Club statement (copied from the Nationwide North News website)...
The Board of AFC Telford United met last night and have issued the following statement.
“We would like to apologise for the delay in issuing this information. We fully accept that the delay in communications has led to speculation and concern amongst loyal supporters. This delay has not been down to the board being inactive, the Directors are engaged in daily conversation and actions. We met for five and a half hours last night.
“Our primary objective has always been to try and deliver the best football club we possibly can and to ensure football remains alive in Telford. Fulfilling this objective has become increasingly difficult over the last 12 months, increasingly more so in the last few months with the loss of key personnel and a reducing number of Directors to share the load.
“The club is now in a position where cash flow is extremely difficult. Income has fallen, particularly from gate receipts, and some key costs have risen. An example of this is the Safety regime now in place at the Stadium which has added the cost equivalent of 400 full paying adults for one game, for one test to the Barriers. Many other costs are increasing too. Some income streams have remained flat including commercial income. We have tried to provide the upmost support to ensure the team on the field is successful, but there is at least one income stream that was budgeted to support this which has as yet failed to materialise.
“For the record, there is no winding up order against the club nor are we aware of one pending. Players and Off Field Staff were paid on time at end of September. Any other outstanding payroll will be paid over the coming days as usual. The club does have trade creditors though and we are concerned that club has a reducing ability to pay these unless urgent action is taken. Our projections for October, November, December raise these same concerns. Ideally, we need to raise £25,000 between now and the end of October, and the same by end of November. The primary way this can be done is obviously by generating as big a crowd as possible for this Saturday’s game.
“In the meantime, the Board will continue to action a number of things to help stabilise the club.
“We have set the following action plan:
a) We urge everyone who cares about the club to come along to the game on Saturday. Every penny through the Turnstiles will help the club massively in the short term.
b) Alongside this, we will be taking immediate action to continue to restructure the business to relentlessly focus on generating income but also to reduce unnecessary costs. We have always tried to maintain this fundamental discipline, but it has been more and more difficult as the years have progressed. Once we saw patterns in income falling after the first quarter of the financial year, we started to take more stringent action. Part of this included looking at Team Travel. Regarding Saturday, a decision was taken with the management team to travel independently as over half of the number of playing personnel due to attend on Saturday were already making their own way to Bradford. Bearing this in mind, the opportunity was taken to save the cost of travelling.
With the situation we now find ourselves in it is paramount we keep a team on the field but also do whatever is necessary to set in place a plan that attempts to reverse some of the long term patterns. We are adamant that the current management team will remain at the club whilst we do this and then come through the other side in a better position. We hope to release some news on this shortly.
c) Today, and perhaps most importantly, we have also urged the Trust Board to put in place a process to enable urgent changes to the ownership model of the club which would allow external investment.
“It would not be right for us to comment at this stage on the limitations of the model that we currently operate which we believe are currently hindering the business. We respect the Trustees – they are, like us, fans who have always tried to do their very best to keep a club going that the fans can be proud of.
“The format that this change takes will of course be subject to debate but we have urged that this happens this week. Delay in allowing the change could prove fatal to the business.
“As we explained, we are currently very short on numbers. We therefore need help.
“We need volunteers to assist with promoting Saturday’s game and then beyond that help co-ordinate an effort to generate support for the club and it’s fundraising activities. Anyone with graphic design skills, good at social media or who would be happy to do some targeted Kids ticket giveaways and all that entails – we would love to hear from you. This list isn’t exclusive and we’d be happy to hear from anyone, not just with ideas but also with time to spare to help”.
