December started with a Midland Football League Cup game against MFL Premier leaders Lichfield City, and despite the disappointment of losing on penalties, an amazing attendance of 241 saw us add £791 to the “Back to Nuneaton” fund. 279 hardly soles braved the storm for the Chelmsley Town game at The Oval on the 7th, unsurprisingly our lowest Saturday attendance of the season, before three away wins on the bounce saw Town cement a lead at the top of MFL Division 1. These games were all very well attended by Town fans, especially the game against our friends at Nuneaton Griff. The 1,183 that attended the Boxing Day game, the highest attendance this season anywhere in the country at our level, not only shows the interest in football in Nuneaton, but also gave a deserved boost to the coffers of Nuneaton Griff FC. To finish off the month, another fantastic attendance of 506 attended the Lutterworth Town game, again braving cold and misty conditions.

The average league attendance across the three league home games was 392, down from 460 in November, but this still allowed us to ringfence £3,008 for the “Back to Nuneaton” fund. A further £1,100 from donations (more on this later) and, of course, the proceeds from the Lichfield game was also added to the funds.

Due to only having two league home games, plus the Cup game, we were expecting a £800 loss for the month. However, continued strong attendances, strong merchandise sales and supporter fundraising meant the club were able to turn a small profit of £55 for the month. Profit season to date remains around the £42,600 mark.

In terms of expenditure, we incurred £9,200 in direct costs during December, which covered:

Four playing weeks players and coaches’ remuneration.
Matchday ground hire
Training facility hire
Physio fees and equipment costs
Matchday security and safety costs
Matchday Officials fees and expenses
Post-match catering costs (required to be provided be the league)
Merchandise cost of sales
Programme printing and matchday fundraising ticket costs.

We also incurred administrative expenses of £102, which include items such as:

Website hosting costs
The subscription to the club’s finance system (Xero)
Payroll processing costs
Printing and stationary costs
Transaction fees charged by payment platforms (Sum-up & Stripe)

Another positive development in the month is that we no longer requite donations from Nuneaton Town Supporters Co-operative to cover basic off-the-field operating costs, meaning the club has proved itself fully self-sufficient operationally. The Nuneaton Town Supporters Co-operative have therefore decided that any funding for the foreseeable future, including the monthly proceeds from the 200 Club, must be ringfenced for the “Back to Nuneaton” fund. £1,000 was received during December for this purpose.

What to expect in January

January promises three league home games and a home cup semi-final and coupled with another four-week months in terms of playing costs, we should see a reasonable trading profit for the month, hopefully above £2,000. This will be bolstered by the proceeds of the Nuneaton Town Supporters Co-operative’s Christmas raffle, which will also be donated to the “Back to Nuneaton” fund.

It’s also possible we could see the first expenditure relating to the “Back to Nuneaton” fund. If this occurs, it will be recorded as non-trading expenditure, again more on this later.

Back to Nuneaton update

During December, we were able to add a fantastic £4,988 to the fund, making a total of £25,320 raised so far – hitting our initial goal!

Now that we have reached that milestone, we are able to start the next phase of the project, which includes feasibility studies on potential sites.

Once this is complete, we will have a clear indication of the overall funds required and will be able to set the overall target. In the meantime, we will continue to ring-fence funds from surpluses generated by attendances and direct donations, so we will be able to hit the ground running with the new target.

We will soon be announcing a date for an open fans forum, to take place before the end of the season, where we will be able to provide an update on progress.

Even though have met this first milestone, it’s more important than ever that we continue to grow the fund. The best way to do this is attending home games, so please do continue show your support at The Oval. If you haven’t attended a game yet, please consider doing so.

As stated above, we have surplus (profit) to date of £42,649. I will now start to report this figure broke down into two pots:

Restricted Surplus: This is the £25,320 has been ringfenced for “Back to Nuneaton”. Ringfencing means this amount of money is “restricted” and can only be used for the purposes of getting the club back into the town.
Unrestricted Surplus: The remaining £17,329 of the total profit to date that is not committed to the “Back to Nuneaton” fund is “unrestricted”. This means that it can be used as the club sees fit – though for the remainder of the season it’s likely this “unrestricted surplus” will not be spent and, hopefully, even grow. At the end of the season, this money will become a “reserve” to be re-invested in the club at a later date. It’s worth reiterating that, as the club is a “Community Interest Company” (CIC) all surpluses must be re-invested back into the club. This is a legal requirement that all custodians of the club must adhere to both now and in the future, and is policed by a Government Watchdog, the CIC Regulator. This also extends to any club assets.

Some of this unrestricted reserve could be allocated to top up “Back to Nuneaton”, but prudence dictates that some should be held back to in case we have any unforeseen challenges. After all, setting money aside for rainy day is all part of sound financial governance!

For the purposes of transparency. once we start spending the “Restricted” profit on the “Back to Nuneaton” project, I will also provide breakdown of the total monies ringfenced to date, the total money spent and the amount of fund remaining.

How can I help?

There are several ways that fans and local businesses can help support the club:

Support the club by attending games and encouraging others to do so!
While at games, please consider purchasing a 50/50 draw or Golden Goal ticket.
Join the NTSC 200 club. This is a great way of supporting the club financially, whilst give you the chance to win monthly cash prizes. This now contributes to the “Back to Nuneaton” fund. You can take part in the 200 Club online by clicking this link: Join the 200 Club
Join the Nuneaton Town Supporters Co-operative. Not only will you be helping the Co-op fulfil its duty as part owner of the club, but you will also be able to hold the Co-op board members and club officials appointed by the Co-op to account (including me). Look out for further information about the new season membership drive and further information on how you can get involved in both the Co-op and the club. You can join the Co-op online by linking this link: Join the Nuneaton Town Supporters Co-operative.
If you are a local business and would like to become a sponsor, reach out to commercial@nuneatontownfc.co.uk to discuss taking one of our great packages.