Reply With QuoteDark times.
NL have got to get a PPV streaming service going that brings revenue to the clubs otherwise it's game over.
I would pay £10 a game to watch Notts on my laptop for example.
Just do something FFS.
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From today's Guardian:
“We have got a week to two weeks left, without some kind of decision on when we can start,” says Parmenter. “We have to start with fans; it is impossible without fans. We have already spent significant amounts of cash on training and preparations for the start of the season, so that money has gone. We are reliant on sponsorship, gate money, tea and bar revenue, things like that to pay the bills, and none of that looks likely going forward.”
Asked what the next week or so looks like, Parmenter says much hinges on whether the government U‑turns on allowing some fans to return. “If they are saying we’re just going to delay it by a couple of weeks, that’s a different answer to ‘We don’t know’. If they say we’re going to start in January: a) there is not enough time to play the 40-odd games; and b) by then it will be too late. The most likely scenario is we will have to close the doors.”
In the next 48 hours Parmenter plans to meet players and staff to paint a bleak picture. Last month he made the entire squad available on free transfers to cut costs, after claiming the players refused a 20% wage reduction. “I’m going to revisit that,” he says.
The majority of Dover’s players, most of whom earn £600-£900 per week, were brought off furlough at the end of August to train before the proposed 3 October start, while a handful of player contracts will not kick in unless a new season begins. “For the existing players it will be: ‘Sorry, for the moment, we cannot pay you,’” says Parmenter. “And that will have serious implications because football contracts are not like employment contracts – you cannot make people redundant from a football contract.”
Dover, like many lower-league clubs, cannot begin to contemplate Covid-19 testing given the cost. Season-ticket sales account for more than 60% of the club’s current cash reserves – around £100,000 – but Parmenter will not lean on those funds.
“The biggest problem is we cannot spend our season-ticket receipts because we don’t know if and when the season is going to start. We have made it clear to supporters that have bought season tickets that we would ringfence that money and if the season doesn’t start we will refund that money to season-ticket holders because it’s the right thing to do.”
If this is the final nail in the coffin for Dover, it will represent a heartbreaking end for Parmenter, who assumed control of the club when it was in the eighth tier. “It has been a huge investment – it’s a labour of love but it looks like it is all going to go,” he says. “Anybody that is as deeply involved as we are, it is part of your life. We’ve always managed it prudently but this is a situation that could destroy everything. We are in big trouble.”
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Dark times.
NL have got to get a PPV streaming service going that brings revenue to the clubs otherwise it's game over.
I would pay £10 a game to watch Notts on my laptop for example.
Just do something FFS.
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youtube FIFA video game streamers can make a fortune streaming and taking donations. It might be worth experimenting with free streams and inviting people to donate as the game goes on, you might make more dosh if people can chuck money in whenever a goal is scored or the team are playing well..... Then again, maybe that's not such a good idea.Originally Posted by MancMagpie
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That’s an interesting point about some of the players’ contracts being void unless the season starts. It sounds like it’s only a few of the Dover players, but if that practice has been widespread in the National League, then I think there’s no chance of the season starting on 3 October, because clubs could be better off not playing than they would be with live streaming.
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Sorry, but the likes of Dover can’t be determining whether the NL kicks off. They’re one extreme, with average gates of just over 1,000. Let’s hope the likes of Notts, Chesterfield, Wrexham, Yeovil, Stockport, etc, are in the majority and say they want the season to begin next week.
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They (and we) will of course, because of the ambition and feeling that they aren't NL clubs.
Hard to put yourself in the position of a Dover fan, but I understand why they've said their piece.
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Mr Ardley did have some sensible things to say about this on his Radio Notts interview in regards to Government intervention to prop up some areas that are badly affected - basically the National League. However on the basis of what I have seen I would doubt that anyone in NL would have had the foresight to get involved in those discussions. There are a handful ( minority) of clubs in the NL Premier that would be dependent on fans for income, Dover being one. The circumstances are horrid but it may be that those clubs have to take a bit of a raincheck on their status for the sake of the vast majority. I hope they all pull through. Happy to give them all a quid as well. Which is more than Chelsea will.
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It is obscene the money splashing around in prem. On wages, transfer fees, agents payments and TV cash.
The game needs the lower leagues and grass roots to survive otherwise interest in the sport will decline leaving only the elite.
Surely it would be in everyone's interest in the long run if some of the billions could be used to help out the struggling teams.
Mind you I won't boldly breath.
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We can’t be in a situation where every team in the country is playing except for those in the National League, NL North and South. The league needs to find a workaround solution.
Of course, everything will change if we get any other situations like the COVID outbreak at Leyton Orient.
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The good news is that smaller clubs like Maidenhead and Solihull Moor are now releasing statements saying they want the league to start on Oct. 3.
This was interesting in the Solihull statement:
“Clubs have to look at innovative ways of generating income and engaging supporters in the current climate through live streaming.
The lifting of the UEFA 3pm broadcast rule and options for live streaming has already been put forward to clubs by the National League. This clearly indicated to clubs that the league was prepared for part of the season to be played behind-closed-doors if required.”
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