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The fightback starts here 14:43 - Apr 24 with 9832 views

OK Ladies and Gentlemen. What has happened has happened and we have arrived at a new reality. we have a choice to make, either we continue to search for scapegoats and apportion blame or we accept that financially we are in no fit condition to play competitive football in the EFL with crowds of 2000 home supporters and and that we need to start the long march to put the club in a financially self-sustaining position. Whatever your thoughts are about a new investor, the key to all our problems is cash, we have to sweat the assets and make more money!

There are two more Trust meetings and I would suggest an urgent addition to the topics being discussed there might be "How to create a fan base of 5000 regular match attendees and 5000 casuals who will support the club by other means". Long winded, I accept, but you get the gist...

Put simply, without far more engagement in the community and at matches, we will never be sustainably financed, or we will become beholden to an investor who may or may not be around for the long haul.

Lets start the ball rolling...
1. how do we extract £1m+ a year from sources outside the club (off field) to replace the idea that we occasionally benefit from an FA cup run (which is now highly improbable) or a player sale which effectively reduces the on-field performance and will probably not attract the sort of money we have been accustomed to receiving.

If we accept the old adage that "by the inch its a cinch and by the yard its hard",
How many ways can we think of to raise £10,000 a year?
I have started a list of some of the ideas I have had over the last few weeks

1. Sell team shirts to local junior and senior clubs...
we have a relationship with a manufacturer now, there are probably well over 100 junior teams who all need kit, each currently buying separately. By bulk buying, we could sell shirts at cost and give a free ticket to every junior player and their mum or dad and organise trips to the ground for each junior club. maybe no profit but huge potential for getting regular supporters in the future

2. Dark Kitchen
A takeaway kitchen at COA utilising one of the 2 kitchens (but apparently we need to install Gas at a cost of £30k), potentially worth well over £2000 per week net profit. No customers, just delivery (hence dark, no shop lights etc.). there are companies to help with this. https://www.peckwaterbrands.com/our-service-individual. so an average order is say £20, net profit is about 15% because we already have a kitchen. so after all expenses 100 orders a night will produce £300 net profit, x 365 = £110K per year. We have 1000s of potential users we can advertise to.

3. Electronic Advertising Displays
A large electronic display on the Sandy Lane end of the Wilbutts Stand
a 15 second advert could be shown 4320 times a day(18 hours per day)at £0.2p per impression (showing) that's £86.40p per day or £31,536 a year. Imagine having 3 or 4 more around the town! Or, maybe we should lease something like this
https://monsterdisplays.media/buy-a-digital-advan/ and have it running around town every day!

4. Gold Bond
Work needs to start now, if we are getting this back from the current organisers in November 100 new rounds x 25 customers x 52 weeks is £130k add in online sales of say 500 per week and you get to £150k.... less prizes and costs could clear £75k PA

5. Gold Bond advertising
Turn the results sheet into a vouchers pack for club sponsors, club events and other local companies - a win win,

6. Gold Bond Results Newsletter / club Newsletter
an electronic newsletter going to 4-5000 people each week would be worth £200-£250 in sponsorship weekly

7. Win a Car
Like you might have seem at airports or in shopping malls. We are sponsored by Kia, lets get one of their cheapest cars and sell raffle tickets for £2 each (say 15000 tickets) with a view to presenting the car to a winner at Christmas. A Kia Picanto is now just over £12,000 new so £18,000 profit less cost of sales.( could be an add on for Gold Bond sales!)

8. Sportsman's Dinners
The newly refurbished Town Hall could be the venue if the Ratcliffe etc isn't big enough. 3 a year could easily raise £10k

9. Business ticket bundles
There are over 16,000 businesses in Rochdale, 2.174 companies in Rochdale are medium sized businesses with 5 — 50 employees. There are 253 top companies in Rochdale with at least 50 employees
A bundle of 2 season tickets and 10 hospitality meals for £500 would be a great offer sell 20 to make £10,000 sell 200 to make £100,000

10. Christmas parties
At £45 per ticket for a meal a band and a DJ a table of 10 is worth £450, say £150 profit
sell 20 tables for 10 nights running up too Christmas and you make £30,000

11. Christmas Raffle
A decent Christmas Raffle should easily make £10,000 with donated prizes and a sponsor for the back of the tickets (voucher?)

12. Club shop
Restocking the club shop with the right products pre-Christmas should make another £10k example ... https://tradejigsaws.alljigsawpuzzles.co.uk/blogs/case-studies/football-club-puz

13. Christmas cards
20,000 Christmas cards cost £0.12p each selling as packs of 20 for £10 = £10k

14. Dale Ale
500 dozen Bottles/ cans of specially brewed beer, lots of craft breweries offer this service. It may not make £10k, but it would be fun!

15. Advertising revenue from Website
The website is a bone of contention at the moment, I guess we will continue to use the EFL template for the time being, but we need to develop our own website with online ticket sales and the ability to buy gold bond and other raffle tickets etc. Planning for this early will create a better product capable of adding passive income.

16. Easyfunding
I have raised £24 in the last 10 months or so just from my fortnightly grocery delivery, the rewards for people switching TV and Broadband are up to £40 a go. 3 or 400 regular shoppers and switchers could easily raise £10000 a year. the |Trust already does this and even if we did it via the trust, ultimately they could buy more shares and put money into the club. https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/

17. E Bay sales
It struck me that the club shop is probably often quiet, so there is an opportunity to be selling and despatching goods sold on Ebay , perhaps donated by fans who are having a clear out.

18. Car boot sales
10x summer Car boot sales on the car park @ £15 a car x 50 / 60 cars could raise £10k PLUS the Ratcliffe could be busier too

19. Farmers Market
Like a car boot sale but with fewer stall and charging stands more , so 25 stalls at £30 each x 10 per year - £7500

20. Summer kids camp
Norden Primary used to get 2000 kids playing football for a week . Most camps now charge £10+ per day , we would need to use Oulder Hill and maybe Redbrook too ( some goodwill will need to be built there) plus the COA but the potential over the summer using Community staff, some of the young players etc is huge , 1000 x 5days x £10 per day is £50,000 less costs.....

21. Has the Club contacted ex-Season Ticket / Card holders with a short survey as to why people are not renewing

22. Set up a desk or a stand around the district say Exchange, Riverside, Asda, Tesco, Aldi etc.etc & survey / canvas opinions of the general public during the summer months

23. Allow smoking at half time (sorry... had to put that in there)..

23. Make the prediction league a chargeable competition & profits to the Club

24. Rent the pitch out when not in use?

25. Summer BBQ's

26. Spend some time looking at what other Clubs sell in their on line Club Shops

27. I suppose this is a wider question... Family Tickets rather than age ranged

28. RAFC Scratch Cards (does that fall under our gaming license?, I recall the Supporters Coach doing one but admittedly it's a long time since I was on one)

29. Dale "Lager" - not everyone likes Real Ale

OK that's my 20 or so worth about £500K and mostly new money, we need more... any others got ideas?
I will add them below so we end up with a big list

30. Stadium Events .. noting that tickets for bands I have never heard of are costing £40-50, I imagine that there is scope for a decent profit using the stadium for a couple of concerts during the summer if the acts can be booked at sensible rates. I have seen Lisa Stansfield at a suggested price of £25k which at £40 per ticket doesn't seem impossible if you sell 1500+ tickets

31. Season ticket cashback / draw after reaching milestones for sales with vouchers and discounts from sponsors and other outlets.

32. 5 a side competition with an entry fee per team with prizes. And entry fee shared with club and other teams

33. Cheaper tickets for Low income and Benefits families ( we have done this in the past via a council leisure pass of some sort)

34. Bring catering back in house and do Christmas type parties for Fathers day, Easter carvery, etc. ...( I have a scheme for developing our own range of pies that could be sold in chip shops and frozen in Tesco etc.... How about "The Big Reg" Meat and Potato or "The Hendo 40" Cheese and Onion"???

35. Organise buses from outskirts of town to the ground and back on matchdays , picking up / dropping off in the town centre.. couple this with the reduced tickets for low income families??

36. Have tickets on sale in the town centre on matchdays... or maybe have a kiosk in the new shopping centre selling match tickets, Gold Bond and "win a car" tickets 7 days a week in exchange for some advertising at the ground or a promotional event?

37. Workplace Ambassadors
There are some 2000 local businesses big enough to warrant having a "workplace Ambassador". someone who can put up posters, fixture lists, organise workplace trips to a match and present the idea of the company buying a couple of season tickets for staff use, selling raffle tickets, GB etc. Someone to suggest holding the Christmas Party at the COA etc. If we could get to a couple of hundred Ambassadors, each one generating £500 a year in new revenue, that would be £100k ... Ambassadors could also be a vehicle for handing out flyers, news sheets etc, Sell £1000 , get your nest season ticket free! Any Volunteers?

[Post edited 27 Apr 2023 14:00]

The fightback starts here on 13:59 - Apr 27 with 1652 views

49thseason

An idea for workplace ambassadors added to the list (No. 37) as a result of a conversation at the Trust meeting last night....
37. Workplace Ambassadors
There are some 2000 local businesses big enough to warrant having a "workplace Ambassador". Someone who can put up posters, fixture lists, organise workplace trips to a match and present the idea of the company buying a couple of season tickets for staff use, selling raffle tickets, GB etc. Someone to suggest holding the Christmas Party at the COA etc. If we could get to a couple of hundred Ambassadors, each one generating £500 a year in new revenue, that would be £100k ... Ambassadors could also be a vehicle for handing out flyers, news sheets etc, Sell £1000 , get your next season ticket free! Any Volunteers?

The fightback starts here on 14:22 - Apr 27 with 1560 views

Bluebottle

The fightback starts here on 13:59 - Apr 27 by 49thseason

This is a great idea, and really simple with potentially great results.
Could be tied in with new Gold Bond etc.
I wouldn't leave it at workplace, could be tied in with local pubs, sporting clubs, Sunday league teams etc, creating cross club and sport partnerships.
I for one would be more than happy to get involved and forward this.

The fightback starts here on 18:20 - May 31 with 1045 views

TomRAFC

Think this thread could do with reviving.

So many good ideas.

Poll:

Would you have Keith Hill back?

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