Club for sale?!

The most interesting part of that is the new long term lease being established!! That is an excellent move. 

As I understand it, there have always been plans/wishes for developments at the Moor Road end, Chairman's mound and compound area, to incorporate new dressing rooms/gyms/flats above etc, and away turnstiles/exits, so maybe this is being considered for incorporation?

The 3G pitch is a contentious idea for many but, in the light of recent weather cancellations, and financial losses, it becomes more appealing to more and more Clubs. The, not inconsiderable, cost of installation and maintenance is maybe another reason for the search for investors/partners to enable that to happen.

A step 4 Club in the West Midlands, close to my heart, has just been granted a development, including 3G pitch and covered terrace, costing just short of £1 million!!

As stated, the Club is currently in probably it's best condition for many a season, and now in need of extra assistance to push it forward.

Some would say, lets stabilise in NLS for a couple of years, but there has to be an intention to grow, so maybe this is it?

Should we be successful in achieving a promotion, ( not inconceivable) the step up to NL would be enormous, in terms of Club structure, professionalism and control, and would be a huge undertaking, that could possibly be outside the scope of relying on volunteer help, as good as our people are!!

Lets hope we find the 'right' people to join in the venture, and we don't end up with a situation like we did when a certain individual wanted to finance and move the Club etc!!

Please be careful for what you wish for!!!

Not so sure a Ryan Reynolds type would be good for the Club at this juncture. He has picked up on a Club steeped in history, with an enormous fan base, albeit dormant for many a year. He has provide the blue touch paper and ignited it with his backing.

That would not happen here I fear.

I also wonder what happens when Wrexham get to Div 2 or above, and meet the Clubs, with 'real' clout and traditions, Portsmouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland etc!! or will they become another Salford??

We need 'sensible' backers who want to walk not run!!

It really is a catch 22 situation.

Firstly, I can't envisage the possibility of a 'Bury type Situation' here as the ground is owned by Rushmoor Borough Council, and the Club has no tangible assets other than the value of equipment and contracted players which, with all due respect, is hardly a fortune in todays market, plus the price of taking on the new lease!!

People who invest in Clubs at this level also are not likely to be the type to be wanting a return on the money long, or short, term, well I could name one, but he seems to have gone to ground recently, thankfully!

So you are left with the Rich backer, who loves football, and not afraid to lose a few million, who wants total control of the Club, but is liable to disappear at short notice, leaving a financial hole in his/her wake, or a consortium of backers each contributing on a fairly regular basis, as Directors in a Limited Company.

Not an easy choice to make and, if the wrong choice is made, we would be very soon back into the boom and bust scenario of years past, which is not a nice place to be as we all know!!

Secondly, and I haven't checked Companies house for a long time, but I understand, and correct me if I am wrong or things have changed, and if I remember correctly, there are two companies here, Farnborough Football Club Ltd, and Farnborough Football and Social Club Ltd!!

Which would the new 'investors' be committing to?, and assuming that a new share offer is going to become available, would individual or group shares be available to purchase?

The efforts of Rob, Spencer, Garbo, Phil and Kevin, and the volunteers, have worked wonders to get us where we are, and I strongly favour the steady as we go approach, for the next few seasons.
Lets make this Club, not just viable, but solid, at the level we are, with whatever investments we can get, without stretching ourselves too far.

If the 'right' deal comes along then fine, but I hope those that make those decisions make them diligently which, knowing those I mentioned previously, will do!

Yes, agree with what's been said on this thread. That "full takeover" mooted at the end of the statement is fairly unlikely in the present climate, but if the right people DID come along and wanted the club, they would be very unlikely to just accept the current management team in perpetuity I would have thought.

Why would the club ever move away from the San Cheerio? The ground is not even owned by the club and the only reason would be if the council sold the ground from underneath it which a long term lease highlights will not be happening. The only pleas for a Rushmoor community stadium these days (and potential merger) are from the slowly dying club down the road that are being deliberately run into the ground so their owners can develop the Wrec into flats. If anything the ground situation leaves us less at the mercy of those unscrupulous potential owners out there who are just property developers looking for an easy asset strip.

After 15 years of turmoil we are on the up and progressing in a sustainable manner. Rob & Spencer have invested in a sensible manner into the club since they have been running it and their efforts are now bearing fruit so you can understand why they would like to see some return on their effort in further outside investment/ partial ownership sale. It also shows their ambition is still to grow the club (hopefully as a community asset) and leave the club in a far better state than they found it, whenever their stewardship ends.

Great to be looking to the future, however we really need to be concentrating on the now with looking at consolidating our position in the CS and becoming an established competitor each year for the playoffs before we entertain pushing on - which let’s face it is only possible by extreme financial doping!

If investment/ stake sale etc. does come in, then I would have thought Spencer would be under far greater scrutiny as a manager with there being another voice to answer to - perhaps any change would come with a move into a ‘Director of Football’ position as a consequence where he can keep pulling rabbits out of hats?

Because this would be a demotion for the Emperor of Football! 😅

This kind of scatter gun approach of putting something on social media to see if anyone will invest concerns me a little. A bit crude unless they are also using the proper channels to find new investors (there must be special websites for this I think).

I did say last season that once Spencer is committed to spending at this level then he would be committed to continuing this way unless he stops and we plummet back down the leagues again.

I'd like to see much more action in the way of building our crowds - school of the week, company of the week etc as although crowds have improved non league football is booming and teams at lower levels are getting better crowds.

We had a much trumpeted arrival of a new community director a few months back and then..... nothing. This is one way we could build for the future so it would be nice to know what they are planning.