Ebbsfleet United wait for their financial situation to become clearer
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by Alex Hoad
Ebbsfleet's future remains in the
balance with the club awaiting a "judgement day" which will tell
them how deep their financial crisis is.
Fleet chairman Duncan Holt admitted that of the 4,052
MyFootballClub annual subscriptions due to expire last Friday – the
second anniversary of the MyFC takeover – the number who actually
renewed was "pretty low".
However, he said Fleet would not
have a clear idea of how many members had slipped away until the
end of the month, when many supporters get paid.
Mr Holt said Monday would be
"judgement day" but said no matter how high or low the renewal
number was, the club would continue.
He said: "We want to get a really
good steer on the number and the indications are that some people
are waiting for pay-day at the end of the month. We’ll try to judge
where we are on Monday. Even if we have fewer members it will mean
each individual has a little more influence."
Mr Holt revealed the club had
budgeted for between £100,000 and £150,000 of renewals in this
period, but even if that number was not met, the club would
continue, despite still having to pay wages of around £50,000 for
both March and April.
He said: "We will end up with a
deficit at the end of the season – what remains is to see how much
that will be. We need to cover it one way or another."
Various options are being explored,
including a potential share issue in MyFC – with the remaining
membership of around 4,300 this week being asked to vote to call a
special general meeting.
Mr Holt said: "A share issue would
give us the injection we need, but it will take time to set up.
"We need to make sure we are
covered until the end of the season and then that we have a clear
business plan for next year and going forward.
"We need somewhere between £200,000
and £250,000 to ensure we see out this year and can kick on for
next season. It doesn’t matter how or when that money gets
here.
"I can’t second-guess other
people’s generosity but I’m sure people would be prepared to step
in with their own money if necessary. Somebody has already
anonymously put in £10,000, but hopefully it will be the case of
the power of thousands, rather than the power of one or two, that
gets us through this."
Fleet will look to make it eight wins
in their last 12 Blue Square Premier games when they host
struggling Barrow on Saturday.
The Cumbrians have seven games in hand
over Fleet but Liam Daish’s side have won five out of six to put
the boss in line for manager of the month honours.
Wednesday, February 24 2010
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