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Written by Margaret Nixon

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A number of fans have been raising questions on the messageboard regarding the situation at the Club. At the meeting at the Victoria Stadium on Thursday, Jim went through a number of points raised under the 'Invitation to JR' thread. A summary of his comments is given below, along with some other points raised on the night.

Communication from the Club: -
Jim has indicated that he will not be responding to anonymous posts on the Internet. He is, however, more than willing to talk to any fan about the Club. It doesn't seem unreasonable that he wants to know who he is speaking to, before explaining his plans, the financial situation etc. He seems to genuinely be open to communicating with fans, but just not through the forum.

He also commented that given the amount of time he is spending in running the Club, he doesn't get time to issue regular statements. I got agreement to pass on the feedback, but in light of the comments above have left it at a fairly general level.  The trust also has an open invitation to contact the Club for news to go into the DV newsletter each week.

The Status of the CVA
The CVA has been accepted, but now needs to be ratified by the FA and the Conference. It is currently going through this process, but as we know from the news, there are a number of other clubs in the same position and maybe Vics isn't the highest priority!! At this point, there isn't any reason to be concerned, we are in the hands of the FA and Conference.

Will the Club be affected by the Conference rules regarding repaying all debts?
Nothing official has been received by the Club, so there is nothing on which to comment or act.

What is the financial postion?
The situation is such that the playing budget has had to be reduced, and this has meant that the remaining five full time players have had to be put up to leave the Club. The rest of the players are part-time.  There has been criticism regarding the fact that we appear to have turned down good money for some of these players , one or two months ago, only to allow them to leave now. The loss of games and reducing gates means that the revised budget can no longer support them.  

What is happening with the ground and Northwich Victoria Developments?
The  plan is still for Northwich Victoria Developments to own the ground. Tenants such as the Club, the Carvery etc will pay rent (to pay off the mortgage) and the remainiing income will go to the Club.

Why isn't there a Commercial Manager?
The budget will not support the wages of a Commercial Manager, and the return is likely to take a while to be seen. Jim is doing the marketing etc at the moment. This includes a full page advert in the Guardian, for the Valentine's night meal /show, and the regular carvery and steak and band nights. There are links with the Colleges in relation to the band nights on a Friday and the Bongo Eddie event has been publicised on Cheshire FM. There are also flyers available to download from the Club website and adverts shown on the TV screens in the bars at the ground. The Club has launched a text message service to keep fans in formed of coming events (plus news such as called off matches). Two events already being publicised are Mothering Sunday lunch on 14th March and Easter Sunday Lunch on 4th April.

The Band nights on a Friday have been slow to take off, it was suggested that a Saturday night would be a better night, but a) the fees go up for playing on a Saturday and b) it is difficult for the bands to set up on a match day.

There are no specific initiatives in place to increase the gates. Options are discussed, but need to be thought through and considered properly, rather than a knee jerk reaction that doesn't deliver results. Jim explained a number of intiiatives that have been tried, but some have not been effective.

Who gets the money from bars, carvery etc?
All money goes to the Club.

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