Crowdfund appeal - Questions answered

What will the money raised on the appeal be used for?

When we took ownership of the club, we did so with very little money left in the club accounts. We also did so knowing that the club owed money out to some local businesses and other football clubs in the pyramid.

The primary income streams for Spartans each year include season ticket sales, sponsorship deals, and match day ticket sales. However, the sponsorship and season ticket money for the year had already been spent by the previous owner when we took over. The increase in pitch-side sponsorship boards provided some relief in the early stages, and we appreciate how the local community supported the club after the takeover.

We have managed to clear some of the debt, but the daily operations of the club remain a concern. Although we report attendances of between 400 and 500 recently, over 200 of those tickets were purchased at the beginning of the season. Taking into account concessions and child tickets, our revenue from ticket sales is approximately £2,000. Meanwhile, the cost of a coach for an away game is around £1,400.

In short we need to get through this season before fresh streams of revenue become available to us next season.

Will we need a Crowdfund appeal every season?

The aim has always been and continues to be making the club sustainable. We will not spend beyond our income. It's going to take a huge effort, but our ambition is to start next season as close to debt-free as possible. So hopefully this should be the one and only time we have to make this sort of appeal to ensure the survival of the club.

We are now actively working to organise new and existing sponsors ready for next season. All the money generated by this will available to the board unlike this season.

We are always working on new ideas to build the club for the benefit of fans and the community, and we will engage with supporters to determine priorities. As a community club we will always be dependent on the support of fans and the town, and we'd like to think that if there are any further crowd-funding initiatives, then they would be to finance exciting new expansion or initiatives.

Why £25,000?

£25k isn't the whole total that the club needs to raise, but we thought it would be an excellent place to start. We're hugely encouraged by the early response to the appeal, and we may well raise the target as we go along.

Why are we going ahead with new floodlights if we need the money elsewhere?

Most of the funding for the floodlights is coming from grants from both the Football Foundation and the local council; this money is in addition to our other income streams and is ring-fenced and cannot be used for any other purpose. New floodlights are much more cost effective and will save the club money every time they are used compared to the current ones.

Why did we spend money on players if we were in so much debt?

When we came in we were blown away by support shown by the local community and with the games in hand we were still within touching distance of the teams just outside the drop zone. Those first few months were a steep learning curve for the board and we were uncovering more debt left to us all the time. We have certainly learned a lot from the first three months and that will only make us stronger.

What else can we do to support the club ?

Attend events - We still have a limited number of tickets available for tonight's event with Peter Beardsley and we still have space for people to sign up to our Boxing event ahead of training starting next week.