Finances

[standupsitdown]

This is an over-simplification but maybe a starting point:

Osborne was putting in roughly £1 million per year to keep the club going full time and attempting to compete / win the league.
That’s £20,000 a week.

There are five home games left until the end of the season – two months.
To cover costs until then we need an extra £175,000 over ‘normal’ income.

An extra 1,000 on each gate (at average £20 – some less but there is also extra income from matchday purchases) would bring in £100,000.

That would give a shortfall of £75,000.

This would need to be covered by donations, extra shirt sales etc. Or of course more than 1,000 extra on the gate. Is this realistic?

With Johnson gone & Edwards not taking a salary, some players likely to go / return to parent clubs, the amount required should be lower.

It seems to me that it is realistic to find a way to cover costs to the end of the season.

Then there will be four months with no matchday income.

There would however be season ticket sales. Say 1,000 (if more buy to help the club) at £350 = £350,000.
(Maybe sale date could be brought forward to start of May).

Based on Osborne’s £20,000 a week (million a year) we would need £333,000 to cover the close season (but quite likely less as players will inevitably leave).

So (increased) season ticket income could potentially cover that.

That takes us into next season.

If we are to remain full times and again based on Osborne’s million a year, we would need to make an extra £40,000 per match (including additional income such as shop etc) (25 x £40,000 = £1 million).

That would be an extra 2,000 on the gate – average crowd around 4,000. (Maybe more as if more season tickets have been sold there will be fewer to buy matchday tickets).

With very few away fans this average probably isn’t achievable in NLS, so either additional income is needed or costs to be reduced.

Going part time would give the required saving but other cost reductions may be possible – Downes stays as manager, no assistant for example.

Of course all this assumes that we don’t find a buyer who is prepared to invest and subsidise the club and that there are not extra debts that have to be paid off.

[Vick]

Average home attendences for this season (so far) and the last two seasons is about 2,500.

An extra 1,000 on each gate would mean at least 3,500 for each home game for the rest of the season.