PeterPrice Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 'Dunfermline are cheating c***s' thread for this pash pls. I really do hope Lachs pledge to communicate more often comes into fruition, as it's so badly needed. The most frustrating part of the clubs lack of communication is when Lach does communicate, he always comes across well and talks sense. It's a bit annoying that he needs to be pressed and probed to eventually communicate. FWIW, I quite like him and although his ambition for the club could be questioned, I think he's been a good chairman. However, change is definitely needed. *awaits the CAMRON OOT brigade* Agree with this. Obviously things didn't work out the way it was planned with the stadium/Catz facility but he has stuck by the club with his own money. When he could have quite easily walked away and let us go to the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Armour Appreciation Society Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 *awaits the CAMRON OOT brigade* I'm more of the * Community + Fans IN Gruppe * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumper Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Somewhat telling that the part of the missive regarding the club's lack of ambition consists of a mealy-mouthed refutation that doesn't actually answer the charge. If the club is losing money just to stay afloat even in years where its revenue is higher than expected, you'd have to assume that something will have to change. Plainly other clubs in the division are doing noticeable things to improve in that regard, what with Stenny getting a plastic pitch and thus generating revenue during the week and Stranraer, y'know, getting a decent manager in and actually signing players before the season begins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliche Guevara Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 It does seem that Somerset is quite the drain, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumper Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 The club owns the ground, right? It's got a higher potential for matchday revenue than the vast majority of grounds at this level simply because it has, y'know, four sides that are all accessible to paying spectators. I dare say that the electricity bills are not especially daunting compared to its competitors either. So what is it about the ground that supposedly makes it such an albatross? My understanding is that the rationale behind The Heathfield Dream was that a) in a formerly-vibrant property market the brownfield land Somerset sat on could actually be sold for a good sum, and b) Ayr's imminent rise to the SPL would require 6000 seats. Neither of these things is remotely plausible now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliche Guevara Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 The club owns the ground, right? It's got a higher potential for matchday revenue than the vast majority of grounds at this level simply because it has, y'know, four sides that are all accessible to paying spectators. I dare say that the electricity bills are not especially daunting compared to its competitors either. So what is it about the ground that supposedly makes it such an albatross? My understanding is that the rationale behind The Heathfield Dream was that a) in a formerly-vibrant property market the brownfield land Somerset sat on could actually be sold for a good sum, and b) Ayr's imminent rise to the SPL would require 6000 seats. Neither of these things is remotely plausible now. I'm not sure what you're saying here - I don't get the point about matchday revenue, on account of the ground having four sides. Certainly the new floodlights, the roofs etc have cost a fortune. Wherever the money came from we know it has been quite costly. I think there are also a lot of little safety things in relation to barriers, boundary walls, toilets etc that have taken up a bit of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumper Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I'm not sure what you're saying here - I don't get the point about matchday revenue, on account of the ground having four sides. Somerset's capacity is vast for this level. The club clearly made considerably more from its two Sevco visits this season than, say, Cowden or Dumbarton will in the next, simply on accounts of there being far more room to pack paying customers in on all sides. Leaving aside for the moment that Dunfermline shouldn't really have been in this league in the first place, they brought in nearly twice as many punters on matchdays from a vastly smaller catchment area (a smaller town with literally a dozen other clubs within thirty miles) than Ayr last season. Certainly the new floodlights, the roofs etc have cost a fortune. Wherever the money came from we know it has been quite costly. I think there are also a lot of little safety things in relation to barriers, boundary walls, toilets etc that have taken up a bit of money. The floodlights and roofs (a bit of corrugated iron and some stripey paint, not exactly an Archibald Leitch job) were one-off costs from before the previous season. If the club is running at a loss because it paid for them in installments then so be it, but you'd hope they'd say so. Assuming they have been paid off, the club should not be losing money because of them now. As for "barriers, boundary walls, toilets etc", the cost to firm up some concrete and install a new seat in the Somerset Road end bogs is surely not prohibitive for a club at Ayr's level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Where can I get me some of that stripy paint? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliche Guevara Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Are you talking about why the club didn't make a profit last year, or why the state of Somerset seems to render it a drain on resources? I can't answer any of these questions as I'm not in the know, but Lachlan's statement indicates that maintenance costs at Somerset are a significant factor and the work previously done are examples of money having to be spent in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumper Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Well, the statement only touched very quickly on that. I'm not convinced that simply keeping the ground open is a major point of financial strain for the club. It's an old ground but it's not so dilapidated as to offset its potential. The statement made far more fuss about dwindling support. Well, if the club needs a regular home gate of 2000+ to break even then it's going to fucking have to speculate to accumulate. People are not magically going to come back of their own volition. It's precisely the lack of a plan to address this which people are complaining about when they say the board lacks ambition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliche Guevara Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I think he has tried the speculate to accumulate method. I think the Heathfield project was an attempt to drive the club into the 21st century and build a sustainable future. I have to say I still feel pretty bitter about SAC's handling of the whole affair, although other people have different views on culpability. I also think Brian Reid did a fair bit of damage to the club with the two relegations from Division One (as was). The pathetic displays against Airdrie, when just reaching the final would have seen us retain our status, were avoidable. If we had survived that season we'd have had more than a decent chance of surviving last season and look where we'd have been now! The club has been up for sale for about four years, and I suppose if nobody else is prepared to take it off his hands we are limited in just how much we can expect from him. There is no point in throwing any more of his pwn money at the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumper Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Reid was an unqualified success. If it weren't for Reid then a brave shot at the Championship playoffs would have looked pretty good this season. Certainly Reid's cup runs had a better effect on the average crowd than anything the club itself has done recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPrice Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 What do you realistically expect the club to do? They can't force people into Somerset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliche Guevara Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Reid was an unqualified success. If it weren't for Reid then a brave shot at the Championship playoffs would have looked pretty good this season. Certainly Reid's cup runs had a better effect on the average crowd than anything the club itself has done recently. I have to disagree with that pretty strongly. Reid had some success, but had significant failure on a number of occasions too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mgc1910 Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Reid got us promoted twice, to two great days out at play off finals, beat 4 SPL teams in cup competitions, got us to a scottish cup QF and league cup SF. Next to Roberts, he looks like freakin' Mourinho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 His record against Kilmarnock was unacceptable, bottom line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkshirepud Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 His record against Kilmarnock was unacceptable, bottom line.Dalziel's record against them was excellent. What's your point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honest_Man#1 Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Dalziel's record against them was excellent. What's your point? I think he was taking the piss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnethead Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 His record against Kilmarnock was unacceptable, bottom line. Not far from the truth for the casual fan ! As far as Lachlans statement is concerned, give us something to buy into other than words, show us something positive, deliver something on the park, the rest will take care of itself - that's how it works, you've got to bring punters in to make money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPrice Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Ayr could definitely benefit from a similar idea to Dunfermline's £20 a month scheme. Would anyone pay into it? I would, but i'd imagine a lot of our support are too negative to bother. I'd imagine most would say something along the lines of; "I would but Mark Roberts is a DKB so naw!!!!!!!! Sack the board!!!!" Or something like that. Edited to add: i see someone has already mentioned it on The Honest Page(I'm not a member so can't post there) working on the basis of 200 people signing up to it. £4000 a month would be the equivalent to £1000 a week which would get you 3 players on the equivalent of our highest earner. Aka 3 Michael Moffats . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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