Yet Another Club On The Brink...

[Trigger]

Cambridge United fans have just two weeks to help save the future of their club by raising a further £59,000.

United has until 22 December 2003 to repay a £585,000 loan it took out to cover the money it lost after the collapse of ITV Digital.

The club has turned to its fan base to try and bridge a £100,000 shortfall in its repayment.

Since 15 November Cambridge Fans United (CFU) has raised £41,000, but time is running out for the Third Division club.

Stadium at risk

Nick Pomery, chairman of CFU told the group's website: "If the loan is not repaid on 22 December then penalty interest and charges will become payable, charges club chairman Gary Harwood has confirmed the club cannot afford to pay.

"The lender will also be able to appoint an agent, at the club's expense, to make sure those charges are paid.

"If the money can't be found then the agent can look to sell the club's main asset, the ground, to recover the funds.

"If this happens, the city will lose its league football club and that would be a disaster and a scandal for a city like Cambridge."

The fans have arranged a number of fundraising events to help the situation and have set up its own appeal website.

A sponsor-a-seat scheme has also attracted support from as far afield as the United States of America and Australia.

 

[albiongirl]

I didn't realise they were in trouble I met a nice bunch of Cambridge fans when we protested against Granada. I hope they make the deadline.

 

[Beach Hut]

So do I - shows how easy it is these days for any small club to get into trouble.

Just as well we have a chairman who ensures the club lives within its means - cue major rant !

 

[Rougvie]

Its funny, this is the second thread tonight reminding me of my time spent there working in 1999.

Even back then they were in dire financial straits, so nothing has changed, thier ground is truly truly awful, if you thought that Withdean was no incentive to go along then that place makes it look like the Nou Camp, no offence to CUFC fans, but its like playing in a scrap yard.

Still Notts County seem to be getting there there may well be hope for Cambridge.

 

[FG aka Football Genius.]

good riddance

 

[Trigger]

good riddance

Didn't know you were leaving the board?

Take Care xxx

 

[Pavilionaire]

Nice one Trigger.

To be honest, losing County is one thing (football heritage and all) but is there another club in the country as lacking in any football identity or achievement as Cambridge Utd?

The only time they've made a mark in my lifetime was when they started hoofing the ball under John Beck...

 

[Reading Posh]

To be honest, losing County is one thing (football heritage and all) but is there another club in the country as lacking in any football identity or achievement as Cambridge Utd?

As a Posh fan you'd expect me to agree with that, but I don't.

The CFU trust organisation is a model for all fans trusts and I sincerely hope they raise the finds in time - otherwise Posh fans will have no one to take the piss out of, after ourselves of course.

 

[Bwian]

I'd prefer to see Leeds and a couple of other Premiershite teams go out of business before Cambridge United and I'd do fcuk all to help them now. CUFC on the other hand will get a bit of cash from me.

 

[rrruss]

Barry Town in trouble too

Tomorrow (Wed 10 Dec) sees a meeting of creditors at Barry Town's Jenner Park stadium.

If they don't accept what's put in front of them the club could fold, despite having won the Welsh "double" for the past 3 seasons.

The Yellow Dragons are now miles adrift at the foot og the Welsh Premiership and, even if they survive tomorrow, it's hard to see them staving off the threat of relegation.

All professional staff were laid off after the Champions League qualifiers, including Jamie Moralee who went to Forest Green, and they now play with local amateurs, including Lawrence Davies who once tried to wear the Albion's colours.

Barry in Trouble

 

[GUNTER]

Perhaps they could sell us Dave Kitson for £100,000 (bargain) and we could save their skins!

Mr Knight are you reading.....

 

[Easy 10]

Tch. bloody double-posts

 

[Easy 10]

Sorry to be dismissive/cynical, but Cambridge WILL survive. They always do - its the latest in a long line of clubs "on the brink". I'm sure their financial circumstances are genuinly dire, but we've just had Notts County saved at the last minute, it was Oldham a few months ago, Leicester/Bradford before that, York City were about to play their last ever match before that.

I can't help but roll my eyes now whenever the next club to be "on the brink, must raise x amount by x date or will fold" etc comes around. With clubs in the League, there is always, always a last-minute financial package that rescues them, or at least staves it off for a few more months.

Thats always obviously a relief, cos once one League club really does go under, it sets a precedent. But at the moment, the pattern is that something always turns up to save the club, and long may that continue.

 

[Dover]

i still think that this is the season that at least three clubs will be extinct by the end of the season.

I hope Cambridge make it. I had one of the most bizarre days going there, especally through the cow feild!

It seemed to me however that the club was an escape fro the working class person in Cambridge. The rest of the City was geared primarly for the university. This was also agreed with by the pub locals, and the taxi drivers that took us to and from the station.

Good luck to their fund raisers.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Hate to sound unsympathetic but if you start donating money to every league club in financial trouble you'll be skint by Christmas.

Cambridge have one major asset- Kitson- who could easily raise £200,000+ if they sold him now. Harsh to lose one of their best players, but that's the nature of life in the lower divisions (and higher in many cases these days). It will probably cost them any chance of making the play offs, but if it's another season in Div 3 or survival of the club, there's no question what it has to be.

They can't complain about being on the brink of oblivion all the while they have a very marketable asset like Kitson on their books. Anyway, there's no way they will go bust over a mere £59,000 debt.

 

[Spiros]

I agree with edna. Cambridge DO have assets to sell apart from the ground (ie Dave Kitson) - they have just chosen not to. There seem to be two different types of 'club in trouble' happening now. One is where the club has budgetted for having ITV digital money or some other 'non-guaranteed' income before it comes in and effectively overstretches itself financially. The other is where a crooked bunch of directors or a dictatorial owner has decided to sell the ground/ wind the club up so he can build houses/shops.

I'm afraid my sympathies lie mainly with the second type (eg York City). Quite often clubs like Leeds, Bradford, etc have got into trouble while doing exactly what their fans wanted them to do (ie spend money on players) - to try and 'live the dream'. Part of that gamble is that it can later turn into a nightmare. That's life.

 

[Storer68]

I rememebr going to Swansea in 1985 to watch their supposed "last game" (v Bolton I think) they;re still going.

I went to Craven Cottage around 1992 to watch their last game (v Bradford I think) - they're still going.

I went to Notts County a few weeks ago to see their last game (they're still going).

Much as I sympathise with Cambridge's plight, this is all down to spending the loot before you've got your mits on the stuff. Which as everyone who has a credit card knows, is not the best way of budgetary control

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The solution is obvious.

We all chip in to pay for Storer68 to visit Cambridge.

He is plainly the messiah.

 

[Brovion]

Yeah Lord B but how much will we have to pay to keep him there!

I totally agree with Spiros. Club after club are in financial trouble not because they were shafted (like us) but because as he rightly said they tried to 'live the dream'. I hope they survive and I'm sure they will, but sooner or later one will go bust and then their fans/directors will blame everybody but themselves.

 

[zefarelly]

financial worries . . . .sell assets . . . .very simple.



theres plenty more clubs around, to fill the gaps, its not just a game, its a business, however much you wish it wasnt

we had to sell BZ to balance the books with the falmer enquiry, and I'd rather that than go through the 'loose the club' feelings like 6 years ago.