Finances

[gazan]

Dropping the Academy is not going to work long term. Short term you can sign players using that money that would be spent on the Academy. But we have seen pre Dario that the quality of player we could sign back then was not as good as the ones we have produced ourselves and in the modern day that is not going to be any better. Not getting a lot of "bang for your buck".

I really have no solution to what is going to be an ongoing problem other than a major investor which of course comes with its own problems. If I am honest, I am pretty happy with how our club is run. We own our ground, we have a board of directors who seem to have the club at heart (and that is arguably the biggest thing) and I am confident the club will still be operating long after I am gone.

I am also, generally, happy with the way the club is run. However, the point of my raising the question is to do with the future. I enjoy the fact that board members limited to a 12.5% stake in the club but I worry that in the long-term we may need to seek further help. The potential problems with having a 'sugar daddy' are well-documented. It's a conundrum but one the club is going to have to contemplate in the near future without relying on current board members constantly dipping into their own pockets.

[LordK]

Gents, et al..
If we look through the Premiership hand outs, in 2000/2021, Crewe received over £700k as a contribution for the Academy, today, with increased hand outs, guessing at £1.2m., added to that general fund (unsure if that includes revised TV monies), so say £600k. So possibly up to £2m into the club. In League 2, 50% gate receipts only on player wages, based on what 4500 average gate, that is not going to really increase and if so with Stockport and Wrexham pulling in excess of 10000 through the gates and relatively close to Crewe, difficult to see a 5500-6000 crowd in League 2. So the cash is what it is. Drop the Academy level, reduced Academy proportion from Premiership!, if non-league, I think it goes away!

So Sugar Step-Daddy, let's see how that works, look at Swindon (absolute disaster), Gillingham, probably just about breaking the player wages to gate scenario, but has cash to attract incoming players. Fleetwood ex Chairman in jail, Morcambe owner fined for late player payments. Crewe needed the HR2 to buy the ground, but we are never lucky! We are not in a bad spot really, League 1 would be really nice.
Can you imagine the financial scenario at Burnley, today, its another Sunderland possibly.
UK league ownership rules will not allow clubs to own smaller clubs aka USA Baseball where basically the main MLB club (Houston Astros) also owns its own feeder network of what is a championship AAA (Sugarland Space Cowboys) and League 2 - AA (Corpus Christi Hooks) equivalent teams and bring up junior players. So an Everton (not saying Everton!) owing part of Crewe and say Stafford Rangers. The biggest issue in UK is tradition and promotion/relegation, which does not exist in USA. Together with the 92 clubs + non League, say just 1 x level below. I think it's within the next decade that 20-30 clubs go away financially.
Again as said in the blog, these are thoughts, but need to be addressed and soon
Domesday, is European Super League craters the Premiership and the cash to EFL dries up!
Thoughts

[gazan]

"..as I said in the blog.."
What blog?

[Wartman]

I am also, generally, happy with the way the club is run. However, the point of my raising the question is to do with the future. I enjoy the fact that board members limited to a 12.5% stake in the club but I worry that in the long-term we may need to seek further help. The potential problems with having a 'sugar daddy' are well-documented. It's a conundrum but one the club is going to have to contemplate in the near future without relying on current board members constantly dipping into their own pockets.

I think a sugar daddy is not what the club needs but what it does need is that the members with a 12.5% stake in the club have significant personal wealth that they are prepared to put into the club. Or we need to find a unique way to raise first team funds which at the moment are absolutely abysmal.

[Furberstreet]

My other team is Albion Rovers, sadly relegated to the Scottish Lowland League in 2022-23. Consequently, I have been focusing a bit more on Scottish non-league football and inevitably there are teams such as East Kilbride with rich backers. Interestingly, and perhaps more relevant, Caledonian Braves are in Albion's league and have used a crowdfunding drive, under which fans around the world are invited to share in its ownership, raising to date £200,000+. I accept that the Scottish diaspora is a good source of potential funding and this route may not work for CAFC. However, there is a need for initiatives to bring in additional funding whilst not jeopardising the club's future, for example, via a sugar daddy.