Plough Lanes (or at least the debt)

IF we are to receive 80%/90% less funding in 2022, then has the question been asked of Mr Hughes as to setting up a debenture fund for the club?

Banks pay 2/10ths of SFA at present and rather than Doddery picking up the phone twice a week to shift barrels, why doesn't he give 10 million to a well performing VC fun and let us live off the earnings?

Or....

In the UK, the average house price rose by 9% last year....the year before was less than 1%. Covid is driving the property market....why doesn't Doddery 'BUY WIMBLEDON'S DEBT"?

By pure accident, the FL's investment in Oddslum is actually looking like it'll pay off.....if Hughes wants to leave a legacy...Buy Plough Lane's Debt!

The we play for nothing and they pay us.....



EDIT: Nick Robertson...LOL....there's a name i've not heard for a few years.
Played golf with his brother Nige a few times.....now, if you're looking for investors, there's a couple of likely lads.
Come from the Austin Reed dynasty.....Tailors by trade and I've still got an AR suit I but in the 90's.....lovely cloth...just doesn't fit anymore....most have shrunk



Serious money here......his 'gift' to Wimbledon mean he has skin in the game....and Nige is no mug when it comes to promotion...

Cunning plan.

One slight drawback is Hughes might have trouble convincing 75% of 4,500 Dons Trust members to vote in favour of effectively signing over the freehold on their new stadium to some rugby bloke they’ve never heard of.

Debt is debt.....it needs servicing and 4,500 gates ain't doing it......and the debt isn't theirs to sell.....it's theirs to service. Miss a payment and it's open season...that's how debt works. If Wimbledon either miss or try to restructure their debt, Hughes could step in.....as much as I think he's an idiot ...this is th kind of game he could play...

AFC Broncos....

You’ve fallen down a rabbit hole where you have no idea what you’re talking about. Stick to slagging off the Broncos, mate.

I doubt this is DH's game. He's simply repeating the mistakes of the past by thinking another ground move is the answer. I don't really see that any criticism of Wimbledon is justified. They are looking after their own interests. It will not be their responsibility to make this work but I hope they understand how this is likely to play out and are not unnecessarily exposed.

Agreed although it has to be said whoever signed the 500k for floodlights if we get into SL was a genius on one side (AFC) and on glue on the other (Broncos).

London were bidding to replace Toronto so only a year ago Hughes was willing to finance a Super League season without the same funds as the other clubs. I am assuming he hasn't lost his wealth just his enthusiasm since then.
Season tickets were sold with an emphasis on "elite sport" and the eventual move to Plough Lane not that the marketing lured many fans back. The price rise just put people off although the free polo shirt was actually quite decent!.
The stark truth is that we won't get much home support unless we are in Super League. Clubs like Bradford will bring a few to Plough Lane but I can't see enough new support being generated in the Wimbledon area to cover overheads.

At the risk of being overly positive I too thought the polo shirt was of a decent quality.

Offering a name and number on replicas free of charge was a good offer too. Try getting that service free at one of the London football clubs!. Previously no one on the commercial side showed any interest in helping me get my shirt printed. Added to which I got a free shirt as part of my season ticket money not being refunded and a free match ticket although I think they had forgotten about that when I checked on availability! Never the less not a bad deal.
The A.P.X merchandise is well designed and I am pleased they are issuing a retro range as I don't want to pay £150 on e-bay for an original Fulham shirt !..I quite like wearing Broncos stuff as it's unlikely I will see many others where I live. It's usually large chaps in Liverpool shirts!.
I was surprised the club didn't sell any shirts on match days which was probably down to having so few staff available and of course so few fans!. Mrs Ward was always busy in the bar but crowds were down so much, turnover was probably going to be low.
If people want to boycott the club that's up to them but I will buy a season ticket for Plough Lane. If the club goes under at least I will have done my bit.

I was supposed to get a free shirt too but the club didn't sort it out despite me reminding them. Very poor.

Sorry to hear about that. I know I had to chase mine up a bit and almost gave up on my mug as I wasn't even sent one from the first batch despite paying the £20 membership fee. I am not in any way saying that the Broncos are a well run club! The lady Kayleigh was very efficient,following up e-mails and being helpful things seemed to get worse when she left.
What does amuse me is that Mr Loubser's Twitter account is all about hockey and how it his mission to promote it's growth! Nothing about the Broncos! You wouid hope that someone in his position would love rugby league more!

To be fair he's an accountant who was thrust into the CEO role because Hughes had run out of gimps to appoint. At the time, Hughes was taking tips from jamie soward on useless coaches whilst trying to understand why the name change and move to a car park hadn't done what the fielding supremo promised.

Yes Kayleigh was helpful. Not sure there are any back room staff anymore. Agree I was surprised no merchandise was on sale at the last home game of season. In my view that’s an obvious time to sell stock and if it’s not felt worth while or don’t have any staff to do the necessary then that is quite an indictment of where the club is.

My last home game was back in SL v wakey....there were no adult shirts available in the club tent....so my boy got a couple.....I see everything is half price.on line now, but I refuse to line the pockets of our commercial gimp

That’s the risk with that type of offer. If they don’t have capacity or competence to deliver they create a negative impression. I picked mine up at the 1st home game. I’ve given up on my son’ s shirt ever arriving although in fairness I suspect so few kids interested in Broncos that producing them would have been too expensive. .Still the old motto: never over promise and under deliver.

I am sure there are fans who could step up and help the club out but they seem to view most of us as pests with our questions!
With so few full time staff, the infrastructure is too small and we could help produce programmes, sell merchandise even try promote the club in Merton with leaflets and posters but I am very sceptical that many people in that area will take any interest in the Broncos!

They owed me a shirt in lieu of a refund. Never heard a peep from them so didn't bother following up on it. Not that it matters now anyway.

Hughes either doesn't give a damn or he's being lied to..

When you have as few fans as LB and are even losing some of them, your top priority should be to keep the ones you have. I can appreciate they are short staffed but the priorites (I assume set by DH or Lobster) are wrong.

Can’t argue with that.
A lot of their deals - part sponsor a player, join BOSG, hand over your season ticket came with a sweetener that it was completely random whether one got. I remember as the TO game up thinking I didn’t really fancy it and I recalled one of these deals I’d done came with a free ticket. I mulled over contacting the club to take it up and save a few quid but I came to the conclusion it just wouldn’t get sorted and so once again put my money down.
In the interests of balance I did get my BOSG mug and it wasn’t broken. So there is that.
Bottom line is even with a quickly contracting fan base you can’t run this kind of back room operation with just one man who has other stuff to do. If you do it’s inevitable things go wrong and you alienate where you intended to create buy-in.

Catalan over the years have shown how to develop and run a club, and last night was superb to see! they have had up and downtimes, the position with travel has been tough for them this season, but you have to congratulate them!

One time London as the Capital was of such interest to Aussie players, but now it seems to be the South of France, even for English players, who would not refuse a life in the sun, with young children, being able to take them out in sunshine after training!

There must be something we can learn from them?

Clearly they struggle with the admin stuff so I'm totally amazed the members of BOSG haven't stepped up to the plate to handle a lot of that. Maybe they offered & club turned the offer down, I have no idea. Either way I'm sure there is enough experienced bodies between BOSG & BDSA (Broncos Disgruntled Supporters Alliance - no mugs no shirts here) to make the Club's life a lot easier. This club would have died donkey's years ago without the work inspired by the Snares, the Warren's & others.

Fingers crossed the Cats wipe the floor with either Saints or Leeds. London would still win out for Australians if we were in SL & properly run but sadly neither currently apply.

Yep I'd rather live in Perpignan than most places around the M62. Having said that, having been in Perp in February when it can be wet & freezing with the wind of the pyrenees, a wet Wednesday in Wigan has something going for it, but not much.

I would have thought if the club did not have staff to sell merchandise BOSG could have stepped in, thats why they were formed.