The directors of Stafford Rangers today issued a rallying cry to the club’s missing fans to be back on the terraces for Saturday’s home game at Marston Road.
They say falling attendances is one of the reasons behind the club’s current financial difficulties, revealed exclusively in the Express & Star on Friday.
It follows a 2-1 defeat at Ebbsfleet on Saturday which leaves them still sitting third from bottom in the Blue Square Premier League with only nine points.
One of the victims of a swingeing cost-cutting exercise is player-coach Dave Oldfield, who has been manager Phil Robinson’s right-hand man for the last 18 months.
Secretary and financial director Mike Hughes said having both a manager and assistant was “a luxury we cannot afford” so Oldfield has left the club.
Hughes blamed a slump in gates, an early FA Cup exit and a fixture card that gives them only one home league game in the space of seven weeks, for their immediate money problems.
And in a joint statement the Rangers’ board said: “We hope that everyone now gets behind the manager, the team and the club at the next home game against Northwich on Saturday.”
The statement adds: “No-one at Stafford Rangers can wave a magic wand and we know that our supporters are frustrated by the current position as much as we are.”
The statement continues: “There are also a good number of supporters who have started to drift away as results have gone against us and it is the supporters who can make a huge difference both in terms of income to the club and lifting the team,” the directors tell fans.
4 Comments
So the Board start the season by reducing the Playing budget by 12%? Shows the usual amount of foresight by this board. Why didn’t they set a target to increase revenue by 12% and at least preserve some semblance of decent team. Is it because increasing revenue means somebodies got to work rather than blaming everyone else?
Maybe the fans have got sick and tired of Stafford Rangers being unable to win a game!
The supporters make no difference to the players ability, if the players dont want to work hard for a result they wont.
I don’t think there’s a single (realistic) Rangers supporter out there who didn’t know they’d have major difficulty competing in the Conference. They don’t have the funds to go full-time because they don’t have a multi-millionaire backer, nor do they get the gates necessary to provide the funding because, now they aren’t top of the league, 50% of the so-called ‘fans’ have vanished. What else can the board do - they will have forecast gate receipts based on the last season in Conference North and the revenue stream just isn’t there as the ’supporters’ have all disappeared! Its all very well saying ’set a target of a 12% increase’ - but its down to us to turn up and provide the money to give us have a decent chance of competing in a full-timers league, money doesn’t grow on trees after all! If we still got 3000+ home gates like we did in the heady NPL days (7000 if it was Wigan or Macc!) we’d be competing for promotion but on gates of 750 you just can’t do it so stop knocking and get down there with your cash in your hand! And no, I have no connection with the board, just been a humble supporter since 1968!
martin sounds very much like some of the board - constantly reliving the glorious past, and there lies the problem. There is no foresight or creativity from this board when it comes to finding other ways to increase revenue streams, rather than being reliant upon supporters. This club doesn’t have the administrative or commercial infrastructures necessary for this league, and who’s fault is that?. Oh Yes and I have a connection with the board!