john bell

The previous Chairman took on the job with £76k in the bank in January 2020, no loans, no debts and far, far less ongoing commitments and no contract obligations beyond the end of that season. What followed was a clever campaign to convince fans that the club was going under and they had to put their hands in their pockets to keep it afloat. The current Chairman inherited so many contracted players that he was on a hiding to nothing from the outset - it was always going to be unsustainable and only a matter of time before it reached the cliff edge.

I try very hard to let the flow of Pie and Bovril wash over me, as too often comments can be economical with the truth or just plain way off the mark, but on this occasion I'm going to challenge your outright lies, and question why, in recent weeks, there appears to have been a very deliberate attempt to discredit me as a potential Chairman before I've even taken up the post. I've put forward a model for the future which works towards a sustainable club based on many more people/businesses each making a small contribution. The aim is to 'wash our face' as a Club, as an organisation losing money each year is a poor option for inward investment. If an investment only goes towards reducing losses for a year, then little remains to actually improve matters, be it team or facilities. Maybe that's not the model that some people want, but to plant this kind of nonsense doesn't improve the situation at all.

To concur with another poster - the sums are way off the mark. Budgeted gate revenue for Berwick Rangers is £1500 per league game, or £27,000 across 18 fixtures. That takes into account that a typical league gate of around 400 people includes season ticket holders, junior fans getting free entry, adult admissions and concessions (and given Berwick's age demographic of fans, the concessions are a very significant number). Therefore the comment that £15K represents more than 50% of our budgeted income. Our total revenue from gate admissions and season tickets for the financial year ending May 2017 (PLC Profit and Loss Account 2017) was £58,549, and that includes all cup competitions and friendlies.