[urlhttp://www.keighleycougars.info/[/url

Press release from the club.

Keighley Cougars (2001) Ltd in Administration
Keighley Cougars can confirm that after the court hearing in Leeds today, that the company Keighley Cougars (2001) Ltd is now in the hands of the administrators, Begbies Traynor.
The Sale & Purchase agreement for the companies assets has also been completed and are now owned by Keighley Cougars (2010) Ltd.
The club will be making further announcements next week.

What a nice christmas pressie to all the fans, players and all the backroom staff from the directors of cougars 2001, thanks for that. Never before have I even considered stopping watching the cougars. I hope to god the new directors do not include the previous ones. Anyway thats my moan done for now, good luck to all the players for next season.

Good Post

Whilst we all winge and speculate about what's happened there's a load of staff and players down at Cougar Park who no doubt have been going through a rotten few weeks.

Hopefully it's not going to get worse for them and we can all start to move forward with KC2010.

Last of all, Merry Christmas to all players, staff and everyone posting on here.

Interesting info on the link www.keighleynews.co.uk It appears the new club being run on a not for profit organisation which suprised but also pleased me.

Interesting info on the link www.keighleynews.co.uk It appears the new club being run on a not for profit organisation which suprised but also pleased me.

Quote ="girl power"Interesting info on the link www.keighleynews.co.uk It appears the new club being run on a not for profit organisation which suprised but also pleased me.'" Its the tax bill of £183,000 that staggers me, I wonder if Mr Spencer will tell us why its so big? The "not for profit" bit is intriguing it will be interesting to see what "type" of "not for profit" organisation they are setting up. Some interesting info here: [urlhttp://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/information/setting_up/info_pdf/not4prof.pdf[/url

Quote ="girl power"Interesting info on the link www.keighleynews.co.uk It appears the new club being run on a not for profit organisation which suprised but also pleased me.'" Its the tax bill of £183,000 that staggers me, I wonder if Mr Spencer will tell us why its so big? The "not for profit" bit is intriguing it will be interesting to see what "type" of "not for profit" organisation they are setting up. Some interesting info here: [urlhttp://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/information/setting_up/info_pdf/not4prof.pdf[/url

A debt as large as this means that the people running the club are completely incompetant. If my calculations are correct then the clubs VAT bill can not be much more than £30k per year and there may be £40k per year in PAYE. This means that this debt represents probably about three years in unpaid tax.

All what we have been told over the last few years is a crock of s**t, and the club has been run in to the ground. Far from not spending more than we can afford, they have been vastly overspending for years. What is most disturbing though is that the club must have been running at a loss even when we had a team of virtual amateurs at the bottom of the table. If that is so where was all the money going, as it certainly wasn't on players?

Even Oldham, who have been spending a fortune on players for years only owed £50k.

This just beggars belief, and god help us if any of the people who are working at the club are still involved in the new one.

180 grand over 9 years , so 20 grand a year , works out at around 150 extra fans a game

Is that what it was - 9 years? Or are you going on the 2001 LTD?

Just looking at the current admin taking over in 2001 , so 9 years till now

It is a fine line between profit and loss at many businesses , the problem comes when a companies costs are fixed and it's income is not

Success at most normal businesses usually results in more income over and above any increases in costs , unfortunatley in sports businesses the opposite can be and usually is the case

You can have the most successful sports business in the world and lose millions per year , in a normal business you can be the worst performing but still make a tidy profit

It is a double edged sword , success costs , failure costs , what is needed is more revenue and income no matter what happens on the playing side

Load of staff? Too many i think.time to cut the wage bill,simple as!

Quite simply the buck stops with those with ultimate responsibility at the club which means both directors of cougars 2001. The silence on this from them is deafening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obe, cutting staff? That's a bit harsh - it should only ever be a last resort. That's people's livelihoods you're taking away!
A few more fans per game would be a better solution, so let's get out there and spread the word.

As I posted earlier , 150 per game would have given you the 180 grand over 9 years , the problem then is that the BOD would then budget for 150 more than that , and so it goes on

The answer is more revenue not reliant on the playing of RL , or increasing income from all sources available to the club , and finding new revenue streams and accessing them and maximissing them

I would suggest an half decent explanation of this debt would be a good start, and letting us know the make up of the new board might also help things along.

I certainly won't be beating a drum for the club until we get shown some respect, as opposed to the b******t we've been fed about about our financial stability.

Whilst it's not nice to let people go, it's a fair point Steve.

We've got reserves being paid to do development work.

I know junior rugby league is important and so is getting down with the kids but in my opinion it should be left to the 3 full time first team players to do it.

A lot of this massive bill that was due will be most likely be interest that HM Revenue & Customs charge on late and overdue payments. Over the last few years this interest rate has moved up and down from a high of 8.5% to a low of 2.5% that HMRC charge over the course of the year. This interest is added to the original value on a DAILY basis until the whole amount is paid. So I think a lot of the money will have built up there.

Doesn't make any excuses for how the club managed to get themselves into this mess. Just like our club did a few years back. It would be better if they were upfront with the fans in the first place and explain how it happened.

Good luck for the coming season, look forward to seeing you all when we play.

Thing is, AJ, whoever IS at fault, it probably isn't the backroom staff, receptionists, etc. It seems very unfair that they should lose their livelihoods for someone else's errors. I wouldn't want the Cougars to save a few bob by getting rid of the people who help make it all happen every Sunday.
We all like to think of the Cougars as 'our' club - the staff must feel that bond in a very real way, and to let them down would be bordering on unforgiveable. I'd rather pay a bit more to see them, than have people lose their jobs.

Disagree there Mick,i for one would not pay more to keep someone in a job.

To keep the club alive the axe has got to fall somewhere,IMO.How else is the club going to pay off that MASSIVE debt?

Where do you suggest ?

Shame for the Cougars, not what you need going into a season in the Championship, keep the faith and dont give up on your team.

I'm with you there Steve.

The customers at our place wouldn't pay more money for product just to keep staff in a job.

There's only 3 ways to dig our way out of this.

1) Get more fans coming in.

2) Make the business more efficient, cutting wage bills, letting staff go etc.

3) One of us hits the euromillions jackpot and runs the club through philanthropy.

Cannot say without a roll call of staff and salaries , but if a business losing that kind of money they must start with the high earners.

I know there are many other ways to save money but this is where it should start.

I am no expert in this field,this is just my opinion and the savings would be instant.

You have experience Starbug,what do you suggest?

Clubs at our level cannot afford many F/t employees so yes the 1 st place to look at is the admin , however you do need some and I'm guessing that you currently have the balance about right , once you have done that then it is all about maximissing revenue from anywhere you can and somehow getting more through the gates

My personal opinion is that all the non SL clubs need to work together on this , collaboration is vital , non of us are big enough to go it alone

I am assuming you do a decent amount of community work , but the question is , does this work pay off , do you have the resources to follow up the work done in the schools ? , do you get the kids through the gates at Cougar Park because of this work ? , if not why not , and what needs to happen to change this ?

Do you make any money from merchandise sales ? , do those sales cost money to achieve ? , how can you improve both the amount of those sales and the profit on those sales ? , you also have to avoid being left with unsold stock , How do you get the people of the town wearing Cougar branded stuff instead of leeds/bulls ?

Do you have the resources to get into the town centre/local supermarkets on a regular basis with offers to entice families to the matches ? , to achieve this , who are you targeting ?

How profitable is your lottery ? , how can you make it more profitable ?

Is keighley an attractive proposition for ' corporate ' type support , do you have the business and industry locally to bring in the amount of support that the RFL encourage us to chase ? , if it's not there is it even worth chasing ? , my opinion is that business/corporate support is either there or not , the business is there in the town and knows you exist or it isn,t

Is the televising of games at our level worth what we recieve for them ? , do clubs at our level get more sponsorship because of the televising of games ? , if not how can we change this ?

All these things and more need to be looked at from an individual clubs perspective and collectively by all the clubs , we are all in a fight for survival , and in a fight , numbers are stronger than individuals

More questions in that than there is about the universe, you debating hoar starbug. Bit quiet in Leyther land today?