Arbour Park latest 6/4/17

[GlenSTFC]

For anyone interested the link to the full report is below. 

 

http://www.slough.gov.uk/moderngov/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=109&MId=5747

[A Rebel and a Saint]

It is a very interesting proposal, however I would guess that there may still be arrangements to be made and changes to the proposals in the forthcoming months before they happen.

One thing is for sure, the club will need volunteers more as part of these plans than ever before if it is to work.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

Are the club ok with us talking about this now as the meeting has finished. Posts about it two weeks ago had been removed.

[GlenSTFC]

The report is in the public domain and this is an unofficial forum so can’t see any issues.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

The original proposal was aswell.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

It is a pretty good deal for the club but with a lot of commitments to fulfill though the club are already doing some of them.

[GlenSTFC]

In a way it’s fair as the club get the prestige of playing at a fantastic stadium the envy of most of non league. But they have us over a barrel as we can hardly refuse anything they request otherwise we’ll be back at SYCOB or Windsor! We just have to play nice and hope a future council are football friendly!

[Stan]

Always the same when you don't own your own ground . Although even that just makes you attractive to asset strippers. In general clubs that have local councils as landlords have fared better, look at Hereford .

Main thing is Beer should improve, price fall, service be quicker and club get some benefit.

[bluerebel]

I see this initially as a positive.

 

Over the months there have been various comments about the provision of services on match days. Including food,,bar TV, lack of atmosphere etc.

 

I now believe that SBC recognise some of these issues and also accept that they are not the best organisation to run these. Therefore they are passing the baton on.

 

This proposal gives STFC the opportunity to be more involved in these provisions and help to build the stadium with more of an STFC identity.

 

The commitment to give away free tickets and more involvement in the community is mirroring the schemes offered  by Dulwich Hamlet and we all know how successful that has been for the club in improved gates and an increase in the younger element.

 

After all these young fans are the long term future of the club.

 

Likewise asking the players to become more involved in the community is also a positive. Although I appreciate that this is a difficult commitment for the players who are also committed to their full time jobs.

 

Many of us have complained about the sterile nature of the stadium and this now gives an opportunity to change this. This also means we can consider holding our own social events at the stadium as well.

 

Yes this does mean committing more effort  and volunteers to the cause but if we were running our own club we would need to do this anyway.

 

Certainly there are challenges ahead for the Club Management and also the Supporters Trust but this is why the Trust was formed in the first place.

 

By working together I think we can make this work to our benefit and also keep SBC on our side.

 

The up coming reconvened Trust AGM gives every member a chance to have a say and contribute s to how we can make this work.

 

I am sure any positive ideas on this forum or at the meeting will be welcome. The only caveat is that this is still a ground owned by the council and therefore any changes must be accepted by them.

[GlenSTFC]

Was thinking much the same Bluey. Now who’s in charge of the tv’s I have a question/complaint...

[rebelade]

I was told yesterday that 2 large TVs/screens will be put in in next 2-3 weeks, whether there is Sky or BT Sport is another question

[GlenSTFC]

Good work Ade, hopefully it’ll have one or the other otherwise RR won’t be best pleased ?

[GlenSTFC]

It seems the agreement is to be signed before the end of this year. I suppose it could take a while to arrange the organisation of running the bars/catering including training so maybe this won’t be implemented until the start of next season? Also I’d guess the current company who’s running upstairs were given a contract?

[3spirit]

In general it seems a positive step forward but there seems quite a bit that will need to be ratified and smoothed out for it to be acceptable.

It does seem a lot to be asking[ie out of hour football coaching/scouting/training etc] for our current team managers and any future ones,as well as the coaches and players considering they are part time and effectively not employed by SBC.

Who says they will be up for taking on all these challenges, when they also have full time jobs separate from football.

 

We also have the major hurdle of a finding new chairman. 

 

It strikes me that SBC are sort of demanding proviso's that would be better suited to a professional football club rather than the Step 3 non league football club, that we are.

 

What do others think?

[Irishadrian]

Some clarifications needed The proposed agreement is between SBC and Steve Easterbrooks Thames Valley Sport and Leisure trading as STFC What does that mean with regard to his impending departure as Chairman? Will a new one be titular? It is clear that the extras SBC are asking for is the price paid for the discounted seasonal fee and if we opt only to supply some or none of these that seasonal fee can be increased by SBC.

[GlenSTFC]

Of those who have read the report, regarding the 15 'Social Return' requirements the council have stated the club must provide.

 

Supplying 50 free child tickets to every home game is a great idea but it also states with a subsidised £5 adult entry ticket - it doesn't state how many of these tickets the club should supply, do we presume 50 also? Important to note that any £5 tickets used will go to the council not the club.

 

"Continue to focus on encouraging children to become season ticket holders - by including a home shirt and a signed photo of a player." Does this mean any income generated from junior season tickets now also go to the council?

 

It does state within this list "Any income generated from the above initiatives will be 100% payable to the council.”

 

"STFC will provide a bar and/or catering service to any other event where requested by the council or their customer. 50% of profit from these sales will be paid to the council."

So basically ANY event the council want to put on at AP the club HAVE to run it? Is that really going to be possible on a voluntary staff basis?

Edited October 19, 2017 by GlenSTFC

[Irishadrian]

GlenSTFC The childrens free tickets would be mostly pointless if not supported by a discounted adult ticket since no under 12s are admitted unaccompanied Also although SBC clearly prefer as much volunteer staff use as possible they include staff wages in their net profit calculations so not excluded .

[GlenSTFC]

Of course Adrian but my point was the £5 discounted ticket income goes to the council not the club, which seems unfair as the club are already offering 50 free tickets per match (based on 25 home games per season = 1,250).

[Irishadrian]

GlenSTFC Fair comment won't apply to those young supporters between 12 and 16

[A Rebel and a Saint]

It does say in the document that the club will retain all income from matchday related activities in the agreement on appendix 1 which includes gate receipts and season tickets.

And yes, it does sound like, unless someone wants their own catering people, we would be responsible for the catering provision for other events, but we will get 50% of the takings from doing so.