SSN this morning has stated Stranraer are struggling. WTF.

A 4-0 pumping away is not a good result, but I am sure they will be looking to start better in the league.

Remortgaging the social club to pay off debts, another Gretna?

Not quite!

There’s another thread on this a few pages down - here. Our Committee, who usually post on forums on a daily basis, have been conspicuous in their absence since this came out. Incredibly, their line appears to be “if you couldn’t make it to Stranraer on a Monday night in the middle of holiday season to hear our excuses then we’re not going to mention it any more”.

Don’t worry, we’re in safe hands.

I alway's thought Stranraer were pretty much a steady ship(so to speak).

We were until some eejit had the bright idea that a club with very few assets should run up a debt!

So there's 2 "another gretna's" in this league now

3, cause according to Steven Twatt we've spent more than East Fife.

Shite eh!

I think that the financial problems have been well documented locally and nationally.I was on the committee until 21st July and wasn't aware of the financial position of the club until the last month,which is a disgrace.
I asked numerous times but the correct answer was never given and when the true situation was discovered we had very few options left.The wages are far too high,but we are stuck with them at that level for another season.Hopefully we can have a good season,get more money in from various sources and keep our head above water until we get it sorted-but we can't continue spending at the current level.
As I'm no longer on the committee I don't have any real say in the matter,but I reckon they are thinking the same way.

Still rings true! We're small time compared to you guys!

Oh yes, we're total small time compared to:

Well run local lottery

and

Barney Duffy, nuff said.

You could ask your chairman to pay up whatever he owes for Gerry McGlaughlin.

Don't go there.

Like I said on the other thread, despite you laughing at our situation and happy to see us going out of business, I hate seeing any club going out of business and hope your club pull through this.

PS. Our debt is all owed to our owner who said he wont put us out of business! It seems you guys are in a worse situation than ourselves, despite us having a larger debt.

PSS.It looks like we made a profit from last season so feel free to put the P&L Sheets next to each other! Maybe you'd be better putting the Balance Sheets together instead?

Fucking hell

I know there isn't many people from Stranraer who go to the games, but you will probably find that there is a lot of people who have an association with your club and will want to keep it alive. If the fans (trust if you have one) rally round to do some fundraising, then I'm sure these type of people will chip in.

hope Stranraer are OK.
APART FROM THE TADE CRAP, WHICH NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THE TRUTH OF, I HAVE ALWAYS HAD A GOOD TIME AT STRANRAER...EVEN THOUGH THEIR SUPPORT IS CRAP!

Why are Rovers fans good swimmers?
Cos shit floats!

FANNY, talking about the support. Yours is just as bad, see when your shite come to SAN STARKO. I can bet you'll bring about 250 max.

I joined the committee only recently and obviously was not privy to previous decisions but wages are a concern given the crowds, regardless of what league we are in but as a fan you always want to see the best possible team on the park. So it is all about trying to get a competitive team and balance the books at the same time. For obvious geographical reasons the club has had to pay slightly higher wages than similar sized clubs to attract players down to the south west but the same people who criticise this thinking would be the same people who would throw a wobbly if the team were rooted to the bottom of div 3. No one person would buy the club because their is very little to buy bar a name if this sensible idea to give the club a fighting chance is not successful Arbroath had a member buy out that as far as I am aware has proved a winner but not surprisingly the people in charge changed very little because they were the ones willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Sad to see Stranraer in the shit and I sincerely hope things take a turn for the better pretty quickly.

We're just adding a bit of glamour to the lower leagues, what's wrong with that



Right enough, when Mileson got ill his family were beating down the administrator's door to forget about the money owed. Oh wait...



Cosmo, with all respect, this is the root of what is wrong. When you're in the financial muck, forget a decent team for a few years, forget the fan's perspective of wanting a winning team, it's all about paying off the debt. Just make it clear to fans. As it is, we're overspending on a the same squad this season that only got out of the 3rd by default, we're in for a pumping on and off the park.



Do you not think it's come a time to ask the question before mortgaging our one asset for the next 25 years? You may find people who actually think they could make a bit of profit and improvement to an 850k revenue business. The committee should act in the interests of the club, not just say "they'll no be interested" as they button up their blazer and tuck in to a few freebies.

I always think survival rather than success should be a primary objective for lower league team. I'd rather see my team around in 25 maybe 50 years rather than see it go down the toilet. Having said that, Gretna had a great run AND have survived or been reborn, albeit at a lower level. So maybe finanical prudence is over-rated.

Sounds like Stranraer's committee have been a bit negligent but it can be tough for volunteer governors. Few lower league teams have had such a good run in the past 10 years so the general public in the town has to bear some of the blame for not supporting a successful team

Assets?: the name alone, repeated nationwide on a regular basis is a huge asset. I often wonder what it would cost to advertise your town's name so prominently compared with the free advertising that comes merely with having a senior team

ARoverinLeeds
Can't turn down an opportunity and you asked for a bet so how about £20 on the EF support at Starks. I will even make it 300+ for me to win. Up for it ?

I'm not a betting man as my mate's would atest, i'm just going by what Cowden brought to there own home match against us. We took over 1500 to that shite house, and started the game before everyone got in. You were lucky if they brought 300 for a home match. Okay i was maybe a wee bit hasty with 250, i'll be generous and say 400+. £20 seems a fair bet to me.

I would be surprised if they didn't bring 500+

Shoosh, i was using a strategy. I'd be happy if they brought a strong crowd, and more than happy to pay £20 to be proved wrong. I hope East Fife have a contingency plan for the amount we bring along. Anyway we're getting off topic.

Behave yourself!!

What sort of contingency plan could there be? The away end is ~1000 seats, that's the absolute most that will get in.

Unless Raith want to move one of their stands over to Bayview, they'd get more use out of it.

Wouldn't surprise me if Willie didn't want to try and sign one for East Fife............

Well i reckon for a start, East Fife are our main rivals historically anyway. Fat boy should have realised early on that you lot would get promoted, so you should built a stand of your own and no quibbled about having to pay extra for a roof on a temporary stand. Alot of fan's would be pissed of if they couldn't get in, you might think i'm talking shite but we'd bring nigh on 2000.

So East Fife should build an extra stand so that 1000 Rovers fans don't have to miss out on the games?

I'd love Bayview to have a bit of terracing to accomodate bigger crowds and I do have sympathy for anyone who'll miss out on these games.

400+ starts to depend a bit on how well we are playing but worth the risk.
Bet on at £20 for a 400+ EF crowd at Starks ?

Cosmo, with all respect, this is the root of what is wrong. When you're in the financial muck, forget a decent team for a few years, forget the fan's perspective of wanting a winning team, it's all about paying off the debt. Just make it clear to fans. As it is, we're overspending on a the same squad this season that only got out of the 3rd by default, we're in for a pumping on and off the park.



Do you not think it's come a time to ask the question before mortgaging our one asset for the next 25 years? You may find people who actually think they could make a bit of profit and improvement to an 850k revenue business. The committee should act in the interests of the club, not just say "they'll no be interested" as they button up their blazer and tuck in to a few freebies.
[/quote]

Your first point 100% correct and the team will have to stand or fall on a much reduced budget.

your second unfortunately time for discussion and debate on the subject was unavailable to members as some things required attention yesterday but if in the near future an alternative solution is put forward and is more palatable there is no reason that the mortgage can not be paid off and the secondary plan put into action.

Stands to reason doesn't it, you have a chairman with ambitious plan's for East Fife. But instead of developing Bayview he's spending "his money" on players, it just reeks of disaster to me. I firmly believe he want's revenge on Raith and what happens if we end up beating you. he'll probably walk away and leave you in the preverbial. I hope i'm wrong, East Fife seem to be getting alot of stick with the Fife Gretna tag. And to be honest that tag is justified, Gray is doing a Mileson. That's what i mean about a contingency plan. Anyway this is way off topic.

Sounds similar to what we had to go through in the past 6 years.Only this season and some of last did we manage to pay some decent wages.

Aye cos the sign of a healthy club is to rush to build a massive white (or blue) elephant they don't need.

I've never heard East Fife and Gretna mentioned in the same post yet on here.

Have to say, it is getting very tedious. If EF are without debt, and own the ground and the substantial ground around it, then they will at least have that to sell and pay off any debt that Gray left them (if he ever did). Therefore EF would survive no matter what. Time for some to get a grip. Hurts to admit it, but East Fife are much more financially secure than the Rovers.

Another thread inevitably tumbles into the tedium of EF v RR.

Yep, it's embarrassing to be honest.

He should be paying us for getting him away fae that sihthole! .

I hope Stranraer get through this. It's Queens' proper Derby and it would be sad to never get to go to Stair Park again. Even when Gr£tna were in the league those games still didn't come close to a QoS Stranraer match.

They started it.

Its next season when the big budget cuts will come in.Fergusson will go at the end (or before) of this season.Stranraer should then fill the team with youngsters and pay what they can afford.
I think that acceptance of the clubs dire financial situation, has to sink in to the fans heads.
I hate to say it but 3rd division football season after this would not be a bad thing.The club could be revamped and reality would be realised.You simply cannot pay out what you dont have.

Maybe Stranraer could do themselves a favour financially by sacking the stewards who pocket reduced entry fees and let people in the gates. Two for a fiver was not an uncommon occurrence.

I've been the benefit of this 'generosity' in the past. Also for many years, I never actually paid to get into Stair Park, as there would always be some chump outside giving away comps. What's all that about?

When i was on the Committee last season we were all aware of the fact that we were in severe financial strife, not the exact amount though but we all had an underlying guesstimate of how much the exact figure was although it was never completely totted up. There were occasions though where we just couldnt drag people in, we needed the floodlights in which cost a fortune and there were a sh*t load of bills that needed paying with very little coming through the gate. You can't magic up money out of thin air but you can better manage the outstanding monies that you have due, I dont think the club can honestly say they received every £ that was oweing to them for last seasons Sportsmans dinner yet for example.

Good crew on there at the moment and im sure they will do what's best to keep us afloat, Fergie was quoted on Sky the other day questioning how ambitious the club want to be after slashing his budget, I would suggest ambitious enough to save the club if they're starting to concentrate more on the finances than overpaying players and going for too big a squad.

Spot on mate. They always give away too many comps away and the "security" at the gate is very dodgy. Get this sorted and you will probably bring in a few grand more a season!

When I heard what Ferguson said on Sky I thought it was totally innapropriate. I mean it ain't about being ambitious - its about saving the club. Thats all that really matters! The truth is that he cares a lot more about his own image and his real team than he does about the existance of SFC. Lets hope he doesn't get another penny that we can't afford again. If he even had the cheek to hint at getting extra funds I would send him straight back where he belongs.

I think I have just agreed with you there Gary Well a valid point is a valid point even if it does come from somebody that would like to see me deported.

Ferguson is more intrested in Rangers TV and making a good CV than Keeping Stranraer alive