Okay then, enlighten us.

People can only pass opinion on the information released to them, which in the case of Cougar supporters, is sp.

If you have some info which would influence people's thoughts, then let us know, because so far we have this to go on:

"we won't get in debt"

followed by:

"we are in debt"

You're right Al.

But as has been mentioned on other threads. What business is going to want associate their name and reputation with us at the moment given all the negative publicity surrounding the club?

The equation is simple , more people in the ground , the more willing businesses will be to pay for sponsoship , as for the rest , yes , but the difficulty is controlling the issuing of free adult tickets , that is the reason many BOD 's are unwilling to do it

But then again solving problems is what businessmen are supposed to be good at , unfortunatley too many seem to lack imagination when it comes to these things

I agree, more people = more business sponsorship, start it off as cheap as you like for the first season and raise it gradual as we continue in the Championship next season!.

Lets try and get a decent paying sponsor for the roof of the stand/stands for the foreseeable, lets say 4 years at £costs£ agreed but they are responsible for the sign writing and the upkeep for the set period of time, so thats no outlay, no upkeep, free roof repair and money in the bank, the deal is on the terms that the club make it! - We can use the Sky games as leverage for a better sum

The controlling of the free tickets is a tricky one I understand, last season the £5 entry tickets were issued, How may of these tickets were used?, Did the use of these tickets cause a downturn on average gate takings? i.e were the tickets being used by regular fans or new fans?, Who is collating this information to determine the best solution of using these tickets to attract new fans only?, until the information is assessed there can be no answers, it may be easier and less stressful to allow one adult free with each child from the schools concerned, this way it is only a matter of ensuring that the tickets are issued in a controlled way (whatever that may be) - Childs name, DOB, maybe just the issuers signature etc...... - so that the ticket may only be used by the child named

Lets keep positive for the sake of the club

I don't think people are "calling for their heads".... they want a truthful explanation of the current situation (then they might call for someone's head).

Let's face it, Mr Spencer did not endear himself to all the fans during his time as chairman and a few may now be adding one and one together and coming up with three.

If a Roman emperor keeps insisting that the peasants are revolting then eventually they will.

I like the idea of exchanging sponsorship for relevant services.

We could do a deal with Copper Dragon brewery for cost price ale in exchange for hoardings or for naming rights to a stand.

Willis Walker for cheap training gear, an outlet in town centre we could sell kit out of.

Wild's for pies to sell at the game.

A new digital scoreboard off a local electrical shop.

There's a lot of possibilities to be had.

Not strictly true, directors must show due diligence; part of which means ensuring the validity of the information they use to make important decisions.

Incidentally, I am not having a go at the old directors, I, like most fans, do not have enough valid information on which to form a solid opinion. I wish I had!!!

Absolutely, love the idea of the beer trading

, this could work, I wonder if the new directors will buy into this idea?, its not for profit and its low running costs meaning that any additional gate fees could go towards the ground, players etc... building our club in a unique way to be one of a kind, yet another ground breaking way forward from Keighley Cougars
(I may be getting a little carried away here

)

It's mutally beneficial too.

We'd get the beer at cost so we'd make more money on it.

The brewery get the advertising but more importantly, they get away fans coming in large numbers from further afield sampling it.

So when Rach serves them a cracking pint of Golden Pippin they'll remember it and pick up a few bottles when the see it on the supermarket shelf back home.

Everybody wins and nobody has to pay for anything.

A local brewery involved with the cougars? not a chance.

Sorry, no more information than you have, thiis is just a general observation, like I said, in any kind of business the directors can only act on in formation passed onto them, this being by the people whose duty it is to do so....

' Contra deals ' are hardly a new thing , many clubs already do them , as many clubs sell off certain parts of their activities for a set amount of money , personnally if I was in control of a club I'd be looking at running everything myself to maximise profit , it seems to me that sometimes the clubs just ' cant be bothered ' or it's ' too much trouble '

If somebody else can afford to pay you for the ' franchise ' and then make a profit , then that profit could be the clubs as well , quite often once a club gives up the control of something they no longer seem interested in it , this can result in bad feeling when the fans either get fleeced financially or are provided with sub standard service , this then can affect the ' feel good ' factor that all clubs need to build

The bottom line is getting enough ' payers ' through the gates to finance a self sustaining club spending max salary cap and having money left over to invest in youth development and marketing is exremely difficult , to me no stone can be left unturned or ignored when it comes to bringing in finance , clubs need every last penny of every revenue stream , and if that needs a bit of organisation and work , then it has to be done

Starbug, I agree with you about bringing more fans in, Cougars actually did a great job with that last season with a 25% increase.

Likewise regarding franchising services, catering, cleaning etc. They should stay inhouse where possible.

I was more on about tangible things like beer, merchandise, scoreboards, PA systems etc.

We've some ad hoardings still up from the Fiji vs South Africa Centenary World Cup Game we had. So in my opinion we should look to trade some this space in exchange for things that will improve the clubs infrastructure or sell on for greater profit.

Which tells you that the boards around the ground are of little real value , this is not a criticism , just the way it is , the boards facing outwards onto the by pass and ASDA at Hilton Park brought the bulk of the money in compared to the ones facing inwards , ultimatley a lot more people in the ground or a reasonable TV audience is what will produce real results , I'm not saying dont do it , just that dont expect people knocking the doors down

I can see the point of free tickets for kids, but I'm not sure about for adults as well? Cheap certainly, free no. I think if you've paid for something you'll value it more; in the case of a ticket, it perhaps means you'll definitely turn up, whereas it wouldn't matter with a free ticket wether you did or not.
The problem is making sure they go to new supporters, not existing ones; A maybe not perfect solution would be to give them to schools/organisations on a strictly rotational basis, not just hand them out all over the place. So you may get a cheap ticket for one game because you go to a certain school or belong to a certain organisation, but if you want to go to the next game you'll have to buy, as it will be some other groups' turn to get the cheapies.
Maybe have a nominated game where a season ticket holder can bring a friend for a fiver or summat...

Well your first post:



seemed to infer that you knew a bit more about the situation.

The directors are responsible for the company. It is them that sign off the accounts to say that the company is a " Going Concern", so I think it would be very difficult to miss a £183,000 debt.

Anyway in a business, such as a rugby club it is the directors that fully determine the direction the company takes, and should therefore be fully aware of everything that goes on.

As I posted earlier



Apparently your near neighbours gave out a lot of freebies and it was abused , resulting in most owners using that as an excuse not to do it , free adult tickets must be the aim , but as you point out , control is the issue here

Who gets them and uses them has to be cosely defined and also communicated to the paying fans , when you get the local ' glory fan ' boasting in the pub that he gets in for free you create all sorts of problems , so close control and letting the ' payers ' know what you are doing , why you have to do it , the long term benifits of doing it , and that you will do all within your powers to stop it being abused is vitally important

You've got be really careful not to alienate season ticket holders and regular fans.

Why should they pay to get in and see people get in for nowt.

From personal experience though it does work.

When I was about 9 I got free tickets at school and it was what eventually got me hooked.

One thing that I really remember back then was how much more interactive the players were with the kids.

I used to remember Carleton Farrell running up and down the edge of the pitch high fiving everyone and being able to run on the pitch at the end of the game and shake the players hands and pat them on the back. There isn't that player/kid interaction of the early cougarmania years now.

Communication

My wife and I came to Cougars in the early nineties because our kids got free tickets - it really does work if the product is right.

I recently spoke to a fan from a superleague club who came to watch us and commented how good it was that players came into the bar after the game and interacted with fans. He said at his club you had to pay a fortune for the privilege.

There was a tangible spirit amongst the players last year I only hope that continues this year.

If the new directors are up to anything (and I assume they are) they should understand the tools available to analyse a business and set the necessary targets and responsibilities to take it forward.

I agree with being involved in every revenue stream and striving for customer satisfaction, but sometimes it makes sense to franchise ie the burger van. The key business decision is making the call of when its viable.

Yet again it seems that Cougar fans live in "interesting times".

I think its about time the new directors held a forum with the fans to give a broad outline of what they intend and to dispel the growing rumour mill.

www.keighleynews.co.uk Basically the article confirms the new board of directors and the way they see us going forward, however to my suprise, more disappointment than suprise really is Neil is on the new board. Forwardpass tries to pass the criticism of Neil and Colin without evidence to the contrary that as directors they were ultimately responsible for ensuring payments were being made. How could we be told in papers weeks ago we are in stronger position yet this bill was outstanding, can someone explain this. The reason for my disappointment of Neil being on new board is simply that without a full and frank public statement the club in my view cannot be seen as moving forward as this is not the 1st time under the stewardship of Neil. Whilst I may come across as harsh all that is needed is evidence that as chairman Neil ACCEPTS responsibility. Without is whilst I will attend games and watch and support the players I will not be going in bar and spending money as to me its like rewarding failure. If at such a time as a full statement is public that is my position

www.keighleynews.co.uk Basically the article confirms the new board of directors and the way they see us going forward, however to my suprise, more disappointment than suprise really is Neil is on the new board. Forwardpass tries to pass the criticism of Neil and Colin without evidence to the contrary that as directors they were ultimately responsible for ensuring payments were being made. How could we be told in papers weeks ago we are in stronger position yet this bill was outstanding, can someone explain this. The reason for my disappointment of Neil being on new board is simply that without a full and frank public statement the club in my view cannot be seen as moving forward as this is not the 1st time under the stewardship of Neil. Whilst I may come across as harsh all that is needed is evidence that as chairman Neil ACCEPTS responsibility. Without is whilst I will attend games and watch and support the players I will not be going in bar and spending money as to me its like rewarding failure. If at such a time as a full statement is public that is my position

This is the bit that I don't like:

[i"This significant work and achievement has – to the credit of anyone at Cougars and our supporters – come about despite the back-drop of an historic issue of managing a legacy tax debt". [/i

I won't be satisfied with anything other than a full explanation of when and how this "tax debt legacy" came about.

Without knowing the "facts", I will reserve judgement on Mr Spencer, but am very surprised that he is allowed on the new board.

This could and should have been a new beginning.

Something stinks about this



I cannot believe there has not been any statement on this, so much for respecting the fans that pay each game.

I fully agree.

What the hell is a "legacy tax debt".

If the 2001 board are not to blame for it, then make it clear that this is the case.

No comment on the source of it will mean fans reaching only one conclusion.