SCL is 10 years old this year, and throughout its history it has needed extra financial input over and above what it can ' earn ' to operate as a competitive Championship club, for the 1st 4 years it was the original income suppled by the ' consortium ' , for the next 5 years it was Arthur Thomas's individual generosity, we currently are operating at a lower level than in the past, but ultimatley that will not be able to continue indefinatley .

Clubs find their income in different ways, some have individual backers, some are located in large towns/citys and are able to bring in significant corporate/sponsorship , some clubs can make income because they own their stadiums

It would appear we will have to find a different option, essentially we need to dramatically increase our support base, or get our existing support to donate more than they currently do, the 1 st option would require a significant increase in both our general marketing activity and our community work, I believe in the near future the 2 nd option will be put before the clubs supporters in the form of a supporters trust, while this might on the face of it seem a good idea ( Barcelona are a ST, and are the often used example by those who see them as a positive ) however for every FCB, there are hundreds of Rochdale /Hunslets

So do we want a ST? , it would probably remove any chance of ever making SL, and also of ever attracting a single major investor

As I seem to have upset most of the MB, those of you who dont wish to read anything not rose tinted can ignore this thread

I don't know you Starbug but for whatever reason you have turned against the current management of the club and seem to feel that this is the forum to resolve any issues you have.
Personally I don't think it is - many of us have suffered financial loss at the hands of previous regimes but still support the club wherever we can.
Take a few weeks away from the forum and then see how you feel.
We are too small a band to lose someone who has done as much for the club as you have so I hope it gets resolved.
Yours in sport,
M

SL will be 20yrs old by the end of the current licencing perod in 2015.
This club will have tasted the top flight just once in that time.
Everything this club has tried to do to better itself has failed.Its now time for a new aproach,if thats a ST then personally speaking lets go for it

I don't understand Bugstar's timing of his negative/advisory posts ?
Unless he know's something we don't !

Ste you know me , i just want to watch Rugby , i leave the Club Politics to the Board ,but i dont want you to stop supporting our club or our team , so in the Words of the 3 Degrees ,"When will we see you Again ".

The timing is simple, last week option one ended, so option two is now the only option available

Do the club have an alternative plan to replace the CT?

Thats the $ 64,000 question?

Why? I don't know what his issue is either, but I've seen several comments telling him to take a break, this is an independent board it may not get him the official answers he may require. And although I don't always agree with him, and I may not this time if I knew what his issues are, I respect that he has as much right as anyone to post what the hell he likes.

It would be a sad day if Starbug leaves this board and an even sadder one if he leaves the terracing.

So Steve, you're predicting the demise of Leigh Centurions all because they won't sign up to your Community Trust, have I got that right?

Have you ever considered why they don't want to?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdbUB0Vc ... r_embedded About 1hr 19 minutes in. Could be wrong ,i'm just assuming this could be the alternative

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdbUB0Vc ... r_embedded About 1hr 19 minutes in. Could be wrong ,i'm just assuming this could be the alternative

I have to say i agree with starbug on this one. I feel that work in the community is the best viable way to make a long term progression with the gates, which has to be the ultimate goal, as this takes the strain away from relying on income from sponsors and investors, which is NEVER guaranteed. Every successful superleague club has got a thriving community development team. Look at wigan and leeds as two fine examples. Yes, geographically their area is larger than ours, but whats to stop us concentrating on the people of leigh first, then branching out to suburbs on boundaries of other clubs community departments? Atherton (salford perhaps) Newton, golborne, offer something new in the area and maybe pick off the odd disillusioned fan of other clubs here and there. Most importantly of all, its the schools. The fans of tomorrow are more often than not watching the big clubs on sky. But if we were there in person, the odd player doing a school visit, we'd be relating to the kids on a personal level, and not just be a team on the telly.

As I put in the O/P mish, I dont see any sugar daddies on the horizon with a million quid to throw away with no guarantees of promotion, we are as a town devoid of thriving businesses to provide major sponsorship , so what options do you see apart from the fans?

So its either more fans , which in my opinion would need a huge increase in marketing and community work, far in excess of anything we have done previously, to do that you need in community terms ' proffessional ' people, volunteers wont cut it, marketing, you can get away with to a degree

So a ST is pretty much the last resort, all just my opinion, whats yours?

As for why they dont want to work with the CT, I have my suspicions, but I'll keep them to myself for the time being

99.99 % there Keith, there is a popular saying used by a major UK organisation

" Dont take the law into your own hands, leave it to the proffessionals "

Now which organisation had that almost as a motto?

Or perhaps another way Keith, I cannot plaster for toffee , I can just about repair a ' reveal ' on a brick out patio, but if I decided to replaster the walls of my house it wouldn't be a problem , it would just be me that had ' wobbly ' walls, would it be a problem if I decided to rewire my house or install a new gas boiler?

Some things you can get away with, some you need to bring in the experts for

I think you're all missing the point here; there will be a 'community' aspect at the club, and one run which will be run by professionals, it just won't be the 'Community Trust' who are running it (and the apprentices are not volunteers, they are exactly that....apprentices).

ST -The model we should have turned to all those years ago?

The question will be simple. Can we operate on the same cost base next season and will we get the same co-operation from LSV co ?

Assuming our cost base increases, eg reserves etc, and the LSV revert to previous form then we have a gap that needs to be filled. The incumbants have stated they will not fill it, so we need to look at how we do that now not later.

A business/supporters Trust partnership is the way forward imho, we create an huge amount of shares and make them available, absorbing existing shareholdings and any directors loans. Lisa/Trust money goes to the club via shares, as would TC and any other investment from a business or individual - Toady may be able to fill in legals here.

The articles of the trust may cover the possibility of a sugar daddy but to me its simple an investment in shares that allows him to control the club, from which any further investment would be via more shares not Director Loans, if he loses interest then he contributes no more and his share is gradually diluted.

I'll leave the community stuff to Mish and Bugsy, but having young kids doing it raises a few questions, I would prefer it to employ FT players like Sheffield do.

Quote ="mishmash"I think you're all missing the point here; there will be a 'community' aspect at the club, and one run which will be run by professionals, it just won't be the 'Community Trust' who are running it (and the apprentices are not volunteers, they are exactly that....apprentices).'" I hope ' Active Synergy ' are not similar to this organisation www.centraltraininggroup.org/cou ... ourses.php I fully understand how this will help the lads , who it would seem are all unemployed and not in FT education , as primarily , that is what Active synergy do , they get government funding for every young person they remove from the unemployment figures , some would say it is just a way of reducing those figures without actually providing ' real ' jobs I assume it is Active Synergy who are the proffessionals in this arrangement ?

Quote ="mishmash"I think you're all missing the point here; there will be a 'community' aspect at the club, and one run which will be run by professionals, it just won't be the 'Community Trust' who are running it (and the apprentices are not volunteers, they are exactly that....apprentices).'" I hope ' Active Synergy ' are not similar to this organisation www.centraltraininggroup.org/cou ... ourses.php I fully understand how this will help the lads , who it would seem are all unemployed and not in FT education , as primarily , that is what Active synergy do , they get government funding for every young person they remove from the unemployment figures , some would say it is just a way of reducing those figures without actually providing ' real ' jobs I assume it is Active Synergy who are the proffessionals in this arrangement ?

Richie Blackmore isn't that young

Get beating that drum Mo

He is also the ' General Manager ' , although I thought his remit was business development , is he qualified to do community work ? , is he experienced in it ? , has he ever submitted bids for funding ?

All serious questions , as I put earlier , you can get away working in marketing ie , ' Business development ' with a strong personality and a enthusiastic outlook , other jobs require specific skills and experience

im not sure, persoanlly i don't know much about him. Maybe you could ask him this at the LISA meeting? i think he's making an appearence there this week

OK I think the most important questions regarding the Supporters Trust has to be - what did you actually do for the club and how many new fans did you bring through the gate? How many schools did you get into and how well did you do in generating interest among the junior fans?

This is surely the test of how successful the ST was, and how 'professional' you were?

I have had a look at the Leigh Communtiy Trust website to see what they are doing in the community.
I notice one of the Trustees is Steve Pike who I think is Starbug (apologies if I am wrong).
If this is the case perhaps we should be aware of this "interest" and await the other side of the story from the club before getting involved in speculation on here.
This is not a crticism of Starbug but when an interested party is passionate about something the other side may be equally as passionate.

Please can we all take time out, here. I understand where 'Starbug' is coming from, as he has put considerable time and effort into what was the Community Trust. However, I believe that the way the Club & Community Department links were set up, just wasn't working. To say we will not have a 'Community Department', in the future, is way wide of the mark. So, let's just await developments. One thing's for sure - the current administration is 100% aware that it is essential for the club to have strong links with the community and schools, in order to move forward, and they will be doing something about that.

Oh, and by the way, the current administration does have access to 'volunteers' who are highly professionally qualified. (and I'm not talking about me here!)