Sons' sorrow

[Sweet Pete]

Not sure I understand the seeming criticism of the club forming a Trust? It's pretty clear why they have and lots of other clubs, sensibly, have also. A net gain rather than a reason for gripes.

 

On another note, I got an email yesterday re: season passes and apparently they're all in process. No real confirmation if they'll be issued before the game this weekend, so the email is basically a place card, but it's at least an update, which is better than no communication.

[Sons Fan]

16 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

Not sure I understand the seeming criticism of the club forming a Trust? It's pretty clear why they have and lots of other clubs, sensibly, have also. A net gain rather than a reason for gripes.

 

On another note, I got an email yesterday re: season passes and apparently they're all in process. No real confirmation if they'll be issued before the game this weekend, so the email is basically a place card, but it's at least an update, which is better than no communication.

Re season tickets they were held up until the launch of Fanbase. Now that’s launched you’ll receive an email to link it to your app in the next day or so.

There will be a physical option if needed and any issue you can give your name to the guys at the turnstile and that will “check you in” 

Myself and others will be floating around the turnstiles ahead of the game in case of any issues.

 

[The Moonster]

43 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

Not sure I understand the seeming criticism of the club forming a Trust? It's pretty clear why they have and lots of other clubs, sensibly, have also. A net gain rather than a reason for gripes.

 

On another note, I got an email yesterday re: season passes and apparently they're all in process. No real confirmation if they'll be issued before the game this weekend, so the email is basically a place card, but it's at least an update, which is better than no communication.

I'm not criticising the formation of the Trust FWIW. I understand we need it for funding. I just don't agree it will lead to us producing more players or gaining significant first team revenue. 

[super-son]

22 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I'm not criticising the formation of the Trust FWIW. I understand we need it for funding. I just don't agree it will lead to us producing more players or gaining significant first team revenue. 

I agree that there is a slim chance of producing players that will command a fee but surely the first team revenue will improve at least slightly now that we don't have to pay to hire training facilities and we can also rent out the pitch when not in use (however little that may be). If we develop players because of it then great, but I don't think that's a primary aim of the project.

[The Moonster]

56 minutes ago, super-son said:

I agree that there is a slim chance of producing players that will command a fee but surely the first team revenue will improve at least slightly now that we don't have to pay to hire training facilities and we can also rent out the pitch when not in use (however little that may be). If we develop players because of it then great, but I don't think that's a primary aim of the project.

A quick look online suggests you can hire a Toryglen pitch for 72 quid, so twice a week would get you a player on £140 a week, which is probably less than a lot of guys in League 2 earn. Of course renting it out brings additional funds, but it also requires additional maintenance, it requires staff to manage it and it requires replacement in 8-10 years time. I hope it all works out and helps push the club into stability and sustainability, I really do, I just prefer a grass pitch and feel the benefits of an artificial pitch are somewhat overstated. 

[Victor mcdade]

29 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

A quick look online suggests you can hire a Toryglen pitch for 72 quid, so twice a week would get you a player on £140 a week, which is probably less than a lot of guys in League 2 earn. Of course renting it out brings additional funds, but it also requires additional maintenance, it requires staff to manage it and it requires replacement in 8-10 years time. I hope it all works out and helps push the club into stability and sustainability, I really do, I just prefer a grass pitch and feel the benefits of an artificial pitch are somewhat overstated. 

Grass over astro all day, but not our grass, we need astro in.  

[The Moonster]

5 minutes ago, Victor mcdade said:

Grass over astro all day, but not our grass, we need astro in.  

Or a groundsman that kens what he's doing. 

[super-son]

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

A quick look online suggests you can hire a Toryglen pitch for 72 quid, so twice a week would get you a player on £140 a week, which is probably less than a lot of guys in League 2 earn. Of course renting it out brings additional funds, but it also requires additional maintenance, it requires staff to manage it and it requires replacement in 8-10 years time. I hope it all works out and helps push the club into stability and sustainability, I really do, I just prefer a grass pitch and feel the benefits of an artificial pitch are somewhat overstated. 

I'm also hoping that renting the pitch out to the community will bring in some more fans over time as well as the club's community reputation grows. That's assuming we do things properly and don't piss people off with poor organisation. Those potential extra bums on seats could add to that £72 figure and alleviate the maintenance costs.

I know that it's extremely hard to attract more fans to the club but this can only be a positive step forward in at least attempting to do so.

 

Forever the optimist.

[Urban Spaceman]

I think its a positive that the club (by necessity or not) are creating this Community Trust. Mainly as it will benefit the community potentially more than the club.

I have no experience how these things work in practice for the other clubs that are decades ahead of us in this regard.

Presumably to get the Astro funding the actual astro pitch has to be held in the name of the Community Trust (not the club). So stadium held as a club asset, the pitch as a community asset with DFC first team as the anchor tenant with first call on lets. Any Income from the other lets to community clubs (do one Broomhill) is paid to the Community Trust. As a Charity / Non Profit any excess is ploughed back in for maintenance or held back to pay for the relaying every few years. If that's correct there is no direct additional revenue for the Club? (You cant just take the surplus funds from a charity and hand them to a Limited Company) 

There are obviously indirect savings in expenditure for the club, who no longer need to maintain a grass pitch or pay for lets to train elsewhere.

or is there a way around the trust getting charity funding for an asset to be held by a Ltd?

 

[Victor mcdade]

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Or a groundsman that kens what he's doing. 

Agree but I think we may be beyond repair.  

[pleslie99]

I don’t think the laying of an Astro is going to be the money maker some think it is. Ok we can rent it out to teams in the area, but, we currently have 2 senior teams playing, plus the additional youth and now woman’s teams. There is realistically not going to be much space for anyone else to use for training or games. Are we going to be charging the youth teams associated with the club to use the pitch? There is also the need to man the stadium for the entire time we are renting the pitch, this means that we incur a cost, no one’s going to sit around for hours for free! Then the usual over heads of utilities etc, cleaning costs. The list goes on! 
an Astro will help, gets games on etc, but I don’t see where loads of additional revenue comes and I don’t see where we end up with a future 1st team player just because we have an Astro pitch and a community trust?

[The Moonster]

3 hours ago, Urban Spaceman said:

I think its a positive that the club (by necessity or not) are creating this Community Trust. Mainly as it will benefit the community potentially more than the club.

I have no experience how these things work in practice for the other clubs that are decades ahead of us in this regard.

Presumably to get the Astro funding the actual astro pitch has to be held in the name of the Community Trust (not the club). So stadium held as a club asset, the pitch as a community asset with DFC first team as the anchor tenant with first call on lets. Any Income from the other lets to community clubs (do one Broomhill) is paid to the Community Trust. As a Charity / Non Profit any excess is ploughed back in for maintenance or held back to pay for the relaying every few years. If that's correct there is no direct additional revenue for the Club? (You cant just take the surplus funds from a charity and hand them to a Limited Company) 

There are obviously indirect savings in expenditure for the club, who no longer need to maintain a grass pitch or pay for lets to train elsewhere.

or is there a way around the trust getting charity funding for an asset to be held by a Ltd?

 

Tbf, I hadn't thought about the asset angle. Potentially another hurdle for anyone looking to sell parts of the ground. Fair point.

[FifeSons]

Got my season ticket and added to my Apple wallet. A very smooth process.

I haven't heard anything about us streaming this season, which I'm guessing doesn't bode well. I don't even see the Dumbarton TV bit, or whatever it was called, on the website anymore.

Edited August 6 by FifeSons

[super-son]

23 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Got my season ticket and added to my Apple wallet. A very smooth process.

I haven't heard anything about us streaming this season, which I'm guessing doesn't bode well. I don't even see the Dumbarton TV bit, or whatever it was called, on the website anymore.

I haven’t had any email yet, might still be processing some of them.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

18 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

I don’t think the laying of an Astro is going to be the money maker some think it is. Ok we can rent it out to teams in the area, but, we currently have 2 senior teams playing, plus the additional youth and now woman’s teams. There is realistically not going to be much space for anyone else to use for training or games. Are we going to be charging the youth teams associated with the club to use the pitch? There is also the need to man the stadium for the entire time we are renting the pitch, this means that we incur a cost, no one’s going to sit around for hours for free! Then the usual over heads of utilities etc, cleaning costs. The list goes on! 
an Astro will help, gets games on etc, but I don’t see where loads of additional revenue comes and I don’t see where we end up with a future 1st team player just because we have an Astro pitch and a community trust?

All fair points, and I think we're looking at an enhanced playing facility rather than a goldmine.  The problem with Broomhill is that IIRC they are only into the second season of a five-year tenancy.

[Sons Fan]

2 hours ago, FifeSons said:

Got my season ticket and added to my Apple wallet. A very smooth process.

I haven't heard anything about us streaming this season, which I'm guessing doesn't bode well. I don't even see the Dumbarton TV bit, or whatever it was called, on the website anymore.

Glad you are sorted ticket wise and it was nice a smooth.

We will be streaming the games again. We are starting to work on the website to finally get all the gremlins away. We disabled the DTV page as it was pointing to an old account so didn’t want to cause any confusion. 

[Clarko_son]

15 hours ago, super-son said:

I haven’t had any email yet, might still be processing some of them.

On the club site it says there should be an email today about it, I've not got anything either

[Jan Vojáček]

36 minutes ago, Clarko_son said:

On the club site it says there should be an email today about it, I've not got anything either

Aye I'm in the same boat, saw a message from SLO drew saying to get in touch with him if we've not got anything by the end of today though. So not panicking yet!

[FifeSons]

Ironic that the one person who seems to have got their season ticket won't be there on Saturday!

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

We do seem to be cutting it tight with this season ticket malarky.