Well said that man!

The bottom line is, the fans (and others from the RL family) pulled together to keep the club alive, and we know if we hadn't, it would have failed.

Firstly, I'm pretty furious with the old regime. However, there's not much point in dwelling on that now.

Secondly, I'm unsure about the way in which the new regime has presented these figures (others have noted the potential for ambiguity with the way in which financial data can be used). However, aware that I cut the old regime plenty of slack because they were the ones trying to deal with the situation, I'm going to do at least as much for the new Board.

What I'm interested in now is how we can help the situation. We have dug into our pockets once, and though it seems to have given the possibility of saving the club, doing it again would not be practical. The board clearly have to come up with the majority of the money via investment, but I'd love us to be able to help further in some practical way. Ideas?

it really is shoddy the way fans are treated when a club is asking for help and turn to them to pull them out of the e

I feel for you all, its a shame that you didn't take the advice from the Wakefield Trinity supporters trust as you have only just moved the date by feeding the club

any way good luck for the future

if the worse happens then I doubt they would have much say

Perhaps we could all work together if we had some sort of plan to back? Presently we are fed doom and gloom with a sprinkling of "don't panic".

I am sure if we were told the whole truth about what we need to do to survive even if it got us through to the end of the season with the transfer embargo lifted we could pull together.

Suggestions for a plan

1. We need to raise a further x amount from fans to keep us going until September.
2. Season tickets will rise to x to ensure we survive through this year and provide a platform for 2013.
3. Offer a share issue? We hope to raise an additional x amount in share capital.
4. investigate ground share usage opportunities.
5. Review the internal operation to identify cost savings. We will raise x by doing this.
6. We will actively market to sponsors and bring in an additional x amount.

This could be launched at a fans forum maybe including a new auction?

Cash is the most important thing without it the club will go into administration.

Here's hoping!

This

Not to worry.....its all sorted, the missus has just informed me that its our turn to win the euro millions lottery on tuesday....watch this space!!!

Excellent! My comments:

Don't think we could rely on this for too much, but if handled correctly and targeted at those who can [ireally[/i afford it, a further round of pledging might raise a five or possibly six figure sum. Perhaps it would be better to focus on fund-raising events, so that those who donate at least get some entertainment back for their money.

I think this is a given for next season.

If administratively possible and acceptable to current shareholders, I think this could raise quite a lot of money. The only danger, I suppose, would be to complicate shareholdings even further.

Bulls ground sharing with someone else, or someone else ground sharing with the Bulls? In the first case, the council's penalty clause would be a major stumbling block, unless waived, and in any case, it would have to be very carefully thought out to avoid losing again the fans we lost in our last decamping to Valley Parade. In the second case, I can't imagine any sharing arrangement bringing in more than peanuts (at best).

Hasn't this been cut to the bone already? Indeed, isn't there a case for arguing that better / less overworked back room resources might have helped avoid the problems that have arisen?

This has to be at the core of any solution.

Indeed!

Thats not a bad shout tbh...

What about creating a lottery syndicate? £1 standing order each week into a specially designated bank account, each saturday the money is withdrawn by account holders and x number of lotto lucky dips purchased.

Any small amounts of money (£500 or less) reinvested into lottery tickets and higher amounts pledged to the club.

I know it sounds desperate

but a pound a week is probably a lot more affordable to the majority of us than another £100+ one off lump sum again.

I hate to say it, but investing £500,000 in the lottery now seems like a better plan than investing it in Hood industries...

Exactly!!!!!

Some sensible ideas from Julie (and sensible comments from Mike!) there. I hope someone inside the club has at least some of these in the pipeline.

But who knows with this bunch!

. . .. hmmmmmm £109,000,000 estimate for Tues






what am I thinking!!!

the pledge was a waste of time & money - eventually its admin & reform

I am sure I am speaking for the majority of Leeds fans when I say good luck..............our rivalry has given me so many ups and downs and great memories! Long may it continue

Almost a relief to move from a time of speculation to having a better idea what is needed. You would hope the new BoD is actively considering all of Juliebulls suggestions plus some.

Looking at the rest of this seasons home fixtures I don't think there are many where we could expect large away followings. So maybe another thought would be to give current season ticket holders the option to "donate" at each of the remaining home games. I think I am right that if you "donate" rather than just buying a ticket the club does not have to pay VAT. If 500 ticket holders did this for the rest of the season that's about £50k

A lot of the usual shock horror, skeletion in the cupboard, it was all the last lot that done it honest guv posts.

However if you do a quick scan of the amounts being quoted it kind of adds up to the situation when the emergency pledge was first announced. It seems clear whilst the season ticket deal was no doubt launched with the intention of building the crowd up again it both massively underpiced the tickets and failed to get anywhere near the 15,000 needed - the result being loss and negative cash flow of about £100k a month. Back before Easter the Hoodies said £1m was needed - half from the pledge, half from "investors". Well we the fans and wider fans of the sport kept our side of the deal - and whatever you feel the club is in a "better" position thanks to the pledge. However the other £500k doesn't seem to have materialised, so if you need £500k plus another £100k for each remaining month of the season surprise, surprise you need over £1m.
I am not sure exactly how much we get from Sky - but think if we had 7500 season ticket holders the real price should be about £300.
I think it was Juliebull who first pointed out that the financial structure of the Bulls really are very simple and whowever has taken nearly a month to understand them is either a crap accountant or is busy charging by the hour!

That is what we were told about buying the 'virtual' tickets, which are just a donation really.

To be honest mate, I'd suspect that the majority of time has been spent on how we get through the future rather than looking at the past. I think your right to say it shouldn't have taken so long to find out how much we owe and to whom, but finding and then bringing on board the sort of people who are willing to 'invest' in a sports club is going to take more of the time imo and the current financial climate doesn't help.

i think you should sell your best players raise 500k and prepare for a couple of poor seasons that looks the only way out but i suspect your chairmen wants you to go into administration its the easy way out

Makes you wonder why bod are willing to wait until the Eleventh hour to avoid admin. Is it for fear of expulsion from Superleague?Is the RFL a major creditor to the bulls and if so have they said if you go into admin that they have no choice but to revoke their license?

Well this could be a test for the new management - can they organise a gate and a bucket?

I will put my hand in my pocket if they can

I keep reading these posts on administration - the easy way out, the only option etc, etc. Yes it would change the shareholders but more practically while existing creditors could be iced it still leaves the following "little issues"
1) Working capital for the rest of the season.
2) You still need a viable business plan for future seasons
3) Say goodbye to credit
4) Players become free agents
5) Points deduction - could effectively end our interest in the playoffs and the money that would bring
6) Someone at Redhall has a rush of blood and we find ourselves several leagues down the ladder

I know some Wakey fans keep saying administration ended up being good for them, but what if a Taffy Millionare had appeared and they were looking forward to welcoming Gateshead to Bellevue?

I am not for a minute saying raising £1.2m is easy but I still think a better option than admin

I would agree but the problem is probably collapsing time frames I am afraid

Does anyone understand why the RFL lease deal seems to have changed from £700k to £1.25m + VAT?