My notes from last night. Apologies for length, and any inaccuracies in advance.
Finances
The Club has received £620K in income since returning to Champion Hill, and has spent £614K. We are therefore breaking even (a small profit even). The bar is a majorly important part of our income, as it has taken £240K of the total income, while ticket sales are about the same amount. The kitchen is also now turning a profit. The club is no longer in any debt to any supplier or individual (£70K paid on old debt, i.e. stuff that was owed before the return to Champion Hill). No wages are owed to coaching, staff or stewards - all are paid up to date (this represents £167K). £111K has been spent on tax (VAT), while £184k has gone towards starting the bar and on stock. Match-day costs have been £45K over ten games, while Non-bar overheads have been £35k. The club has now been re-accredited as a Living Wage employer.
The books will close on 30 June 2019, and will be published very soon after. The club plans to hold an AGM in July, when the accounts will be fully published. This will include the approximate £1m that Meadow have written off in debt, from when they were operating the club at a loss.
The budget for next season will be based on an average attendance of 2100, and no home Cup games. Gavin has been fantastic to work with on the budget, and fully supports the need to make savings, before players can be brought in during the season. The 12th Man has also been fantastic in putting in additional funds to help the budget when required.
Sponsorship has been low unfortunately, and it's an area to improve on. One audience member suggested having a coordinator, and volunteers for different sub-areas to coordinate. Another audience member suggested offering a commission only job to someone to raise sponsorship income for the club.
Capital / shareholding in the club, and DHST role
The club has received a £77k injection from shareholders. All loans that were provided to the club during the September crisis period have now been converted to capital (including DHST's loan). The Trust have been offered two seats on the Board, and they are currently considering how this should be handled. There is a slight constitutional issue here, as one of the Trust's roles is to hold the club to account, and another objective is to have seat on the club's Board. They are considering how to handle this.
Playing side and training
It's possible the club will become full-time next season. Talks are ongoing with players and a decision will be made imminently. We have the following friendlies confirmed:
9 July - Colchester United at home
12 July - possibly another team TBC
13 July - Marine away (their 125th anniversary celebrations)
27 July - Crystal Palace at home
Other games TBC in due course.
There was a lengthy discussion around the lack of clarity about players who depart the club, and it just being accidentally found out at a later date. The example of Ash Carew being on loan at Egham Town was pointed to. The Directors recognise they can do better on this, but there are times when it can't be announced due to the player's wishes (i.e. better able to bargain with next club, if they are not known to have actually left).
The reserve team was scrapped a few years back for cost reasons. I asked whether it could be resurrected, or a U23 development side introduced; in order to give ASPIRE graduates, fringe players more playing opportunity. Ben said it's not something they have considered, but they would look into it with Gavin.
Training will move next season to the two pitches that are either side of the Greendale footpath, i.e.
here. They are currently leased by St Saviour's and St Olave's schools in the Elephant & Castle, but they are not used due to the cost of transporting children to the site. However, they are currently paying for their maintenance without using the pitches. DHFC will take over their management, so the schools don't need to pay for upkeep any more. The pitches will be used by all our teams for training, and for ASPIRE matches. It was not entirely clear what schools will get to use the pitches, and when. This move will be cost-neutral to the club, as they not need to pay to train elsewhere.
The new women's team
A women's team will play as Dulwich Hamlet FC next season. They are taking over AFC Phoenix, who play in the 5th level of the women's game in the London & South East Regional Women's League (
London & South East Regional Women's). These games will be included in the cost of the season ticket. Their development side will also play as DHFC, but will not play at Champion Hill.
National League issues
The club had a conditional license to play in the National League this season, which meant we have been under a microscope. We have had to open up the books to the league, including demonstrating that we are PAYE compliant. We have now been given an unconditional license for next season.
Ben has found it quite frustrating how much intrinsic detail that our club has been under, when other clubs in the National League have been flouting rules without any scrutiny. He has evidence from other clubs where they are not paying taxes and PAYE appropriately, but have had no scrutiny from the League.
He was particularly frustrated that Welling deliberately under declared the Cup gate in order to keep more of the takings, and that Woking apparently sold a majority of concession tickets for our last home game, when the evidence on the day was a large majority of adults.
Current ground
There was strong opinions from several gathered that viewing of games at the current ground must improve next season. Several options have been considered, but no decision has yet been taken. One audience member pushed hard on the Directors taking a decision quickly so it can be implemented before the season started. The Directors committed to do so. The mood of the room seemed to indicate there was a preference to add steps and cover to both ends, and widen the raised area. There was little appetite from Ben to add raised standing around the sides, in order to preserve the openness of the site, and there were no audible objections to this. One person summed this up nicely as "Let the Rabble see".
New ground
Two of the Directors had observed a Council / Meadow meeting yesterday on the proposed new ground. They were not able to provide too much info due to confidentiality of the discussions. The vague summary was that the "Direction of travel is a good one", but delivery will not be as quick as envisaged. [Comment - not surprising as the proposed timeline from Meadow was very ambitious]. The club would engage with supporters on the design of the 3 sides of the ground on Greendale land in due course. Bulb are likely to be involved in the design as well, particularly on providing solar energy. One audience member said that supporters don't need to be consulted on the plans, as they would be happy with whatever is proposed, and the club should just get on with it.
Long-term vision for club
There was a long debate about the long-term vision for the club. It's clear and understandable that the football management side wish to keep progressing, hence going full-time discussions. We had the 91st highest average attendance across the country last season, so this pushes us into League football sphere.
One audience member expressed concerns about this creep towards becoming a league team, as he stopped going to watch his league team due to the amount of money in the game and the poor match day experience. He would rather our aspirations are capped at a Step 2 or 3 club, and even went as far as to say that if we became a National League club, then he would support another non-league team.
I said that the club had rightly focused on surviving over the last year, and it's great that these important short-term goals have been met (albeit there is still uncertainty around the ground). I asked whether the club could take some time next season to consult with supporters and think about having a vision and a longer term plan. All businesses have a vision and strategy, and without wanting it to feel too much like work, then these are essential to ensure that all are working in one direction. Ben said that it's something they would like to do, but obviously have had to focus on the short-term in recent months. He questioned whether this was something the club or the Trust should lead on. One person said that he didn't ever want to hear the phrase "five-year plan".
Jack Payne closed the evening by thanking the Directors, staff and all the volunteers for their fantastic work over the last few months. He felt the current ownership was the best the club has had over many years.
This is not a comprehensive report, as I was distracted at times by the exciting Forest Green vs Tranmere Rovers game on the TV, so please add important bits I may have missed.
The End.
