20 Years of Trust

[lamrobhero]

Bit of a selfish comment that. If it was in the best interest of the club to seek outside investment to keep the club moving forward then we 100 per cent should do that IMO. I respect the Trust and Tagg for what they’ve done especially the youth development, however being a Fan Owned club means they don’t put their own money in so there’s one massive handicap right there. People forget it was an emergency plan 20 years ago, so now we are Fan owned does that mean we will always have to be fan owned?

Without fan ownership attending matches would have no meaning for me. I guess it is selfish. But nobody wants to attend something that they regard as meaningless. I respect the will of my fellow supporters if they want to relinquish control then I will just say Thank You and Goodbye.

 

[Fareham Grecian]

How many people then would stop supporting City if the trust wasn’t running it?! Seriously…… I’ll support City as the saying goes till I die. We are living an unsustainable dream at the moment. We need to sell players to survive. Its the only real generator of serious money we have. We have been incredibly lucky to have such talented players we can cash in on. Let’s hope it continues……

It’s not luck though is it, it’s a deliberate strategy that is working well. Money from player sales is invested back into club facilities to improve the chances of producing more profitable gems, support is growing and the club is performing well above the long term average without any debt. That’s the ultimate in sustainability Shirley?

 

[Cygnus]

For me the club has to remain majority Trust owned, but we shouldn’t be closed to the idea of any kind of outside investment.

What is happening down the road at Argyle with their Academy is a threat and we will have to be prepared for that.

At the moment it’s very in vogue to have American investment, looking at Wrexham, Burnley and now Birmingham City, with star names either investing or buying clubs. Maybe we could look at approaching a star name like Tom Brady to become part of the unique Exeter City journey. It could bring extra investment that might allow us to buy the ground, further improve the training ground etc. Plus the publicity would be invaluable and who knows we could become an established Championship club as a result.

 

[Pete Martin (CTID)]

For me the club has to remain majority Trust owned, but we shouldn’t be closed to the idea of any kind of outside investment.

I would definitely support that. My difficulty comes in believing that would ever happen. I very much doubt anyone would buy into our club without wanting majority control. At York City it's 51/49 in favour of '394 Sports'. The people behind the company have no prior affinity with York City.

 

[tom_ecfc]

If you can get through all the sh*t pop ups and navigate through the 1 million adverts….looks like it’s not all rosey down and A38/Route 38

Hallett explains exit of some of Argyle's US-based investors

The outgoing investors included Michael Mincberg, who also withdrew from the club's board of directors, and his brother David

www.plymouthherald.co.uk

 

[denzel]

Also worth reflecting that it is likely that a lot of people at ECFC ate here because of our model.

Except those on the Big Bank three minutes into half time

 

[Fareham Grecian]

It’s not luck though is it, it’s a deliberate strategy that is working well. Money from player sales is invested back into club facilities to improve the chances of producing more profitable gems, support is growing and the club is performing well above the long term average without any debt. That’s the ultimate in sustainability Shirley?

The real question that Max and others are asking, I think, is whether we can progress *further* under the current model

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

If you can get through all the sh*t pop ups and navigate through the 1 million adverts….looks like it’s not all rosey down and A38/Route 38

Hallett explains exit of some of Argyle's US-based investors

The outgoing investors included Michael Mincberg, who also withdrew from the club's board of directors, and his brother David

www.plymouthherald.co.uk

Hallett is never getting his money back.

 

[Pete Martin (CTID)]

The real question that Max and others are asking, I think, is whether we can progress *further* under the current model

The other question is, whether we can progress further under a majority owner with, as likely as not, no previous history in supporting the club and no inclination to stick around if things start to go pear shaped again.
It fascinates me that, after 122 years of existence, some get excited about the concept of selling out at a time when we are in a far better place than we have ever been in all those years.

 

[SaintJames]

The real question that Max and others are asking, I think, is whether we can progress *further* under the current model

It''s a pertinent question as ironically the more successful we become under Trust ownership the higher those expectations are raised. Gary himself is raising those expectations and for the first time in our history I believe people are beginning to look upwards. Let me be clear what I mean. I don't mean I hear people getting carried away with becoming a Championship team regularly but the expectations of what we are as a club are so much higher than what they were ten years ago. Ten years ago on the whole the fan base was satisfied with ongoing survival off the pitch and doing as well as we could in L2. Five years ago expectations were around being a Top 7 League Two Club. Three years ago to achieve promotion from League two once again.

What has been achieved in the past five years off the pitch has been incredible with the transformation of SJP, the Training ground and pitches. However, that has been matched by the football itself as a L1 club and with record levels of season ticket sales and attendances exceeding the norm. So the new 'normal' has changed and therefore expectations will change with it. My expectations have changed considerably not because I have suddenly become risk averse but if the club fails to recognise and plan for the future it will go backwards. My expectations for my club have always been historically set namely we are a bang average league two club with an occasional promotion and cup run and as long as we are solvent then fair enough. However, record season ticket sales and regular sell outs paint a story of an appetite that isn't based around the old normal. The old normal means I expect to get relegated from this division within the next two seasons. My new normal means I expect my club to now become an established league one club. I'm not yet expecting promotion but I am looking up the table to the point where if we haven't finished higher than 8th within three seasons (hopefully two) I will be a little disappointed. I don't expect to suddenly become an established Top Five L1 team overnight but after becoming set in L1 that has to become the next ambition.

We have a Manager that could imo achieve those ambitions. However, we all recognise that miracles don't grow on trees. We are building the infrastructure to achieve success but can the current ownership who have rightly achieved that success look over the parapit and build the finances necessary to continue upward momentum? If they are confident they can that's fine but if there is a gap that looks difficult to breach in say three years time then you have imo a duty to consider various options now and not wait until it's too late. That doesn't mean an all out sale. It would be reckless to assume we have another series of Ampudu's and Watkins to come. You only need look at this summer where we have grossed in the region of £2.5M in sales to realise that those monies will only keep us a little above where we are now for the next 3 years. To fund growth again will be a tough challenge based solely on big player sales.

To conclude I see no immediate concerns however in business as soon as you are comfortable, malaise can set in. Now is the best time to look at what the club needs in 3-5 years time not wait till the opportunities dry up