June 2010 accounts

[Rockford's Love Child]

Interesting to read that we actually recorded a small operating profit of £56,000 in the year to 30th June 2010 following the budget cuts. However, the debt owed to Johnson now stands at £5 million following the loss of £1million pounds in the previous financial year.

We must be one of the few teams in all four divisions to have broken even last year which must be a positive in one sense. On the other hand, it seems clear from these figures that we are now receiving no outside investment whatsoever, and are totally reliant on gate money and commercial income to survive.

 

[Ian]

Well, actually making an operating profit in this climate isn't too bad. It's the damned £5m debt which I can imagine will never go away.

It's also worrying that we have to rely on gate money which gets smaller by the year. Average gates of 4-5k and falling.. That's not healthy.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Falling gates is a big problem. We won't make profits next season if they continue to decrease. The atmosphere is well down at the ground and people are apparently staying away because of the partial stand closures as they'd rather sit in the Upper Kop.

The club really need to take a look and see what they can do to address this, because it simply cannot afford to allow it to carry on much longer.

 

[Filed Under Rockford]

Upper Kop

That's a great call ScoopS, I personally know people who have stayed away due to the upper kop closure which has is killing the atmosphere in the ground. I suggested this to the staff back in the summer and they agreed but obviously proclaimed the short term gain economically.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Falling gates is a big problem. We won't make profits next season if they continue to decrease. The atmosphere is well down at the ground and people are apparently staying away because of the partial stand closures as they'd rather sit in the Upper Kop.

They're ****ing pathetic then.

RLC, got a pdf of the accts?

 

[Ian]

I personally know people who have stayed away due to the upper kop closure which has is killing the atmosphere in the ground.

Staying away just because you can't sit in the upper kop. Sounds a little crazy to me. If I get moved out of the JK stand, I'd be a little bit pissed, but it wouldn't stop me going the game.

 

[Sparky]

I just cant believe people would stay away coz they cant sit up there. What a bunch of jokers. Dont they support the club ?!

You can see why they closed it (less stewards etc).

I sit in the lower kop and its made it feel like it has a bit more of an atmosphere now there are more people in the area.

 

[Filed Under Rockford]

The examples I know aren't Rovers fans first and foremost but held season tickets for the upper Kop nonetheless and travelled over from Liverpool each home game, it's a shame to lose their financial contribution.

 

[Rob]

I believed the answer to be to put the ppl from the Kop into the Cowshed to fill it every game and improve the atmosphere. Any overspills can go into the Borough Road/Paddock and away fans can go and sit in the Kop.

Years ago when the Cowshed was full with home fans the ground was absolutely rocking, nowadays 100 away fans in there make more noise than the whole of the lower Kop put together which makes for the quietest football ground known to man.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

They're ****ing pathetic then.

RLC, got a pdf of the accts?

No, unfortunately I just borrowed the figures from an alternative web site (sorry Ian).

As regards the Kop / Cowshed issue, I think any change is basically just applying a sticking plaster to a gaping wound. Our gates are falling because we have an underinvested squad and are battling relegation for a second season running, and until the club's ambitions rise higher attendances won't increase either.

 

[Filed Under Rockford]

Years ago when the Cowshed was full with home fans the ground was absolutely rocking, nowadays 100 away fans in there make more noise than the whole of the lower Kop put together which makes for the quietest football ground known to man.

My point exactly, following my exile from the upper kop I'm in the main stand and no matter how loud the lower kop sings the cowsheds are louder. I've said it before, the atmosphere is lost from the lower kop as the roof is so high it looks like an open end whereas the atmosphere from the away end is contained withinin the lower roof.

 

[Rob]

The day they put away fans in the Cowshed rather than sticking them in the Kop with the home fans was when the atmosphere are Prenton Park started to die.

The atmosphere years ago with a mixed stand was fantastic and there was never any bother despite the singing, shouting, cheering and booing.

If you so much as fart in the Main Stand these days theres some muppet calling for you to be kicked out

 

[TRFC_Ian]

The day they put away fans in the Cowshed rather than sticking them in the Kop with the home fans was when the atmosphere are Prenton Park started to die.

The atmosphere years ago with a mixed stand was fantastic and there was never any bother despite the singing, shouting, cheering and booing.

If you so much as fart in the Main Stand these days theres some muppet calling for you to be kicked out

Couldn't agree more. I was going to write exactly the same thing. Going back further it was always a dodgy idea building the Kop stand as big as it is unless you have both home and away fans in there. away fans were never going to fill the whole end (or very rarely) so if segregation was needed then it was always going to be the cowshed for the away fans.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Atmosphere is absolutely zero at the ground which is really off putting for the casual fan, of whom the club rely on really. There's a small hardcore but if the casuals don't like the experience of coming (it's not just on the pitch), then they won't return, and stats suggest they are not with gates dropping like a stone.

Dunno what the club could do, but they have to do something.