AGM 2022: Proposal for the different committees of the club to contribute to a long-term business plan by 03/23
Posted: 08 Nov 2022, 18:20
Clapton Community Football Club has grown rapidly since we became member-owned. In November 2017 we had just £3,522 in the bank – now we have assets of £409,258 that include the Old Spotted Dog Ground (now valued at a quarter of a million pounds) and will soon grow further to include the warehouse next door.
We have reached the stage where, to remain sustainable, we need to know with far greater certainty how much we hope the club will have grown further in the next five years and what resources we need to get there. Otherwise, we run the risk of facing an unexpected crisis that we do not know how to manage.
The Finance Committee is therefore recommending CCFC adopts a long-term business plan, that sets out where we would like to have reached by the end of the 2027-28 season and what resources (financial and otherwise) we need to get there.
This proposal will mandate each of the club’s committees to carefully consider how they see the club expanding in their area of activity and to assist with working out how this is achievable. We will also ask the Old Spotted Dog Ground Trust to contribute to this process.
Why is this important?
The club’s accelerated development has undoubtedly made an enormous difference to our long-term stability, but has been achieved with next to no advanced planning. We have, in short, been winging it for the last five years.
We were, for example, able to navigate the problems facing football clubs during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020-21 because we could keep our expenditure low and we had the cushion of generous reserves. This was, however, an entirely accidental outcome of our unexpected windfall in shirt sales and our expansion of membership.
Our situation has now changed with the purchase of the warehouse. We have new debts of £175,000 plus interest to repay over the next 25 years, alongside our outstanding current loans of £135,000. Our reserves are now gone and we need to consider how we rebuild them. We will need to raise funds to invest in the Old Spotted Dog Ground if all our teams want to progress to higher leagues. If this happens – and our rules say we aim to play at the highest level possible – then we are likely to face a multitude of new thorny issues in the future like how to entice and retain players.
A properly thought out business plan will demonstrate we are serious about the club’s long-term stability to our members, to potential grant givers and to ground and match sponsors. As a community benefit society, we are also uniquely placed to issue Community Shares, but a business plan is, however, a prerequisite for doing so properly.
What are the risks?
The Finance Committee’s view is that failing to embrace a long-term plan carries far greater risks than the work needed to create one.
PROPOSED BY: the Finance Committee
We have reached the stage where, to remain sustainable, we need to know with far greater certainty how much we hope the club will have grown further in the next five years and what resources we need to get there. Otherwise, we run the risk of facing an unexpected crisis that we do not know how to manage.
The Finance Committee is therefore recommending CCFC adopts a long-term business plan, that sets out where we would like to have reached by the end of the 2027-28 season and what resources (financial and otherwise) we need to get there.
This proposal will mandate each of the club’s committees to carefully consider how they see the club expanding in their area of activity and to assist with working out how this is achievable. We will also ask the Old Spotted Dog Ground Trust to contribute to this process.
Why is this important?
The club’s accelerated development has undoubtedly made an enormous difference to our long-term stability, but has been achieved with next to no advanced planning. We have, in short, been winging it for the last five years.
We were, for example, able to navigate the problems facing football clubs during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020-21 because we could keep our expenditure low and we had the cushion of generous reserves. This was, however, an entirely accidental outcome of our unexpected windfall in shirt sales and our expansion of membership.
Our situation has now changed with the purchase of the warehouse. We have new debts of £175,000 plus interest to repay over the next 25 years, alongside our outstanding current loans of £135,000. Our reserves are now gone and we need to consider how we rebuild them. We will need to raise funds to invest in the Old Spotted Dog Ground if all our teams want to progress to higher leagues. If this happens – and our rules say we aim to play at the highest level possible – then we are likely to face a multitude of new thorny issues in the future like how to entice and retain players.
A properly thought out business plan will demonstrate we are serious about the club’s long-term stability to our members, to potential grant givers and to ground and match sponsors. As a community benefit society, we are also uniquely placed to issue Community Shares, but a business plan is, however, a prerequisite for doing so properly.
What are the risks?
The Finance Committee’s view is that failing to embrace a long-term plan carries far greater risks than the work needed to create one.
PROPOSED BY: the Finance Committee