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| Oliver Ash |
It seems the 3G pitch is the hottest topic in town.
Well it’s great to have something that seems to be provoking such a sensible and constructive debate. There is no easy answer; we will be obliged to compromise. Rest assured the final decision will be based on creating a solid football-business model, to make sure the club becomes as attractive as possible to players, supporters and, of course, investors and sponsors. We aim to build a stable, thriving club without the constant fear of bankruptcy.
Speaking of which, please don’t imagine that just because we’ve now got the ground ‘debt-free’ all our troubles are over...alas it is not so.
As we have already stated we have significant old debts to deal with. If that were not enough we have the additional concerns of losing money every week because until now we have had no commercial revenue to speak of and match postponements reduce the modest gate money still further. It’s a Catch 22 situation that cannot be allowed to go on for too long. That’s why we’re in a hurry to see how much the new ground will cost.
We will be launching some new commercial initiatives in the New Year to help reduce the deficit so please keep an eye out for these. Any help you can give us would be much appreciated.
It’s funny: whether it’s football over here or rugby in my other favourite country, some people are always convinced that we’re in it for the money: “They’re sensible businessmen, they must know what they’re doing”, or “They don’t care about our club the way we do”.
The truth is that people invest in football or rugby for loads of different emotional reasons, and often simply because by doing so they can make a difference to something they believe is important. In life the only certainty is death and taxes; in football club ownership it's losing money and becoming unpopular.
