oliv272 wrote:Playing at hayden road would be the most pratical idea because I'm guessing that if we had to contribute anymoney it would probably be around 1/20th of the current funning costs at nene park a month, this money exists already in what we have raised. I also think we would actually make at profit on match days as the break even point would be far lower and we would hopefully get around 400 home fans at a match. Then we could set up an online club shop which could generate around £500 a month and have a new radio service, or just update radio diamonds and we could sell advertising blocks on the show for £5 which would appeal to local businesses. All match day staff can be volunteers to help keep the running costs down. Of course the questions regarding this would be:
Can we keep the trust money for this new club? At what level is hayden road up to the standard of hosting games for?
How much would it cost a month to play at Hayden Road?
You never know we could one day after a few promotions and build up of fan support be able to play at Nene park once more.
However I believe we should fight until the end for the Rushden and Diamonds to be playing at Nene park next season.
I've no idea about what hayden road has got in terms of facilities, but this tells us of what is required for each level of the pyramid.
Unlike the Rushden & Diamonds merger the new club decided to play at Hayden Road.
With assistance from the Stadia Improvement fund the old ground was given a bit of an upgrade allowing the new club to play in the United Counties League. Also it is refreshing that an old football ground wasn't lost to a housing or retail development and Hayden Road can still be visited.
That was in 2007, so by the sounds of that I guess we wouldn't be able to go much further than UCL Prem or the Zamaretto Midlands league with it in its current state.
And I agree with your positive thoughts on a new club, I'd be devastated if/when RDFC goes out of business, especially considering we're not even 20 years old yet but clubs like Chester, FC Halifax and AFC Telford have shown that a phoenix club isn't the end of the world and all are in pretty decent positions having all experienced promotions this season and are all experiencing very decent crowds now and with a bit of success, we'd also experience decent crowds as well. The idea of supporting a club that low in a league where most clubs are on average attendances of 50 (apart from maybe St Neots and King's Lynn) is not a nice one personally and Scarborough Athletic perhaps suggests we're not guaranteed successive promotions but it would be better than nothing and this from Chester Fans United's site makes the idea not sound so bad.
But the point is that we can't play at Hayden Road because it's not adequate if we were to start going up the leagues and we can't play at NP because the overheads are astronomical. I can't see where a phoenix club would play?
^^..and because of all that let's try and save the existing club. We can start talking about Phoenix clubs IF the club goes. We're just wasting time debating something that won't happen if we save the current club.
it pains me to say it but do we need to wake up and smell the coffee that if we can't save the club ,the only feesable solution especially ground wise would be down the merger route which i know the hardcore are against but what are the options. also did you see the poll ran in the ET asking should rdfc&ktfc merge and the answer was 100%.don't know who was asked though :?:
smiggy123 wrote:it pains me to say it but do we need to wake up and smell the coffee that if we can't save the club ,the only feesable solution especially ground wise would be down the merger route which i know the hardcore are against but what are the options. also did you see the poll ran in the ET asking should rdfc&ktfc merge and the answer was 100%.don't know who was asked though :?:
100% yes or no?
They say we've lost our money we're not famous anymore.....
smiggy123 wrote:it pains me to say it but do we need to wake up and smell the coffee thatif we can't save the club ,the only feesable solution especially ground wise would be down the merger route which i know the hardcore are against but what are the options. also did you see the poll ran in the ET asking should rdfc&ktfc merge and the answer was 100%.don't know who was asked though :?:
I know I'm sounding like a stuck record but it is still IF, but this is just sidetracking the issue. LET'S FOCUS UPON SAVING THE CURRENT CLUB FIRST.
Screw the poll in the ET, on here the poll was No.
I was always under the impression that Hayden Road was actually owned by the Cricket Club and Rushden Town FC just leased the football ground side of things from the Cricket Club.
This of course may have changed since the merger of RTFC and IDFC and I do recall Neil Gant being involved in offering the facilities to Rushden Rangers who occupied the ground at that time about 6 or 7 years ago, so maybe they did buy the ground and facilities at that or a later point.
In addition it is disrespectful to the current club who play at Hayden Road, Rushden & Higham Utd, to presume we can just move back in there with a phoenix RDFC - what gives us the right to kick them off their own turf?!
Lets just concentrate on saving the club in its current format firstly, there will still be time to sort out the worst case scenario if it comes to that.
“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” ― Groucho Marx
What the poll was 100% in favour, who the hell did they ask?! On here it was pretty much a resounding no and the question got the same response on poppynet :?
And while I agree its vital we stick to trying to save the current club, I don't think there's any harm in looking into what to do in the worst case scenario as well as to me that seems like a very real possibility at the moment, obviously I hope I'm wrong.
I echo the sentiments on this thread. Although reaching the stated financial target was always going to be a long shot, the continuing efforts of so many Diamonds fans, in so many ways might just be the spark that encourages an investor to back us to stay in the Conference next season, knowing that even though there will still be serious challenges, there is a core fanbase that is willing to take on that challenge.
