Football club's 'bail us out' plea
Stafford Rangers have appealed to their fans to bail them out of a cash crisis after a vital bank loan was rejected.
The club was hoping for bank help to pay back £50,000 it owes for hired seating – a sum that must be paid by July 7 or the club faces possible court action.
But the loan was turned down and the club – which nearly fell by the wayside last season because of financial problems – now wants the fans to dig deep.
Directors are asking up to 250 supporters to lend the club £200 each.
When Rangers were promoted to the Blue Square North a new temporary seated stand was erected at their Marston Road ground in March 2007, but the club was hit by falling attendances and relegated the season before last.
A statement released yesterday by the board of directors reads: "The board have worked very hard on producing a realistic five-year forecast to support their application for additional funding from the bank and were optimistic that the application would be favourably received. However, on Thursday the bank informed the directors that, despite agreeing that the forecast was achievable, they would not provide additional funding to the football club at this point because of the club's 'past history'.
"The board are bitterly disappointed at this rejection, which comes on top of the poor uptake of commercial initiatives such as the 'naming of the ground' raffle and the very slow uptake of season tickets.
"At an emergency board meeting on Thursday night the directors, following a discussion on the current position with less than three weeks to go before the July 7 deadline, agreed to launch a Stafford Rangers 250 Club whereby they are asking up to 250 supporters, friends, and sponsors to loan the club £200 each.
"The loan will be for an unspecified period which could be anywhere between one month and five years.
"At the commencement of the playing season a weekly draw will take place whereby every members' name/number will be entered and the winner drawn will be repaid their £200.
"The following week the remaining names/numbers are entered and another member will be repaid their loan. This will continue for 250 weeks until everyone has been repaid their loan with the last member receiving £1,000.
"At any time a winning member can choose to remain in the hat if they so wish and pass the chance to be repaid to another member.
"The Board realises that in the current economic climate £200 is a lot of money to find but would hope that friends or families could club together to find the funds.
"Because of the impending deadline, the directors have set a date of Friday July 3 to achieve the 250 target. Anyone who is interested or wishes to get more information should contact the club office or any director.
"Please take this proposal seriously – if this latest initiative fails, the consequences for the football club could be dire."
Club secretary Mick Hughes, who is one of the six directors on the Board, added: "If we only get a 100 people and £20,000, that will still go a long way to helping us find the money. It would be great."
He stressed: "Whoever contributes is not going to lose their money. This money is a loan – everyone will get their money back.
"This is not the end of Stafford Rangers Football Club, I'm sure, because there are other avenues we can go down. Maybe new directors can come in."
Rangers have been going since 1876 and have been the breeding ground for players such as Stan Collymore, Lee Chapman and Paul Devlin.
