Re: THE REAL PROBLEM AT STAINES

By Arthur26/1/2020 10:07Sun Jan 26 10:07:42 2020In response to Re: THE REAL PROBLEM AT STAINES

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I am not sure what to say really. This forum is not the right place to discuss sets of accounts. For your information I too am a retired Chartered Certified Accountant. The rights and wrongs of the differences between Staines Town FC and the Thames Club are the basis of an ongoing court case and will be decided by the courts. This is not on the relative financial strengths of the parties but on the landlord and Tennant Acts. I understand that as part of the lease terms there is a provision for long term football at Wheatsheaf Park. The real problems at Staines go with the demise of the financial position of the Boon family. We went from the vociferous singing of Alan Boon's yellow and blue army, to the more sedate tenure of Matthew. With the financial plight of his companies he put the club up for sale. We have to assume that Joe (as part of then a 4 man investing team) had a full and proper investigation into the club, including leases, playing conditions, players, manager and finances. They invested in the club and promised the supporters, at a face to face forum, crowds of a minimum of 1% of the 100,000 populatio0n of Staines. Full football league status within a 10 year period was also promised. The manager of the side the previous season left (arguably because the playing budget had been slashed) and no players were retained fro the side was close to the play offs from the Isthmian League Premier. We had a disastrous season and were relegated with 4 points, conceding 108 goals, scoring 41. This year we started the season with a new manager, Anthony Gale and a new side. The friendlies were encouraging but a press article was not. How to manage with no playing budget. Seemingly the manager had to clear with the Directors which players he could sign. Anthony Gale rightly left the club for personal reasons. Our best player, Mahrez, was asked to take over as interim coach. His first job was to secure as many of the squad as he could. Some players loyal to Tony Gale left. Mahrez steadied the ship and his record over his last 6 games was won 4, drawn 1 and lost 1. We were competitive and some fans were talking about possible outside chances of the pay offs. The manager was sacked, for no given reason, and a new manager in place. Many players left, and we were "treated" to a number of new faces to support. Some are good, some not so good, and at least one is dreadful. Yesterday showed we are starting to gel and become competitive in this division (that's the optimist in me). However we are in the 4 team race to avoid relegation. That's the history. The problem is the lack of communication between the board and the fans. The board supply the financial support and the fans the every day jobs (canteen, shop, programmes, gate etc)> However the fans also contribute financially with the boost the budget scheme. This gives a significant sum monthly to the manager. Do the club reciprocally reduce their contribution, legally allowable, morally dubious? We have no means of knowing and no communication from the Board. When things get strained between the board and the fans things fester. Look at the plight of West Ham and Man Utd to see. Failure is the only outcome. There must be communication from the board for things to improve. Crowds are down, on average, by around 100 from the Drax days. We are one divisio0n lower and struggling. The answer is not in an analysis of accounts, produced in accordance with the Companies Act as a communication between a company and its shareholders. In this case (Thames Club) the shareholders are the directors). The filed accounts are known to the Directors a long time before filing. The run the business on budgets and cash flows, not the the various ratios we accountants use to analyse performance. The real problem is COMMUNICATION. This could be resolved face to face, an article in the programme, or a hand out at the gate to explain what is going on. The real problem is that the fans are being given the mushroom treatment and are beginning to vote with their feet. How sad