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Season 2011 / 2012 Announcement
Topic Started: May 28 2011, 12:27 PM (507 Views)
Real Ale Fan
Advanced Member
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The travel club committee have assessed the current financial situation of the club and decided to review how the club will operate for next season; the reason for this review is as a result of the club making a financial loss of £900-00 last season and the subsequent reduction of reserves which are now some £1,000-00 below the amount required to underwrite any further potential losses for next season.

To put this in to context last season there were 20 Gold Members which meant the club had to raise an additional £5,000-00 from other income generating initiatives to fund coaches for the season (i.e. bonus ball, forecast five, football card, day passenger fares, raffles and fund raising events) but it fell short by the sum of £900-00 reducing club reserves to just under £4,000-00 hence the £1,000-00 shortfall in being able to cover any potential losses next season based on existing Gold Membership numbers.

Consequently without a minimum of 25 Gold Members next season and the additional approximate £1,000-00 this would provide, there would not be sufficient funds assuming we can also match the same amount or more raised from other financial initiatives as last season to fund coaches for the whole of next season, therefore potentially we may not be able to guarantee Gold Members their entitlement of coach travel for the entire coming season.

As there would be the potential risk that available funds would diminish before the season ends and it would not be proper or ethical to offer Gold Membership knowing that there was the possibility that the scheme could potentially cease prior to the end of the season.

Therefore in the absence of a Gold Membership scheme if we cannot recruit more members or source other guaranteed income prior to the commencement of the season, we propose to run coaches to as many matches as possible on a pay as you go basis with all passengers paying fares for coaches on an individual basis.

With the proviso that sufficient numbers wish to travel on the day to at least fund approximately 75% of the coach hire costs with the remainder coming from reserves and other income streams which, would be subject to ongoing monitoring and review during the season to ensure there are sufficient funds available to pay for coaches.

In addition to the above the committee have agreed that due to the close proximity of games at Rushall, Chasetown and Stafford, that the travel club will not be running coaches to these matches, we will publish in due course once we obtain the cost of coach hire the actual costs of travel to each match and booking arrangements.

The travel club AGM will take place at Keys Park on Thursday June 9th commencing at 7-00pm prior to the supporters association meeting, anyone wanting to express an interest in Gold Membership can you either inform us at the AGM or prior to the meeting via email to me through the email facility on this forum.
Edited by Real Ale Fan, May 28 2011, 02:35 PM.
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Mark
Advanced Member
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I will be at the AGM and I am confident that we can get the travel club thriving once again.

If I have read your message right, am I right in saying we need 5 more members to get to the point where we end next season afloat, but with zero reserves? Based on that I make the break even point 45 members which is going to be quite difficult to ahieve. To me it looks like next season the aim would be to get to the magic 25 maybe with a target of 35, then look for the 45 the following season.

How much of a pain is it to run a coach on a game by game basis? I know the disadvantage of this is losing the funds that will have been made from the gold membership, but if we have an effective scheme for people to easily book on to the coach, I'm quite confident that we could make that work too.

I've been having a think about how we can best help the travel club. With Facebook, and our media we can start promoting the travel club a lot better, and I'm pretty sure Chris B can help with the press. I remember (I don't know if there still is) a little section ahead of previews with the travel clubs number that use to be in the paper, if its not already, I'm sure we can get it back in there.

Whichever option you run with you will have the full support of the SA and we will be doing our best to make sure the travel club runs for many more years!



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TerryMc
Advanced Member
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Mark
May 30 2011, 09:08 PM
I will be at the AGM and I am confident that we can get the travel club thriving once again.

If I have read your message right, am I right in saying we need 5 more members to get to the point where we end next season afloat, but with zero reserves? Based on that I make the break even point 45 members which is going to be quite difficult to ahieve. To me it looks like next season the aim would be to get to the magic 25 maybe with a target of 35, then look for the 45 the following season.

How much of a pain is it to run a coach on a game by game basis? I know the disadvantage of this is losing the funds that will have been made from the gold membership, but if we have an effective scheme for people to easily book on to the coach, I'm quite confident that we could make that work too.

I've been having a think about how we can best help the travel club. With Facebook, and our media we can start promoting the travel club a lot better, and I'm pretty sure Chris B can help with the press. I remember (I don't know if there still is) a little section ahead of previews with the travel clubs number that use to be in the paper, if its not already, I'm sure we can get it back in there.

Whichever option you run with you will have the full support of the SA and we will be doing our best to make sure the travel club runs for many more years!



The other thing that could be considered is booking a smaller coach. When I was talking to Phil at P & D York about this issue he was saying that they have a 33 seater coach which is significantly lower cost to run than the traditional 49 seater.
Food for thought?
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Mark
Advanced Member
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With 20 gold members signed up, a 33 seater coach would probably be the better option. The only disadvantage is the limit on capacity which would probably be too low if we start off with a successful team.

Anyway I look forward to the AGM and the next SA meeting. I wasn't able to attend the last one so I'm itching to get back to business!
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Real Ale Fan
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We are looking at smaller coach options and may have to pursue depending on the numbers that agree to be Gold Members / pay on the day, It's a balance between keeping costs as low as possible whilst having the capacity to increase numbers and subsequently increase revenue for the club.
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