2019/20 Budget

Following on from the page-turner that was the update on the club shop. I continue my series of bestsellers with an update on the 2019/20 budget.

Our Chairman Mike alluded to the club finances in his earlier update. The recent loss of several key sponsors, coinciding with the higher running costs of being at level 5 meant things were starting to look a little tight. Arguably that’s not entirely new news – the club finances have been a bit ‘tight’ for the last two years.

The commercial team have already been very active, both to engage with new potential sponsors, and also to make sure that our sponsors receive a compelling proposition from the Club. Whilst there is still work to be done – the picture is already looking slightly more positive.

The exec have now set the 2019/20 budget:

To call out a few areas of note:

  • Commercial income (which basically covers all income generated from sources other than membership and the bar):
    YoY increase of 13%.  This is going to take some work!  The planned increase comes through:

    1. Engaging with and attracting new sponsors. Without wanting to steal Simon’s thunder (commercial team blog to follow) – the recent addition of 6 youth sponsors is a great start to this and gives some confidence that the plan is achievable. Progress is also being made towards securing first-team sponsors, but these are not all fully confirmed yet.
    2. Making sure that the events we run are profitable (two events ran at a loss last year and we are keen not to repeat this).
  • Senior section running expenses:
    reduced 8.5% from last year (8.5% understates the real YoY reduction as it doesn’t account for the fact we also lost a key sponsor who was paying two players match-fees directly).  The majority of the reduction comes from lower coaching and kit costs.  Despite the overall reduction in Senior running costs, there is a slight increase in player match-fees, partially as a result of us now paying those players who were previously paid directly by a sponsor.
  • Projects
    A number of investment projects in the clubhouse and groups have been proposed. None of these are quite at a state for us to pull the trigger on – but we have held back some of the planned income to permit this
  • Membership Subs
    The exec have now set membership prices for 2019/20 at £200 for senior players and £150 for families. Whilst this represents a £10 increase, we remain incredibly competitive, particularly for families.
  • Bar/Kitchen and Other Clubhouse income
    This is held flat…  we hope to better this, but have planned conservatively.

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