9th June 2014
Annual General Meeting & Associated changes 2014/15
Dear Coaches, Parents & Players,
Yesterday the club held its Annual General Meeting where we vote on all changes to the club structure and constitution. All of the managers within the club were present with the exception of four teams.
After considerable debate the managers voted overwhelmingly to increase the annual subscriptions for players for the 2014/15 season. This increase was proposed by myself and the management committee after close scrutiny of the club’s financial position and the strategy for the future.
We have managed to avoid an increase for many years and we have set out a plan going forward, where, we can deliver the best training available in the area, with the best resources.
The club pays for all of the costs associated with delivering its training. For example all managers are FA certificated and have at least an FA level 1 coaching badge, together with an accredited first aid qualification and a child protection certificate. This is in addition to a full FA CRB check. All of these costs are borne by the club and must be replaced every three years for the first aid and child protection. The club also pays all league fees and insurance for each player as well as FA affiliation fees and the costs of all training and pitch fees for the use annually of all of the grass pitches that we use. The club pays for referees courses delivered by the FA the referees fees for all games officiated when at home or under the leagues direction for mini soccer etc.
To give you an idea of the costs associated with running teams this following example gives the current average costs associated with a team which do not include the costs of FA training coaches etc.
Current average teamcosts:
(General Team Costs based on a 15 man 11 aside team)11 aside / mini
Training facility costs / 672 / 672
League Fees / 195 / 195
Affiliation Fees / 10 / 10
Referee Fees / 240 / 120
Match Balls / 25 / 0
Presentation / 225 / 150
Insurance / 15 / 10
Central Fund / 100 / 100
Total / 1482 / 1257
Subs @ £100 pa / 1500 / 1000
Net income / 18 / -257
As you can see the club has been running at a loss but has been able to continue because of the balances we have accrued over the years through fundraising (Lions raffle tickets and the fun run).
A lot of people have asked about the costs associated with the new stadium. We pay a weekly hire charge for each team and the money is in our terms an investment as we have a contract and long term arrangement with the stadium to deliver our training and some matches using the superb facilities for the foreseeable future. The stadium under the agreement with the stakeholders involved has to pay an annual amount of £60,000 into a sinking fund to maintain the facility and replace the pitch which only lasts 7 years.
We have agreed to train in the stadium for the whole year rather than only the winter months. This has been requested by the majority of the managers and the players. The use of the training equipment also ensures that we do not have to buy goals etc. for the smaller sided and 9 v 9 teams to train with.
Last year we spent £83,906 and collected £66,273. The club collects all donations for individual teams and then pays out for strips, tournament trips etc. so around £19,500 of income and expenditure is related to that.
As we grow and the demand is such that we are currently adding new teams every year, we need to ensure financial stability if we are going to continue to deliver the best available football experience for the children. We have researched costs at many other clubs and have determined that we will charge less than the majority and ask for £4 per week paid in 12 calendar monthly payments of £16 paid by standing order direct into the clubs bank account. Alternatively we will be offering one annual payment up front of £180.00.
This alleviates the need to physically collect subs as we have had subs being paid three months in arrears from some teams and not all money due being collected.
This in essence means that we will ask all players to pay by standing order without any alternative. To give everyone time to sort this out we have prepared the new standing order which requires completion and delivery to banks to allow the first payment to be collected on the 31st July 2014. This standing order will then continue until the player leaves the club. This eliminates administration and allows the coaches to concentrate on what they should be doing rather than collecting money which is often an onerous task.
The new financial funding for an average team will look like this:
(General Team Costs based on a 15 man 11 aside team)11 aside / mini
Training facility costs / 1120 / 1120
League Fees / 195 / 195
Affiliation Fees / 10 / 10
Referee Fees / 240 / 120
Match Balls / 25 / 0
Insurance / 15 / 10
Presentation / 225 / 150
Central Fund / 100 / 100
Total / 1930 / 1705
Subs @ £192 pa / 2880 / 1920
Net income / 950 / 215
June subs will be collected at the old rate. As you can see this gives the club the ability to provide more and to move forward with an offering of greatly improved facilities and training. We will be able to fund specific kit replacement and deliver the annual events without so much emphasis on fundraising.
I hope that this helps to explain the situation and to ensure all that we are continually looking at improving what we do. Leagues are changing, as is the football the children play as we see moving to FA rules for 9 v9 and 11 v 11 covering a wider age group. The leagues are playing virtually all of the year now with changes to traditional start and finish times.
If anyone would like to ask any questions further contact your manager first and they will bring along to the monthly managers meeting, the next one being the Thursday 3rd July 2014. Every team should now be represented at this meeting and we welcome parents to take a managers place if a manager is not available.
I hope that you can all appreciate our efforts and I thank you all for your continued support and wish you all good luck for the coming season.
Yours Sincerely
Anthony Robson
Chairman
Consett AFC Juniors
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