The threat of Coronavirus to ECFC

[Spoonz Red E]

Great point SB.

This would be unworkable. Especially at half time. Absolutely no chance of regulating fans going in and out of the toilets. All in all it points to things either being back to normal or no point in starting the season really IMO. There are just too many hurdles to be overcome.

Not unworkable but granted it will be difficult.
Distance markers for the queue.
Dividers on the trough.
Steward to maintain one in one out to a maximum number..

 

[DB9]

Not unworkable but granted it will be difficult.
Distance markers for the queue.
Dividers on the trough.
Steward to maintain one in one out to a maximum number..

Agreed, Also think about the amount you drink, Booze or non-booze. In shops they are restricting the amount of people let in and it's working so far, I'd imagine if people have possible problems with regards to that area I'd like to think the club will take that into account, Also disable loos, That shouldn't change much as I guess there is a protocol for that already. In the end I'm sure the club will know all the challenges ahead of opening the ground to fans and are probably working on them as we speak.

 

[Legohead]

Not unworkable but granted it will be difficult.
Distance markers for the queue.
Dividers on the trough.
Steward to maintain one in one out to a maximum number..

This would take ages. Far more than the 15 minutes for half time I would suspect but I can't rule it out that it would be doable. What about coming in through the turnstiles then? How would that work with distancing? That would take forever also.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

It's a tricky one for sure but I can't see us going straight to normal capacity or remaining empty indefinitely.
The tradeoff will be smaller queues with smaller crowds.
I can foresee turnstiles becoming open gates as a temporary measure and it may well be that a big proportion of the crowd will be season ticket holders so less pay on the day.

The process will probably be waiting for the Govt and EFL to give guidance on operating procedures.
The Club can then make proposals to enable crowds at games.
Then there will likely be a new health assessment/safety certificate mechanism before we're clear to proceed.

 

[ryancooper327]

Not us but down the road have released this:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1280917904083558400

 

[DB9]

Not us but down the road have released this:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1280917904083558400

When a company uses the term "organisational restructure" it normally means there are job losses coming

 

[Nigel E]

Presumably, the Club will do quite well out of this £1,000 furlough bonus.

£1,000 bonus 'may not be enough to protect jobs'

Employers and unions say more needs to be done to support firms and protect employment.

www.bbc.co.uk

Not that I'm complaining, but would have thought it's a bit of a waste of taxpayer money. All our players and I guess most of the staff are on fixed-term contracts and it's not like the Club has a choice other than to bring them back from furlough.

 

[Snoop Fog]

I had heard that debt was spiralling big time down the road, as it will be with many clubs, hopefully my prediction of them coming straight back down will be aided by their lack of funds!

We may have only had a couple of million in the bank, which in football terms is relatively small, but it will certainly help us through this difficult period, and hopefully without the need of an organisational restructure.

I'm still confident that, despite the recent disappointment of play off loss, we will come out of this pandemic better than most lower league clubs and can take advantage of this situation to benefit our league position.

 

[Rosencrantz]

I had heard that debt was spiralling big time down the road, as it will be with many clubs, hopefully my prediction of them coming straight back down will be aided by their lack of funds!

We may have only had a couple of million in the bank, which in football terms is relatively small, but it will certainly help us through this difficult period, and hopefully without the need of an organisational restructure.

I'm still confident that, despite the recent disappointment of play off loss, we will come out of this pandemic better than most lower league clubs and can take advantage of this situation to benefit our league position.

That's the difference between us and other clubs though and it's not straight forward that we will be ok in comparison. What we have in the bank is it. We have no overdraft, we effectively cannot go into debt. Whilst this can be generally seen as a good thing, until we start getting back to normal revenue streams, we have to string that money out as much as possible.

Staying competitive and keeping cash in the bank is going to be a very fine line to keep on, the longer it goes. Other clubs with more traditional ownership can borrow or run up debts for a while as long as it is covered by their owners. Not many in L2 would have much cash in the bank I suspect. Some like Mansfield, Salford and possibly FGR can possibly just carry on more or less as normal.

The only advantage we might have is that we can slash our budget as much as possible and still have currently 26 professionals on our books although many are untried. This isn't doom and gloom and if the youngsters settle quickly and show what we have seen in the u23's and FLT it could be an good thing. It's just going to be very uncertain.

 

[Nigel E]

Staying competitive and keeping cash in the bank is going to be a very fine line to keep on, the longer it goes. Other clubs with more traditional ownership can borrow or run up debts for a while as long as it is covered by their owners. Not many in L2 would have much cash in the bank I suspect. Some like Mansfield, Salford and possibly FGR can possibly just carry on more or less as normal.

I'm still confident that, despite the recent disappointment of play off loss, we will come out of this pandemic better than most lower league clubs and can take advantage of this situation to benefit our league position.

The bit in bold above is the key. It's often the case that clubs go under when the fortunes of the owner's main business are sunk, rather than the club's finances on their own. Wider economic uncertainty may be the nail in the coffin for some football clubs - and it may not always be the clubs that are that much indebted themselves.

I'm not sure it's necessarily the case that we can't borrow money - more that the accounts already show us owing the thick end of £1M to the Trust. From memory the assets of the company are not much more than that. In absolutely dire straits the Trust could write that off, and there may be scope for some bank support then.

Generally in crisis situations "cash is king" which is why people who are already loaded do quite well out of financial crises.