Club Sponsors

[Geggy]

Really hope this works out for you guys. The thing I don't understand and what would concern me is what do MyFC members get out of just a shirt sponsorship deal? If you were a member and paying money, I, personally would expect more than a team to support and general updates from a club, which I'd just be able to get from your website. That's the only bit that would concern me. 1,000 members must surely want/expect something, when they have all signed up on the basis of voting on decisions on the running of a club etc. These members paying money must want some kind of benefit on their individual outlay over and above what can be found on your club website/local paper websites? Anyway hope it all works out.

[readingrebel]

Not saying that they can't,and obviously you do learn from mistakes.

But the whole model of "Internet football" just seems wrong to me.

It's not what football is about.

I know a few Ebbsfleet /gravesend/north fleet fans who completely stopped going a few months after MYFC became involved as they felt alienated by people who weren't from the local community,didn't understand the logistics and geography of the local area and some of these people had been following the club under one guise or another for decades.

Non league football is,and always should be about the local community, it shouldn't be some new fangled idea that can put a club at risk,tear it apart from inside.

In my mind,the only way non league football clubs should be run is by supporters of that club as a group or trust,then they can set their limitations accordingly.

Something like MYFC,in my humble opinion can only do one thing and that is to take the club away from the local community, not bring it closer to the community

 

 

 

EU, not sure how that applies in this instance if it is purely sponsorship of Slough Town.

 

As I read it all MyFC will get out of this is the same as any other sponsor:

 

MyFC logo on shirts

 

Advertising in our programme and around the ground

 

Matchdays sponsorship

 

Awareness to help MyFC increase their membership

 

Match and Club info relayed to existing members  

 

 

That's how I see it unless any of the powers that be can tell me any different.

[Eastside Urchin]

As greggy has said,their members will surely want something though???

You sign up for a scheme like this,but all they are doing at the moment is sponsoring a shirt,just sounds very odd to me

[readingrebel]

Perhaps it's simply if MyFC increase their membership, existing members will benefit financially from the increased membership. A bit like the old pyramid selling.

Edited July 8, 2013 by readingrebel

[Sir Rebel1965]

Steve, Thank you for the clarification.

[readingrebel]

Steve, Thank you for the clarification.

 

 

Does that mean you will be getting your season ticket Clive T?

[GarySTFC]

From the MyFC PDF at http://www.myfootballclub.co.uk/images/stories/general/myfc_presentation_2_.pdf

 

"We envisage the relationship to be centred on the Society being a main sponsor of the club, preferably of the Team home and away shirts for a period of two years although we are happy to consider other sponsorship options that would enable us to market the club to both members and the local fanbase.

 

In addition, Myfootballclub could support your club in many other ways including:

- A second remote but committed fanbase for the club that is currently 3000 strong spread over many countries

- The creation and maintenance of online marketing facilities for the club (email, twitter, facebook etc) with a view to increasing membership AND increasing the clubs fanbase.

- Ongoing advice on marketing and financial matters when requested.

- Creation of shirt logos with a view to having names on the logos of local fans/businesses for the home shirts and MYFC members on the away shirts and then assist in the sale of those shirts online with the proceeds to be passed to the club less a small commission

- Ongoing online funding campaigns by MYFC with a view to further assisting the club financially.

 

Quite different from a more typical commercial sponsorship, Myfootballclub will not be seeking to gain commercial benefit from our sponsorship. Rather our aim is to provide an experience for our members that keeps them interested in both the Society and club and this in turn will increase our ability to provide further support for the club. We would be happy to openly discuss agreed benefits to the Society but offer the following as suggestions:

- The right to use programme content for online use just prior to kick off.

- The right to use video footage of the match to show to members or to use for marketing purpose to support the club or society. MYFC to share in the cost of providing the footage.

- The right for one board/committee place to be taken by an elected MYFC member and the right to discuss agenda items with the rest of the membership subject to the normal confidentiality issues.

- A small number of Free tickets to each match that the Soicety can use for marketing purposes.

- A monthly report from the clubs manager about on field matters.

- A monthly report from the club Chair about off field matters.

- An option to purchase a small shareholding in the club at the end of the first season.

 

From the Chairman's update (http://www.sloughtownfc.net/article/414/Chairmans-Update), I do wonder if the same Mark Curtis who joined the committee was the same Mark Curtis who represented MyFC in the discussions to sell Ebbsfleet (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22483646). If so, they've already got a place on the committee.

 

It will be interesting to see what develops from it, that's for sure. Will be very worthwhile getting your Trust membership renewed/signed up if you've not already done so. 

[Geggy]

Reading Rebel - it just seems strange that members have paid/paying a fee, and according to their Join Now section, the benefits include "The members of the Society vote on club management issues as they come available.  These include player transfers, kit manufacturer, kit designs, budgets, advertising campaigns, ticket pricing, as well as Player of the Month and Player of the Year.  Members also vote on issues about how the Society is run and organised.  Cash drawdowns as required by the Club are also put to members vote." Even taking into account a new business model as they will not own the club outright as they did at ebsfleet, if the membership fees remain the same surely these members would be demanding more than a logo on a shirt and info that would be readily available on a club website - otherwise would be false advertising, which I suspect would get them into a lot of serious trouble. These guys must be having some kind of benefit: a place on the board and they vote on key decision through that person, that would sound the most logical? Either way, as I say, really hope everything works out for you guys, who are supporters that have been with the club through thick and thin.

[grandad]

Will reserve judgement until I have seen/read the Q&A sheet that Steve mentions in his article.  I do, however, still have major concerns along the lines that Geggy and EU have mentioned.  If I was a MYFC member I would be expecting a heck of a lot more than shirt sponsorship, and away strip at that.  So an old friend of the chairman just happens to get put on the board, then few weeks later a tie up with MYFC happens, who he may be connected with already!  I may be wrong, and hope I am, but just because Steve has got everything else right so far, it does not mean that he has got this right.  I am all for supporting our club, wherever we may live, but do not follow blindly.  This needs constant ongoing scrutiny, as I am fearful of a Trojan horse scenario.  Now waiting to be accused of disloyalty!

[Matt]

Agree with you 100% grandad.

[brighton_rebel]

Better to be owned by 1,000 people than some of the knob head chairman who have busted so many non league football clubs! This is also a fantastic opportunity to re-energise the supporters trust.

[Nathan]

Whilst I wish the club every success, and trust Steve Easterbrook to have the interests of the club at heart, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little surprised that the club wants to be associated in any way with a scheme that isn't exactly a success story, and appears to be a sinking ship (going by the membership numbers).

 

I'm also a little perplexed as to why the Trust is sponsoring the shirts. Any move that can raise the profile of the Trust is a good thing, but surely the money would be better spent actually running the club?

[Martin]

There is a real issue with attracting sponsorship at our level. Take Lakes, local company with close ties to the area, sponsors lots of the local football teams including Marlow, Maidenhead, Slough etc. What does it get them? In the end very little.

 

You are essentially looking for philanthropists because they are not going to gain very much from the deal. We now have the Trust whose sponsorship is entirely philanthropic and MYFC who do want something more from their money. Their model has clearly changed and their website needs updating as the club statement says. I do share some of the concerns above but I think the intention is that the club is a focal point for the MYFC members. I agree that much of what they are looking for they could get from surfing the net personal as an individual. I guess the idea is that with 1000 members now investing £10k in one club between them they can see and hope to have a positive influence. They don't need to be picking the team or the kit to feel involved.

 

I will be waiting to see what the outcome is but am pleased that the club is getting some sponsorship from an outside source.

[Martin]

Nathan, trust and club two entirely separate legal entities. The trust money is never used to run the club per se. In sponsoring the shirts the trust is presumably handing over a sum of money to the club to do with as they wish.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Open letter to the supporters of Slough Town from http://Myfootballclub.co.uk about the sponsorship deal announced today between Myfootballclub.co.uk and Slough Town

 

 

The current proposal is for http://Myfootballclub.co.uk to engage in a two year sponsorship arrangement with Slough Town. MyFC engaged in a discussions with ten clubs ranging from Step 2 of Non-League pyramid down to a Sunday League club. Many more clubs approached MyFC with proposals. There was an intense debate within MyFC over its future direction and what it would expect from any relationship with a club.

To put things into context -

http://Myfootballclub.co.uk purchased a controlling 75% share in Ebbsfleet in Feb 2008. The purchase included clearing debts of approximately £750,000 that the club had. In effect, without MyFC purchasing the club, EUFC would have at the very least suffered major cutbacks in expenditure if not collapsing completely. The club was losing about £30,000-£40,000 per month when MyFC completed the purchase. Over the following 5 years MyFC invested a total of more than £1.5million. At the time of the takeover of EUFC, MyFC had a membership of 32,000. By the time of the sale of EUFC a few weeks ago the membership had dropped to about 1,000. Unfortunately the club continued to lose significant sums of money right up to the time of the sale of the club and for a variety of reasons MyFC were unable to gain any real control over the club’s finances. In the end MyFC concluded an agreement with KEH a Middle Eastern consortium (led in the UK by ex-Charlton CEO Peter Varney) that hopefully will see EUFC flourish and develop.

http://Myfootballclub.co.uk made a lot of mistakes during its five year ownership of EUFC. The membership of MyFC are only too well aware of all the difficulties that existed, all the mistakes it made – and is determined not to make any of the same mistakes again.

So – what’s the deal.

To address the motivations of the membership of http://Myfootballclub.co.uk in its future direction. This sponsorship deal is not a normal commercial sponsorship where companies are looking to market their name or product. MyFC have different priorities that the Management Committee of Slough Town have negotiated around these in a positive manner. The relationship so far has been based on mutual respect and interest. 

1. http://Myfootballclub.co.uk is made up of a whole number of different types of members – we have fans of Premiership teams who are disgusted with the way money has ruined the game – we have people who have no team to support for a variety of reasons (mainly overseas members) – we have overseas members who want to follow English football as well as football in their own country – we even have some supporters of EUFC who have remained with MyFC because they agree with the current philosophy that MyFC is trying to adopt. At the end of the day – all of members of MyFC have an overriding interest in helping the development of grassroots, community based football and feel that collectively they can have a much bigger impact than they can individually.

2. http://Myfootballclub.co.uk has no interest in taking any ownership control of any football club (and this is all but unanimous among the membership) – it’s a case of – been there and done that – we know the problems and the pitfalls and we know that MyFC is not capable of running any football club remotely in an online environment.

3. http://Myfootballclub.co.uk would like to develop a long-term partnership arrangement with Slough Town. However, that would only be a viable option if the club, the fans and the local community were supportive of the idea. This is the reason for the initial two-year sponsorship deal. It’s a case of learning to walk before you run. Hopefully, over the next two years MyFC will be able to develop a positive relationship with the club, the fans and the local community in such a way that all parties will view a continued relationship as beneficial for everyone. If that does not happen – MyFC and the club will part ways.

4.  All future involvement with Slough Town will be based on when and if the club, the fans and the local community want to develop and extend the relationship. http://Myfootballclub.co.uk recognises that it has to earn the trust of the club, the fans and the local community if there is going to be a long-term relationship between MyFC and Slough Town. MyFC feels it can contribute positively to the future of Slough Town and will do its best to make its contribution as positive as possible for everyone. There is no hidden agendas etc. 

There will undoubtedly be some apprehension about these ‘outsiders’ becoming involved with your club. That is only to be expected. The membership of http://Myfootballclub.co.uk is only too well aware of issues that local fans can have with such a development. MyFC is hoping that over time fans will see the positives of MyFC’s involvement with Slough Town and that any negatives can be minimised and corrected. Members of MyFC from all over the world visited Stonebridge Road to see EUFC play over the past five years. Many UK members were regular attendees at EUFC games – both home and away. In the vast majority of cases the personal interaction between EUFC fans and MyFC members was very positive. Hopefully this will continue now with Slough Town.

We hope this will help to allay some of the apprehension surrounding this sponsorship deal and put http://Myfootballclub.co.uk ’s new arrangement with Slough Town into context

Edited July 8, 2013 by Jolly Red Giant

[The Mayor Of Simpleton]

Better to be owned by 1,000 people than some of the knob head chairman who have busted so many non league football clubs! This is also a fantastic opportunity to re-energise the supporters trust.

 

Then again, those 1,000 people could turn out to be nobs.

 

It's a bit like Animal Farm, regarding investors like these - you might be replacing one crook with a lot of others.   Clubs have to be so very careful when they vet a potential investor/investors to make sure that there is no Trojan Horse attached.

 

I wish Slough well for the season, and should we meet in one of the FA competitions you will be sure of a great welcome over in Glawstershoire.

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

I'm really concerned myself.... Sorry Gary in your quote we have a 3,000 committed fan base?!?!?! Surely a committed fan is one who follows a team and their allegiance not decided on a vote (or have I misread this) I trust Steve easterbrook, but this sounds fishy to me. I don't believe that anyone would pay 10 grand for a shirt sponsorship at our level out of generosity. What do they and their members want?!

[DajosWorld]

Hello from an MyFootballClub member. As our open letter above states we dont have any intention to gain control over your club. We are just many football fanatics who still love the idea of having a positive influence on a club. Our model has changed dramatically. But our passion for football is still there. We want to do anything possible to get the best for Slough Town. Many things went wrong with eufc. Actually, we never run the club! Because we werent able to get the right people on the right positions at the club. But we saved the club from administraion and funded more than 1 million pounds to the club. Anyway, it doesnt worked out and we are very happy to be with Slough Town now.

 

Our biggest aim is ti get a good relationship with the local fans. We dont want to take the club away. We want even more locals to get involved with the club.

 

Greetings from a MyFootballClub member from Germany. 

Edited July 8, 2013 by DajosWorld

[epicrebel]

Marcus so what did Lakes or UK parcels or even The Slough Observer want when they put there £10,000 in?

 

If 1,000 new supporters want to come and support us why would you want to turn them away?

 

Then the vote was that most of them wanted to follow Slough again why would we want to turn them away?

 

If someone come in and offers £10,000 you've got to give it a good look at.

[readingrebel]

I'm really concerned myself.... Sorry Gary in your quote we have a 3,000 committed fan base?!?!?! Surely a committed fan is one who follows a team and their allegiance not decided on a vote (or have I misread this) I trust Steve easterbrook, but this sounds fishy to me. I don't believe that anyone would pay 10 grand for a shirt sponsorship at our level out of generosity. What do they and their members want?!

 

 

Marcus,

 

Gary has just quoted an out-dated letter from MyFC to Ebbsfleet at that time. It's just saying that MyFC had 3,000 overseas members who could support Ebbsfleet in one way or another.

 

I think the above letter from Jolly Red Giant explains quite adequately that it is a 2 year sponsorship deal with their aim being a long term partnership with Slough town.

 

At the end of the 2 years if the club, fans and local community don't want to be in a partnership with MyFC for any reason then both parties will walk away from each other, with no strings attached. 

Edited July 8, 2013 by readingrebel