TheClubsVoice wrote:
The directors have loaned the club just over £150k to date. Whereas we are always on the look out for good players virtually all of them are tied up in contracts at this point in time. We will keep reviewing this and support our Head Coach in whatever way he sees fit within the boundaries of the salary cap the club has imposed on it via the RFL. Making a one off personal financial commitment to sign a calibre of player might seem straight forward but it isn't. The club has to stay within the salary cap imposed upon it. The salary cap is limited to the lower of £300k or 40% of turnover. Currently, our club does not turn over enough to achieve a salary cap at the £300k level. The maximum budget we'd be able to achieve based on turnover is much less than that. If the directors were to make a one off personal financial commitment to sign a high calibre player next year, that player would probably cost, say, £40k contract monies (assume he's a big star who really wants to play for Cougars!). All other things being equal the directors would have to loan the club £100k to sign the player (given the 40% restriction) and then immediately write off the loan to revenue so that the club stays within salary cap.
In reality wanting the club to do well on the back of signing stars is not sustainable. Building from the roots up and signing players with potential from the surrounding area and wider (which is very similar to what Marchy is doing) is the strategy. The situation is all about the strategy around the player pathway whilst growing the club's revenues to over £1m. If we turnover over £1m we can get dispensation from the RFL for a £400k salary cap which will enable to have the best of our local talent playing with the best of international talent on OUR pitch. Growing the club's revenues to over £1m is entirely feasible and it requires the fans to bring another person or two with them (each!) every game, for the club to sign more and more commercial sponsorship revenues (which is happening with 8 new sponsors signed over the past 3 weeks), for the fans and inhabitants of Keighley to book the function suites for their personal and business events whenever they have them and, when the club organises quality regular events like comedy nights, for the fans to come down en mass (for only a tenner each) and support it whilst having a good night (and not making some clever online comment about there only being 8 people there so there's no point in attending!). The dynamics are simple. More people down at the Cougars supporting and using the Cougar facilities = strong club = strong team).
That response is to me indicative of my perception of the how the directors think. There is an element of apathy in relation to attendances and an expectancy that fans will just turn up.
What have the club done to entice my mate to come down? Have they offered any incentive to entice a new supporter.
You've offered 20K of free season tickets, great idea in principle but it hasn't worked. Maybe entice Mum or Dad to come down and child will follow? New fans will not turn up on mass without marketing. Yes, we as fans can play our part, but what has the club done? You give me x amount of discounted tickets and I will happily distribute at work. I'm sure others would too.
Look at Swinton as a casing point. They were averaging around 500 in the first few games. They got over 1,172 against Leigh which probably was due to the travelling support. They have a £5 entry and get 1411 of a televised game, on a Thursday night against Haven. I accept they may not have hit the forecasted turnover through the gate that day (not far off though), but what about bar takings, food etc. They also posted a win so how many of those will convert to the next home game. Point is, they tried something and it got people down.
We all want success and all play our part, but the club need to do a hell of lot more in my view.
I like the idea about junior development. We have a very encouraging under 20's team, some of who I would like to see given some first team exposure. Dean looks like a very competent coach. My only point to that answer from the club is what has changed in 12 months? JD brought some marquee signings with him, but we've moved away from that model. Is that due to cost or Marchy's policy?
As for available players, from what I hear Cosgrove wanted to stay, but his loan deal came to an end. I think he did more than enough to warrant a contract. Was it a case of we couldn't get him permanently or didn't try?
Regarding comedy nights, IMO give them a miss. It's been tried and didn't work. Again, credit for the idea. What about trying it on a game day, say an hour or so before kick off. It might get people down earlier and then there's a potential increased spend behind the bar. Bar staff will be on duty anyway so no additional wages etc to cover.
