightmares and disappointments that come with supporting the team, whether the owners appreciate them or not. A football club without supporters can make as much money as it likes off the pitch but if no-one comes to watch whats the point ?

Its great to be self sufficient but unless you start improving gates beyond what are League Two levels you wont ever move forwards as a club. If your salaries get capped based on 4,000 supporters you wont be able to afford a team to get promoted.
 
When all of your other incomes are not football related and the club is only a cost then what is the point in the club ?

If they want to make money from comedy nights they dont need a football club.

A football club is about supporters and the dreams and hopes, nightmares and disappointments that come with supporting the team, whether the owners appreciate them or not. A football club without supporters can make as much money as it likes off the pitch but if no-one comes to watch whats the point ?

Its great to be self sufficient but unless you start improving gates beyond what are League Two levels you wont ever move forwards as a club. If your salaries get capped based on 4,000 supporters you wont be able to afford a team to get promoted.

With you all the way there Jam Man there has been lots of lows and not too many highs in my time supporting Colchester 1958 to the present day is a long long time, I agree a football club is exactly what you say but if enough fans wont turn up through the gates you need other income streams to keep it going. People like me are so used to low gates they don't really bother us any longer we have never been a big support club and never will be, as long as the club survives and gives us some hope for the future fans like me will be happy. I must admit it is depressing to see the WHCS 60% or more empty but once you get involved in the game, especially if you sit in the most busy stand as I do the atmosphere is not too bad.
 
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