Wow, it has been a long time since a blog update, there is a good reason for that which we will come on to later, but I wanted to use this site to talk more about the Budget Booster scheme from Chesham United FC...in more of an "unofficial" capacity.
Although having been on the Board for over ten years now, had a stint at being Chairman, currently Vice-Chairman and all that; believe it or not, I do still have a supporters hat in the cupboard that I like to try and wear; and something like the Budget Booster is a difficult one to get my head around when I wear that particular hat...(which is why I appreciate the fact that I am lucky enough to own more than one hat).
In a different cupboard I will still have all the fanzines and articles I used to write when I was, as Len Vockins lovingly refers back to me as, "a horrible little git". I had very high expectations of what the club should be doing for me, doing for supporters. There was a line, and above that line it is the job of the club - it's Board, its officials, whoever - to manage and maintain. That includes putting a football team out there that I want to go and watch. One that is good enough for me to want to travel away to watch, and take my friends along to see, beaming with pride about "my little club" that I have discovered.
As supporters, and certainly when I was on various Supporters' Club committee's, our job was to add to what was already happening by doing extra little things that can help the club, but not the day to day running. Not the Black Hole. We raised money for toilets and toilet blocks, walls, fences, dugouts...nice things that added to the pride felt when we brought friends and family along to the club. Not that Black Hole. Not just an addition to the club's kitty.
As you might expect, my thoughts on some of that have changed over the years, particularly having lived with that Black Hole for over a decade. I've wobbled on the brink of that Black Hole and nearly fallen in on more than one occasion, but I know exactly what is in it. The money involved in running the club is staggering, it is depressing. When I think back to those Supporters Club days and the effort involved in raising, say, £1,000 from a sponsored walk to Aylesbury. The hours of preparation with practice walks along the canal, canvassing people for sponsorship, trying to get some publicity. It was a lot of work, but it was only £1,000. That really does not go far in a football club.
Obviously when the Supporters' Trust were handed the club by Charles Manchester, thinking had to change. Supporters needed to befriend that Black Hole, and it didn't really work out. Today I am all in favour of the Supporters' Trust going back to fundraising for things that benefit supporters, and have no expectation from the club to make donations of cash to the day to day running.
I would love us go back to the idea of some kind of gauge, or thermometer, tracking a target as we raise money towards a particular goal - be it refurbishing the small bar in the clubhouse, toilets in the ground, rebuilding The Pop wall, whatever. I still believe supporters would get behind that. The £1,000 raised from my first walk to Aylesbury paid for a new dugout back in the day, it had a purpose. Not the Black Hole.
Budget Booster is something different. It is not just a Trust thing, it is not just a club thing, it falls down the middle in an attempt to ensure honesty and integrity in what happens to the money. The money goes into a completely separate account, owned by the Trust. This money is then added to Andy Leese's playing budget, Andy always knows how much is there, and what it is.
The money comes from donations. From supporters. A contribution, a simple contribution to the football we get to watch throughout the season.
What do you get in return? Appreciation, it is appreciated, but it is not a prize draw, a raffle, an exclusive club or anything more than a tangible contribution to the football budget of Chesham United FC. We have discussed offering rewards and prizes, and we are still looking at that, but it is my understanding that if we do that then it is no longer a straightforward donation, and therefore it will qualify for VAT and your generous donation will not all make it to the playing budget. That's not what it is about.
So why does the club need supporters to contribute to the playing budget? Because we are ambitious? Because after six years of loyalty to and from the manager, we believe the football team can progress. We believe we could make it to the Conference South. There are no guarantees in life, but we perhaps need to be serious about giving it a go.
So are we going to put the future of the club in financial danger by being over ambitious? No. We always need more money to run the club and we struggle with cashflow on a day to day basis, but the club is not getting in debt. We have just six months left of paying back a historic six-figure loan that has been in place ever since I joined the Board. It will be a huge relief when that has gone. We have taken a couple of holidays from payment to help with the cashflow, but the money the club owes is going down.
Why do we need extra money for the budget then? Because, even at this level, money is spoiling the game. It is a costly business and, until we get a new clubhouse, or 4G facilities that can subsidise the running of the club, we are always going to need a generous benefactor to support the running of the team, if we want to stay at this level.
Now, it may be that we should settle for a level we can more easily afford. I was part of the small team that did a budget forecast for next season based on no contribution from our benefactor, Roger Payne, and no prize money from FA Competitions. I can tell you now that the football budget figure we arrived at would see us no better than a mid-table Step 5 club. That is fact.
We took those figures to the Board, and clearly we could not run with that. We needed Roger to commit to something for this season, we needed the Board to commit to increasing income through sponsorship and fundraising, we needed everyone to commit to making the club a better, more attractive place to be.
Love him or loathe him, Roger Payne has made a very, very generous commitment for this forthcoming season in the belief that this is what we want - a successful team at a successful club. The Board need to stick to their side of the bargain too, and it is going to be a challenge. Particularly if the season does not start well, we all need to keep the faith.
Aren't I getting away from the point of the Budget Booster? Ok, the Budget Booster is many things, and we can all have an opinion about it. It is not for everyone, and there will be those that very understandably maintain my old supporters stance that as Directors we get the perks of the job, and therefore it should be us doing the job - why should we sip the champagne and chew the caviar (yeah right!), whilst supporters are doing our job of paying for the football? Fair comment.
My motive for initiating the re-launch of the Budget Booster is simple. I repeat, love him or loathe him, Roger Payne has committed what, to me, is unthinkable sums of money. And I think, no I know, that once someone does that, everyone else is inclined to sit back on their backsides and think that everything will be alright because he can afford it. That is unhealthy. That is unfair. That is wrong.
To me the Budget Booster is a chance for those supporters that can afford, and are willing to, to turn around and say - You know what, I appreciate you giving us the chance to watch better football. If you are doing that, I'm going to do my bit too. I can't afford what you are doing, but to make it less lonesome for you, here's my contribution...
...Now if lots of people did that, suddenly lots of little bits become quite a big bit. Then Roger Payne thinks - Ok, this town does want a decent football club, I can help to make that happen...then, without the club getting itself in debt, we are enjoying a very healthy level of football around which we can build all of the other parts of the club that make us the community club we are. It's so idyllic isn't it?
That's why I believe in the Budget Booster.
Let's be clear, this is no Myfootballclub.co.uk and contributing is not going to give you any power or voting rights. The best it will offer you is satisfaction. But be warned, it is not a guaranteed easy ride and there will be times when you totally despair at watching an inept performance that ruins your weekend, and the thought that you paid extra towards funding those players for that performance, ouch, that will hurt even more, that will cause resentment (Hey, have you never had a bad day at work?). But that is football, and as the second half of last season proved, you need to look at the bigger picture - Running a football club and making decisions is not based on snapshots at any point in the season, it needs to be looked at as a longer term project, and you need to hope that the satisfying days outweigh the depressing days.
Since the last ball was kicked in May there has been an unbelievable amount of debate and discussion about next season, and we have progressed from a budget that would absolutely guarantee relegation, to a budget that has allowed the signing of the likes of Drew Roberts and Chris Dillon. That doesn't just happen.
I nearly crashed my car the other day when listening to a message left on my phone by a regular contributor to my voicemail, amongst the message was the line: "..and our bloody manager needs to pull his bloody finger out and start bloody doing something...". If only he knew, if only he really knew what he really does, what so many people really do...
Check out the Budget Booster on the website. You might not want to, you might not be able to afford to or you might just not get around to it. That's fine, but if you can, it's not just about the money you donate, it is the message you give to those that really can make a difference.
Enjoy the break.
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