Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:02 pm  

chapster wrote:

can you see that actually being possible and also being in any way competative in super league in the next 3-5 years, honestly?

Honestly, it would be a hard task but that something that Wakefield has always thrived on.

I've used my best judgement over the years to assess the relative playing strengths of Wakefield Trinity and poor squads on paper have constantly amazed me while the more talented squads have often let us down.

In the short term things may be hard but the club and the business will be there to build back up and eventually support a stronger squad.

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:08 pm  

The Clan wrote:

Honestly, it would be a hard task but that something that Wakefield has always thrived on.

I've used my best judgement over the years to assess the relative playing strengths of Wakefield Trinity and poor squads on paper have constantly amazed me while the more talented squads have often let us down.

In the short term things may be hard but the club and the business will be there to build back up and eventually support a stronger squad.

agree with everything there, sometimes it was better when we had nowhere to go but up, when we did get a bit up we found we only really had the resources and public support to go down again, now we are at a decision stage for fans and club members alike, do we want a club and if so does it have to be a SL club?
Its easy to see now that as a club we needed an ellis westwood atkins etc to come along every year, mainly to sell on and balance the books, we all maybe knew it all along.

my answers to the 2 questions being yes and no by the way

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:11 pm  

Tricky2309 wrote:

Clan, does your response here not suggest that you like many others on here realise that at this time we simply are not financed for SL and that in the circumstances a drop down the league would make us a more viable proposition for the long term, rather than a potential further 12 months or few years struggling in SL, as was stated on another thread

There's much I don't know about the financing and expenditure of the club so I really could'nt say.

I don't think we are that far off being able to break even, maybe a sponsorship or two, maybe a semi wealthy backer or two, maybe some radical backroom cuts.

Who knows what a new ownership would bring, perhaps people unwilling to get involved with the old would welcome a partnership with the new.

We shouldn’t meekly throw our current status in the gutter, we fought too hard to get it and even harder to retain it thus far. A period of reorganisation and then rebuilding could see us prosper. Don't buy into the comments that people make about Newmarket being a pipe dream, Newmarket is no smoke and mirror attempt to gain a franchise it's for real and is likely to happen. When it does we will still have a lot of hard graft to do but we will be able to see light at the end of the tunnel!

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:03 pm  

If I could be so bold as to make a plea to those considering contributing to the £500k.

Many are already decided and committed to 'investing', others cannot or will not, which is fair enough.

The plea is to those who are able to, but are undecided. Many of those seem to have been put off by lack of clarity/information and also negative arguments and conflicting/confusing statements on this forum.

What I would ask is that you make the pledge first and then make up your mind when and if the time comes to do that. To me the worst case scenario would be to have £300k in pledges and then the opportunity to do something now would be lost.

It seems that system of payment is protected and guaranteed, but obviously check this for yourselves too. If the target is met and then the information available at that time is insufficient, or the situation is unworkable, then you can still walk away with your money.


P.S. Sorry, I don't have £1k, never mind a spare £1k

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:06 pm  

I just posted this on another thread but thought I should post it here as well because it is important -

Newmarket Community Stadium will happen if people continue to work towards making it happen. The club have confirmed that a move to the proposed Newmarket Community Stadium is commercial viable as a NL1 side not just SL and Yorkcourt are committed to the deal either way. The stadium will be SL compliant, so if the worst happens then I suspect a return to SL for Wakefield would be very possible in three years.

As for the Newmarket development happening then it is highly likely that warehousing and distribution units will be built on at least a minimum of 33ha of the site as it will be taken out of Green-belt by a target date of March 2012 via the LDF process.

The support for Newmarket is vital for the community sport facilities, jobs and as a new home for professional sport in the city of Wakefield. People need to understand that Newmarket will continue with or without Wakefield Trinity and there current financial problems and the stadium will be available for whomever wishes to use it in the future irrespective. If that is the current Wakefield Trinity Wildcats or a 'new' Wakefield Trinity Wildcats or even a football or Rugby Union team, it will be there if we fight for it!

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:10 pm  

The Clan said: "I don't think we are that far off being able to break even, maybe a sponsorship or two, maybe a semi wealthy backer or two, maybe some radical backroom cuts."

I recall from the shareholders meeting that Ted admitted the club had lost over £1,000,000 in the last few years. Do you know if the club is still carrying this kind of debt?

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:17 pm  

Chairman Miaow wrote:

The Clan said: "I don't think we are that far off being able to break even, maybe a sponsorship or two, maybe a semi wealthy backer or two, maybe some radical backroom cuts."

I recall from the shareholders meeting that Ted admitted the club had lost over £1,000,000 in the last few years. Do you know if the club is still carrying this kind of debt?

I think on current budgets the club is losing about £150K to £200K per season, maybe the current regime has exhausted all avenues in order to make up he defecit and move on.

There may be certain parties with more willingness to get involved once the current regime has nothing to do with the club, this has been stated in various places on numerous occasions for years.

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:26 pm  

Been listening to people's views carefully, and a lot of people whose opinion I respect, like Sandal Cat and Clan, are making very good points. And coco makes a good point. It's a shame that the best selling points for the scheme are from people on here and not the club.

PS: look on the bright side - I've never been to Toulouse.

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:32 pm  

Thanks for the reply, Clan. Finding an additional £150 - £200k a season doesn't sound insurmountable to me. And that's based on SL status obviously. I would imagine we could operate far more frugally in the Championship. To be honest, I welcome a spell in the Championship - visting grounds I haven't seen in a long while, a realistic chance of wins or even, dare I say it, silverware, a break from being the perennial whipping boys/also rans of Super League. Basically rediscovering why I fell in love with this game. I believe this is the best we can hope for at this moment in time, and I know Trinity fans will use our time away from SL to reinvigourate the club.

Re: AGM/EGM tonight : Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:34 pm  

Chairman Miaow wrote:

Thanks for the reply, Clan. Finding an additional £150 - £200k a season doesn't sound insurmountable to me. And that's based on SL status obviously. I would imagine we could operate far more frugally in the Championship. To be honest, I welcome a spell in the Championship - visting grounds I haven't seen in a long while, a realistic chance of wins or even, dare I say it, silverware, a break from being the perennial whipping boys/also rans of Super League. Basically rediscovering why I fell in love with this game. I believe this is the best we can hope for at this moment in time, and I know Trinity fans will use our time away from SL to reinvigourate the club.

And Chairman you could still do that from a brand new stadium at Newmarket from 2013 as well!