Sustainable Forest Green Rovers

[Monkey Tennis]

Yes FGR have won twice in last ten games and once of those was at Barrow but the title is not decided on ten games but full season.
That is not an opinion but fact.
And Barrow with their American based multi-millionaire backer should be fighting to be included in the end of season play-offs, not as they are currently - outside that group. So be careful having a pop at FGR because people in glass houses ...............

If we were 10 games into the season now (these last 10), you'd be floating around the lower half of the league and bemoaning how crap your team is. That is fact.
And if you think our owner is chucking big money at it, you are clueless. We've had a squad of 18/19 most the season, all free signings, and a wage bill that is dwarfed by some clubs in this division. It's more money than we've ever had, but it wouldn't keep your club going for more than a couple of months.

 

[Chris FGR]

Basically what these accounts prove are that we moving in the right direction. Near on half a mil less then last years losses, take that and add it to the fact this years budget is lower and it's entirely possible we could be breaking even in 3-4 years time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PuB]

These guys seem like Crawley fans from a few years back, except they might be getting a fancy ikea fruit bowl to play in in a few years time.

Calm down, maybe have a nice steak or something...

 

[Chris FGR]

These guys seem like Crawley fans from a few years back, except they might be getting a fancy ikea fruit bowl to play in in a few years time.

Calm down, maybe have a nice steak or something...

You mean the 100million sports, leisure and business complex we'll be moving to? Something Gillingham could only dream of.

And you do realise hardly any of our fans are actually vegan, so hilarious steak based jokes are kind of pointless. In fact I had a nice sirloin steak after you posted that. Didn't calm me down though, cos I'm an angry man.

 

[EnglishRed]

Unfortunately for FGR second is first loser in this league. Considering the wage bill is at least twice that of the other promotion chasing teams that represents underachievement.

Moving in the right direction possibly but still hugely hugely wasteful and a long way off being anything like sustainable. I get the point about the new facilities being built but until those are built and up and running that's all pie in the sky. I've still got huge doubts about their viability based solely on geography.

 

[Pliny Harris]

I'm not sure guys, I think we should acquiesce to all these bankrolled clubs and automatically promote them all to the Premier League.

Fleetwood, Crawley, Forest Green, Eastleigh, Gateshead, Barrow, Ebbsfleet, Whitehawk, Salford, Flyde, Harrogant, Brackley, Spennymoor, Shaw Lane Aquaforce. All lumping it between themselves in the Best League in the World, where they belong. Just increase the pool to 34 sides. They're used to the rigours of the non-league, so they'll manage all the extra Thursday night games.

It's not sustainable yet. Just wait on my word and I'll tell you when it's sustainable. The last seven or so years have been brought to you by pretend money. It doesn't count. It'll count on my word. You're just jelious. My yoga, somatic movement and embodied presence classes with Swampy taught me that you can think yourselves ambitious, and no bitter, two-hat rival from a larger regional town can tell me otherwise.

We could even fix trolley wheels to Wembley Stadium and trundle it down the M4 so that on cup finals day, as many as 3,000 fans might turn up.

 

[John Still]

Do you realise that is a very sad post by yourself.
Genuine football fans don't wish bad on other teams but only good for their own.
There will be a FGR team playing football for many years to come.

I wish all teams well just not money clubs I'm afraid. £2.1m budget when your gate receipts are £600k is nothing short of disgusting and is an unfair playing field. Braintree had a budget last year of £250k and achieved as much as you, embarrassing from your board. It's your fans I feel sorry for as you've turned into yet another hated money club.

 

[John Still]

Nope. Sorry.

The club has a clear plan, we will be a sustainable profit making league 1 side once we move to the new stadium. The aim is the Championship, no reason why we wont get there. Our business model isn't based solely on crowds.

There is only one plan try and spend spend spend at all costs. Not really intelligent thinking is it.

When will the new ground be ready then?

 

[GEORGE]

Nope. Sorry.

The club has a clear plan, we will be a sustainable profit making league 1 side once we move to the new stadium. The aim is the Championship, no reason why we wont get there. Our business model isn't based solely on crowds.

Mind you to get there you need a team thats good enough. I would also say to be sustainable in the Third div you really need to be averaging 5 k crowds. If you can do both of these things no reason you shouldn't make it.

 

[Luke Imp]

Been asked before, but DV puts his money in via shares, I think?

Check your first post and it was YOU who deviated from title subject and claimed FGR were average. 2nd in table winning away at Barrow is not average.
Please supply reference that FGR are paying double the wages to Lincoln.
I don't know that answer and suspect you don't either and are just taking a stab in dark to blacken FGR's name because we beat you on Saturday.

Tbf, he does say 'if'. It was a hypothetical comment, not a factual one.

 

[FGR Stroud]

There was a reply on the FGR forum that answered most of the queries addressed here. I reprint it on this site because it is very articulate and detailed.

"FGR did make a substantial loss last year. This only really affects the value of the club, rather than their sustainability. Reading the accounts is quite challenging, but it does make sense. There are some pretty good points to the whole thing. The first is the statement from the main holding company, Ecotricity (who made a decent profit last year) that they are happy with progress and will continue to invest as a long term venture. The other thing is the fact that there are £5m worth of fixed assets. This is offset by a similar amount of debt, which is mostly to Ecotricity and still leaves us in a bit of positive shape, although the main threat is if any of our creditors call in the debt. Ecotricity have already said that they have no intention of this, so we can only take them at their word. In addition to that, we appear to have no long term debt, which is a good thing, although there is a legal charge still outstanding from a mortgage lender (which used to be part of Stroud and Swindon).

The directors take little or no salary, and we still make provision for debt.

Negative changes in income are addressed and are reviewed regularly, it seems.

The amount of loss is very similar to the wage bill, which is higher this year, although turnover is up too, mainly fuelled by the increased gate, as income is still mostly generated by match-day income.

All in all, the club is sustainable, as long as we can continue in the route that we are going. Promotion this year is ideal, but not a make-or-break. What needs to continue is the exciting football, and constant publicity.

My main concern is the new stadium. This could be a bad thing as well as a good thing. If Ecotricity get the new stadium, then they will probably rent the ground to FGR. TNL would then be sold for housing and Ecotricity might call their debt in. That would severely reduce our assets and as such make us way more vulnerable than we are now. The worst case scenario would be a loss-making team that has little assets.

Still, don't panic and enjoy the ride, wherever it takes us. Looks like there will be an FGR is some shape or form for many years to come.

 

[Pablosammy]

There was a reply on the FGR forum that answered most of the queries addressed here. I reprint it on this site because it is very articulate and detailed.
"FGR did make a substantial loss last year. This only really affects the value of the club, rather than their sustainability. Reading the accounts is quite challenging, but it does make sense. There are some pretty good points to the whole thing. The first is the statement from the main holding company, Ecotricity (who made a decent profit last year) that they are happy with progress and will continue to invest as a long term venture. The other thing is the fact that there are £5m worth of fixed assets. This is offset by a similar amount of debt, which is mostly to Ecotricity and still leaves us in a bit of positive shape, although the main threat is if any of our creditors call in the debt. Ecotricity have already said that they have no intention of this, so we can only take them at their word. In addition to that, we appear to have no long term debt, which is a good thing, although there is a legal charge still outstanding from a mortgage lender (which used to be part of Stroud and Swindon).

The directors take little or no salary, and we still make provision for debt.

Negative changes in income are addressed and are reviewed regularly, it seems.

The amount of loss is very similar to the wage bill, which is higher this year, although turnover is up too, mainly fuelled by the increased gate, as income is still mostly generated by match-day income.

All in all, the club is sustainable, as long as we can continue in the route that we are going. Promotion this year is ideal, but not a make-or-break. What needs to continue is the exciting football, and constant publicity.

My main concern is the new stadium. This could be a bad thing as well as a good thing. If Ecotricity get the new stadium, then they will probably rent the ground to FGR. TNL would then be sold for housing and Ecotricity might call their debt in. That would severely reduce our assets and as such make us way more vulnerable than we are now. The worst case scenario would be a loss-making team that has little assets.

Still, don't panic and enjoy the ride, wherever it takes us. Looks like there will be an FGR is some shape or form for many years to come.

Genuine question - do you think moving from a stadium on the edge of an area of housing to a motorway junction with no local population is a good idea? I can understand a big Prem or Championship club with an established supporter base doing it, as their fans will follow regardless. Can a non-league club aiming to grow their support make it a success? At the moment, I don't understand where the extra fans are going to come from.

 

[Jemfy]

You mean the 100million sports, leisure and business complex we'll be moving to? Something Gillingham could only dream of.

And you do realise hardly any of our fans are actually vegan, so hilarious steak based jokes are kind of pointless. In fact I had a nice sirloin steak after you posted that. Didn't calm me down though, cos I'm an angry man.

Wow you bit in to that like a match-day vegan pie!

You can spend all you want on the stadium, but the question becomes about the cost of upkeep and what happens come the day when you no longer have owners willing to spend the cash to keep you afloat. I mean it was a strategy that really paid off for both us and Darlington...

 

[AnimoEtFide]

All in all, the club is sustainable, as long as we can continue in the route that we are going.

Well that sentence is bullshit. It is either sustainable now, or it will be sustainable if the optimistic future projections are realised. It cannot be sustainable now on the basis of optimistic future projections.

 

[Davidimp]

How much longer could any team survive losing that kind of money, especially at this level?
Over spending to that degree is borderline cheating really, not that it worked.
It can work look at Bournemouth 3 times in admin and now in the prem.

 

[Tranmerewhite]

Imagine trying to claim they are worth more than us. Pathetic club that'd be put under a transfer embargo the second they entered the football league.

 

[Chris FGR]

So much hypocrisy in this thread....

 

[Tranmerewhite]

How much longer could any team survive losing that kind of money, especially at this level?
Over spending to that degree is borderline cheating really, not that it worked.
It can work look at Bournemouth 3 times in admin and now in the prem.

And Luton. They cheated us out of promotion in league one 04/05 with illegal transfers and over spending. Took years before they were punished and no compensation for us.

 

[Davidimp]

And Luton. They cheated us out of promotion in league one 04/05 with illegal transfers and over spending. Took years before they were punished and no compensation for us.

Rotherham too

 

[Sparrow]

When are the National League going to introduce Financial Fair Play at this level?

 

[Davidimp]

So much hypocrisy in this thread....

Like I said Chris our accounts for last season are out on 23rd, if our budget and losses are similar to yours I will be the first to apologise.

 

[Davidimp]

When are the National League going to introduce Financial Fair Play at this level?

Only right as the EFL have it would make sense especially for the teams aiming to play there, would get them ready.

 

[Chris FGR]

Why did most of the BELT's end up down here? Oh yes, financial mismanagement, spending beyond their means and in some cases CHEATING local businesses and club employees out of monies owed by entering administration, which is DISGUSTING.

And then some of their fans try to take the moral high ground. We pay our bills, and have NEVER been in adminstration.

 

[MJA]

I'm all for non-league sides being ambitious and wanting to head into the football league but talk from their fans of FGR making the Championship makes all of this stink of a Crawley/Fleetwood scenario. You may well get to League 1 fairly comfortably but you will then realise that the jump from L1 to the Championship is huge and will settle on being a mid-table L1 club who might have the odd flirtation with the playoffs (Fleetwood) or will yo-yo between L1 and L2 (Crawley)

 

[Jemfy]

Why did most of the BELT's end up down here? Oh yes, financial mismanagement, spending beyond their means and in some cases CHEATING local businesses and club employees out of monies owed by entering administration, which is DISGUSTING.

And then some of their fans try to take the moral high ground. We pay our bills, and have NEVER been in adminstration.

How much longer will you be able to say all of that without a tone of hypocrisy?

Also it isn't hypocrisy if the fans of clubs that did those things are vilifying their clubs for having done it.

 

[MJA]

Only right as the EFL have it would make sense especially for the teams aiming to play there, would get them ready.

Is that possible in leagues where not all teams are professional? Is it even a case that all sides in the National leagues are limited companies and file accounts?

 

[Davidimp]

We ended up here cos we had no cash so we signed Drewe Broughton...

 

[Chris FGR]

How much longer will you be able to say all of that without a tone of hypocrisy?

Also it isn't hypocrisy if the fans of clubs that did those things are vilifying their clubs for having done it.

Been able to say that for nearly 127 years so far, never been in admin, never let local businesses/suppliers down, never failed to pay anyone their wages.

And I can't see much vilifying of their own clubs going on. More a sense of entitlement that their clubs deserve success because they get bigger crowds, and a lot of whining about how anyone daring to spend a lot of money are bad for football.

In reality, most of these don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to lecturing others on how lower league clubs should be run.

 

[gijsbert_bos]

Arguably we should have cheated...beaten by Bournemouth in the playoff final in 2003 and look where they are...having been in admin a few times in the interim.

 

[Joe.]

I'm not sure guys, I think we should acquiesce to all these bankrolled clubs and automatically promote them all to the Premier League.

Fleetwood, Crawley, Forest Green, Eastleigh, Gateshead, Barrow, Ebbsfleet, Whitehawk, Salford, Flyde, Harrogant, Brackley, Spennymoor, Shaw Lane Aquaforce. All lumping it between themselves in the Best League in the World, where they belong. Just increase the pool to 34 sides. They're used to the rigours of the non-league, so they'll manage all the extra Thursday night games.

It's not sustainable yet. Just wait on my word and I'll tell you when it's sustainable. The last seven or so years have been brought to you by pretend money. It doesn't count. It'll count on my word. You're just jelious. My yoga, somatic movement and embodied presence classes with Swampy taught me that you can think yourselves ambitious, and no bitter, two-hat rival from a larger regional town can tell me otherwise.

We could even fix trolley wheels to Wembley Stadium and trundle it down the M4 so that on cup finals day, as many as 3,000 fans might turn up.

Just because FGR fans are wankers, doesn't mean we all are. Leave us out of it!