Please tell the club how to make up the 8 million shortfall?

[Lord Bracknell]

I don't understand why the club had to fund the no-parking zone in Coldean. If the council don't want fans to park a couple of miles from the ground then they should do something about it themselves. It's almost as if the council is using the planning permission to blackmail the club into funding whatever scheme they think up next, I'm surprised the club wasn't asked to pay for the cycle lane on Lewes Road as some fans may use it on match days!

The planning process doesn't work like that. Every major development has to cover the extra costs it imposes on the community. If you build a few hundred houses and this creates a need for more school places, you have to contribute towards the costs of extra classrooms. If you build a cinema, you have to fund the costs of cinema-goers parking while they are visiting. A football stadium is no different.

The potential costs of a residents' parking scheme (very much more expensive than the Coldean/Moulsecoomb scheme) was one of the arguments that the Club put forward at the Planning Inquiry as a reason why a stadium at Toads Hole Valley was unaffordable. The Club always accepted that they would pay for a scheme in Coldean/Moulsecoomb if permission for Falmer was given and it proved necessary to restrict on-street parking in the area. Thanks to the way fans have used the area for parking, this scheme has had to be funded by the Club.

 

[Gwylan]

Thanks for the explanation, Ed. Is this for a set period or will we pay for residents' permits in perpetuity?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Thanks for the explanation, Ed. Is this for a set period or will we pay for residents' permits in perpetuity?

My guess is that the Club hands over a lump sum up front, rather than an annual sum. That's usually how these things work. The "Section 106 agreement" between the Club and the Council will set out the precise terms.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

My guess is that the Club hands over a lump sum up front, rather than an annual sum. That's usually how these things work. The "Section 106 agreement" between the Club and the Council will set out the precise terms.

From memory, I think it is an annual sum in this case with the Club paying towards the wardens and the other operational costs and any match day fines incurred/collected are deducted from this. I'll try to check at the game on Saturday.

 

[Dover]

I have become exceptionally disappointed with the club of late, and Tuesday I was angry about what is, I believe the thin end of a very large wedge that os being driven the fans way to absorb the £8M debt. There are however I feel some very simple revisions that could be used to boost the clubs coffers, albeit simplistic.

Firstly. Let's have the 10% discount reinstalled on purchases on all purchases. The club then have a floating amount of money that they must make some interest on. As a more radical idea, the money left on the cards could be used as a loan society, and therefore produce money directly to the club.

Second. The pies. I personally feel have dropped in quality. Forget pretty boxes with club emblems, the standard of the pie has dropped. I feel I am not alone in this, but this is what I have noted in the North stand for the two games I have attended.

Thirdly. It's lovely and warm at the moment, but come winter in the North Stand Concourse it will be freezing. In order to get fans to stay, and therefore spend more money, a couple of space heaters at convenient places might help.

Fourth and last point. Why waste money on painting the floor a lovely blue. On match day with a little water, or spilt beer, it will be an ice rink. Forget £8M. A couple of broken hips as someone will slip, and mark my words they will, the club will have a huge health & safety issue. And before anyone asks I have notified the stewards on the North Concourse, and it did look as though it had been keyed, or the top surface taken off with Scotchbrite, but as I showed to my mates it was still lethal when wet. Now add that to the cold winter with no heaters. A recipe for disaster.

 

[Buckley's Mad Eye]

Sell Bridcutt £3m
Sell Buckley £1.5
Sell Ulloa £3m
Sell Barnes £1m

Job done, £500k left over to subsidise the special busses......we'll be playing in L1 next season mind.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

From memory, I think it is an annual sum in this case with the Club paying towards the wardens and the other operational costs and any match day fines incurred/collected are deducted from this. I'll try to check at the game on Saturday.

If this is the way it will work, and the fines effectively contribute to reducing the Club's costs, how many fans will willingly park in Coldean simply to help out the Club?

 

[MattBackHome]

Sign a playmaker from CHINA (Cost: £1m), Do a Pre-Season tour of CHINA (Cost: £1m), Sell loads more shirts in CHINA (Revenue £10m) = There's your £8m.

 

[Gritt23]

CURRY AT £19 A PLATE?
MEAL IN 1901 £90
PAY £75 FOR THE H BUS?
BOOKING FEES ON TICKETS?
All things that seem unpopular so where can we save these millions.
Getting rid of park and ride and special buses would for me not be a problem as long as my ticket still gave me free travel on regular buses and trains within the city,could others cope,surely you could drive and park within the city and use the buses/ trains. We do have have 7 railway stations (including portslade) within the city. The club needs help from the fans on this one and paul barber is left with an impossible task to balance the books. HELP HIM!

That's football, it's BOLLOXED.

The game has NEVER had the income streams it does today, and yet all of it and more goes out the door on wages.

Sorry, but the game is completely immoral. Charging us all an absolute fortune, making multi-millionaires of seemingly everyone who can carve out half a career in the the top 2 divisions for 4 or 5 years. Then when all the money has gone, the creditors get stuffed, and everyone connected to the club looks for a bail out.

Thank goodness that hasn't been the outcome with us thus far, as if and when that day arrives, I will be deeply ashamed.

As I say, football is BOLLOXED and just doesn't seem to care.

 

[Brovion]

The planning process doesn't work like that. Every major development has to cover the extra costs it imposes on the community. If you build a few hundred houses and this creates a need for more school places, you have to contribute towards the costs of extra classrooms. If you build a cinema, you have to fund the costs of cinema-goers parking while they are visiting. A football stadium is no different.

The potential costs of a residents' parking scheme (very much more expensive than the Coldean/Moulsecoomb scheme) was one of the arguments that the Club put forward at the Planning Inquiry as a reason why a stadium at Toads Hole Valley was unaffordable. The Club always accepted that they would pay for a scheme in Coldean/Moulsecoomb if permission for Falmer was given and it proved necessary to restrict on-street parking in the area. Thanks to the way fans have used the area for parking, this scheme has had to be funded by the Club.

Surely that was entirely predictable though, given that we live in the real world and not the ideal one presented at the planning enquiries?

 

[Biscuit]

I have become exceptionally disappointed with the club of late, and Tuesday I was angry about what is, I believe the thin end of a very large wedge that os being driven the fans way to absorb the £8M debt. There are however I feel some very simple revisions that could be used to boost the clubs coffers, albeit simplistic.

Firstly. Let's have the 10% discount reinstalled on purchases on all purchases. The club then have a floating amount of money that they must make some interest on. As a more radical idea, the money left on the cards could be used as a loan society, and therefore produce money directly to the club.

Second. The pies. I personally feel have dropped in quality. Forget pretty boxes with club emblems, the standard of the pie has dropped. I feel I am not alone in this, but this is what I have noted in the North stand for the two games I have attended.

Thirdly. It's lovely and warm at the moment, but come winter in the North Stand Concourse it will be freezing. In order to get fans to stay, and therefore spend more money, a couple of space heaters at convenient places might help.

Fourth and last point. Why waste money on painting the floor a lovely blue. On match day with a little water, or spilt beer, it will be an ice rink. Forget £8M. A couple of broken hips as someone will slip, and mark my words they will, the club will have a huge health & safety issue. And before anyone asks I have notified the stewards on the North Concourse, and it did look as though it had been keyed, or the top surface taken off with Scotchbrite, but as I showed to my mates it was still lethal when wet. Now add that to the cold winter with no heaters. A recipe for disaster.

Not sure the club could entertain the idea of 10% back on tickets yet, but I like the idea of money on the cards being a loan. If I knew the more I had on my card, the more interest the club made I'd certainly put a lot more on it. Also yes to heaters, it'd encourage people to hang around the North Stand after the final whistle which would lead to higher revenue from sales, especially in the colder months.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

That's football, it's BOLLOXED.

The game has NEVER had the income streams it does today, and yet all of it and more goes out the door on wages.

Sorry, but the game is completely immoral. Charging us all an absolute fortune, making multi-millionaires of seemingly everyone who can carve out half a career in the the top 2 divisions for 4 or 5 years. Then when all the money has gone, the creditors get stuffed, and everyone connected to the club looks for a bail out.

Thank goodness that hasn't been the outcome with us thus far, as if and when that day arrives, I will be deeply ashamed.

As I say, football is BOLLOXED and just doesn't seem to care.

spot on post ,been saying this for a while, the main reason i jacked it in, why should Fans line the pockets of these money grabbers ..............obscene
regards
DR

 

[J2 BHA]

Actually you could be onto something there. If you want to leave early you have to pay £5, (plus obviously a £1 admin fee). The club have regretfully brought this charge in due to Health and Safety regulations as they need extra stewards to ensure your safe exit from the stadium whilst the match is still in progress. If you have to leave early every game why not take advantage of our competitively-priced 'Early Doors' scheme? For only £90 (plus £2.50 booking fee) you can buy a pass that allows you to leave every game early! Plus as a bonus it entitles you to a massive 5% discount in the club shop on Wednesday afternoons on certain selected items.

This made me LOL!

 

[Buckley's Mad Eye]

Actually you could be onto something there. If you want to leave early you have to pay £5, (plus obviously a £1 admin fee). The club have regretfully brought this charge in due to Health and Safety regulations as they need extra stewards to ensure your safe exit from the stadium whilst the match is still in progress. If you have to leave early every game why not take advantage of our competitively-priced 'Early Doors' scheme? For only £90 (plus £2.50 booking fee) you can buy a pass that allows you to leave every game early! Plus as a bonus it entitles you to a massive 5% discount in the club shop on Wednesday afternoons on certain selected items.

I'd email that to Barber....he'd love it.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Sell Bridcutt £3m
Sell Buckley £1.5
Sell Ulloa £3m
Sell Barnes £1m

Job done, £500k left over to subsidise the special busses......we'll be playing in L1 next season mind.

That pays year 1 losses will have another 17 million by the end of this season

 

[burnee54]

Don't send out a useless fixture list AND a usless ST Card wallet to 22,000 Customers that don't need them!

I got 2 of these... In seperate envelopes.

 

[LowerWesty]

Tickets for the two friendlies and the cup game resulted in my receiving 9 envelopes, each with a 47p stamp, OK it's only £4.30, but if you add to it the cost of printing/envelopes etc and multiply this by a few thousand it becomes a significant amount. Then take into account that most of us have STs and that if somebody knew what they were doing, the matches could have been put on those, resulting in a large proportion being NOTHING. Simples eh?

It seems to me that the club are more interested in rubbish schemes such as no discount on shop items on week days, some discount on match days and a peculiar reduction in discount in the 30 mins prior to kick off and at half time, which resulted in very few purchasing drinks and food during those periods on Tuesday.

We will see what happens on Saturday, but I doubt if we will ever be informed of the financial impact of these changes by the club, who tend to keep a poker face and their hand hidden.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Surely that was entirely predictable though, given that we live in the real world and not the ideal one presented at the planning enquiries?

Yes, in hindsight, but more a naïve belief by the club imo, although understandable based on their experience with the 'voluntary' on-street parking restrictions over the years at Withdean. I don't think the Council's officers ever believed it would work in Coldean/Moulsecoomb but MP prevailed and the club/fan base now has to bear the costs of it all. Still, getting from the UoS car park to the A27 might be quicker now.

 

[TSB]

Scrapping the P&R would be a disaster and go against the transport plan we have. So you can forget that one.

 

[Nottseagull]

One man only who has pumped over 130 million into a capital project and was expecting it to self finance,which its a long way short of dong,the fair play thing will not solve anything in fact we will be punished for the expected loss.What happens when bloom gets fed up keeping us afloat?

I think that Mr Bloom at least deserves to have his surname spelled with a capital. Some people on here show precious little respect to the guy who is responsible for the transformation that has taken place in the last three years.