Hauzen Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 9 hours ago, PELE said: Serious question. If you don't get up (I think you will), do you think the club will cut back on the spending? Is it mostly MK putting his hand in his pocket? I don't necessarily think the spending is any higher these days than it had been before- over the years EK have had the likes of Billy Stark, Chris Aitken, Brian Kerr, Kevin Rutkiewicz and Ian Durrant involved in the managerial/coaching set up as well as a lot of ex-Prem and league players probably on decent money (Steven Old, Lee Miller, Chris Erskine, Paul Paton, Chris Humphrey, Darren O'Dea, Greg Wylde, Kyle Hutton, Bryan Prunty, Chris Millar etc) so it's certainly not a new thing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PELE Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 2 hours ago, Hauzen said: I don't necessarily think the spending is any higher these days than it had been before- over the years EK have had the likes of Billy Stark, Chris Aitken, Brian Kerr, Kevin Rutkiewicz and Ian Durrant involved in the managerial/coaching set up as well as a lot of ex-Prem and league players probably on decent money (Steven Old, Lee Miller, Chris Erskine, Paul Paton, Chris Humphrey, Darren O'Dea, Greg Wylde, Kyle Hutton, Bryan Prunty, Chris Millar etc) so it's certainly not a new thing. I know it's not a new thing. Just wondering how long they can sustain it if they don't get into league 2. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor7 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 3 hours ago, PELE said: I know it's not a new thing. Just wondering how long they can sustain it if they don't get into league 2. Interesting question that I have been looking for the answer myself. Been very close to promotion in recent years, how long can this be sustained without getting into league 2? I feel if they go up this season, they could potentially end up challenging to get into league 1. If they fail….who knows? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
To B or not B Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 3 hours ago, PELE said: I know it's not a new thing. Just wondering how long they can sustain it if they don't get into league 2. For as long as it takes by the look of things. They’ve been going at it for the last few years, not sure why they would stop now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmc80 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 7 hours ago, Brazilianlex said: This post is brought to you for the benefit of any employees of HMRC who may be reading. The guys putting money into ek dont need anything from mk. Trust me. I know that dosen’t suit your narrative, but hey ho. money has been spent like this at ek since the club were formed and long before mk was anywhere near the place. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PELE Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 8 minutes ago, johnmc80 said: The guys putting money into ek dont need anything from mk. Trust me. I know that dosen’t suit your narrative, but hey ho. money has been spent like this at ek since the club were formed and long before mk was anywhere near the place. There isn't any narrative. Just wondering how many more attempts they would fund the challenge. Although I expect them to finally achieve the promotion this time. It must have cost a fair whack over the years. This is the eleventh season for the Lowland League and EK have put in a serious challenge for most of those seasons. There must be a point where the losses are too much, unless they get into League 2 or above and get some of the cost covered. Or are they multi millionaires? I assumed MK was chipping in as well whilst there, but they have been spending long before he arrived. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oystercatcher Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 11 minutes ago, PELE said: Or are they multi millionaires? Yes 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Rage Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 My own curiosity has always been what is the end goal of the spending? EK have been the dominant side of the Lowland League since it's inception, ridiculous winning runs and tremendous success. But the fan base isn't growing much in spite of that. Are they expecting a jump when they get into League 2 or League 1? And as I've said before, spending on the pitch is a very short term approach, spending off the pitch on facilities is when you can really become a pillar of the community and properly develop the club. Just for examples sake, 300k losses on players over a season is sunk cost, 300k building a gym is a facility that can help the club and be a local asset for 10-20 years. Not that the match going fans can do anything about it, absolutely fair play to you, enjoy the ride and the good times while they're here. Just where my mind goes when I think about EK. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmc80 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 1 hour ago, PELE said: There isn't any narrative. Just wondering how many more attempts they would fund the challenge. Although I expect them to finally achieve the promotion this time. It must have cost a fair whack over the years. This is the eleventh season for the Lowland League and EK have put in a serious challenge for most of those seasons. There must be a point where the losses are too much, unless they get into League 2 or above and get some of the cost covered. Or are they multi millionaires? I assumed MK was chipping in as well whilst there, but they have been spending long before he arrived. That narrative comment wasn’t directed at you pele. You are a decent poster. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hauzen Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) 2 hours ago, Nicholas Rage said: My own curiosity has always been what is the end goal of the spending? EK have been the dominant side of the Lowland League since it's inception, ridiculous winning runs and tremendous success. But the fan base isn't growing much in spite of that. Are they expecting a jump when they get into League 2 or League 1? And as I've said before, spending on the pitch is a very short term approach, spending off the pitch on facilities is when you can really become a pillar of the community and properly develop the club. Just for examples sake, 300k losses on players over a season is sunk cost, 300k building a gym is a facility that can help the club and be a local asset for 10-20 years. Not that the match going fans can do anything about it, absolutely fair play to you, enjoy the ride and the good times while they're here. Just where my mind goes when I think about EK. Yep it's a weird one as I'm sure by now they would have hoped to have pushed on well into the leagues and their investment would be to consolidate that rather than to still be trying to make that leap. But for a penalty shootout defeat to Cowdenbeath seven seasons ago they would be well established by now.. look at Cove Rangers who beat EK in the playoffs in 2019, since then Cove have made it to the Championship and I don't doubt EK would have managed something similar if it was them that had gone up. As you say though sustainability is the question - will they manage to become self sufficient in the coming years, I think there are enough people at the club doing the right things to forge links with businesses, sponsors, partners etc but they would have to grow the fanbase. They're unlikely to manage that within K-Park, and I'm pretty sure the much talked about community stadium will finally get off the ground once EK gain league status, though I'm not convinced the proposed location of that at the arse end of the Langlands industrial estate is the right location to attract a fan base. That stadium would do the job of creating the lasting community facility impact. It's not unreasonable to think they could attract crowds if done right and marketed right - Caledonia Gladiators seem to be doing alright at Playsport (though granted basketball is more of a novelty than yet another football club in the Glasgow/Lanarkshire area). As an aside it would be rather interesting to see EKFC start to skyrocket up the Scottish leagues just as Livingston look like they're about to plummet down them.. one new town moneybags team finally on the rise as another new town formerly-moneybags team begins another fall. Edited May 3 by Hauzen 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowdenbeath Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 2 hours ago, Nicholas Rage said: My own curiosity has always been what is the end goal of the spending? EK have been the dominant side of the Lowland League since it's inception, ridiculous winning runs and tremendous success. But the fan base isn't growing much in spite of that. Are they expecting a jump when they get into League 2 or League 1? And as I've said before, spending on the pitch is a very short term approach, spending off the pitch on facilities is when you can really become a pillar of the community and properly develop the club. Just for examples sake, 300k losses on players over a season is sunk cost, 300k building a gym is a facility that can help the club and be a local asset for 10-20 years. Not that the match going fans can do anything about it, absolutely fair play to you, enjoy the ride and the good times while they're here. Just where my mind goes when I think about EK. They wern't dominant in the early days had an 8th, 2nd and 5th before they won it for the 1st time in 2017 the season after they made a few quid from the Celtic cup tie it was then they started spending "big". i seen them in their 1st season and I think it was the same squad who had played in the amateurs the previous season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmc80 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 (edited) 57 minutes ago, cowdenbeath said: They wern't dominant in the early days had an 8th, 2nd and 5th before they won it for the 1st time in 2017 the season after they made a few quid from the Celtic cup tie it was then they started spending "big". i seen them in their 1st season and I think it was the same squad who had played in the amateurs the previous season. East kilbride have always been very competitive every year since the league started. And have always spent more money than most at the level they are at. Should have made it up long before now but haven’t made the right call at the right times and maybe lacked a wee bit of luck thats needed. They got a wee lift from the celtic game for sure, but it was enough to cover about a seasons worth. To think that was what is driving ek’s spending power now is a wild take. The guys backing the club are seriously wealthy. And are driven to get the club into the leagues above. The lowland league has had a lot of very good teams in it throughout the years. Its never been a cakewalk to win right from the first season. As the teams that have went up have shown. Not to mention the good longstanding clubs that went the other way. Its also not easy to escape if you have been relegated into as im sure you will agree. Edited May 3 by johnmc80 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossilYM Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Whatever became of that stadium that was getting built in EK leading up to Covid. The work stopped and nothing was ever said about it. Are the foundations still there? Sure somebody said it was somewhere way out Greenhills direction. Sounded like a bigger version of the K Park and exactly the same, out in the bhoonies. Even worse a location than the K Park and that's saying something. Pity that nobody would build a cage for EK Thistle, least that's actually in EK Dodgy. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oystercatcher Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 The plans are still there. I am slightly concerned though about the location, it's miles from the town centre with no transport links. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 5 hours ago, Nicholas Rage said: But the fan base isn't growing much in spite of that. Are they expecting a jump when they get into League 2 or League 1? Every club that's been promoted from Tier 5 has seen a jump in attendances. Spartans have seen a couple hundred on their league average compared to last year. That's with being the 3rd/4th team in Edinburgh depending on who might ask. EK should see something decent. Hampered by their ground capacity. Which they're well aware of with the previous attempts at sorting a new ground. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidan-bufc Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 14 hours ago, johnmc80 said: East kilbride have always been very competitive every year since the league started. And have always spent more money than most at the level they are at. Should have made it up long before now but haven’t made the right call at the right times and maybe lacked a wee bit of luck thats needed. They got a wee lift from the celtic game for sure, but it was enough to cover about a seasons worth. To think that was what is driving ek’s spending power now is a wild take. The guys backing the club are seriously wealthy. And are driven to get the club into the leagues above. The lowland league has had a lot of very good teams in it throughout the years. Its never been a cakewalk to win right from the first season. As the teams that have went up have shown. Not to mention the good longstanding clubs that went the other way. Its also not easy to escape if you have been relegated into as im sure you will agree. Not sure if you know them personally to answers these but why East Kilbride? Are they from the town? Supporters previously? Or just a club that came available at the right time? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmc80 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 32 minutes ago, aidan-bufc said: Not sure if you know them personally to answers these but why East Kilbride? Are they from the town? Supporters previously? Or just a club that came available at the right time? The family are from east kilbride originally. I think the are trying to leave a legacy in the town if im honest. They have always been involved in football within ek. Were involved with ekym for years. One of the brothers also had a spell playing with clyde. They had a team, jackton boys club, who they merged with ekfc, who were an amateur side in the town. There goal from the start was to get a team from east kilbride into professional league. I think they tried to get on board with east kilbride thistle first but that never happened for a number of reasons. They applied and were excepted into the south of scotland league, but i think this was done as the knew it was a way into the about to be newly formed lowland league. And so here we are. They have ploughed a serious amount of money into it over the years. I think they will stick with it till they get it where they want it. Tends to be what they do as they have shown with various other projects they have all over the town. On a side note. The location of the new stadium is terrible. I really hope they have a re think on that. Although central space in the town now is going to be a struggle they need to try and find somewhere more accesable. Matchday experience is everything at this level. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hauzen Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 (edited) 41 minutes ago, johnmc80 said: On a side note. The location of the new stadium is terrible. I really hope they have a re think on that. Although central space in the town now is going to be a struggle they need to try and find somewhere more accesable. Matchday experience is everything at this level. Yep agree with you on that, it's probably the furthest away and most inconvenient site that they could have in the whole town. Difficult to see where else they could go with the options available. In an ideal world the community trust would have been able to use the old Rolls Royce factory which was then bought and developed on by Barratt. They also missed a trick with the large plot now occupied by Copart, that at least would have been kind of walkable from the town centre and accessed off Stroud Road and not far from the recently dualled Greenhills Road. I think it's been determined that redeveloping John Wright stadium would be a no-go in terms of traffic, at least if the community council were hopeful of utilising the stadium for things like concerts & large scale events outside of football. Edited May 4 by Hauzen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampden Diehard Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 14 hours ago, Oystercatcher said: The plans are still there. I am slightly concerned though about the location, it's miles from the town centre with no transport links. Unfortunately, football is littered with clubs who delude themselves that building a ground in the middle of nowhere with no transport links will work in terms of attracting fans. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowden Cowboy Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Thought it was well known that Jim Kean is the main man behind EK 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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