FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS
New member
- Oct 5, 2003
- 322
Mods/Insider,
I asked the following question of the "Ask the Club" section and received the following reply (please see below) as you can see I feel my question was not answered and would like to address this in a reply to my reply.
I do not want to ruin the format used on the "Ask the club" section and now ask you whether it would be ok to either re-ask (with possibly need to refomat) the question below or to attach a further response to the one already posted?
Thank you,
FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS
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Cost comparison per game Gills/Withdean
Can the club please state what the cost saving or loss is in comparison of ground sharing at Gillingham compared to playing at Withdean, i.e. it should be possible to state exactly how much taking into account rent, income from gate, sponsorship etc per game (exclude items such as wages just the costs to see whether in fact the club coming back to Sussex has indeed resulted in increased costs that have become to high to bear).
An answer please...
Per game Gillingham cost a gain/loss of £
Per game Withdean cost a gain/loss of £
Would it be financially alone cheaper playing back at Gillingham or ground sharing with Crawley? Crystal Palace? Portsmouth? Why not a few games at each, see no reason why the club couldn’t do this, have they investigated it?
Thank you
FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS
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Gillingham is not an option. Attendances dropped when we were there before to under 3,000 (and lower). There is no way the club could ever be viable with that level of attendance. Ground sharing with Portsmouth or Crystal Palace would be equally unpopular - and any ground share prevents sections of our supporters from going (young, elderly etc, etc.). The board did try as soon as they took over the club to see if the club could groundshare at Crawley, but Crawley Council were opposed to the idea and therefore they could not pursue it.
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Thank you for the reply though I feel you have not answered and indeed avoided providing costs to confirm whether or not, as I suspect coming to Withdean, has in fact per game cost the club more than had they stayed at another ground share or remained at Gillingham longer.
In other words, you state that sections of the clubs support would be prevented from going, how? Would these be the same sections of supporters that the club wanted to attract and did to the Play Off Final, much further away! In fact the club took the decision to not allow any priority to other supporters (e.g. Season ticket holders and litter patrollers) in preference of allowing all generations to attend the game. Something the Chairman made a particular point about.
I didn’t ask to ascertain whether the ground sharing would be popular, merely to find out if the price of returning home has been at the detriment to the club in pure financial terms alone. In other words is that a price that the club has had to pay for returning to its home base.
I realise you may not wish to disclose precise figures (though do the Company Accounts clearly disclose this?) but an indication along the lines of …. Gillingham (or another likewise ground share) would almost double our running costs per game … or Despite still making a loss per game, Withdean is roughly saving the club a fifth of the amount Gillingham cost the club) in my opinion would’ve gone further towards answering my question and not avoiding it. I belive not having an alternative to Withdean strengthens the argument for Falmer and I wonder if the reply provided had this in mind?
It may be that ground sharing at different grounds (to my knowledge not actively undertaken by a Professional club before) may be viable and alleviate some of the unpopularity of a particular ground. For example, supporters in the Chichester/Worthing area may find Portsmouth less unpopular than Gillingham; whereas those living in the Crawley/Horsham area may find Crystal Place less unpopular and thereby the club may sustain larger attendances, albeit not always the same fan base at each game.
I would very much appreciate an official reply to the above. Thank you.
FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS
I asked the following question of the "Ask the Club" section and received the following reply (please see below) as you can see I feel my question was not answered and would like to address this in a reply to my reply.
I do not want to ruin the format used on the "Ask the club" section and now ask you whether it would be ok to either re-ask (with possibly need to refomat) the question below or to attach a further response to the one already posted?
Thank you,
FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Cost comparison per game Gills/Withdean
Can the club please state what the cost saving or loss is in comparison of ground sharing at Gillingham compared to playing at Withdean, i.e. it should be possible to state exactly how much taking into account rent, income from gate, sponsorship etc per game (exclude items such as wages just the costs to see whether in fact the club coming back to Sussex has indeed resulted in increased costs that have become to high to bear).
An answer please...
Per game Gillingham cost a gain/loss of £
Per game Withdean cost a gain/loss of £
Would it be financially alone cheaper playing back at Gillingham or ground sharing with Crawley? Crystal Palace? Portsmouth? Why not a few games at each, see no reason why the club couldn’t do this, have they investigated it?
Thank you
FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Gillingham is not an option. Attendances dropped when we were there before to under 3,000 (and lower). There is no way the club could ever be viable with that level of attendance. Ground sharing with Portsmouth or Crystal Palace would be equally unpopular - and any ground share prevents sections of our supporters from going (young, elderly etc, etc.). The board did try as soon as they took over the club to see if the club could groundshare at Crawley, but Crawley Council were opposed to the idea and therefore they could not pursue it.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Thank you for the reply though I feel you have not answered and indeed avoided providing costs to confirm whether or not, as I suspect coming to Withdean, has in fact per game cost the club more than had they stayed at another ground share or remained at Gillingham longer.
In other words, you state that sections of the clubs support would be prevented from going, how? Would these be the same sections of supporters that the club wanted to attract and did to the Play Off Final, much further away! In fact the club took the decision to not allow any priority to other supporters (e.g. Season ticket holders and litter patrollers) in preference of allowing all generations to attend the game. Something the Chairman made a particular point about.
I didn’t ask to ascertain whether the ground sharing would be popular, merely to find out if the price of returning home has been at the detriment to the club in pure financial terms alone. In other words is that a price that the club has had to pay for returning to its home base.
I realise you may not wish to disclose precise figures (though do the Company Accounts clearly disclose this?) but an indication along the lines of …. Gillingham (or another likewise ground share) would almost double our running costs per game … or Despite still making a loss per game, Withdean is roughly saving the club a fifth of the amount Gillingham cost the club) in my opinion would’ve gone further towards answering my question and not avoiding it. I belive not having an alternative to Withdean strengthens the argument for Falmer and I wonder if the reply provided had this in mind?
It may be that ground sharing at different grounds (to my knowledge not actively undertaken by a Professional club before) may be viable and alleviate some of the unpopularity of a particular ground. For example, supporters in the Chichester/Worthing area may find Portsmouth less unpopular than Gillingham; whereas those living in the Crawley/Horsham area may find Crystal Place less unpopular and thereby the club may sustain larger attendances, albeit not always the same fan base at each game.
I would very much appreciate an official reply to the above. Thank you.
FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS
