STAND TOGETHER!

Thank you for Standing Together with us. As a result of our Stand Together campaign we can advise you that we have so far raised in excess of £8976.00. This is made up from fans buying virtual game packages, sales of shares and donations. We are also seeing a small but increasing number of lottery participants.

To all of you who have contributed so far, Thank You, you are the best !

Target

Our minimum target for fundraising is £50,000. Of this figure £25,000 will be provided from government grants, so we are concentrating all our efforts on raising a further £25,000 from our fundraising activity. This figure will hopefully enable us to weather the immediate financial storm as the world battles against the virus. One of our major aims is to be as transparent and clear about our goals and objectives as possible and leave no one under any illusion about our predicament, which is no different from clubs all over the country.

We communicated to principle shareholders one week ago that following a poor season our finances were not in a good place. Whilst Covid-19 certainly has the ability to bring us to our knees we believe that early intervention and a call for help has already given us some traction to move forward. Our fund raising is vital but will only go some way in impacting our viability in the medium term. We are looking at and actioning our financial position on a daily basis concentrating on minimising the impact of our creditors and pushing forward the administration of schemes and grants, which we will be entitled to.

One of the challenges is the impact on cash flow and trying to determine when these funds will come on stream and its impact on requirements. We also need you to be aware that as stated above the football club was in a difficult position and has been for some time. Whilst the positive actions we have taken are definitely having an impact, we have to be aware that at some time in the future we will need to fund the start of a new season which is why we have to be realistic about action we take now and not give ourselves an insurmountable problem in the future. We are obviously looking at advance season ticket sales but there is no benefit at the moment from taking future income today that we will need to launch our new season although we are actively looking at this.

Your help is now really important and if you can in any way add to our fundraising activity please do so now. We have all seen why Stafford Rangers is ‘more than just a football club, it is part of our community. We also want to take this opportunity to thank the Social Club Committee for their £2,000 donation which forms a substantial part of the funds raised already. If any of you have any contribution you wish to suggest to the SRFC War Council dealing with all of the above please e mail any or all of us below. Alternatively, click here and complete our simple form.

Please Stay Safe and Stand Together – We wish you and your family and friends a safe weekend.

Yours sincerely,
The SRFC War Council

Paul Griffiths, Sally-anne Ashby, John Macmillan, David Montgomery and Alan Gee.

paul.griffiths@staffordrangersfc.co.uk
alangee1@sky.com
john.macmillan@staffordrangersfc.co.uk
david.montgomery@ggcltd.com
sally-anne@staffordrangersfc.co.uk

We have had confirmation from the FA and League that the 2019/20 season has come to an end and all records will be expunged, meaning no relegation or promotion at levels 3 to 6.
This obviously means we are saved to continue at level 3 but the fight to keep our club alive continues. We still have to operate, meet committed costs and also look forward, so we can hit the ground running when business resumes.
We thank all of our supporters for the interest and backing so far and we will continue to update you on our situation while promoting our Stand Together campaign.

If you haven’t yet donated and would like to donate to our Stand Together campaign click Here

You can donate an amount that suits you!

For those that have expressed an interest in becoming a shareholder please click the link here of a letter that was sent to existing shareholders.

Stay Safe, Stay at Home

And again thank you to those key workers out there working hard in our community.

Up the Boro!

Stand Together – Game On!

Virtual Match Packages

With the loss of match day income and cancellation of bookings in the Social Club we find ourselves in a fight to cover the costs of running the football club until we are all back shouting for the team once more. We have launched a virtual match day package where fans can purchase virtual tickets, programmes, food etc. knowing that you are helping your club- Your support has never been more needed.

We have 3 matches to play in April and if you would like virtual tickets for all games simply increase your purchase at checkout. Why not have your usual pint and a burger & chips as well. Please support us with what you can afford during this difficult time and we hope to see you all at the Marston Road soon . If you help us by buying 3 virtual match tickets we will give you entrance to the first 2 home games of next season with no charge.

Up the boro!

Would you like to simply donate to the Stand Together cause? No problem. Simply select the Donate button and enter the amount you would like to donate.

A big thank you to our existing shareholders who have already bought or have pledged to buy more shares and to the fans who have asked how to become a shareholder. This is in response to the letter sent to principal shareholders on Friday which you can access here.

Also, a very big thank you to our fantastic players who have agreed that their contracts can be held in suspense until football resumes. We have had a wonderfully supportive message from Lewis King which you can access here.

The club has a business continuity plan in place to ensure we can hit the ground running when the crisis is over. Key volunteers and staff are working from home to keep all aspects of the club ticking over.

The main elements of the plan are:

• agreeing repayment holidays with our bank, HMRC and principal creditors – well advanced and successful
• grant application made to the FA via the NPL to cover all revenue lost as a result of the suspension of the season, players wages etc
• accessing the governments £25k small business grant as soon as the details are publicised
• accessing the 80% of wages assistance announced by the government on Friday as soon as the mechanism is in place
• claiming under our business interruption insurance for loss of income
• setting up a Stand Together webpage – a virtual match day experience so that fans can make small donations equivalent to the amount they would have spent at a home game. Full details will be on the website within the next 24 hours
• NOT taking on any more loans

We will keep our loyal fans updated at regular intervals but please understand that there is still a huge amount which is unknown about how many of the grants which have been announced will work in practice and whether anyone’s insurance covers losses caused by a new and unknown virus. As soon as we know the answers to these questions you will know.

Stay safe – up the Boro

Like every business in the world SRFC has been hit and impacted by the unprecedented circumstance of Covid- 19.

We are now fighting to keep our club afloat and need to very much Stand Together.

It will continue to be as hard a fight as we have ever had, but we are determined to make sure the Football Club comes through, it is part of our community.

The responsibility we all have to minimise the outbreak through social distancing results in huge problems as there will be NO Football and extremely limited Social Club income.
We cannot operate any aspect of our revenue stream at all and until further notice the club will wherever possible remain largely unstaffed and closed to the public. There will be aspects of the club where we need to carry out maintenance or actions that will need some members of the staff in attendance but will do this in a clinical and organised manner.

Our objectives are clear: –

1. To safeguard the Football Club from extinction from the unprecedented challenges we all face.
2. To protect our employees as far as we can in both an economic sense and in respect of our duty of care. We will need them in the future, and we owe them.
3. To minimise disruption
4. To abide by the government guidelines of social distancing & Prevent the spread of Covid19.
5. To communicate our position to fans in a clear manner on a regular basis

 So, what are we going to do?

 Like every business we will seek to contact our creditors large and small to see if we can reduce overheads and expenses as much as possible. We will explore all opportunities through either government departments, our bank and the league to access whatever assistance is possible. As you are all aware football clubs like ours never have spare monies and the business is reliant on cash flow to survive. We don’t have the comfort of sitting on several months cash flow so we need to take the above action quickly and look at other options available to us and this is where you can help and we will very soon launch an initiative called Stand Together, more details will follow

We send our best wishes out to each one of you and your families and applaud our efforts as a community pulling together to see us all through. We urge everyone to follow the government guidelines to keep the elderly and vulnerable in our community safe and well.

To our heros and heroines in the community keeping the NHS going thank you for your hard work and dedication – we are safe in your hands and will be providing any NHS Nurse who wants one a free season ticket when the 20/21 Season restarts.

To those that are self-isolating please reach out to your community and ask for help if you need it. You can contact us and if we can help or direct you towards help, we will do our absolute best.

There has never been a more important time to ‘Stand Together’ and be ‘More Than Just a Football Club’

From Our team to all our loyal fans, sponsors, officials, volunteers, players and staff.

Thank you

Please note we will continue to take bookings for later in the year and next year. If you need to contact us regarding an existing booking or to make a new booking:

Please email sally-anne@staffordrangersfc.co.uk  Or call 07563390457