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Forum lays bare Hornets' debt

Richard Partington
30/ 7/2008

THE full extent of Rochdale Hornets’ debts was revealed at a Rochdale AFC fans forum on Monday evening.

Dale chief executive Colin Garlick – who also acts as secretary for the Stadium Company at Spotland – said while the football club was up to date with rent payments, Hornets owed £28,200, the equivalent of 12 home games.

Mr Garlick felt compelled to set the record straight after what he described as "bad press" in the Observer when we revealed how a pre-match tournament for youngsters at Spotland earlier this month was cancelled for fear of damaging repair work on the playing surface.

He said it was a farce that, despite Hornets’ failure to pay rent, they still had equal voting rights and decision making at Spotland required the football club, the rugby club and the Stadium Company to reach a 75 per cent agreement.

As Dale are virtually running and financing the stadium single-handed, Mr Garlick felt the Observer’s coverage of the youngsters’ tournament unfair. In order for the pitch repairs to take place this summer, Dale had loaned £10,000 to the Stadium Company while an additional loan from one of the football club’s directors has been deferred.

Mr Garlick insisted there had been no injunction served upon Hornets in relation to the youngsters’ tournament and that a letter reminding Hornets of their obligation to look after the state of the pitch had been sent only when verbal communications failed to get an adequate response. In addition, the Stadium Company had offered to send out letters of explanations to all the schools affected by the decision.

Mr Garlick added that Dale and Hornets were in dialogue with the council over the rugby club’s debts.

"The decision over whether Rochdale Hornets can afford to stay at Spotland under the present conditions remains firmly with their board," said Mr Garlick.

Graham Rawlinson spoke at length about Dale’s outgoings, suggesting the current playing budget is the biggest in the club’s history, though during Steve Parkin’s first period in charge, Rochdale splashed out £100,000 on Clive Platt and £150,000 on Paul Connor. Bearing in mind this money was spent at the turn of the century and allowing for inflation over the past six or seven years, some might argue Parkin had the larger playing budget.

Mr Rawlinson touched on the fact attendances had grown from 2,808 in 2006 to 3,065 last season, an increase of just 257 fans per game in Dale’s successful centenary year. Plans are in place to utilise Ticketmaster’s database of 16,000 supporters who made the trip to Wembley in support of Hill’s men while the increase in admission prices – only the second in five years – was deemed important to the future of the club.

He also spoke of increases relating to VAT on transfers and turnover – £1.7m excluding VAT in 2006, £2.6m in total last season.

On the commercial side, take up of league match sponsorship is up, the club shop took more than £250,000 last season while the main sponsors remain "personally and financially committed."

Mr Rawlinson finished off by saying achieving off-the-field success must be done the right way and that he had no sympathy for the likes of Luton Town and Leeds United who had broken the rules but lost the gamble.

Chris Beech talked of the healthy state of the club’s youth development and plans for Tony Ellis to overhaul the Centre of Excellence while David Flitcroft’s presentation, entitled Continued Progression, highlighted where Dale stand in terms of the seven-year plan drawn up by the management team.

The search for training facilities continues and a top-rated complex is essential if the players are to achieve and maintain the levels of fitness acquired on their pre-season trips to Spain in the last two years.

Flitcroft calculated the cost of injuries to the club last season at around £165,000, with wages spent on sidelined players and loan signings. To that end, money has been invested in new strategies such as a deep water running facility – which proved so useful in Chris Dagnall’s recovery last year. The cost of these facilities would hopefully bring down that £165,000 payout in the forthcoming season.

Of the layering system Hill and Flitcroft have been so keen to introduce, work continues. While top players such as David Perkins and Glenn Murray will always be subject of interest from bigger and richer clubs, Dale’s intention is to have ready-made replacements within their own ranks.

"We’re not there yet," said Flitcroft, "for we didn’t have a Glenn Murray ready to step in when Glenn left for Brighton."

On a similar note, director Andrew Kelly said the situation 12 months ago when Matthew Gilks and Alan Goodall walked away from the club for nothing would never happen again. Revising the contracts of players currently at the club will amount to a lay-out of £95,000.

With transport costs rising by around 20 per cent and a police bill rising from £33,000 to £48,000, outgoings will continue to rise. Nevertheless, Mr Kelly insisted the board remain as committed as ever to achieving Championship status by 2013.

THE Observer offered Rochdale Hornets the opportunity to comment on the revelations at the Rochdale AFC fans forum. Hornets have requested more time to consider the comments and will respond in due course.