Telford United: Club not in terminal state, but extra funds desperately required

The club, ideally, needs to find £25,000 by the end of this month, and the same for next month.

The club insists it is 'not in a terminal state' but has urged as many fans as possible to turn up for the clash with FC United of Manchester at New Bucks Head on Saturday.

Telford are looking at making changes to the current ownership model in order to make way for new investment.

Telford United statement in full

"We would like to apologise for the delay in issuing this information. We fully accept that the delay in communications has led to speculation and concern amongst loyal supporters. This delay has not been down to the board being inactive, the Directors are engaged in daily conversation and actions. We met for five and a half hours last night.

Our primary objective has always been to try and deliver the best football club we possibly can and to ensure football remains alive in Telford. Fulfilling this objective has become increasingly difficult over the last 12 months, increasingly more so in the last few months with the loss of key personnel and a reducing number of Directors to share the load.

The club is now in a position where cash flow is extremely difficult. Income has fallen, particularly from gate receipts, and some key costs have risen. An example of this is the Safety regime now in place at the Stadium which has added the cost equivalent of 400 full paying adults for one game, for one test to the Barriers. Many other costs are increasing too. Some income streams have remained flat including commercial income. We have tried to provide the upmost support to ensure the team on the field is successful, but there is at least one income stream that was budgeted to support this which has as yet failed to materialise.

For the record, there is no winding up order against the club nor are we aware of one pending. Players and Off Field Staff were paid on time at end of September. Any other outstanding payroll will be paid over the coming days as usual. The club does have trade creditors though and we are concerned that club has a reducing ability to pay these unless urgent action is taken. Our projections for October, November, December raise these same concerns. Ideally, we need to raise £25k between now and the end of October, and the same by end of November. The primary way this can be done is obviously by generating as big a crowd as possible for this Saturday's game.

In the meantime, the Board will continue to action a number of things to help stabilise the club.

We have set the following action plan:

a)We urge everyone who cares about the club to come along to the game on Saturday. Every penny through the Turnstiles will help the club massively in the short term.

b)Alongside this, we will be taking immediate action to continue to restructure the business to relentlessly focus on generating income but also to reduce unnecessary costs. We have always tried to maintain this fundamental discipline, but it has been more and more difficult as the years have progressed. Once we saw patterns in income falling after the first quarter of the financial year, we started to take more stringent action. Part of this included looking at Team Travel. Regarding Saturday a decision was taken with the management team to travel independently as over half of the number of playing personnel due to attend on Saturday were already making their own way to Bradford. Bearing this in mind, the opportunity was taken to save the cost of travelling.

With the situation we now find ourselves in it is paramount we keep a team on the field but also do whatever is necessary to set in place a plan that attempts to reverse some of the long term patterns. We are adamant that the current management team will remain at the club whilst we do this and then come through the other side in a better position. We hope to release some news on this shortly.

c)Today, and perhaps most importantly, we have also urged the Trust Board to put in place a process to enable urgent changes to the ownership model of the club which would allow external investment.

It would not be right for us to comment at this stage on the limitations of the model that we currently operate which we believe are currently hindering the business. We respect the Trustees – they are, like us, fans who have always tried to do their very best to keep a club going that the fans can be proud of.

The format that this change takes will of course be subject to debate but we have urged that this happens this week. Delay in allowing the change could prove fatal to the business.

As we explained, we are currently very short on numbers. We therefore need help:

1)We need volunteers to assist with promoting Saturday's game and then beyond that help co-ordinate an effort to generate support for the club and it's fundraising activities. Anyone with graphic design skills, good at social media or who would be happy to do some targeted Kids ticket giveaways and all that entails – we would love to hear from you. This list isn't exclusive and we'd be happy to hear from anyone, not just with ideas but also with time to spare to help.

2)We also would like to hear from anyone who feels they have the relevant business skills and can help with a number of tasks that the club need to action including helping promote facilities and generate income for the club in the short term.

Please email office@telfordutd.co.uk immediately if you can help.

Finally, we are determined to fight our way out of this position. We are determined to bring the club together in order to fight our way out this position. We require focus, passion and pride more than ever – we hope that all negative feelings can be put to one side while we focus on this task.

Let's be clear: The club is not in a terminal state; however, we need to pull together now in order to avoid that possibility becoming a reality.

We must come together to keep the dream alive.

The AFC Telford United Supporters Trust will hold a shareholders general meeting next Monday where it will be proposed their majority shareholding in the football club ceases.

A new ownership model would make room for external investment but the Trust insist any party willing to add funds must be doing so 'for the right reasons'.

Statement from Trust chairman Steve Bowyer said: "Following a club board meeting on 10th October I call for an SGM for the Trust on October 17 in the learning centre at 7pm where it will be proposed that our majority shareholding in the football club ceases and that shares be issued as a consequence to parties able to dedicate the required funds to the running of the football club.

"This will not end the Trust's involvement in the support of the football club, however will mean the Trust board and membership will follow the same rules around shareholding as any other party.

"This decision has not been taken lightly, however, given the changing landscape of the level of football we are operating at, it is being done to preserve, maintain and improve matters on and off the pitch, which was always the ultimate aim when the Trust was set up some 12 years ago.

"We should be proud of the fact that we as an entity have supported and governed the running of the football club from the outset and each year have donated considerable funds into the football club, however, we also appreciate it is not enough.

"We also acknowledge that any party wanting to invest in the football club will want ownership which under the Trust owned model cannot happen.

"Therefore, for the good of the club, the proposal is to relinquish our ownership but, and I must stress, be 100% sure that any party willing to put monies in is doing it for the right reasons.

"These last few months have been particularly difficult for all involved in the Trust and Club and we hope that this will bring a fresh emphasis on matters both on and off the field."