Please don't take offence.

[Nigeld]

I have been keeping an eye on this forum for quite a while now,but a few posts by people recently and a few honest frank discussions with people at various Hornchurch games have prompted me to speak up.I have no desire to pour scorn on the good work that the people involved in the every day running of hornchurch but i must make these following suggestions.

 

I have followed the club since our original period in the Ryman Premier under Karl Williams,Since then the club has changed,and for the better i must add.

However,some things just don't feel right.I know that everything within the club financially is probably still not on an even keel and we have a decent squad of players and i do not want to know how this is funded,but it is obviously not through the turnstyles as figures simply wouldn't add up.

The Football Club are in possesion of a Clubhouse,this clubhouse is used on Matchdays and i understand for functions.I do not know how many functions but i have been told they are at weekeends and probably 2 to 3 a month.This means the Clubhouse is sitting there dormant for 5-6 days a week.This is a complete waste and i don't believe is doing the Football Club any favours.

I have lived in Upminster all of my life and over the years i have seen many changes in the local area,especially in recent times,with regards to the various watering holes and what entertainment is in these public houses,lets face it,its pretty drab.As far as i know the Essex Yeoman is the only pub to show live football anymore,and anyone who likes beer would not be seen dead in the place.It seems that the Football club is just dragging its heels with regards to this.

On matchdays the club bar is dead,lets face it,football fans like watching football,whatever level.If you don't show live football in your bar,they will simply stay at home,not just for the live game but for the Hornchurch game.This is a situation that must be addressed.Hornchurch are probably losing out on thousands of pounds of revenue each year.

Take this week for example,there is Champions League football on Tuesday and Wednesday.The bar will be closed on Wednesday night,it just doesn't add up to me.

A Non League Football clubs bar should be the heartbeat of the club,not something that is closed all week.

i went to Dartford last season and they had club functions like pool tournaments and darts tournaments,bingo etc.While i understand their fan base is bigger it seemed more of a community club,the same could be said for Billericay yesterday in their bar after.I know we have a Darts team but reading on here the other week a tournament was cancelled because we were playing a reserve team game awy from home,for me that is poor management of the clubs facilities.Would the club of cancelled a function on a friday night for the same reason,answer is a simple no,so why do it to the fans.

While i understand the hiring of facilities can be very productive,to rely on this income stream so heavily,can end in disaster as one incident can often cause these bookings to dry up.

I read of many productive comments from fans of the club on these forums but none seem to be taken up by the club,not sure if this is the case but it seems to me that there is a certain stubborness with regards to running the club and maybe listening to the fans more could actually see the club flourish.

Having followed the club in this time,there are plenty of faces that i see now only on a very rare basis,they are seen from time to time but those faces i know do not seem to have the same buzz that they used to have.People simply come into the ground late,watch the football and go home,no sense of a community seems to exist around the club and this for me stems back to the bar issue.Someone actually suggested a Supporters Club bar the other day,this is probably the best idea i have heard for a while but seems to have fallen on very deaf ears,not cheap i would imagine but not completely out of the realms of possibility.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Nigeld

[Eastside Urchin]

To be honest I would open the bar every night,it may start slowly but would soon build up if there were things to keep people there like sky,pool etc

It used to be a thriving place back in the 80's & 90's when I was younger,my old man and his mates used to drink in there on Friday nights,Sundays etc,we used to play darts pool etc in there

[Nigeld]

I know with clubs there is an issue with funds for Sky as it is expensive but if it wasn't cost effective over the year then other clubs wouldn't have it installed in their premises.

I hope my comments are not taken as a sly dig at the club,they are an honest expression of what i have noted and meant as constructive critisism.Sometimes you have to speculate to accumulate and as Eastside Urchinhas said,it may be fairly slow to start with but once word got around, i would be confident that many people in Upminster would actually use it as their preffered watering hole to watch Football,you may even find that it has a positive effect on the gates.

Perhaps another way of opening more often,would be to have a rota of fans willing to work behind the bar to start with,that way if it is not busy then the club will not lose any money if there are enough volunteers,once it gets busy then you employ someone or pay those willing to work.I am sure this is not a new idea within Non League Clubs.

I used to drink in the Masons Arms,this is now closed,Sundays was a very busy day football wise,now the pub has closed,where do those people watch Football,in the unpleasant,still smoke stained premises of the Essex Yeoman,no,if the clubhouse was open i would bet within a couple of months some would be drinking there,as long as its a nice place to drink,competetive pricing and open,people would visit.Perhaps offer a "Social Membership" of say £10 per year,if you are not a member of the social club or Supporters Association or a Season Ticket Holder you pay £1 to get in outside of Matchdays.Offer 10% discount on beers to members of the above.Sunday afternoons get the spuds on the bar,doused in Salt,get the punters drinking in the club again.Its a nice place to drink and its better off open than shut.

[Eastside Urchin]

I would do a stint behind the ramp,and as I have hardly drank since the beginning of november there's no chance of me drinking while I work

Plus if it was open I could play darts more often

[Nigeld]

On a Further note,I used to work at a youth centre many years ago and we had a pool table there.It used to cost 30p a game if my memory serves me right,was about 20 years ago but we used to take £20-30 a week from it which would help to pay for other things.

Nowadays some places charge £1.20-1.50 per game but if the clubhouse had a pool table,the initial cost would be a few Hundred Pounds. But if you was to charge £1 a game you should be able to make £50-100 per week out of it.You would probably only need to re-cloth it once a year or so which from memory isn't too expensive.Whenever i have been to a Hornchurch away match and there has been a pool table in the oppositions clubhouse it has been used constantly by the travelling fans.

 

Another idea which has just come to me stems from my time working in the legion years ago in upminster,they used to have a meat raffle on a Friday night,it used to work as a normal raffle,except the winnings were obviously meat products,usually a nice piece of rib eye or sirloin steak and was very popular.Think it was 50p a ticket and was very popular as it used to provide one family a week with a nice Sunday Roast.These sort of things keep the punters interested and even a little raffle of the sort can provide a little bit of excitement.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Nigeld

[Miss.A.F.C.Hornchurch]

I used to drink in the Masons Arms,this is now closed

 

So did i, but the pub is now flatter than a pancake since being knocked down.

One less place for the people of Upminster to watch football and drink.

 

Would be a good idea if we could get sky or some deal and show live games during the week.

Or even the evening games on a Saturday after a home match.

 

Could have the Sunday games on with a roast dinner or basket meal offer.

 

Not sure if this is releated to this topic, but i have thought of another way of getting some money in.

 

Which is to have the home games sponsored, like the club was doing a couple of seasons ago, when the visiting supporters, would pay so much to have a meal before the game and also included in that price was their gate entrance and a free programme.

 

Since it may not be possible for the sponsorers to have a meal in the club house now, what about a small buffet and let them use the boardroom but still include the programme and free entrance.

[Eastside Urchin]

We did do a meat raffle a couple of years ago and it was quite popular but I wouldn't do one at the same time as the 50/50,which is what we were doing,many people either did one or the other so some weeks the prize on the 50/50 would be smaller than usual

As for the masons,that's where I had my first pint,was 15 and took my sister in there aged 13 and she still got served,until my old man came down and hauled the pair of us out (after he had had a couple of pints) I also played for the darts team for a couple of years,got my first 180 in there

[Eastside Urchin]

Think me and Alice are having a meal in Margate courtesy of pagey who is sponsoring the game down there,I think he is stilling it!!!

I know they had someone pre Xmas for a game at our place for dinner,but I think it's alot of hard work on matchdays,especially if the bar is busy

[serge]

this is strickley of the record and my rantings only : the club holds many types of functions during the week not all are publisized in the clubhouse colin and his friends have to arrange staff for these avents it is not easy, voulanteers would be welcome to help out on afternoon or evening funtions the pay is lousey the hours long lots of clearing up afterwoods but hey what the f**C as long as the football goes on. it dont matter how its funded as long as we pay our bills, as for sky at the moment there are some legal issues about what type of liscence is reqd so that we comply with the law, other establishments may have footy on that is there problem to fund. the club would welcome any of our fans to come forward to help the club and sponsor the sky system ,why not step up and pay your favorite players wage for the remainder of the season we can then look at other players to bring in with the run in to playoffs any other ideas would be welcome

[Eastside Urchin]

The supporters association have offered a modest sum for the sky,just waiting for the nod lol

I think nigeld has some valid points,we did have the clubhouse open at times for the bigger games which were on terrestrial tv,I remember watching Madrid v arsenal down there a few years ago and 30 odd people turned up at short notice,remember Thomson getting chinned that night for calling someones missus a c.**t lol

[UD161]

If I can come in Rob (as an outsider!!!). I have seen both ends of the scale with this sort of thing. Firstly at Dagenham, the Club is open 11 - 11 every day, is basically almost like a pub/working mens Club. Sky on all the time, big screen in the main bar, pool table, darts, duke box etc. If I go up there to get tickets on a midweek evening there is always a good number (always double figures, normally more) in there spending money over the ramp. The other rooms/halls are also hired out most nights for Clubs and things. Even now (with being in League One) I know that one of the biggest revenue streams the Club has is from the bars and the hire of the rooms. What you need to remember though is that it is a bit of an historic thing for that area, with the Club at the football ground playing the part like a Working Mans Club in what was always generally (and still is to a large extent) a working class area with a lot of people working for Fords, May and Baker etc. Whethere you could build that up at a Club like Hornchurch in an area like it is, I don't know, only you guys can answer that.

 

On the flip side, at the Cricket Club we are always looking for ways to increase revenue but it is harder due to the scale of things. For instance, when there have been World Cups or Euros on in the past we have tried to open the Club every evening to get people over there to drink, but it hasn't always worked that well, and you have to weigh up the cost of opening the place (and maybe supplying bar staff) against what you will take, similar situation to what you would have I guess?? Same again as putting on a bit of food and things which I see people have suggested. I know it is a good idea, and a bit of food doesn't cost much, but you have to be able to ensure your income covers this. Remember, a £100 take on the bar for an evening is not a £100 profit, there are lot of costs to off-set against that.

 

For what it's worth, when we come down for the darts each month we always have a great night, and are always very well looked after, normally a bit of grub etc laid on, and I hope we "re-pay" that by putting some cash over the ramp. I think you have a decent facility as well, certainly better kept and more welcoming than a lot of sports clubs have. With the SKY thing, at the Cricket Club we get a deal through the ECB which means we pay a bit more than a household, but not what a pub would pay. I am sure there is something similar for non-league clubs??

 

Always happy to give you some ideas Rob when we meet. Keep up the enthusiam.

[Eastside Urchin]

I am not surprised the ECB help out,although I would be surprised if the FA helped out non league clubs

When we have opened for football it is usually well supported,especially ad it's mainly just fans of the club,if it was an ongoing thing ie open for all big games then I think that if word got around it could prove a popular venue to watch footy.That is probably the problem for clubs like the cricket and football club that people simply don't know they are open

Maybe drinking culture is different from the old days though when Sunday afternoons at the football club would see 40/50 heavy drinkers downing 5/6 pints each in the space of a couple of hours