Chesham United Football Club

As we approach Christmas and the New Year, it’s worth reflecting on 2006.

In January this year:

• The club was on the brink of insolvency.
• The first team footballing budget had been slashed.
• There had been a change of management.
• The first team had not won for a couple of months.
• There was a pessimistic feeling pervading through the club. Even the pitch was bad.

 

Mid-February saw the restructuring:

Management

• Luther was appointed manager on St. Valentine’s Day.
• I was appointed chairman the day after and Mike Dickson and Rob Goldhawk, colleagues and long-standing friends of mine, joined the board.
• Brian McCarthy left the board.
• At the same time, the ownership of the club was restructured such that there are now only three shareholders with voting rights, the largest being the Supporters Trust, and no single shareholder has control although it is reasonable to assume that Mike Dickson and I will vote together.
• James Allen, The Supporters Trust representative, joined the board.
• Phil Morgan left the board.

Both Brian and Phil had invested a lot of time and, in Phil’s case, money. There had been successes and the club owes them its gratitude. But it was time to move on.

Football

• Despite breaking the losing streak, by February the challenge of staying up was already too much. Sadly, we were relegated.
• Although we lost on the opening day of the 2006/7 season, the next month’s results looked very promising even though the scores tested our nerves. But it was a false dawn and, whilst Luther was away with his other commitments and our captain, Stuart Maynard, was injured, performances slipped and the rate of scoring reduced whilst we shipped goals at our end.
• Recent performances (if not always results) have looked more promising and, despite the run of poor form, promotion is not out of the question although a major challenge.
• Luther will shortly participate in a “Fans’ Forum” where he will answer questions.
• Subject to everything coming together, we will have a “scholarship” scheme operating from September 2007. This will be good for the community, cash positive and a great source of local talent.
• All sections of the Club hold FA Charter status and together we are progressing towards the pinnacle of the club development pathway, to become an FA Community Club.
• We are reviewing whether to continue playing our Reserve team in the Capital League in 2007/8 and if it might be more sensible to play in the Suburban League – this would mean a few more matches and that games would be played on Saturdays but we might get some gate income and it would provide a better transition for our Youth players and Reserves into the first team. We’re planning to review this in the New Year to see if the numbers add up.

Finances

• We have increased the footballing budget from where it stood in January but not by much. First and foremost, we all want the club to survive. We need to cut our cloth according to our means.
• Advertising, sponsorship and donation revenue has increased substantially – to something approaching £70,000 in 2006/7. Although a fantastic achievement, this is below our target of £100,000.
• Bar profits should still be over £30,000 per annum – they were under £10,000 in the year to June 2005.

These are the main solvency drivers. There is little that can be done about other income and expenses unless we can generate more revenue to improve our facilities. It is of interest, though, that:

• Gate receipts are roughly on budget.
• Chess Suite and Pitch Hire are a little below budget.
• Rates and water are above budget – water rather obviously with the hot summer.
• Accountancy fees are increased but on budget.
• Pitch maintenance expense is above budget.
• Ground maintenance is above budget, not least because of the drainage work in the car park behind the board room and the new main gate.
• We received £4,000 of unbudgeted transfer income.
• We received £1,000 of unbudgeted prize money. That represents one victory in the FA Cup. A better run in either the FA Cup or FA Trophy would have made such a difference, though.

Chesham United will see this season through but it will be nip and tuck. And next season it starts all over again with looking for sponsors and advertisers. Unless we find a lot more sponsors / advertisers or one huge one then I’m afraid that it will always be a struggle to survive. I have commissioned a team from London Business School to explore ways of improving sponsorship / advertising revenue further with precisely this problem in mind.

Another solution is to find another income stream that doesn’t depend on football. We have explored several possibilities:

Ground Redevelopment
It was suggested to me that we could rebuild the stadium with a hotel as part of the development. A hotel operator would ultimately pay for the new ground and we’d probably get either a lump sum or a modest income stream. A much needed hotel for the area, improved footballing facilities and improved finances, filtering down to both the football and cricket clubs. Clearly, we’d have to think about local residents, planning issues etc. with some sensitivity but the professional advice received suggested that the concept might have mileage.

Unfortunately, whilst our lease still has many decades to run, it precludes us using the ground for anything other than sporting purposes and we’d need our landlord’s permission. Chesham Sports Company Limited, our landlord, has been incredibly supportive, particularly over the last year, but they do not appear to want to change our lease and see commercial activity on any part of the site as beyond their own objects and an unsuitable use. I’m disappointed but can’t complain about their support in every other way.

Use of Land Behind Car Park
Suggestions have included an ice rink or a small football pitch with an all weather artificial surface. Indications from our landlords are that these would be acceptable. We will explore these but, in all honesty, the capital outlay is high and the business planning of these kinds of project is very time consuming – you can’t get it wrong. I’m sure that the capital could be raised if we had a business plan where the numbers made sense but, as a board, most with day jobs, we just don’t have the time at present to attend to major projects. Suitably qualified volunteers would be welcome, though.

The FA visited us for a periodic review of our administration and finances. We passed their scrutiny with only minimal issues raised.

Ground

• We replaced the groundsman with Len Vockins, a long time supporter. The change was motivated by the standard of work and there’s no doubt that the pitch is much, much better.
• The FA inspected us for ground grading purposes. Not surprisingly, we ticked most of their boxes although there is a certain amount of work that must be done and there’s only limited time to do it. The Supporters Trust is on the case, though.
• The upholstery in the Chess Suite has been renovated and the Gents’ loos have been completely renovated. Repair work to the leaking roof will commence in January. All of this has been paid for by the splendid achievements of the Supporters Trust.
• The carpet has been replaced in the Chess Suite, paid for by the club’s insurers following a deluge in the summer.

I’m certain that the budget shortfall in Chess Suite hire is mainly because of the very limited facilities, which are now improving.

In an ideal world, we’d rebuild the stadium with modern footballing and entertainment facilities. We could get grants for 50-75% of the cost but we’d need to find the rest. That doesn’t look feasible at present so will remain on the “back boiler” until things change. Meanwhile, the Chess Suite is being constantly improved and I hope that income from its hire will improve too.

One thing that’s always puzzled me is the lack of a full snack bar selling burgers etc. Billy does a job but almost every other ground that I’ve visited has its own burger bar where all income is kept by the club. It would be great if we could solve that in 2007.

Other

• We had a most enjoyable evening with Graham Taylor, which was very well supported and raised some £6,000 for the club. Graham very generously gave his time for free and we are very grateful.
• The fireworks night was well attended and great fun although I was disappointed that the firework company turned up late and the start was delayed too long. This will be improved in 2007, together with the stewarding and volume of fireworks.
• The Supporters Trust now organises regular comedy nights in the Chess Suite. These are hilarious and profitable. If you haven’t been then I’d recommend it. The Trust also organised a race night that benefited the Youth and Ladies sections too.

What has gone well?
I think that there’s an air of positivity about the non-footballing things. There are no cliques on the board. We have a manager who we can talk to. We have an active Supporters Trust with a real financial interest in the club. The Chess Suite is improving. We’re beginning to get the finances under control. If we can do that then the future is bright.

Being a football club in Chesham is more than football but, let’s face it, the football is pretty damned important. Things are brighter this year but we’d have hoped to be better positioned in the league at this stage. Your chairman doesn’t pick the team or do the coaching, so I’d encourage you to attend the Fans’ Forum to raise your questions directly.

What do I want from Santa?

• 21 league victories in the remainder of the season.
• 50 more advertisers from local businesses.
• 1 or 2 major sponsors that want to make a real difference so that I can stop banging on about money.
• The Premier League clubs to filter 10% of TV money to grass roots football instead of the current paltry sum.
• The FA not to restrict the use of this TV money to capital projects. Premier League clubs get to use it as an income stream to pay for players, running costs etc. Why do we have to use it only for capital projects? We want to live! It should be allocated by league position each year.
• To be able to ask the Supporters Trust to focus on getting that last £5,000 to enable us to redevelop the ground rather than to patch up the Chess Suite roof.
• To worry about Grade C ground grading requirements (rather than our current D).

What have I learned?
 A lot:

• That football is a cash industry. At our level, there are all sorts of illegal things happening – but not at Chesham United. I pay my taxes. The fans work hard and pay theirs. Why do so many people in football think that they’re immune from taxation?
• That a footballing background is not of itself a qualification for running a football club.
• I think I knew it deep down already but football at this level is a seductive thing.
• That this club needs to be together to thrive. We need the men’s, ladies’ and youth sections to work together. We haven’t really dealt with that yet. Just as the players need to be together on the pitch, so we need to do that off the pitch as supporters, participants and administrators.
• That there are a lot of committed people at the club. You know who you are. You’ve made me welcome and made an enormous difference in making things happen. From the summer working parties through helping with events. My thanks to you all.

In Summary
We’ve come on a long way from January 2006. We have a longer way to go. Together we can do it.

And finally, for those of you that kindly purchased some A shares in the club, you should by now have received notice of the AGM on 10th January. Whilst the formal agenda is limited to routine stuff, I’d encourage you to attend as I’ll talk you through the current finances and the board will be happy to take questions.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a very enjoyable Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Charles Manchester (Chairman)