Difficult Decisions

[Linden Jones' Tash]

The new owner has stated that the Club must live within it's means.

STAR has indicated that the 'behind the scenes' staffing has already been cut to a minimum.

And with the best will in the world, the players under contract won't raise the millions needed to break even...

So the challenge is where to make cuts and how to grow the revenues.

What would fans be prepared to accept?

I feel like there's a fair amount of cakeism going on:

The squad needs strengthening...

The stadium needs upgrading....

Season Ticket/Ticket prices shouldn't be significantly increased....

So, what are the acceptable compromises?

Discuss....

[Royal Ginger]

Best will in the world the Stadium can be left as it is. It’s drab on the concourses and has its issues but it’s still an excellent league 1 stadium that can take way more atrophy before it becomes a problem. Maybe make sure there’s milk for the tea but beyond that, minimum spend on this.

Ticket prices can go up a touch. It’s never nice but we’re not overpriced now and those who really want to go won’t balk at an extra £20 on a season ticket or £2.50 on a single game.

I don’t think we can really negotiate with players. They should be getting an offer and we shouldn’t be going over. I hate it but I think we need to let the likes of Pereira go rather than trying to compete with low end championship clubs. Spend the saved money on scouting instead and let the training facilities wow players from grim northern clubs.

[Snowflake Royal]

The new owner has stated that the Club must live within it's means.

STAR has indicated that the 'behind the scenes' staffing has already been cut to a minimum.

And with the best will in the world, the players under contract won't raise the millions needed to break even...

So the challenge is where to make cuts and how to grow the revenues.

What would fans be prepared to accept?

I feel like there's a fair amount of cakeism going on:

The squad needs strengthening...

The stadium needs upgrading....

Season Ticket/Ticket prices shouldn't be significantly increased....

So, what are the acceptable compromises?

Discuss....

Small ticket increase,
+ Small increase in attendance
+ small increase in corporate & sponsorship
+ small decrease in player wages. Academy in takes in L1 will be on less than Academy in takes in Champ, Ejaria, Bouzanis, Button, Smith off the books, likely lower offer to Yids.

There's room to increase income and decrease wage bill on 2023/24 (Holmes, McIntyre, Carroll, Ejaria, Yiadom, Smith etc). To reduce the deficit from £10m-£12m to £6m-£8m in 2025/26. Player sale from Knibbs, Wing, Savage could take another chunk. Cup run ...

It's got to be a journey to sustainability. And promotion makes Bearwood and the Academy more affordable. And if promotion doesn't come soon, then 4 years in L1, surely no one can think we have any option but to downgrade the Academy and look at the feasibilty of Bearwood.

[Elm Park Kid]

It's just depressing that even in 23/24 we were still spending (and losing) far more than a typical league one side. And have so little to show for it.

If we want to generate the kinds of revenue that established Championship teams have then we are going to have to put ticket prices up.

[Sutekh]

If they don’t immediately splaff zillions on failures like wot weer used to now, then

[Brogue]

The obvious answer is to sell players. Every year.

[PieEater]

It seems to me Wokingham Council are fleecing the club for business rates on the training ground, get it revalued based on the purchase price rather than what Dai paid. They could also do with better power management given the size of the utilities bill. Maybe fit solar panels on the roof of the stadium.

And of course a massive cut in the academy which would mean downgrading to cat2.

[Millsy]

I'd be more than happy for others to be charged more for their season tickets for us to achieve success.

[Ascotexgunner]

Easy answer.....Goto Hollywood get Stallone, Cruise and Swartzenegger on board with Couhig, Champions League in 3 years and bigger than Wrexham.

But on a serious note.....Rob Couhig can send me as many nice emails as he likes, but I am still not on board 100%......
Cutting costs and beating up fans on season ticket prices is not the way to go, your trying to bring fans in not drive them away....To be fair to the last regime, getting kids in was a great idea to try and build the fan base for the future....
Unless you buy something and are prepared to invest in it like Wrexham......or in a way Birmingham though not at that stupid level of pissing money up the wall on players, we aren't going anywhere fast and it just makes me think he will cut US to the bone and then when we are just about profitable or breaking even.....he will sell us for profit...Just like Wycombe....I'm afraid it will be more of the same next season and what I fear is the academy being downgraded, after all the hard work.

please prove me wrong Rob.

[Royal_jimmy]

I have no problem paying more for my season ticket. Even if they go up £40-50 for renewals as we had prices frozen for so long. I also expect attendances to rise a bit now Dai has gone, hopefully see 14-15k again most weeks if we start next season well. That'll help boost turnover a bit.

We will need to be a selling club again. Savage and Knibbs are our most sellable assets but I hope we keep Knibbs particularly from those 2 for his goals. Savage is a great player but reckon we could live without him if we were offered a 7 figure fee. Sounds like we might have some good negotiators owning us and hopefully we can fleece the odd club for a star.

Does feel like if we don't go up next season then the academy will have to be downgraded. Whilst we'll need to cut the cloth Redwood will still need to bankroll the club a bit.

[morganb]

You would expect Couhig to have observed what has gone on this season and seen where we finished. From that I would not expect too much to change next season on the playing front - we'll try to keep our best players and run a Cat 1 academy. He should give Noel time.

If we don't go up this season then it is more likely that players will be sold and the academy downgraded this time next year.

Rob has spoken about fan experience so you would expect some investment in the stadium but nothing too extreme.

There has been talk about partnerships with local companies which would bring money in via sponsorship etc

If the aim is to get money into the club then there are bound to be increases that will affect the fans - tickets, merchandise, food and drink, parking - but what other experiences can be offered and therefore charged for?

Do the SCL and Bearwood have any other uses they can be put to?

What did they do at Wycombe or their teams in the States? You'd expect a similar pattern here

[Sutekh]

You would expect Couhig to have observed what has gone on this season and seen where we finished. From that I would not expect too much to change next season on the playing front - we'll try to keep our best players and run a Cat 1 academy. He should give Noel time.

If we don't go up this season then it is more likely that players will be sold and the academy downgraded this time next year.

Rob has spoken about fan experience so you would expect some investment in the stadium but nothing too extreme.

There has been talk about partnerships with local companies which would bring money in via sponsorship etc

If the aim is to get money into the club then there are bound to be increases that will affect the fans - tickets, merchandise, food and drink, parking - but what other experiences can be offered and therefore charged for?

Do the SCL and Bearwood have any other uses they can be put to?

What did they do at Wycombe or their teams in the States? You'd expect a similar pattern here

Hoping Tim can get an interview to air with Rob/Todd and Joe to go into their plans in the next week.

[Royal_jimmy]

Based on what Couhig has said to the media it really feels like everything at the club is at review at the moment but seems to support the academy that we have. So I don't see any immediate changes there. Redwood won't change everything immediately so like others have mentioned I don't expect huge changes immediately to either the playing staff or the infrastructure.

Just wanted to say how nice it is to have an owner who actually says something. They have to walk the walk but I think Redwood have made a good first impression so far. I think those brownie points will endure a few tough cuts when they come without the fan base turning against Couhig.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

You would expect Couhig to have observed what has gone on this season and seen where we finished. From that I would not expect too much to change next season on the playing front - we'll try to keep our best players and run a Cat 1 academy. He should give Noel time.

If we don't go up this season then it is more likely that players will be sold and the academy downgraded this time next year.

Rob has spoken about fan experience so you would expect some investment in the stadium but nothing too extreme.

There has been talk about partnerships with local companies which would bring money in via sponsorship etc

If the aim is to get money into the club then there are bound to be increases that will affect the fans - tickets, merchandise, food and drink, parking - but what other experiences can be offered and therefore charged for?

Do the SCL and Bearwood have any other uses they can be put to?

What did they do at Wycombe or their teams in the States? You'd expect a similar pattern here

Went to WW away with a WW ST and his take was that the main innovation from the RC era was the large Beer Marquee in front of the stadium to increase drinking opportunities without getting wet.

Was also told that the plan to get a new development running from Adams Park to link up and get a through road so it was no longer a cul-de-sac was so over blown and commercial it got rejected and that's when RC lost interest...

Didn't fact check any of this- just the chat from a WW ST...