What are the current owners doing to attract that big investment in either sponsorship or ownership of the club though, because from the outside looking in, it doesn't look like much to be honest. No point making the same boring argument that we don't have the money when the current owners are neither investing in it or looking for alternative sources.

Znd yet, 5 seasons ago you moaned about that side too.

We have to be sustainable and the board do a good job on that front. The amount of money coming into the club will increase significantly when the new stand/pitch are up running and functions can be used. If we work hard on maximising their earnings of course.

That said I don’t think we can under cook the significance staying up and having a poor season has. If we were to get relegated this season the reality is that gates will decline as season goes on and the money coming in will take a hit. We may find it harder to push the new functions and maximise their potential in the lower leagues also.

If there was a year we needed to probably secure some team investment it was this season.

It’s a difficult situation but what sells the club and what will increase the income most will always be the success of the team on the pitch.

I’m getting quite bored of the constant poor finishes last 4/5 years. I’ve been a fan since before SL but we need to see some success on the pitch soon.

If we do get relegated we must absolutely must invest in the squad to keep mostly full time and come back up. If we don’t we will be another Bradford.

Quite so, and instead of investing in the squad and coaching set up, the owners have overseen a manged decline where barely any of the current squad would get into the starting 13 of that already poor squad of 5 years ago.

There has been some good off pitch investment in the new stands, but if they don't match that on the pitch and make it a positive match day experience for fans and retian top flight status, then its all rather pointless.

Well quite the opposite actually. The extra money that would come from a stadium making money throughout the year is the only thing that would get us back in if we went down.

Wakefield isn't shy of corporate meeting spaces, the USP for Belle Vue is that it's a top flight rugby ground so *might* attract a couple more events than any other room in the area, lose that USP though and it becomes a much tougher place to sell regularly.

The only way the club survives longterm is through success on the pitch, and it seems like the current setup from board to player just aren't interested in that

You need to do your research. None of the points you made there are correct.

1. I book corporate meeting spaces regularly at work, there are plenty of choices at all cost points across the region.

2. The USP for any corporate space at a sports club is that its at a sports club, the higher up the league structure (no matter the sport) the more money it can command and more likely it is to be booked for bigger or more prestigious events.

3. The only way any professional sports club survives long term is through success on the pitch, and success brings with it further investment which in turn brings further success.

So please, instead of just telling me to do research, actually try to refute the points with evidence

I could be wrong but when did Bretherton leave because I wonder what impact this had on the clubs development.

Brereton came in about a decade ago and left about 5 years ago.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but those 5 years he was at the club align quite tightly to our most successful period in recent decades, and the 5 years since he left have been getting worse season on season

What venues do you book corporate events and what numbers?

Up the Trin

Think if Mr Carter had not taken over about 9 years ago we would have not been around now .My worry now is we have gone from a team with a coach last year who was bringing in younger players to bring the age of the team down ,to a new coach that as got a team of old players all over Know the new coach as been handicapped with players that were given too long a contract under the Chester years , but think if W Poaching had still been here ,do not think we would have seen Gaskell as our main 6 and Smith would not be here .To start a season with out a S L standed 6 and a championship 9 is a hell of a bad call by a Coach Know the club got rid of W Poaching after players complaining about is coaching .,and that we would have lost 7 players if he had stayed .But how many of those players were leaving any way.,with highnsite it might have been better to keep W Poaching on and let the players go

My main worry about going down isn't that we won't come straight back up again, but that the only likely Category B team would be Cas, because of the ground, or whoever comes up. Everywhere else has great facilities.'

Our hope would be, if the suspected IMG proposals come into being, is that we go down this year, Fev go up, and we swap places the year after and get Category A status when we do.

Beyond that, as far as the proposals are to be understood, we'd be waiting for Cas to finish bottom to have a chance.

I believe the bottom placed if a cat B will be relegated and will swap with the team top of champ if they are also cat b.

Other than that If any B’s slip to a C they will be swapped out I expect. That’s how I think it will work.

Let us not forget it was not only Mr Carter but also Mr Bretherton. The latter was around during what could be considered our best period under the new regime. When he left we began to decline, the squad was slowly reduced and the quality diluted. We now appear to be regressing on a season by season basis on the field. I regret that some appear to believe our invincibility with regards relegation. The timing could not be worse, with us finally developing the ground only to gamble on a smaller weaker squad than we had last season thereby increasing our likelihood of relegation.
We have had 25 uninterrupted seasons in SL but appear that we are now in a worse position than when we first gained promotion. We can stay fiscally stable but how many actually believe if we are relegated this will allow us to retain a full time squad. It is better to fight for your status whilst in SL than trying to do so from the Championship. I remember our time in the wilderness and with the new structure coming in we could experience it all over again and it’s only benefit was smaller crowds making parking easier.

If our directors are unable to match the other SL clubs spend by a long margin, there is no chance of them spending in the Championsnip either. They will just go part time.
Looks like Fev will go up in our place this year and by the squad they have assembled , plus coaching staff on champipnship money ,looks like their directors have really got behind their club. Their squad is a match for ours and they have done that without well over £1m in SL funding, plus smaller crowds.

Their squad isn’t a match for ours at all. With the new partnership from WAFC, the pitch (once it’s sorted) and the new facilities I’m sure revenue will increase considerably by end of this season. That’s when we will likely be able to start closing the gap in terms of salary cap. If we get relegated that extra revenue should allow for a mostly full time squad or certainly one capable of finishing top. I suspect we would also have higher crowds than fev. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that though.

I’m not sure we would get smaller crowds. I think we are pretty close to baseline already. If anything the prospect of winning most weeks and challenging top I think we would actually see crowds increase over the course of a season in championship.

Although it will obviously be a major set back I don’t think it would be the end due to the stadium redevelopment whereas before it was always “They’ll never let us back in SL because of our ground”. The ground is our future and say what you want regarding our owners but they’ve done a brilliant job with ground and other off field developments with the foundation etc. Although the full ins and outs of the grading system haven’t been announced from what I’ve seen it may be quite good for us. Hope it doesn’t happen but don’t think it would be as devastating as it would have been a couple of years ago.

Up to Trin

Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20

Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20

Quote ="upthetrin92"Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20'" His comment that he's getting fed up of "subsidising" the club is a bit different from previous quotes that Fev are self sustaining. Interesting that he also criticises the fans for choosing the cheap beer in local pubs pre and post match.

Quote ="upthetrin92"Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20'" His comment that he's getting fed up of "subsidising" the club is a bit different from previous quotes that Fev are self sustaining. Interesting that he also criticises the fans for choosing the cheap beer in local pubs pre and post match.

Quote ="upthetrin92"Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20'" Don't believe the word of that bloke he spouts rubbish. The Game Caller is an obsessive Bradford fan and it's in his interest to bad mouth Fev as he sees them as serious competition for getting his beloved Bulls back to SL. Now I am not saying Fev are not suffering financially by small gates, after all it's hardly a big place with a huge potential fan base. If their owner wants SL and has ambition, he would have been better buying our club and getting Carter to move out.

Quote ="upthetrin92"Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20'" Don't believe the word of that bloke he spouts rubbish. The Game Caller is an obsessive Bradford fan and it's in his interest to bad mouth Fev as he sees them as serious competition for getting his beloved Bulls back to SL. Now I am not saying Fev are not suffering financially by small gates, after all it's hardly a big place with a huge potential fan base. If their owner wants SL and has ambition, he would have been better buying our club and getting Carter to move out.

Good post but do not think Mr Bretherton was the reason for the decline of the club The board had wiped out a load of det, we had some cash for players so what did Mr Chester do when it came to rebuilding the team ,started looking for old players on the cheep, from relegation clubs or championship players ,not young and upand coming players that a good Coach could have made better We still have some players here who are way past there best but still on the contracts they were given by Mr Chester .We now have taken a gamble on two coaches , with no experience of coaching in S L and it is showing big time.and as you say very old, slow weaker squad

The club is in an impossible position.

Firstly, we are not an attractive proposition for players, so we have to pay a surplus. They're not going to win anything, had previously played in sub-standard conditions, and still train in them, and are likely to be in a relegation dogfight, which must be draining. I'm not surprised Miller fancies some mid-table mediocrity for a while.

So, do we gamble a million on the basis we will stay up? We won't get the corporate goodies from the new stand this year, so it is literally a million gambled, so we end up a million in the red. That is not sustainable.

Or, do we gamble on being financially sustainable, so if we do go down, we are in good shape to rebuild? If we go down in debt, and to make it worth the investment in the squad it would have to be a substantial debt, we are in serious trouble.

The mess we are in is not through lack of investment, because there isn't any to be had. No big money people have come forward, so without them "investment" really just means spending money we don't have in the hope it will be balanced by bigger crowds. That is not investment. That is gambling. No, we are in the situation we are in because it has taken us too long to get where we are, and that is due to things beyond the control of the club.

We want better players. Which would come to us? The ones we have. There is no queue, I can wager, that is desperate to get into our squad.

The problem is has someone reminded me we have a loan to repay and relegation will mean the loss of the Sky revenue and reduced home and away support. I wonder how much our player budget for this season compares with last. It’s a gamble the club have taken even more so than their first season when we released a large number of players because we had the play offs which allowed us to bring in several players late. If they are incorrect then it is the supporters who suffer.