Hilton U-turn

[Sanfran49]

A U-turn would not have been needed if proper discussions had been held.

It is obvious nothing had been discussed with any coaches in the academy before the ‘it will be scrapped’ statement was made. How do we know this – well that morning the U15s were away at Bradford and a parent said the coaches actually received messages from friends about what had been said ! They had not got a clue !!

That was wrong, then you find out that to shut it down was actually going to cost a fair amount of money. That would have been known if the correct people had been talked to.

Now we need to see what the financial plan is to fund the academy moving forward.

So for me the jury is out on Mr Hilton.

[Bartoniron66]

It’s brilliant for all concerned that the academy has been saved including myself as an employee of it, but it doesn’t change the fact that the facilities are not fit for purpose and still needs major investment.

As it has been said the kit is second rate, the pitches are terrible and the office is very dated, the staff put in so much hard work for the young lads and must feel embarrassed at the facilities they are given.

So the hard work must start again and hope we can get some money through sponsorship as well as the EFL and Mr Hilton’s, so if any businesses are reading please, please try and help these talented staff and young players.

[Iron-awe]

You would have thought the commercial side of the club would be drumming up financial support from local business regarding the academy, I mean it’s not rocket science for them to be doing their job in all aspects to help the entire club run better and be better funded surely 🙅

[ironfromafar]

Sanfran49 wrote:

A U-turn would not have been needed if proper discussions had been held.

It is obvious nothing had been discussed with any coaches in the academy before the ‘it will be scrapped’ statement was made. How do we know this – well that morning the U15s were away at Bradford and a parent said the coaches actually received messages from friends about what had been said ! They had not got a clue !!

That was wrong, then you find out that to shut it down was actually going to cost a fair amount of money. That would have been known if the correct people had been talked to.

Now we need to see what the financial plan is to fund the academy moving forward.

So for me the jury is out on Mr Hilton.

That does shed a bit more light on the issue for sure and 100% the details of a financial plan need to be available to see where any sponsorship funds would go.

Bartoniron66 wrote:

It’s brilliant for all concerned that the academy has been saved including myself as an employee of it, but it doesn’t change the fact that the facilities are not fit for purpose and still needs major investment.

As it has been said the kit is second rate, the pitches are terrible and the office is very dated, the staff put in so much hard work for the young lads and must feel embarrassed at the facilities they are given.

So the hard work must start again and hope we can get some money through sponsorship as well as the EFL and Mr Hilton’s, so if any businesses are reading please, please try and help these talented staff and young players.

Precisely the reason why the plan needs to be aired .. first mention of sub standard facilities as before the closing of the academy was down to cost cutting and its past failures to see any returns via sell on clauses.
Sponsoring an up n running academy is one thing but knowing where any funds will be used is obviously very important , sounds to me like a total revamp required as well as day to day costs and expenses.

Iron-awe wrote:

You would have thought the commercial side of the club would be drumming up financial support from local business regarding the academy, I mean it’s not rocket science for them to be doing their job in all aspects to help the entire club run better and be better funded surely

Agreed .. the club seem to have plenty of sponsors for match day games balls etc etc i would hope the clubs commercial department have / should have been approaching as many local businesses and any other possible routes of income in the way of sponsorship for the academy.

IMO .. The issues with GP ownership and the grey areas need clearing up after which more businesses and /or individuals may wish to assist, when confirmed the bad Swan smell has finally gone and he is finally history.

[cassidystash]

The Crowdfunding initiative seems to have gone quiet, as I said before, I emailed to get an idea of how the funds would be utilised before committing. An unsatisfactory reply was received so I didn’t bother. I don’t have a spare £1899 but if the Crowdfunding was guaranteed to be ring fenced for the academy I’d be happy to contribute and it might possibly encourage others too.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Cliff Byrne's Right Peg, Just Iron

[Bartoniron66]

You only need to look through the fence at St Lawrence academy home of the academy to see the dire state of the pitches, yes they are not a club asset but they should be maintained to a certain standard to allow the coaches and players to play the game properly

[Deereyme66]

Just a note on commercial sponsorship as I’ve many years experience in this field: don’t know how it works in football but for other cultural organisations I’ve worked for, an agreement/contract is made between sponsor and organisation to deliver benefits based on sponsor publicity/logos/naming etc. Producing a business plan to show how and what the funds will be spent on isn’t necessary (only in the selling part to let the sponsor know what sort of things they’ll be helping to achieve). Effectively, this means the receiving organisation can spend those funds on whatever they like. So long as the sponsors benefits are delivered according to the contract, that’s all that matters. Different matter for grants, when the funds are ring-fenced against delivering programme activity. Hope that makes sense.

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Iron-awe, cassidystash

[Awaywego]

Stop trying to spoil them BI.

[Iron-awe]

Get the point DM but that doesn’t mean the situation you describe has to be set in stone surely when regarding sponsorship. A strategy for academy funding with all points itemized what the sponsorship money will go on regarding the academy could be drawn up between club and sponsor any deviation from the plan by the club should see them fined and the money plus the original amount agreed put into the academy funding package. It can be done if the clubs the EFL and FA get their respective fingers out for once and do the right thing. It’s the games future we are discussing not how other parts of a football club is funded and anyway all clubs should strive for a sustainable plan to be viable.

[cassidystash]

I’m retired and don’t need any advertising, I don’t want to ‘sponsor’, I’d just like to donate to a good cause and be sure that’s where it would be going.

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Deereyme66

[Iron-awe]

You just need a correctly worded statement agreed by the people running the game then Cass to give you that confidence, it’s always the finer points of detail that screw people over when it should be straightforward if done in the correct way.

[Deereyme66]

Point I’m making was more in reference to a few posts I’ve seen mentioning a business plan in relation to sponsorship. I’m merely saying it’s not normally required for sponsorship agreements, though of course something like that, a plan or strategy would be needed for grant applications. Also had in mind some previous public questioning (not on here) about what happened to the Fewster(?) Sponsorship funds raised and what happened to them with him leaving early? I would imagine the club can spend the funds how they like as long as the sponsor gets what they expect when they sponsored? Don’t know what the agreement was with sponsors so couldn’t comment. That’ll be down to the club and sponsor. Legalities and expectations are distinct things.

[Anonymous]

“To me, to you”

Why were they only directors for 6 days in October 2020? Is that when they went after Bury FC?

24 Jan 2023 Termination of appointment of David Hilton as a director on 24 January 2023.

24 Jan 2023 Appointment of Mr Andrew Patrick Nally as a director on 24 January 2023.

04 Nov 2021 Termination of appointment of Mark Robert Clifford as a director on 3 November 2021.

20 May 2021 Appointment of Mr David Hilton as a director on 19 May 2021.

07 Oct 2020 Termination of appointment of Andrew Patrick Nally as a director on 7 October 2020.

07 Oct 2020 Termination of appointment of David Hilton as a director on 7 October 2020.

03 Oct 2020 Appointment of Mr David Hilton as a director on 1 October 2020.

03 Oct 2020 Appointment of Mr Andrew Patrick Nally as a director on 1 October 2020.

04 Nov 2019 Appointment of Mr Mark Robert Clifford as a director on 16 October 2019.

[Anonymous]

Bartoniron66 wrote:

You only need to look through the fence at St Lawrence academy home of the academy to see the dire state of the pitches, yes they are not a club asset but they should be maintained to a certain standard to allow the coaches and players to play the game properly

Premier / EFL Youth Development Rules state that the EFL funding should go in to a separate Academy Account at all Clubs.
Do you think SUFC had a separate bank account for the academy at any time?
Or, did it just all go in to the one pot?
Auditors will know!
But, they don’t rock the boat.
Jobs for the boys!

[Author]

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