Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 4:21 pm  

The South African cricketer and fieldsman extraordinaire Gus McKay delivered the news of London's relocation to Barnet on the BBC. Does that mean that he remains CEO for 2014?

Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 4:28 pm  

JEAN CAPDOUZE wrote:

The South African cricketer and fieldsman extraordinaire Gus McKay delivered the news of London's relocation to Barnet on the BBC. Does that mean that he remains CEO for 2014?

Yep.
He is the only back office staff member with all administrative and marketing duties taken over by the team at the Hive in return for a fee and a share of the gate revenue and ALL the bar and food revenue.
The move protects nothing about top flight RL in the capital, but does give him a chance to brush up his CV,

14-01-11 / Gus Mackay Joins as CEO. The Club had finished the previous year with a 3,400 average.
20-02-11 / 1,766 witness the seasons opener v Crusaders a record lowest attendance for the club in SL
22-06-11 / Club announce they are investigating a possible re-brand
10-09-11 / 3,456 Watch the loss to St Helens, securing 12th spot
01-11-11 / Club announce a rebrand back to the Broncos name
19-01-12 / Season Tickets sent out to 859 people.
24-01-12 / Club dispatches Replica shirts with the promise you can have the sponsor added later…when they get one
27-01-12 / Club Launch new Website nearly 3 full months after the re-brand
04-02-12 / 4,924 witness the first game as the London Broncos..the team has no shirt sponsor
17-05-12 / After only 2 league wins all season and declining crowds the club announce a review.
09-06-12 / 2,117 watch the team achieve their third win of the season to move off the foot of the table.
17-07-12 / The Club announce a temporary sponsorship arrangement with a local building supplies store.
18-07-12 / The Club, sitting bottom of the league, announce the return of Tony Rea.
18-08-12 / The Sun report the club is moving to Gillingham, The CEO does nothing on Live TV to dispell this rumour
18-08-12 / CEO states that is may be November before the new coach is anounced
21-08-12 / Three days later, Tone Rea is announced as the new head coach.
08-09-12 / 2,525 watch the Broncos win their last game of the season, finishing in 12th position with the lowest ever average for a season…2,808
08-09-12 / No official announcements are made at the end of seasons awards……the home ground and info in 2013 ST's are still a mystery
19-09-12 / The Club announce that they will remain at the stoop for 2013.
05-11-12 / Pre season begins
12-11-12 / 5 days later…The Club announce the 2013 ST deals on offer which included the early bird offer and the promise of 2 fans foums during the season.
13-11-12 / Selco extend their sponsorship of the Broncos for the 2013 season in a deal brokered by the RFL.
15-01-13 / Gus tells the BBC that the club will definitely be leaving the stoop at the end of the season
15-01-13 / The Club online shop opens….3 weeks after Xmas
22-01-13 / Season ticket Early Bird offer extended.
03-02-13 / 2,856 fans witnes the season opening loss to Widnes. Some fans are overcharged by the club for entrance to the game.
17-01-13 / 2nd home game of the year and A record low crowd for the visit of Wakefield to London in SL of 1,887
21-02-13 / The Club announce the return of Curry Night
07-03-13 / Kieron Dixon signs a deal to stay at the club until 2014
09-03-13 / The rescheduled HKR game attracts the lowest ever crowd for their visit to the capital as 1,837 watch them beat London
18-03-13 / The CEO witnesses his first ever away win…..or so you would think from his pointless (and not repeated) statement after the Castleford game
23-03-13 / Hull FC attract the lowest ever crowd for their visit to london as 1,865 witness a draw.
28-03-13 / London Broncos lose to Catalan at Esher…game moved at request of Landlords…1,136 in attendance.
30-03-13 / London Broncos announce Bradford game to be moved to accommodate landlords Hieneken Cup game
05-04-13 / Bradford attract their lowest ever crowd for a game v London as 1,441 watch them defeat London at High Wycombe
20-04-13 / 1,217 witness London overcome Fev in the Challenge Cup at the Stoop
27-04-13 / St Helens attract their lowest ever crowd for a Broncos game in the Capital when 2,839 witness a rare London win!
10-05-13 / 1,237 bother turning up to watch London qualify for the Challenge Cup QF by defeating Bradford Bulls.
18-05-13 / the second lowest gate for the visit of Wigan (the lowest for a single visit season) see London Hammered 6-64.
01-06-13 / Castleford lowest attendance for SL game in London of 1,810 see the teams play out a 30 all draw.
08-06-13 / 900 less fans than 2012 bother attending the OTR game in Gillingham
17-08-13 / 1,843, the lowest gate for a final game of a SL season in the Capital, watch Huddersfield hammer London giving a 2,213 average for the year down 35% on 2010.
08-09-13 / A second win on the trot and a 2 point reduction for Salford sees London avoid the wooden spoon.
08-09-13 / Last updates on the club site.
09-09-13 / Last updates in club facebook page
07-11-13 / Exodus of players and staff concludes with the departure of 15 year stalwart Phil Jones to Warrington.
20-11-13 / Club announce intention to go into administration
13-11-13 / Club announce a new home has been secured for 2 seasons at the Hive with no mention of further investors.
18-11-13 / Club announces that they are in better shape than they have ever been

Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:52 pm  

Gutterfax's last posting could be written about so many RL clubs.

Maybe one day someone will bite the bullet and say enough is enough.

If that means the end of sacred clubs then so be it.

RL is touted as a business, so deal with it as a business and make the decisions that need to be made.

If some clubs disappeared I don't think many would be at the wake as things stand at the moment.

Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:01 pm  

Gutters, or anyone else for that matter - A few genuine questions here, given the situation the club are in at the moment do you think moving to Barnet is a good move? Either as a stop gap or as a firm relocation to build from?

If a place to build from do you think they'd be better off renaming themselves after the local area? Barnet Broncos? Rather than as London?

Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:07 pm  

Him wrote:

Gutters, or anyone else for that matter - A few genuine questions here, given the situation the club are in at the moment do you think moving to Barnet is a good move? Either as a stop gap or as a firm relocation to build from?

The Stoop was costing £200k a year (in the 2012 report I have been shown). This cost represents 9% of the loss made by the club that year (£2,200,000) and when you take into account that ticket sales and ST revenue generated £323,000, then it is hard to fathom exactly why the move has happened? Administration costs of £630,000 is where I would have swung the ace but as the CEO is part of the admin cost, he was hardly going to sack himself.

What they Club have done is remove nearly 100% of their overheads using the threat of administration and bullying tactics against staff members, some of whom are still owed money and have had to borrow to make ends meet. The new agreement with TK and the Hive is based purely on the Club paying a fee to The Hive to carry out the marketing and administration for the club with ticket revenue also going to the Hive, as well as bars and food takings.
The Club will be responsible for the Shop and other commercial revenue (sponsorship if any) and the Players and Coaches. This will be funded by the commercial revenues, SKY cash and David Hughes in 2014, at which stage, TK at the Hive will be able to see if there is any point in continuing with this agreement or cutting us loose.

This deal is NOT what was under negotiation for 7+ months. TK was supposed to be an investor, but in reality, we are paying him and he gets to try before he buys. The deal is not, IMHO good for the club in the long term and is only acceptable for 2014 because without it, we would be dead in the water.

Him wrote:

If a place to build from do you think they'd be better off renaming themselves after the local area? Barnet Broncos? Rather than as London?

TK and the Hive are a money making venture. Running a SL side from 2015,based on the revenue figures from 2012, would see him have an income of £2,200,000 per year from all areas including SKY money. David Hughes currently tops that up with £2,000,000 and we still finish at the rubbish end of the comp, so I can't see TK investing a bean, the club, if they survive 2014, will slowly whither and die and RL in the capital will disappear as a valid career path to thousands of youngsters.

The London Broncos, in there return season, sold less than 500 Season Tickets. For the venture to work and for TK to want to invest in the club, he will need to see crowds of 4k+ in 2013. A quick glance at the pricing for the footie shows an average ticket price of about £20 a pop.....£1,000,000 a year in ticket revenue for 13 games and then he might invest a little.
Given we have no latitude to sign extra foreigners and are now scraping the barrel in regards to 2014 recruitment 8 weeks out from season start, I see the prospect of watching a hammering 13 times at a new venue as not appealing to the faithful.

The Stoop era and essentially the club, was killed the day IL was told by the RFL to relinquish his interest in the club. He would never have let this happen and God only knows what he's make of the CEO that has done a very efficient hatchet job on the club

David Hughes cares little for the £14,000,000 or so he has "lost". He does not accept any form of criticism or critical advice, he employed and then stuck with Powell, he employed the Current CEO with little in the way of formal interviews or background checks, he stands toe to toe with the RFL on a number of issues and essentially treats the club as HIS hobby. Some fans will accept this and to be fair, he is a loving legend for propping the club up, but a 5yr old could tell you that it is not a business model that would deliver any sustainability.

Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:45 pm  

So in order to get Mr K involved in 2015 the club needs,by the end of 2014,to be getting close to 4k or 5k gates with an average admittance price of £40 a month ,and Mr K ,Barnet fc and the Hive have been given the Task?

Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:01 pm  

j.c wrote:

So in order to get Mr K involved in 2015 the club needs,by the end of 2014,to be getting close to 4k or 5k gates with an average admittance price of £40 a month ,and Mr K ,Barnet fc and the Hive have been given the Task?

in a nutshell? Yep!

Re: London Broncos : Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:06 pm  

gutterfax wrote:

in a nutshell? Yep!

A big job on there hands,lets hope the locals buy into it

Re: London Broncos : Fri Dec 20, 2013 3:39 am  

Just to clarify the long term prospects for the London Broncos thanks to the new deal:

1. No club with an average under 10,000 in SL is self sufficient. They ALL make losses.
2. TK (guy at barnet) we are reliably informed does not invest.....he expects his teams to pay their own way
3. The Hive is currently a 5,200 capacity stadium.
4. See points 1 & 3 then re-read point 2.

Feel free to use a calculator if necessary!

Re: London Broncos : Fri Dec 20, 2013 9:05 am  

gutterfax wrote:

Just to clarify the long term prospects for the London Broncos thanks to the new deal:

1. No club with an average under 10,000 in SL is self sufficient. They ALL make losses.
2. TK (guy at barnet) we are reliably informed does not invest.....he expects his teams to pay their own way
3. The Hive is currently a 5,200 capacity stadium.
4. See points 1 & 3 then re-read point 2.

Feel free to use a calculator if necessary!

1 Super League clubs are gifted over £1 milion a year 'Sky' money.

2 Nobody FORCES directors of clubs to pay higher player salaries than they can afford.