Altrincham Football Club- Public Meeting.
The report below does not necessarily reflect the views of Altrincham Football Club. However, it is hoped that it is an accurate reflection of the meeting in question.
PUBLIC MEETING, 2nd December 2000
Altrincham's financial predicament has been the subject of a number of newspaper reports recently, with interviews being given to the press by Chairman, Gerry Berman and Director, Mark Harris. Yesterday, the Chairman and Board convened a public meeting to clarify for the Club's supporters the true financial situation.Attendance
Eighty or more Altrincham supporters crowded into the Noel White suite at 12-30pm to hear from Gerry Berman, Mark Harris and Graham Heathcote (Club Secretary). They were joined at the panel's table by SAFE's Mark Eckersall, who is also a Director, and by SAFE Chairman, Peter Read. Also amongst those in attendance from the Club were Barry Pond, from the commercial side, and George Heslop (Matchday/Company Secretary and Youth Team Manager).
To save repetition below, the main speakers are indicated at times by initials- GB=Gerry Berman, MH=Mark Harris and GH=Graham Heathcote.
The Predicament and the Contractual Position
Left: Graham Heathcote in happier times, Guiseley 1999.
MH started the meeting by announcing that the Club now cost £1,000 a day to run and that revenue through the gates was falling. A typical match with a crowd of 600 brought in approximately £2,000 including VAT. (It was not clear whether this included apportioned season-ticket income). Three basic options were presented as ways forward; (1) increase income, (2) cut costs or (3) do both. In response to a query from Malcolm Burgess, the Club's current debt was revealed to be £450,000, a figure which included Directors' loans to the Club.
GH explained that there were currently 17 players on contracts, including the player-manager, plus a further six non-contract players. In all, ten players had been given new contracts this season, excluding Eddie Turkington and Carl Furlong who had recently left. Of the contracted players, one was on a three-year contract and four are currently in the second year of two-year contracts, all of which started last season.
Fourteen contracts were said to be due to end at the end of this season. (These figures don't quite add up - they may have been wrongly stated or I may have misheard something!) In short, there was an opportunity to realign the Club at the end of this season should it be financially necessary to do so. The Club's wages budget had been reduced for this season, but poor gates meant that income had not matched projections and hence the current problem.
Commercial Management
In response to a question, it was revealed that the Club had had nine Commercial Managers over the last five years. An effective Commercial Manager was suggested as being a vital element in turning round the Club's finances.Despite the high turnover of Commercial Managers, Barry Pond was congratulated for bringing in a six-figure sum every year. Barry indicated that the match sponsorship problem was doing well; only two scheduled fixtures remained without sponsors between now and the end of the season. Later in the meeting Barry encouraged everyone to seek further sponsorship; it costs £500 for a ten-person match sponsorship and £100 for a match-ball sponsorship. Following a later question, from Alan Brotherton, it was stated that Gavin Price's tenure of the Commercial Manager's post was not viewed by the Club as having been financially successful in that the money raised had simply covered his wages. However, Alan praised Price's policy of going out to schools and elsewhere to raise the Club's profile through training sessions, etc.
Paul Ellender
It was confirmed that the Club would expect to receive 50% of any sum raised by Scarborough's sale of Paul Ellender, were he to be sold-on for a price in excess of £80,000. However, this sell-on arrangement could be contested in the Courts by Scarborough's new owners. Also, Ellender might well be sold for less than the sell-on clause's trigger-sum.Gates
Right: A return to Conference gates would increase income.
GH responded to a query about viable gates at Moss Lane. He said that Altrincham had never raised enough at the gates to run the Club; its past success had been founded on good Cup runs, selling players for good sums and Directors' investment in the Club. He underlined that today's problem was not a totally new one.
In fact, he went on to say that John King had taken no money during his last year of employment at Altrincham and that he (GH) and former manager, Bernard Taylor had received nothing for winning promotion to the Conference in 1999 other than new three-year contracts.
The Ground and Trafford Council
The meeting was reminded that Moss Lane is not owned by the Club but is leased from Trafford MBC. MH also reminded the meeting that a confidentiality clause bound the Board to silence over certain aspects of relations with the Council. Unlike Woking, Stevenage and Tameside, where the Councils give major financial support to local clubs, Trafford's policy was more focused on the Arts than on sport.However, Trafford did give various concessions on rent and rates and treated Altrincham no better or worse than other sports clubs in its area. The Board confirmed that they had approached various companies, including those reported to be interested in taking over Chester City, but that no response had been forthcoming.
The Chairman
In response to a question, GB stated that he would be "happy to hand over the assets and the debts" of the Club to anyone wishing to take them on and "walk away", if necessary. When reminded by Stan Riley that he (GB) had, on a previous occasion, indicated that someone had approached the Club but had been turned away because he wanted to exercise control over the Club, GB and MH referred to an approach made to invest £50,000 from someone who had sweeping plans but had not followed up his initial approach. Later, GB was asked whether Noel White might help; it appeared that this was not a likely avenue.Stuart Coburn
It was confirmed that Stuart has had a trial for an unspecified club (cited in the press as Leicester City) and that he will return for a further period to the club in question in the near future. Matters were said to be at an early stage and talk of a transfer was very premature."The Message"
After some criticism from the floor that the Club's public "message" was too negative, MH and GH, for the Board, explained the quandary.On the one hand, if nothing were said about the poor financial state of the Club it would be assumed that we did not need support and investment. On the other hand, if the Club goes public about its plight, this can be viewed as negative and lead to sponsors withdrawing their assistance. It was also sometimes difficult to get the Manchester Evening News and the Messenger to give adequate coverage even though the individual reporters who covered the Club were very helpful.
The Way Forward
Alan Johnson reminded the meeting of the example of Lincoln City where a supporters' initiative offered a way forward; he also asked whether Altrincham should be viewed as a Unibond or a Conference club. GH responded by reiterating his view that Altrincham should not seek to become a League Club; finances effectively ruled this out in his view. There was no overt dissent to this view.GH feels that we should aim to be a Conference Club with a high profile in the Cup and Trophy. GB went on to state that at whatever level it might be, "there will always be a football club here" - this was perhaps the best news of the day. It was confirmed that the Board were looking at various "share options" and also at establishing links with major local Clubs for their use of Altrincham's facilities.
Chairman's Plea
GB exhorted all fans to encourage others to come to Moss Lane, to buy Yankee tickets, use the Noel White suite, encourage their employers to advertise at the ground and otherwise support the Club as well as they could. Asked whether the Reserves and Youth team should be culled, it was pointed out that the Youth Team was generously supported by Mike Newell and that even if we wished to stop playing at Reserve level, this was not possible as an immediate measure.As full members of the FA, Altrincham could not just pull out of the Reserves' league without facing major punishment from the FA, even if it wanted to do so. GB ended the meeting by repeating that he was not standing in the way of anyone wishing to take over the Club; the truth was that no one had made such an approach; no one had been turned away.
Summary
If anyone attended this meeting expecting to hear of a detailed survival plan, they would have been disappointed. On the other hand, anyone fearing that the meeting would include an announcement of immediate closure of the Club or of an impending sale to an asset-stripper will have been relieved that things have not reached that stage.Nevertheless, we are in a grim position and the Board have been right to make the financial situation crystal clear to the fans of the Club through this meeting. Gerry Berman confirmed that he has sunk "hundreds of thousands of pounds" into the Club and he cannot be blamed for stating that "enough is enough". He also clarified that, despite his concern for the Club over a period of 25 years, he is prepared to step aside should that be felt necessary for the implementation of a survival or development package.
There is clearly a lot of work to be done if a new backer is to be found. It was gratifying, however, to hear that the Board were determined that the Club would survive, even if this meant playing at a lower level. For now, we await news of any financial approaches to the Board and also further details of the share option proposals. Also, a good run in the League and promotion to the Conference could, despite the higher costs of that league, bring in a higher level of commercial backing as well as increased gate revenue for next season. If this does not come about and no major financial developments occur before May, the summer break could see a fundamental reassessment of the Club's direction during the close season.