We need to pay of the petition in the first instance to survive.
Various ways it could be done but I'm no expert on what would be the most tax efficient.
1. 10 year season tickets 2. Vice Presidents - beginning to warm to the idea if they could be granted 10 years free admission without the Club having to pay VAT 3. A loan - but that's a lot of messing about (in terms of agreeing repayment terms)
No time for share issues etc.
As I've said before I'd do it. No magic in the £3k of course it could be less - not sure I'd suggest more as a minimum.
I wouldn't be keen on just handing the money over to the Club because if we raise £30k but the Club is wound up we would lose the money, but WSU could hold the money on our behalf or our solicitors could. I'm sure they could offer 5 minutes of advice on the best way forward.
We may have concerns about the longer term future and we can sit here and talk about it and do nothing but then in 2 weeks the Welling I have loved (and been frustrated by as often as not) will no longer exist.
Others have said they will contribute. This is a thread aimed at them, there are other threads (and I haven't read all of them) for those who want to moan, suggest other ideas etc.
Unless WSU have given up then they need to show some leadership. If they aren't interested in this idea then come on here and say so but unless someone comes up with £60k in 2 weeks Welling will be wound up.
I will not pay a penny more to the club whilst the current regime is in charge.
Then there will be no Welling in 14 days time. AFC Welling or whatever won't be the leaseholder for the ground, so presumably it will be over to Danson Park or whatever. We're not AFC Wimbledon nor FC United. I don't see us rising from the ashes.
Wingnut has a point - why would you give the club 3k and then it still goes tits up in Court.
I would much prefer a share issue.
Perhaps Barry will be more open to this on Saturday. It seems to me that the club are not willing to do anything to change their ways or work with more transparacy. This is all on their terms - nothing is changing and we will end up in the same situtation in a few months.
If he has found investors/some-one to loan the money to the club, then they is entited to continue in the same way - it is their club.
If they want us to give over large sums of money then we need some concrete proposals about what will change in the future.
This is the club that did not post anything on the web site for 6 weeks!!
Sorry to put a dampner on all the great ideas, but we had lots of great ideas before and we raised only a proportion of the money.
The great ideas to money ratio was low, because most people were waiting for other people to do something or take charge, and as a result not much was done. Anyone that has a great idea that they can act on to help the club survive, should just go ahead and do it unless of course their idea needs the clubs approval first before plans can be carried out. Anytime someone does something, they can let us know what they've been up to, and also if they were successful or not.
-- Edited by Dogme on Thursday 2nd of December 2010 11:31:41 AM
I think the club should offer the fans (by way of a trust and representation) equal ownership if they raise the money, after all the investors would get control. Keep on Barrie and Barry as partners and thus employees too, good administrators (take away the money stuff) and great groundsmen are hard to come by.
But then a proper board, commercial manager , sort the bar out with manager and planner etc, matchday hospitality department. Just shape up a lot and get some organisation in there.
That way there are more people to keep things from getting on top and to stop things snowballing into chaos. Im aware a trust takes time but you can have some interim arrangement to keep things going.
IF they are open to this people will donate time and money and they keep a big share of the club and its a lot stronger. We cant be here a year down the road owing 50k and having no communication. A press officer is a must too to liase with the club and get info going two ways.
-- Edited by JgFc on Thursday 2nd of December 2010 12:18:19 PM
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
That would be naive, they have wealths of experience and contacts, although of course I would take the finance burden off of them, others can run that better.
To dismiss their qualities being used in a more organised set up is folly and disrespectful. Its clear that trying to do everything has got on top of them. But i would bet that Barrie is probably a better administrator than anyone who supports the club and Barry provides one of the best playing surfaces at this standard of football.
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
And what respect have they shown the supporters over the last few weeks/months/years? We haven't had a dickie bird out of them for weeks.
I agree that the admin (LSC fiasco with Loui apart...) and the pitch is one of the best in the league. Having said that I don't care if we play on a ploughed field as long as we have people at the helm who can get this club functioning properly off the pitch.
Let us hope that they use Saturday as a start to addressing this. I fear without it that many people will not put another penny into helping the club. Too worried about throwing good money after bad.
That's the reason people stopped giving after the initial hard work when we first heard the news. They realised that finacially we are in a mess and the same people are in charge and don't seem to be willing to change
"They have a wealth of experience and contacts...."
Priceless. Where exactly has that got us/them in the last 14 weeks???
100% agree there Wingnut. Contacts can be gained easily, but experience takes a little longer. If their contacts were so good, then perhaps we wouldn't be in the situation we are at the moment. They have known about the shyte we are in for the past two years or so, yet WE are expected to bail them out. The hard work done by Bruno, Patsy, Ron Manager etc counts for diddly squat. If we are fortunate enough to get through this, we need a new start. For sure, keep Piggy on as a groundsman, even though we lost a good one a few years ago ( I wonder why ) He does a great job and thank you to him. Our one roving steward needs help, as does the club. We need to face reality, if the club survives, we need a change, otherwise, every match day, the buckets will be out.
Share issues etc won't be sorted out in 14 days or should I say 13. As for giving money and the club still being wound up my suggestion specifically guarded against that. Equal ownership - all great but no time to sort out and would make it difficult to find a new investor potentially. I will e-mail the solicitor as to whether we could safeguard our fund if we didn't raise sufficient, but I know the answer is yes.
I'm working Saturday morning and so I can't attend the meeting but this is a way of making a fair amount of cash fairly quickly so I think it should be raised as an idea.
My biggest concern is that we'll all talk about what's not worked in the past and Welling will be wound up for £60k which would be a tragedy in my opinion.
We have been shafted, by everyone. Inept running of the club springs to mind. Why the heck should anyone want to invest in a club that has been mis-managed for years? I want this club to survive - we are the best in the borough, but we need new people in, someone with the passion of the Hobbins, but the business acumen of Lord Sugar ( example only )
I've watched Welling for 25 years. I don't support a "proper" team or a "big" club which is what I'm usually asked. I'm willing to invest because for more than half my life (just) they've been a pretty important part of my life, and I'm not willing to throw all that away.
At a football club, theres a holy trinity the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors dont come into it. They are only there to sign the checks
At a football club, theres a holy trinity the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors dont come into it. They are only there to sign the checks
If there wasn't an 80% chance of me losing my job in the next 6 months I would be entering into negotiations with my wife with a view to persuading her that Welling was in fact a sensible investment opportunity, although not 60k's worth. I was amazed she agreed so easily to £3k!
Those of you saying you could invest thousands.. get together with the dosh and pay the debt on the basis that the hobbins are kept on as employees and your consortium owns the club Then if you are commercially adept go and bring in advertisers and sponsorships to make your investment a bargain..
Dont say oh im not paying while they are there. Buy them out. Theres a good 5 or 6 on here saying they could if their aunt had gonads invest more but why should you.... Do it and you havent got much time.
Unless you do or someone else comes in with 60 bags or we play a premier league team in 2 weeks... you wont get the chance to do it.
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
I've watched Welling for 25 years. I don't support a "proper" team or a "big" club which is what I'm usually asked. I'm willing to invest because for more than half my life (just) they've been a pretty important part of my life, and I'm not willing to throw all that away.
I've only been going for about three seasons now and get to as many home and ( local ) away matches as possible. I have bought the scratch cards, programmes, a drink or two at the bar, supported the band nights etc etc, but I'm bu**ered if I'm going to invest a large sum of my hard earned to a regime that can't be bothered to help the club get out of the mire. This situation should have been dealt with a few seasons back and not left until now. I can take a cry for help if it were for only the last few months or so, but, in my opinion, we the fans are being asked too much. I understand and relate to the plight of the Hobbins. Welling United is and has been their life for years. It would be easy to suggest that they should be shafted, the same as they have done to us, but and it is a big but - if the money is provided in time, should they stay in charge? Afterall, as stated in many a thread on here, they have no business acumen at all. So many people have given up their time and money to help this club, yet diddly squat thanks for it ( from official club notices )