AFC Telford opens arms to investors as club looks to lift share restrictions

The club will hold its AGM at the New Bucks Head stadium in Wellington this evening, with one of the key issues to be voted on an amendment to the club's articles of association removing any limit on the percentage of shares a single owner may hold.

That will lead to a fresh fundraising drive next month, and the club could find itself with new majority owners.

The Bucks, who were previously owned by supporters, announced in October they planned to change their ownership model to allow external investment, but put a 20 per cent cap on the amount of shares that could be bought.

In total, the Bucks sold 32 per cent of the shares on offer, generating £170,000.

That will help the club to bolster its finances, and annual accounts which are also set to be approved tonight show that the Bucks made a loss of £13,065 in the year to last May.

The figures, covering the first season back in the National League North following relegation from football's fifth tier in the 2014-15 season, show that turnover fell by 21 per cent to £691,683. In response the club slashed its wage bill by more than £103,000 to £528,583 last season.

In a report accompanying the accounts chairman Ian Dosser said: "On the field we have again been much lower in the league than we had targeted and elimination from the FA Cup at the first hurdle and FA Trophy at the second hurdle, contributed to a continuing difficult financial situation.

"We have made further cost reductions to safeguard the future of the football club."

He praised manager Rob Smith and his assistant Larry Chambers for helping Telford avoid relegation last season.

The main fall in income stemmed from lower gate receipts, with the overall figure falling from £243,000 in 2014-15 to £125,000 last season.

Season ticket revenue fell from £72,000 to £53,000, income from food and drink dropped by £34,000 to £64,000, and grants from the FA slid from £71,000 down to £11,000.

Other revenue areas including income from the club shop, lottery, raffle, car park and programmes all fell, but donations and sundry income grew by almost £70,000 to £283,000.

Mr Dosser said: "The large fall in gate receipts was due to our early elimination from the FA Cup and FA Trophy, compared with the previous season when we reached the FA Cup first round proper.

"There are a number of discussions ongoing with other businesses and new sponsorship deals and renewals will be announced between now and the start of the 2017/18 season."