A question for all Slough Town FC supporters

[BFR]

I used the buy at pages when I bought some bits earlier on.

[Guest Chris- Sliski]

I hope and everyone knows by now ..Martin Deaner is no longer a part of the club , to answer a few of the above questions ( regarding funding etc) from a personal point of view...not a clubs answer :

 

as i see IT !

 

1) The club is in part owned under the Thames Valley Sports and social (MD Bernard Devine) if and when we get lift off the make up of the club will be changed beyond recognition..

 

The Trust will receive a share and be represented at board meetings ! and will have a direct and an important input to daily happenings and the mear fact to actually hold a casting vote on club matters! (which trusts members have a say to their trustee on the board/trustees.

 

2) so the club belongs to the trustees (possibly 6) of which the supporters trust will be one of them !

 

3) funds that the club have ! ARE NOTHING..but have responsiblity to keep things going , until the go ahead is given, then we will be able to get some funding to keep the team until the stadium is completed and other commercial venture can be introduced. to ensure that the club will never be reliant on a sugar daddy !

 

4) If we fail to keep the club going in the next (4-8 weeks) then the club may not be able to achieve its plans..

 

5) Jayne Bradbury has invested money already to get the plans and documents that the council have requested (personal money) to an amount we would never have been able to get ourselves, her part has been played and if the scheme does not get the go ahead , she will have lost out big time..so until the next part is confirmed then she can not risk any further monies to the playing side..we have to ensure we do this ourselves...

 

6) THATS WHY THERE HAS BEEN TALK OF TRYING TO RAISE MONIES TO ENSURE WE PLAY OUR PART AND TO ENSURE THE TEAM IS KEPT GOING ....

 

7) The trust are cautious but the club will be offering a trustees place in maybe return of some fanancial help ..if they choose to hold the money and keep it for rainy day , then thats the choice as members they have to make...

 

8) YES its a big gamble to help the club NOW ..but we either act as ONE or we will die long before the end of the season...and then the trust will be left to try and resurrect another club and start all over again... its not a question of the club trying to use the hard earned TRUST money or trying to be cleaver ..its the stark reality of the situation ..that we all need to pull in one direction...or an opportunity maybe lost for ever...

 

9) OR we try to raise some serious capital from everyone's help..and Warren and Alan along with Gary are trying to do and get the message over to you all of how things are going...

 

10) the team needs support and we know your there for them , but never the less they will need some good results soon...to ensure they play their part too..

 

personally chris sliski

 

 

 

 

[Guest Anonymous]

What does part owned by Thames Valley Sports mean? Information as usual is very sketchy - Who are the other part owners - surely a trust cannot part with monies or trust anyone where there are funadamental question of ownership.

 

Thames Valley Sports Ltd have not filed any accounts (they are also long overdue at Co House).

 

Some more clarity called for.

 

 

[brighton_rebel]

Charlie

Funding options

http://www.awardsforall.org.uk/england/index.html

 

http://sdmagarchive.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/co-op-funding/

 

and what Dulwich did

http://sdmagarchive.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/dulwich-hamlet-community-day/

 

Happy to help with applications

[Amber Rebel]

[quote=Anonymous

1) The club is in part owned under the Thames Valley Sports and social (MD Bernard Devine) if and when we get lift off the make up of the club will be changed beyond recognition..

 

so the club belongs to the trustees (possibly 6) of which the supporters trust will be one of them !

 

 

 

 

chris sliski

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

would just like to know on this question of ownership, who are the trustees that actually own stfc or is this what it is possibly going to be in the future.

also i dont want to sound negative but finnancially things look very bleak.

[GarySTFC]

At the moment, the club is owned by Thames Valley Sports & Leisure which is headed up by Bernard Devine and of which Roy is also part of. The accounts are being prepared and completed and will be in shortly to Companies House.

 

The trustees Chris mentioned above will be in placed when the new stadium is put in place. There will be a few people involved and it is still being discussed which bodies would be involved in that trustee board, but the most important one is the Supporters Trust being represented on that board which would safeguard the long term future of the club at that site.

 

With regards to finances, yes we need every penny we can get, but that has always been the case. I hope now, the club is in a better position to direct the finances to the best place required for them rather than simply throwing money at a black hole. I would be more than happy to speak to people either on here, email or face to face on Saturday to discuss anything possible as to how we can generate revenue from external sources rather than continually having to look at our own supporters to add in extra funding.

[BFR]

I appreciate your frank comments Chris and thank you for sharing them.

 

However, reading between the lines it does appear as though the Trust board are going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place very soon. Pay up or the club dies, so to speak. If the Trust are to be rewarded for their financial support with a role as trustee, I would hope that the other proposed trustees are also going to pay up a similar amount. Patronage and all that. If we are being open and honest on this it would probably be worth highlighting who these possible 6 trustees will be and what their functions will be regarding the day to day runnings of the club, financial burden, etc

 

The problem for the Trust is, they are only useful to the club while they have resources that the club needs, in this case some cash. If the Trust emptied its purse for the club tomorrow I doubt the club would talk to the Trust again. Last year the Trust helped the club with wages when there were issues and most of the players scarpered there and then. Fool me once, fool me twice.

 

The anon raises important issues. TVSL owns or part-owns the club. Will the individuals behind TVSL be the kingmakers of the club in this bright new era? How could a board function properly with the Trust as a member, given that the Trust would have to makes its decisions based on the wishes of its membership?

 

If there is no club then Jayne Bradbury will surely lose her investment anyway, as the proposals are based around the football club, or at least I would hope they are. Without a club, why would the council be interested in selling a site based on a proposal surround a football ground for the club?

 

Chris talks about keeping the club going in the next 4-8 weeks - what happens beyond that time to keep the club going? The Trust coffers surely wouldn't stretch too much further than that

 

Anyway, this has rather digressed from the original point of the thread. I'll speak to who I can where I work, but given it is public sector I doubt very much that I'll get any sort of commitment

[Guest chris-sliski]

To be frank as we are all trying to be ...

 

1) The new make up will have to be approved by the Council too..they will want these safeguards in place also ...they are committed that the problem of the club will be sorted once and for ever...

 

2) jayne Bradbury wants this too...

 

3) the club (TVSC) want this too..

 

4) do the supporters want this ?

 

5) I have ask people to understand they is no income from anywhere other than the attendences and some grateful sponsorship and some small fund raising...

 

6) the question is what do you want the football club to do ?of course we want to win and make the supporters happy , a reorganisation of the team is needed (i personally guess) , but how do you surpose that we continue...

 

7) I think and I will state now if the trust does not receive a share , I don't want to be a part of any other deal, it is imperrative in my eyes that the trust will hold this position to safe guard the ultimate future of the club and its ground..

 

8) the supporters trust will now not be funding a project for Martyn Deaner but now has chance to become a safeguard and a very important part of the future of this club ..

 

9) Yes graham important questions ...and only the membership have a chance to answer...

 

10) the club has made the big step to go down this road , as someone stated why cut the hand of the one that is feeding us (martyn Deaner) the reason was that most of our supporters and trust memebrs saw no future with him , and now the club has made the break ..and it really needs help to give us a fighting chance to really move forward...its made great strides by a lot of people giving up their own time and hours with meeting after meetings and an offer of a trustees place at the top table...an offer that would have never been there if MD was there...

 

We are one now ! with people like Ted Plenty, Gary Thomas Ian Lathey and hopefully many more to be introduced to a management committee , to ensure what our supporters have been asking for years now !to add a proper structure to the club ...

 

If you are really worried that as the members of the board and trust see that is a raid on the trusts funds , then I beg that each and every slough supporters does its best to help and raise money from outside your funds..thats all we are asking ...

 

maybe those season ticket holders can for-go a few matches and pay again at the turnstyles or hand money into the barmy army to get some very valued support to club...

 

The club has no magic answers either ...The club has made the jump ..its down to our supporters and committee to all jump in same direction....

 

 

personlly chris sliski

 

 

[Chris]

There will shortly be another opportunity to gain revenue for the club.

 

When the new site is launched (hopefully by the end of the month) we wll have positions on the site avaliable for:

 

- Banners

- Buttons

- Skyscrapers

- MPU's

- Leaderboards

 

(If you don't know what these are please 'google' them!)

 

The site (even though i'm saying and doing it myself!!) should be very good, so if your company is maybe looking to advertise on the web, the STFC site may be a good place to do it. Please see Gary if you feel your company may be interested to discuss prices...

 

We may even be able to do a combo web/programme/billboard combo?

[Guest chris -sliski]

Sorry I also meant to say that I have been in touch with supporters direct asking them to give their valued advice into the wording and legal side of things for the trust to have there valued and proper share of the new setup..

 

The have passed the contacts onto the trust board to ensure that they get the correct and legal commitments for they own safeguards...

 

the club is more than happy that this is being done...

 

chris sliski (personally)

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

As well as raising funds the other way to approach this is by reducing costs.

 

The more "junior" players there are in the team and less players "just turning up for the money" there are is an imediate saving - might even improve performance on the pitch!

 

This is contraversial, yet we are now at a stage where we cant afford players biting the hand that feeds them!

 

What are the players prepared to do to help the club?

[brighton_rebel]

I think from this very useful discussions whatever we think about a lack of accounts or who owns the club, we have a serious shortfall of at least eight weeks which we can all play our part in trying to raise. Then hopefully we will have the planning application kicking in and some breathing space.

At least for once things are in the open!

[Guest Chris-sliski]

Good point clive , but supporters are quite fickle and will they continue to support the team if we are unable to maintain our place in this league ..its a catch 22 answer ...

 

I agree we need to do something ..but remember at the moment its only the attendance thats our income...

 

cheers chris sliski

[Guest Anonymous]

The Trust must proceed carefully.......

 

It has been said that Thames Valley Sports own STFC..... Do we know that Thames Valley sports are a solvent company. We do not as they have not filed any accounts but they will be filed shortly? (why has it taken so long to file a set of accounts? Mmmmmmm). Therefore before parting with any monies does the trust need to clarify that position.

 

The worst position would be for the Trust to part with all their money now and then have nothing left. If then the dreaded were to happen to STFC then the Trust would not be in a position to at least run the club whilst a different solution is sort (Is that not why the trust was set up).

 

Are the club now effectively saying thanks for your support and if you give us money we will(might) give you something in return.(IE No money no position in new set up! - that is Not what Roy said at the meeting at the Polish club). It may be that this route has to be followed - if so legal help should be sort to ensure the Trust gets what it thinks it is securing.

 

 

[Tom]

I thought the reason it has taken so long to file accounts was down to the fact Deaner was still involved.

[Amber Rebel]

sorry but why should that make a diffence

[Tom]

I'm assuming his involvment and "way of doing things" meant he didn't want the accounts to be published whist he was sponsoring the club.

 

[Amber Rebel]

oh i see thanks i just wondered, ive not followed the history of the behind the scenes ownership for some years as ive only recently (the last few seasons) started to watch and support slough town again

[A Rebel and a Saint]

This thread makes for very interesting reading...at last things are out in the open and it is very clear how desperate things are getting.

 

On the original topic of money being donated...as a student I cannot really afford much, the most I could give is about £1 a week (ie £50 a year), which I know doesnt sound like much but its all i can do!! I would join the Barmby Army but unfortunately the same applies.

 

Mark44 and I were discussing all this on the way back from university today, we came up with a few ideas, not sure what theyre actually worth but here goes...

 

1) Organising events alongside BSYCOB, maybe at the clubhouse, and splitting the money between the clubs eg local bands etc.

 

2) Getting out in Slough High Street EVERY home game Saturday morning advertising games, with leaflets with maps and bus times and upcoming fixtures on.

This goes back to HR's idea. Personally I wear the Slough shirts around regularly, in Reading, Slough etc, but I'm sure that getting out into the town more could help.

 

3) One idea that we had but may not work would be sponsoring fans to walk to Beaconsfield for every home game (weather permitting), which would raise a few quid a go for the club. The same could go for local games. However it has been said before that sponsors can get bored with putting money in over and over again.

 

4) Does anyone know if/when the Slough half marathon is? One idea we had was to walk it as a group of fans singing all the way to get ourselves noticed, but that is dependent on when it is and how many people would get involved.

 

Just a few ideas, some of them may not be practical, but the two of us hope that we can get involved in raising some money for the club.

 

Hopefully soon the news of the ground will come good, then things will start to pick up if people see we have a future. Until then let's try and stick together and get behind the club (whoever that may be!) and whoever turns out on the pitch, and weather the storm.

Come on the Rebels! We will survive!

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

Ok, all very depressing stuff that in my opinion can be summarised in 2 simple points.

 

1) the club is firstly and formostly Bernard's responsibility he refused to be involved because of Deaner. Deaner is now gone so i expect to see Bernard regularly from now on.

 

2) If people are making donations straight into the players pockets surely these fans are now complete stakeholders, can now say whatever they want and surely have some influence in picking the team and tactics for each match. (As a chairman would).

 

PPS If we get relegated much of the sponsorship/ grants available to us (as well as a large chunk of fans) disappears because the combined county league is such a lowly level of football, so im sure as Jayne has sunk 50K into the club already im sure she herself will be looking for backers as she has so much to lose.

 

And im sure i saw someone say something about trust running the club, with the 'current' wage structure it would be an impossibility.