Fundraising Ideas

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Thought we could have one thread with them on (sorry if this has already been done - but if it has it should be on the first page so it easy to see)

 

My lastest one is Score at St Marys..... run on at half time pay your tenner and score your goal from the penalty spot. Photographer takes a picture (which you can buy for a fiver!) - use both goals to double your money and away you go ..... not a million pound idea I know but it keeps the folding stuff rolling in!

[SaintRobbie]

I'm not sure we're going to need fundraising

[Matthew Le Tissier]

I emailed the club and asked if they needed help to raise a quick 3 to 5k and they weren't interested,

 

I suggested how about getting the shirts from last nights game and auctioning them. I would do that free of charge through my website linked to the eBay auctions so it wouldn't cost them anything and it would be done all be me in my time.

 

15 shirts at lets say 200.00 minimum 3k

 

but as we are in this state I think the fans would have bid very generously and would have possibly totalled 5k

 

it would have cost the club what ever they pay for the shirts, probably around 200 quid

 

so a great profit.

 

 

however as they agreed it was a good idea they were not interested, one reason was they didn't have enough shirts. total bull****. I think they would rather just let the working class fans walk in and hand a cheque over in the ticket office...

 

if the clubs not prepared to raise money then why should we?

[ooohTerryHurlock]

I emailed the club and asked if they needed help to raise a quick 3 to 5k and they weren't interested,

 

I suggested how about getting the shirts from last nights game and auctioning them. I would do that free of charge through my website linked to the eBay auctions so it wouldn't cost them anything and it would be done all be me in my time.

 

15 shirts at lets say 200.00 minimum 3k

 

but as we are in this state I think the fans would have bid very generously and would have possibly totalled 5k

 

it would have cost the club what ever they pay for the shirts, probably around 200 quid

 

so a great profit.

 

 

however as they agreed it was a good idea they were not interested, one reason was they didn't have enough shirts. total bull****. I think they would rather just let the working class fans walk in and hand a cheque over in the ticket office...

if the clubs not prepared to raise money then why should we?

 

I think you could be right - does this sum up my no drive, no vision view? I think as long as the can stay cocooned in the ticket office and people will just walk up and give them money that will be enough for them. Who did you speak to out of interest? Why have they not rushed throught the steering group for the fan parliment to get a well established link with the fans in place this would have taken some of the pressure off them- its lucky we are only trying to save a football club and not fight a war as there does n't seem to be much dunkirk spirit flowing from the club?

[trousers]

Fundraising Ideas

 

Monkey tennis

[Rattlehead]

Thought we could have one thread with them on (sorry if this has already been done - but if it has it should be on the first page so it easy to see)

 

My lastest one is Score at St Marys..... run on at half time pay your tenner and score your goal from the penalty spot. Photographer takes a picture (which you can buy for a fiver!) - use both goals to double your money and away you go ..... not a million pound idea I know but it keeps the folding stuff rolling in!

 

This should raise at least one hundred pounds for the creditors. Well done.

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

Rupert Lowe in the stocks at half-time. £5 a rotten tomato, £10 a rock.

[trousers]

Rupert Lowe in the stocks at half-time. £5 a rotten tomato' date=' £10 a rock.[/quote']

 

[slickmick]

I emailed the club and asked if they needed help to raise a quick 3 to 5k and they weren't interested,

 

I suggested how about getting the shirts from last nights game and auctioning them. I would do that free of charge through my website linked to the eBay auctions so it wouldn't cost them anything and it would be done all be me in my time.

 

15 shirts at lets say 200.00 minimum 3k

 

but as we are in this state I think the fans would have bid very generously and would have possibly totalled 5k

 

it would have cost the club what ever they pay for the shirts, probably around 200 quid

 

so a great profit.

 

 

however as they agreed it was a good idea they were not interested, one reason was they didn't have enough shirts. total bull****. I think they would rather just let the working class fans walk in and hand a cheque over in the ticket office...

 

if the clubs not prepared to raise money then why should we?

 

£200 for a sweaty shirt when you can buy a clean new one for a quater of the price and a free ticket to the game ? Your aving a larf.

[SaintBobby]

Thought we could have one thread with them on (sorry if this has already been done - but if it has it should be on the first page so it easy to see)

 

My lastest one is Score at St Marys..... run on at half time pay your tenner and score your goal from the penalty spot. Photographer takes a picture (which you can buy for a fiver!) - use both goals to double your money and away you go ..... not a million pound idea I know but it keeps the folding stuff rolling in!

 

I love the idea, and am amazed clubs don't do this sort of thing automatically.

 

However, I think there are a few big problems though with all these ideas which might raise a few grand here or a few grand there...

 

1. This is an utterly microscopic drop in the ocean compared to what we need to raise. I understand the "every little helps" theory, but a few grand here and a few grand there is going to make sod all difference really. The club's debts are so vast - and the size of the Saints operation so huge - taht we just aren't in an AFC Bournemouth, York City et al situation.

 

2. It's not obvious (at least to me) who would actually get the money. It seems the most pressing thing for a new board would be to reach an agreement with Aviva/Norwich Union on the mortgage. Some suggestions have been made that this might be negotiated down from £24m to as little as £5m. But, I'm not interested in handing over my readies to help pay the present mortgage if all this is going to do is help Norwich union's shareholders. On a guesstimate, the present mortgage paymenst are presently costing us about £4,000 a day.

 

3. What we really need to do, as a fanbase, is try and draw the positive attention of potential buyers to the club.

[Matthew Le Tissier]

i dont really want to name the lad as i dont think the final decision was down to him,well im sure it wasnt. what i will say is he is the correct person to email such a request,

 

i also have leon crouches email address so i sent it to him to. i attatched a read reply and i got a mail back to say he opened it. but that was 48 hours ago and still no reply. i find it a total descrace...and hes the bloke who stood on the pitch begging for money before the game?? so i offer to help him make a quick few grand in clear profit and hes ignores it?

[ooohTerryHurlock]

This should raise at least one hundred pounds for the creditors. Well done.

 

As Terry Wogan says every little helps - don't see you donating anything except constant negativity! Honestly you seam to be the type of person that would moan if you won the fecking lottery - open your eyes, roll your sleeves up and see if you can use your brain - (thats the thing between your ea..... sorry between you thighs that makes you think.....) to come up with one positive post that can help us.... for gods sake man!

 

 

.... By the way in a crowd of 20K peiople I am sure more than 10 would come on to the pitch to score into the kingsland or northam stands - There would be more than 10 kids that wanted to do it for a start. I said it was n't a million maker but for little work it could bring in a monkey or a rio. thats all.

[CB Fry]

Yawn.

 

We're talking to 34 potential investors.

 

We are not Aldershot or York City whose problems can be solved by a few buckets shaken round the bloody stadium.

 

People have just lost their minds here, and seem to think that just because SLH have gone into administration we're all now part of an episode of Jossy's Giants where the players and the fans knock doors and wash people's cars to keep the club going.

 

 

Its funny because in six months time the very same people that are currently prepared to auction off a kidney to pay off three days wages for Rudi Skacel will be screaming blue murder when the new owners start putting up marketing messages on the website, or stick fifty quid on the season ticket price.

 

 

Micky Channon said exactly what I've been saying a couple of days ago. It's obscene. But Saints seem to have plenty of mug punters around to keep it going.

 

Just remember that in a few months time when you all start moaning about being "taken for granted" again.

Edited 9 April, 2009 by CB Fry

[oldsarum]

On the subject of Fundraising, did anyone see the the 76 year old Lady on Sky Sports news who supported Saints all her life hand over £500 of her own cash to the cause.

 

This club has a hardcore of great fans, she is a fine example of the great supporters we have.

[oldsarum]

As Terry Wogan says every little helps - don't see you donating anything except constant negativity! Honestly you seam to be the type of person that would moan if you won the fecking lottery - open your eyes, roll your sleeves up and see if you can use your brain - (thats the thing between your ea..... sorry between you thighs that makes you think.....) to come up with one positive post that can help us.... for gods sake man!

 

 

.... By the way in a crowd of 20K peiople I am sure more than 10 would come on to the pitch to score into the kingsland or northam stands - There would be more than 10 kids that wanted to do it for a start. I said it was n't a million maker but for little work it could bring in a monkey or a rio. thats all.

 

 

I see on OS that all David Luker is co-ordinating the fundraising effort

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/?page_id=11612

 

So suggust everyone contact him rather than the likes of Leon Crouch

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Yawn.

 

We're talking to 34 potential investors.

 

We are not Aldershot or York City whose problems can be solved by a few buckets shaken round the bloody stadium.

 

People have just lost their minds here, and seem to think that just because SLH have gone into administration we're all now part of an episode of Jossy's Giants where the players and the fans knock doors and wash people's cars to keep the club going.

 

 

Its funny because in six months time the very same people that are currently prepared to auction off a kidney to pay off three days wages for Rudi Skacel will be screaming blue murder when the new owners start putting up marketing messages on the website, or stick fifty quid on the season ticket price.

 

 

Micky Channon said exactly what I've been saying a couple of days ago. It's obscene. But Saints seem to have plenty of mug punters around to keep it going.

 

Just remember that in a few months time when you all start moaning about being "taken for granted" again.

 

I think you are missing the point - which is so often the case! Some of the 34 potential investors are nothing more than fan groups that are trying to save the club. In some ways some of the stuff suggested is a bit blue peter (thought i woud put that in as you obviously love childrens TV!) but there is enough good will out there and potential funds to get this club back on an even footing. What is being talked about is the very future of the club - a club with what 124 years of history - and something which we can do something about in the short to medium term. Is it possible that we could raise somewhere near £24 million to buy the stadium so that that issue is resolved - i believe that if we co ordinated efforts and liased with the City Council, Aviva, and other groups- then a deal could be done to own the stadium. This then provides a free home for the club to play in. The money can be raised with donations, naming rights, bond schemes, membership levies, input from the council. The debt to Barclays could simply be cleared by the introduction of 320 50 year season tickets at £12500 - that would represent good value to £320 investors. You say fundraising worked at Aldershot and also at York by rattling a bucket - but although there problems and debts were smaller than ours - so indeed was there fanbase and there profile - not sure i remember the Shots winning the cup and haveing European Footballers of the year and Internationals turning out for them every week. We remain a well supported team, and a team that is well connected and dear to a lot of peoples hearts - and the mindless actions of a few clueless so called bussinessmen need not be the end of this club. Anyway I'll let you get back to CBeebies now .... oh and don't be late to bed!

[SaintBobby]

Yawn.

 

We're talking to 34 potential investors.

 

We are not Aldershot or York City whose problems can be solved by a few buckets shaken round the bloody stadium.

 

People have just lost their minds here, and seem to think that just because SLH have gone into administration we're all now part of an episode of Jossy's Giants where the players and the fans knock doors and wash people's cars to keep the club going.

 

 

Its funny because in six months time the very same people that are currently prepared to auction off a kidney to pay off three days wages for Rudi Skacel will be screaming blue murder when the new owners start putting up marketing messages on the website, or stick fifty quid on the season ticket price.

 

 

Micky Channon said exactly what I've been saying a couple of days ago. It's obscene. But Saints seem to have plenty of mug punters around to keep it going.

 

Just remember that in a few months time when you all start moaning about being "taken for granted" again.

 

Post of the year.

 

On the harsh side, but f-ing hilarious.

[jasoneuelllfanclub]

I would like to see a gig at SMS headlined by Craig david and Coldplay (drummer supports Saints). That would reach out to a big audience. However the problem is we have less than a month to save this club and I expect these guys are booked up with in that time especially Coldplay. A concert alone can make the club 250K apparently so this would be awesome.

[CB Fry]

Post of the year.

 

On the harsh side, but f-ing hilarious.

 

Cheers - harsh but funny is what I'm here for!

 

I think you are missing the point - which is so often the case! Some of the 34 potential investors are nothing more than fan groups that are trying to save the club. In some ways some of the stuff suggested is a bit blue peter (thought i woud put that in as you obviously love childrens TV!) but there is enough good will out there and potential funds to get this club back on an even footing. What is being talked about is the very future of the club - a club with what 124 years of history - and something which we can do something about in the short to medium term. Is it possible that we could raise somewhere near £24 million to buy the stadium so that that issue is resolved - i believe that if we co ordinated efforts and liased with the City Council, Aviva, and other groups- then a deal could be done to own the stadium. This then provides a free home for the club to play in. The money can be raised with donations, naming rights, bond schemes, membership levies, input from the council. The debt to Barclays could simply be cleared by the introduction of 320 50 year season tickets at £12500 - that would represent good value to £320 investors. You say fundraising worked at Aldershot and also at York by rattling a bucket - but although there problems and debts were smaller than ours - so indeed was there fanbase and there profile - not sure i remember the Shots winning the cup and haveing European Footballers of the year and Internationals turning out for them every week. We remain a well supported team, and a team that is well connected and dear to a lot of peoples hearts - and the mindless actions of a few clueless so called bussinessmen need not be the end of this club. Anyway I'll let you get back to CBeebies now .... oh and don't be late to bed!

 

 

Look, I don't need the "124 years of history" routine, I've got a far better grasp of the bigger picture than you have.

 

Being fan owned is not the way forward and I hope all these groups don't succeed, because I want the club to push forward not backwards as it would.

 

You might think the fan base can raise £24m on the strength of people on a forum blythly promising a grand here and a grand there, but sorry I don't buy it for a minute.

 

And then what, and then what and then what? We all skip off into the sunset and the Premier League?

 

Fan ownership for a club this size is a complete non starter and you're right some of the 34 are those groups and Christ are they wasting Mark Fry's time. More harm than good.

 

Give me businessmen any day of the week - its good enough for the top five, six, seven in the Premier League. It's good enough for the top six of this division.

 

You think we're disorganised now, wait until you have 6,000 fans arguing about who should be Deputy Assistant Chief Treasurer of the Club

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Cheers - harsh but funny is what I'm here for!

 

 

 

 

Look, I don't need the "124 years of history" routine, I've got a far better grasp of the bigger picture than you have.

 

Being fan owned is not the way forward and I hope all these groups don't succeed, because I want the club to push forward not backwards as it would.

 

You might think the fan base can raise £24m on the strength of people on a forum blythly promising a grand here and a grand there, but sorry I don't buy it for a minute.

 

And then what, and then what and then what? We all skip off into the sunset and the Premier League?

 

Fan ownership for a club this size is a complete non starter and you're right some of the 34 are those groups and Christ are they wasting Mark Fry's time. More harm than good.

 

Give me businessmen any day of the week - its good enough for the top five, six, seven in the Premier League. It's good enough for the top six of this division.

 

You think we're disorganised now, wait until you have 6,000 fans arguing about who should be Deputy Assistant Chief Treasurer of the Club

 

For someone who has a better grasp of the bigger picture than I do - its quite amazing that you have managed to confuse owning the ground (the main home of our debt) and owning the club - obviously you are looking so far into the future that you cant actually see the wood for the trees!!! - Most of your posts about fundraising hark back to the salaries being paid to players that probably won't be here in a few weeks or months time so how is that seeing the bigger picture or is it some kind or repeat your watching?

 

Quite simply all our problems from the millstone that is SMS - I think with the hepl of AVIVA, The City Council - who cannot affort to loose the ground as the whole regeneration of that area is built around the stadium, and the fans could cobble together the monies to purchase SMS - There is a deal to be done on the ground with AVIVA, and the council are willing to help - so we are not talking of raising £24million ourselves but a %of this amount -

 

YOu say about scraping £1000 here and £1000 there but at the moment Derrys pledge thread has about £700000 pledged - and that is just from those that use the forum. Coupled with some good exhibition matches, a charity concert and donations we could get to the point where we own the stadium and suddenly the club is a more attractive proposition to anywould be investor as there is not this massive debt. We only owe £30 million - Coventry owed that and Didn't own the ricoh - that is council owned andSISA invested there after the clown that ran this club sent them begging.

 

Like I say I think the only Bigger Picture you've seen is the last time you scraped your pocket money together and managed to get into leisure world to see a movie .... now trot on .... some of us have a club to save!

[georgeg]

Rupert Lowe in the stocks at half-time. £5 a rotten tomato' date=' £10 a rock.[/quote']

 

can I hire an AK47 from someone?

[CB Fry]

For someone who has a better grasp of the bigger picture than I do - its quite amazing that you have managed to confuse owning the ground (the main home of our debt) and owning the club - obviously you are looking so far into the future that you cant actually see the wood for the trees!!! - Most of your posts about fundraising hark back to the salaries being paid to players that probably won't be here in a few weeks or months time so how is that seeing the bigger picture or is it some kind or repeat your watching?

 

Quite simply all our problems from the millstone that is SMS - I think with the hepl of AVIVA, The City Council - who cannot affort to loose the ground as the whole regeneration of that area is built around the stadium, and the fans could cobble together the monies to purchase SMS - There is a deal to be done on the ground with AVIVA, and the council are willing to help - so we are not talking of raising £24million ourselves but a %of this amount -

 

YOu say about scraping £1000 here and £1000 there but at the moment Derrys pledge thread has about £700000 pledged - and that is just from those that use the forum. Coupled with some good exhibition matches, a charity concert and donations we could get to the point where we own the stadium and suddenly the club is a more attractive proposition to anywould be investor as there is not this massive debt. We only owe £30 million - Coventry owed that and Didn't own the ricoh - that is council owned andSISA invested there after the clown that ran this club sent them begging.

 

Like I say I think the only Bigger Picture you've seen is the last time you scraped your pocket money together and managed to get into leisure world to see a movie .... now trot on .... some of us have a club to save!

 

Hang on, where have I even talked about owning the ground/owning the club? You're just making arguments up now

 

Yes, getting the ground debt off our hands which is what admin is going to go a long way to achieving is a good thing. But you seem to be labouring under the aprehension that it is only the super dooper fans groups that have worked this out.

 

It isn't the fans groups that are going to strike a deal with Aviva that involves them cutting and running. It will be a business group with a bit of dough, intent and savvy behind them.

 

If we go down the council-bailing-us-out and them owning the ground it will be a business group that instigates it, not the charity matchers shaking their tins and selling charity cakes at half time.

 

As I said, I grasp the bigger picture while you drone on about charity bloody concerts.

 

When Derry has got his £700,000 in the bank, let me know. And anyway, that's what I am calling obscene. Seeing young people saying they have scraped together a grand of savings and are now prepared to chuck it away on football debt is obscene, completely obscene and I don't think it should be being encouraged. That's my bigger picture son.

 

Get behind the team, pack the ground, but people feeling they have to blow their savings in the middle of the biggest recession since the seventies is obscene.

 

Let a consortium with access to credit do that, not average people on average wages. Let business take on business debt.

 

 

And yes, I'm a child with pocket money who goes to the pictures before bedtime....but also manage to remember Jossy's Giants which was on TV last in about 1986. Lemon.

 

 

"Some of us have a club to save". Have you really: the big picture is this process is just serving people's self satisfaction - you're puffing yourself up by the day, Mr Saviour.

 

Come back to me in a month and lets see who has really saved the club.

[SaintBobby]

For someone who has a better grasp of the bigger picture than I do - its quite amazing that you have managed to confuse owning the ground (the main home of our debt) and owning the club - obviously you are looking so far into the future that you cant actually see the wood for the trees!!! - Most of your posts about fundraising hark back to the salaries being paid to players that probably won't be here in a few weeks or months time so how is that seeing the bigger picture or is it some kind or repeat your watching?

 

Quite simply all our problems from the millstone that is SMS - I think with the hepl of AVIVA, The City Council - who cannot affort to loose the ground as the whole regeneration of that area is built around the stadium, and the fans could cobble together the monies to purchase SMS - There is a deal to be done on the ground with AVIVA, and the council are willing to help - so we are not talking of raising £24million ourselves but a %of this amount -

 

YOu say about scraping £1000 here and £1000 there but at the moment Derrys pledge thread has about £700000 pledged - and that is just from those that use the forum. Coupled with some good exhibition matches, a charity concert and donations we could get to the point where we own the stadium and suddenly the club is a more attractive proposition to anywould be investor as there is not this massive debt. We only owe £30 million - Coventry owed that and Didn't own the ricoh - that is council owned andSISA invested there after the clown that ran this club sent them begging.

 

Like I say I think the only Bigger Picture you've seen is the last time you scraped your pocket money together and managed to get into leisure world to see a movie .... now trot on .... some of us have a club to save!

 

My real problem on this thread is I totally commend ooohTH and also love CB's comebacks.

 

The problem for fans passing round "buckets" (even if these "buckets" raise £7m) is that the immediate future of the club hinges on 2 big things:

 

1. Renegotiating the mortgage on SMS downwards - and massively.

 

2. Wriggling away from a 10 point penalty either this this season or next.

 

I'd like to think that as a relatively bright human being I could put a vaguely coherent case to Aviva on point 1 and a half-savvy argument to the Football League on point 2. But I'm not an expert on either matter and perhaps 80-90% of the club's finances hinge on delivering these two things.

 

A few months ago, I argued strongly for the fans buying out the club. I set up a pledge on pledgebank. We needed about 1,000 people at £10,000 a person (or 10,000 people at £1,000 a person). I'm not saying that I marketed it very well or that I was the right person to lead it. But, wow, the silence was deafening. I think 6 people pledged the £10,000.

 

There were - as far as I could see - no alternatives proposed from any fan group at all. The best we heard was a hope that Leon Crouch, Paul Allen or some other chap would leap to our aid. My impression was that Saints fans may have deep pockets, but they also have very short arms.

 

SLH has now gone into administration with debts of around £30m. It is amazingly touching to see 79 year old's handing over £500 at the ticket office, but it is FAR FAR too late for that.

 

Assuming we find a new board, their ability to negotiate the mortgage down by £10m, £12m or £15m - in a high-pressure 1 hour meeting with Norwich Union - totally dwarves any noble efforts to raise a few grand here or a few grand there.

 

If the fans had really wanted to buy the club, SLH was on sale for a couple of million quid a few weeks ago. You should have acted then.

 

If Saints fans are numerous, but largely impoverished, (and I suspect that's about the size of it) then the best thing they can now do is to pressurise the local council to act as a backstop for the new board. A few dozen letters to each Southampton City Councillor might achieve that.

 

If the city council was willing to put pressure on Norwich Union (along the rough lines of "please write off the mortgage hand over the keys...I know it's unfair but if you do so, we will have a good working relationship with you on future projects in the city...if you don't, the city council will find it very difficult to work with you again") or possibly make an offer on the stadium of say, £1, with the possible threat of a compulsory purchase order and/or negotiate an alternative venue for the team to play at next season, this would be potentially helpful.

 

Saints fans - in their hundreds - should lobby their local councillors along these lines (we're also helped by the fact that all three main parties are competitive in the city - it's not a "rotten borough")

 

That would, in truth, achieve much more than well-intentioned imaginative fundraising efforts. However cute and imaginative they may be.

[derry]

We are positively not mounting a bid for the club. We are creating a fallback position, taking pledges as an indication of possible support, and creating a viable infrastructure if all else fails to try and save the club.

 

Alternatively assist a worthwhile bid in the event it would otherwise fail and the club would go down.

 

It's damn easy to come on here and pontficate under an assumed name and castigate people who are at least trying to make positive suggestions.

 

Incidentally the Saints Trust are organising a bucket collection at SMS on monday. That could raise if there are enough £5/£10/£20 pound notes donated between £50k to £100k if the majority of adults contribute.

 

I suggested it to David Luker but he told me the ST were already doing it, fair play to them.

 

As an afterthought, this money goes to the football club not SLH/administrator.

[forever a red and white]

how about get to the bloody game vs palace, buy a ticket and get there

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Hang on, where have I even talked about owning the ground/owning the club? You're just making arguments up now

 

Yes, getting the ground debt off our hands which is what admin is going to go a long way to achieving is a good thing. But you seem to be labouring under the aprehension that it is only the super dooper fans groups that have worked this out.

 

It isn't the fans groups that are going to strike a deal with Aviva that involves them cutting and running. It will be a business group with a bit of dough, intent and savvy behind them.

 

If we go down the council-bailing-us-out and them owning the ground it will be a business group that instigates it, not the charity matchers shaking their tins and selling charity cakes at half time.

 

As I said, I grasp the bigger picture while you drone on about charity bloody concerts.

 

When Derry has got his £700,000 in the bank, let me know. And anyway, that's what I am calling obscene. Seeing young people saying they have scraped together a grand of savings and are now prepared to chuck it away on football debt is obscene, completely obscene and I don't think it should be being encouraged. That's my bigger picture son.

 

Get behind the team, pack the ground, but people feeling they have to blow their savings in the middle of the biggest recession since the seventies is obscene.

 

Let a consortium with access to credit do that, not average people on average wages. Let business take on business debt.

 

 

And yes, I'm a child with pocket money who goes to the pictures before bedtime....but also manage to remember Jossy's Giants which was on TV last in about 1986. Lemon.

 

 

"Some of us have a club to save". Have you really: the big picture is this process is just serving people's self satisfaction - you're puffing yourself up by the day, Mr Saviour.

 

Come back to me in a month and lets see who has really saved the club.

 

So what do you suggest you depressing defeatest - stick it in a bank earning ****e all interest - so some other fat cat bussiness man can **** it off on his pension? Thats what I call obscene - being ridden like a donkey by another bussiness man isnt something that appeals to me. Or do you want to watch the government screw the country into the ground more and watch your money dwindle away with increased cost of living? or do they do something to help save the club they love, and in doing that maybe change the way the club is run in the future? As I have said before you might have a small enough brain not to care about 124 years of history for most people that is one of the most endearing aspects to the club - the fact that we were a little bit dfferent to other clubs. Despite years of profit Margins and targets and share deals and reverse take overs and the like, as soon as the bussiness men have screwed it up with their ego building power struggles; the true routes of the club come to the fore and the family that is Southampton Football Club try to pull together to keep the club going? and you view this as obscene?

 

I struggle to deal with people like you who call themselves a fan of Southampton football club but have nothing in you - no fight, no spunk, to roll your shirt sleeves up and say ... actually this aint going to beat us?.... where has that fight gone?

 

You carp on about people moaning in six months time but that is probably what you will get when another longed for multimillionaire business man takes over the club and starts treating the fans as "customers" again - pushing up prices to recoup their investment and make sure they see a fat enough bottom line to satisfy the trophy Wife and pay for the Aston martin on the drive.

 

If the fans could organise themselves into one group and go to the council with a plan to buy the stadium, the council would surely support this ground swell of opinion and then you are nine tenths of the way to a sollution - and

in doing so have a lever to keep a check on ST and Ticket prices.

 

I may be puffed up like a lemon - but I certainly aint green enough to think that some other Bussiness man is going to do or be anything better for Southampton football club, unless we do really strike it lucky and get one of the truly well off ones but do you think they are really queing up to buy a club that is on the verge of dropping into League 1 of the pryamid??

 

Your right I am puffing myself up because everyday this goes on it just sickens me even more that all the hard work and years of hard graft and loyalty shown to the club by true greats like Le Tiss and Ted Bates has been so badly abused and mis managed -

 

I'm no saviour and I am a bit of a god ****e but as I said to David luker on the phone I will try to help the club in anyway I can to keep it going because it is important to me - One of the true constants in my life - not the be all and end all but important to me. It just fascinates me that there are people like you out there that would rather stick there head in the sand and let some one else sort the mess out - I guess you probably have sloping shoulders and leave parties once the cake has gone? nighty night x

[derry]

So what do you suggest you depressing defeatest - stick it in a bank earning ****e all interest - so some other fat cat bussiness man can **** it off on his pension? Thats what I call obscene - being ridden like a donkey by another bussiness man isnt something that appeals to me. Or do you want to watch the government screw the country into the ground more and watch your money dwindle away with increased cost of living? or do they do something to help save the club they love, and in doing that maybe change the way the club is run in the future? As I have said before you might have a small enough brain not to care about 124 years of history for most people that is one of the most endearing aspects to the club - the fact that we were a little bit dfferent to other clubs. Despite years of profit Margins and targets and share deals and reverse take overs and the like, as soon as the bussiness men have screwed it up with their ego building power struggles; the true routes of the club come to the fore and the family that is Southampton Football Club try to pull together to keep the club going? and you view this as obscene?

 

I struggle to deal with people like you who call themselves a fan of Southampton football club but have nothing in you - no fight, no spunk, to roll your shirt sleeves up and say ... actually this aint going to beat us?.... where has that fight gone?

 

You carp on about people moaning in six months time but that is probably what you will get when another longed for multimillionaire business man takes over the club and starts treating the fans as "customers" again - pushing up prices to recoup their investment and make sure they see a fat enough bottom line to satisfy the trophy Wife and pay for the Aston martin on the drive.

 

If the fans could organise themselves into one group and go to the council with a plan to buy the stadium, the council would surely support this ground swell of opinion and then you are nine tenths of the way to a sollution - and

in doing so have a lever to keep a check on ST and Ticket prices.

 

I may be puffed up like a lemon - but I certainly aint green enough to think that some other Bussiness man is going to do or be anything better for Southampton football club, unless we do really strike it lucky and get one of the truly well off ones but do you think they are really queing up to buy a club that is on the verge of dropping into League 1 of the pryamid??

 

Your right I am puffing myself up because everyday this goes on it just sickens me even more that all the hard work and years of hard graft and loyalty shown to the club by true greats like Le Tiss and Ted Bates has been so badly abused and mis managed -

 

I'm no saviour and I am a bit of a god ****e but as I said to David luker on the phone I will try to help the club in anyway I can to keep it going because it is important to me - One of the true constants in my life - not the be all and end all but important to me. It just fascinates me that there are people like you out there that would rather stick there head in the sand and let some one else sort the mess out - I guess you probably have sloping shoulders and leave parties once the cake has gone? nighty night x

 

As a matter of interest Royston Smith of the Southampton City Council was in SMS Monday about 4.20pm with Leon Crouch. I saw him.

[ooohTerryHurlock]

My real problem on this thread is I totally commend ooohTH and also love CB's comebacks.

 

The problem for fans passing round "buckets" (even if these "buckets" raise £7m) is that the immediate future of the club hinges on 2 big things:

 

1. Renegotiating the mortgage on SMS downwards - and massively.

 

2. Wriggling away from a 10 point penalty either this this season or next.

 

I'd like to think that as a relatively bright human being I could put a vaguely coherent case to Aviva on point 1 and a half-savvy argument to the Football League on point 2. But I'm not an expert on either matter and perhaps 80-90% of the club's finances hinge on delivering these two things.

 

A few months ago, I argued strongly for the fans buying out the club. I set up a pledge on pledgebank. We needed about 1,000 people at £10,000 a person (or 10,000 people at £1,000 a person). I'm not saying that I marketed it very well or that I was the right person to lead it. But, wow, the silence was deafening. I think 6 people pledged the £10,000.

 

There were - as far as I could see - no alternatives proposed from any fan group at all. The best we heard was a hope that Leon Crouch, Paul Allen or some other chap would leap to our aid. My impression was that Saints fans may have deep pockets, but they also have very short arms.

 

SLH has now gone into administration with debts of around £30m. It is amazingly touching to see 79 year old's handing over £500 at the ticket office, but it is FAR FAR too late for that.

 

Assuming we find a new board, their ability to negotiate the mortgage down by £10m, £12m or £15m - in a high-pressure 1 hour meeting with Norwich Union - totally dwarves any noble efforts to raise a few grand here or a few grand there.

 

If the fans had really wanted to buy the club, SLH was on sale for a couple of million quid a few weeks ago. You should have acted then.

 

If Saints fans are numerous, but largely impoverished, (and I suspect that's about the size of it) then the best thing they can now do is to pressurise the local council to act as a backstop for the new board. A few dozen letters to each Southampton City Councillor might achieve that.

 

If the city council was willing to put pressure on Norwich Union (along the rough lines of "please write off the mortgage hand over the keys...I know it's unfair but if you do so, we will have a good working relationship with you on future projects in the city...if you don't, the city council will find it very difficult to work with you again") or possibly make an offer on the stadium of say, £1, with the possible threat of a compulsory purchase order and/or negotiate an alternative venue for the team to play at next season, this would be potentially helpful.

 

Saints fans - in their hundreds - should lobby their local councillors along these lines (we're also helped by the fact that all three main parties are competitive in the city - it's not a "rotten borough")

 

That would, in truth, achieve much more than well-intentioned imaginative fundraising efforts. However cute and imaginative they may be.

 

We owe Aviva £24million - they could probably be encouraged in the current climate to listen to offers of around £20million - Part of that deal being naming rights on the stadium. Lets say we asked them to pay £500 000 over a ten year period - So £5 million - this is then taken off the mortgage debt? So we owe £15 million on the place - If the council Pay half of this £7.5 million and the fans are tasked with raising the rest - We see if Aviva will except this over £2 installments so pay £3.75 million initally - the council pays £3.75 million as well up front. We can raise £3.75 million with pledges and the concert.... I have CB Fry down for four tickets to the concert (he will love it as i am going to throw on a bouncy caslte!) Some charity games and high profile events. This works on all levels:

 

Aviva gets the majority of its money back from a toxic loan that looked like it was going sour . They also get loads, heaps and heaps of positive publicity which must be unheard of in the financial industry at the moment. They also get loads of good will... Don't forget they have a tie to the city as they have big offices here (or did until the recession)...

 

The Council enjoys a surge of positive publicity and really cannot afford for a white elephant like the stadium just to sit there - they also get to use the venue for the events and it can become one of the few jewels in there crown.

 

..and the Fans well like i said we get to help keep the club we love afloat but somehow get to keep a check on ST/Ticket prices.

 

I know your scheme didn't work but like anything it needs to be publicised and marketed right - maybe you did have a deafening response but maybe no one heard what you were saying over all the othernoise!

[scottzoo]

Can you sell nothing on ebay !!

 

Can somebody put an ad on ebay to buy a piece of nothing for a quid, while you think this silly stupid and your guessing i'm ****ed you'd be correct.

 

But if every body on here put a link to facebook a saints supporters group ,one such group there is 16000+ members so i'm sure every one of them could spare a £1 even via paypal because everybody could pay via debit card.

Ok its not going to buy the club but it could save the club until a buyer is found, This could be made worldwide as ebay is .Your friends, relatives, companies could all put a pound in . Think about it WORLDWIDE saving the saints even supporters from other clubs (unlikely) could help us to survive.

 

OK back to the drink now

[derry]

Can you sell nothing on ebay !!

 

Can somebody put an ad on ebay to buy a piece of nothing for a quid, while you think this silly stupid and your guessing i'm ****ed you'd be correct.

 

But if every body on here put a link to facebook a saints supporters group ,one such group there is 16000+ members so i'm sure every one of them could spare a £1 even via paypal because everybody could pay via debit card.

Ok its not going to buy the club but it could save the club until a buyer is found, This could be made worldwide as ebay is .Your friends, relatives, companies could all put a pound in . Think about it WORLDWIDE saving the saints even supporters from other clubs (unlikely) could help us to survive.

 

OK back to the drink now

 

Talk is cheap they'll be able to put up tomorrow when the appeal is launched.

[SaintBobby]

We owe Aviva £24million - they could probably be encouraged in the current climate to listen to offers of around £20million - Part of that deal being naming rights on the stadium. Lets say we asked them to pay £500 000 over a ten year period - So £5 million - this is then taken off the mortgage debt? So we owe £15 million on the place - If the council Pay half of this £7.5 million and the fans are tasked with raising the rest - We see if Aviva will except this over £2 installments so pay £3.75 million initally - the council pays £3.75 million as well up front. We can raise £3.75 million with pledges and the concert.... I have CB Fry down for four tickets to the concert (he will love it as i am going to throw on a bouncy caslte!) Some charity games and high profile events. This works on all levels:

 

Aviva gets the majority of its money back from a toxic loan that looked like it was going sour . They also get loads, heaps and heaps of positive publicity which must be unheard of in the financial industry at the moment. They also get loads of good will... Don't forget they have a tie to the city as they have big offices here (or did until the recession)...

 

The Council enjoys a surge of positive publicity and really cannot afford for a white elephant like the stadium just to sit there - they also get to use the venue for the events and it can become one of the few jewels in there crown.

 

..and the Fans well like i said we get to help keep the club we love afloat but somehow get to keep a check on ST/Ticket prices.

 

I know your scheme didn't work but like anything it needs to be publicised and marketed right - maybe you did have a deafening response but maybe no one heard what you were saying over all the othernoise!

 

The debt with Norwich Union/Aviva is massively toxic.

 

They'd bite your arm off for £20m.

 

They'd be lucky to stand up even half of that.

 

A brilliant negotiating team might even be able to get them down to £5m or less.

 

This is exactly why I don't want some half-arsed fans' consortium to buy the club.

 

We'd have a bunch of red-and-white striped "believers" finishing a negotiation with Aviva, having cut the mortgage to £20m. Probably all patting themselves on the back for "saving" the club £4m.

 

I'd be impressed if the representatives of the "fans" had got halfway down the corridor before the Aviva staff ****ed themselves laughing and all (rightly) awarded themselves £1m bonuses.

 

Your "achievement" would have been to saddle the club with up to £15m of debt that we didn't have to pay.

 

It's a f**k of a lot of well-intentioned charity gigs to pay that back.

[ghq]

The debt with Norwich Union/Aviva is massively toxic.

 

They'd bite your arm off for £20m.

 

They'd be lucky to stand up even half of that.

 

A brilliant negotiating team might even be able to get them down to £5m or less.

 

This is exactly why I don't want some half-arsed fans' consortium to buy the club.

 

We'd have a bunch of red-and-white striped "believers" finishing a negotiation with Aviva, having cut the mortgage to £20m. Probably all patting themselves on the back for "saving" the club £4m.

 

I'd be impressed if the representatives of the "fans" had got halfway down the corridor before the Aviva staff ****ed themselves laughing and all (rightly) awarded themselves £1m bonuses.

 

Your "achievement" would have been to saddle the club with up to £15m of debt that we didn't have to pay.

 

It's a f**k of a lot of well-intentioned charity gigs to pay that back.

 

OT Hurlock, your sentiments are commendable however, read the above quote as I think it could be a little closer to what is more aligned to actuality. CBFry was only pointing out what many of us know to be the case. I must say that I don't know for certain, but would offer odds that a 'fans' owned and operated Saints would last very little time. Just read this Forum if you are in any doubt. I,as I'm sure most of us do, want the continued existence of our club and I for one have every confidence that it will. I also think that big crowd attendances are the best way of raising the money required for our immediate well being.

[ooohTerryHurlock]

OT Hurlock, your sentiments are commendable however, read the above quote as I think it could be a little closer to what is more aligned to actuality. CBFry was only pointing out what many of us know to be the case. I must say that I don't know for certain, but would offer odds that a 'fans' owned and operated Saints would last very little time. Just read this Forum if you are in any doubt. I,as I'm sure most of us do, want the continued existence of our club and I for one have every confidence that it will. I also think that big crowd attendances are the best way of raising the money required for our immediate well being.

 

Its people like you that are ****ing our country - so we borrow £24 million off Norwich Union and then we take them for £19million..... Of course they will just forget about..... oh no what they will actually do it probably slide off to the government to get the money from Gordon.... Of course then honest hard working staff at Norwich union will be laid off and put on the doll que. .... Perhaps I am just too moral and straight up to be on here!

Edited 10 April, 2009 by ooohTerryHurlock