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Guardian Barton Stadium to continue as home to 1874 Northwich

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Northwich Guardian |

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1874 NORTHWICH will share Winsford United’s Barton Stadium home for another season after the club’s board voted unanimously in favour of an option to stay.

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Must admit very disappointed with this decision and surprised little discussion on the forums re ground choice - conscious options must be limited :(
 
Do you have a p&l case to support this view vis a vis other alternatives - nobody is suggesting a "forum pole" but simply surprised at the lack of discussion on what is an important issue
 
GM, there was prolonged discussion of this (with 127 replies) in the thread
http://1874forum.co.uk/threads/jrfc-potential-ground-share-rumour-speculation-hearsay.1551/
in the middle of last month.

The forum can only represent the view of the individuals motivated enough to post on the forum. I think it was also touched on in the recent supporters' survey. Again, just a snapshot of opinion. I believe there was an opportunity to discuss it at the AGM as well - though I wasn't there, the minutes on this item are quite lengthy. I am not sure what other discussion avenues could have been explored.

In the end we elect the Board to make strategic decisions on our behalf, and trust them to weigh up all the options. I agree that there are positives and negatives to whichever decision is taken, but personally think that at this stage of our existence a move to eg WP would if anything mitigate against the long-term aim of finding a place of our own. We need a much more secure financial footing first. And coupled with the need to have an agreement in place to satisfy the authorities, they were probably left with little realistic option. Just my opinion.
 
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I have thought about this a lot . At first I thought we had maybe missed a trick by not negotiating with our neighbours in Wincham, but on reflection I am coming to the conclusion that our guys on the board have made the right decision.
Pros -
1. A hell of a lot cheaper, will allow a quicker build up of our "nest egg".
2. Easy to get to - quicker to get to actually for most people who live in the Northwich conurbation than WP, ie Davenham, Moulton, Weaverham, Sandiway, Davenham, Leftwich and Hartford on a Saturday.
3. Free parking!
Cons -
1. Not a great surface to play on. (We can help with this)
2. Facilities/ floodlights are getting a bit "tired" (again, we can help)
3. Not in Northwich (see point 2 in pros above)

The main concern for a fair few fans, I think, is the prospective return of the old club and whether they will get any support from old fans who have not come to us for whatever reason. We need, imo, to be more proactive in how we publicise our club as the better alternative to those who maybe still don't know the recent history or are recent residents looking to adopt a local club.
 
AM I duly stand corrected !!

Chubbs thank you for the input - my concern is that if we do not go to Wincham then where will we go, nest egg development or not gaining the capital investment for a "new" ground is likely to be material in the extreme and could take many years to raise.
 
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Indeed it will. Took Linnets six or seven years and even a club like Fcum are still not in theirs yet. We need patience.
 
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I wonder if there needs to be a new publicity drive in mid-Cheshire? One comment in the survey was a fan quoting someone he knew "Why have Northwich Vics changed their name?" If there is that level of ignorance IN THE TOWN then we need to be getting a different message out. I talk to football fans in our area (not that far away) who have heard of Vics but not 74.
Whilst I understand the view that we ignore anything Vics I can't say I agree with it. Guardian excepted the press and local radio look for a different angle on things and how 74 was born out of Vics is such an angle as most phoenix clubs rise from the ashes of financially doomed clubs - very few grow out of the disillusionment and shame that was Vics.
It's not reopening old wars to use Vics for our own ends it's common sense publicity. We can still be 'nice' whilst being more assertive in getting our name and community aims and OUR history in the faces of local people.
 
GM - wasn't trying to 'correct' you ;) - you could easily have missed or avoided a thread in 'Other Footy' with JRFC in the title.

Agreed, own ground is currently but a distant vision, but I can't see how sharing at WP will bring it any closer. We need to work on all the other avenues of funding which may or may not be available, as well as working on the various relevant bodies locally/nationally. But I expect the Board to be engaged on this already. I'd be disappointed if not.

As for the seemingly impending return of the wandering Flixtonians, I can't see that having an impact on our established fanbase, but I agree that we could probably be more proactive in getting out there and 'educating' the locals. I think a lot of the commercial sector has probably got it by now, but for the casual observer, the man in the street, the one with the kids we'd like to attract to games, the distinction is not so easy to see. Not that I have any easy answers from afar as to how we should approach that one - other than trying to resurrect any involvement in any community activities, projects, initiatives, etc and somehow getting out there and demonstrating support for the community in various parts of the town. Trouble is, that can be quite time-consuming.

There still seems to be a bit of unrest on the WA forum about the prospect of a ground share, but I reckon they'll go with it on a pay-upfront basis and not worry about where the cash is coming from. £20k + for a year on gates under 100 - easy economics, that one. Get JR, DN and CB into Parliament, they'll get rid of the National Debt in a matter of weeks without any spending cuts.
 
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The right decision was made to stay at Winsford just look at the gates.It not about how many more will watch at Witton,but how many will not go,when Vic's went there in the first place they lost 300 to 400 fans.how many would we lose.
 
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Not over the moon about staying at BS next season but it does make the most financial sense at the moment, the pitch though is a shambles and needs to be fixed asap but is that our responsibility?. We do need to work hard on attracting more people to our games and especially if vics do come back to Northwich then this will be even more important.
 
Also would it be an idea to look at putting an 1874 float into the Northwich carnival or a stall at the artisan market in town.
 
That market stall presence idea was mentioned in the very early days too, I think. Anything where there is direct contact with the locals would be good IMO, but I realise that's easy to say from down here.
 
If Winsford is financially the best decision, we have to stick with it. Playing at Witton if we couldn't afford it would go against everything we stand for.
 
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First a bit about me. I'm a Sheffield united fan who as supported them for 37 years been to 84 fl grounds.we moved to Altrincham 20 years ago and went to watch them a few times but the pull of the blades was to much so still kept my season ticket and kept traveling. We moved to Northwich as the drillfield was knocked down but knew about a club called the vics. Went and watched them a few times but same again the pull of the blades. Then 1874 stated so went to a few quite a few games last season. This season been to a lot of games with 5 friends all new to football a pint a pie and the blades score on my phone enjoy it then against glossop something happed 1874 scored and I jumped up and celabrated the first time I had done that for a team that was not the blades. The decision to say at winsford? First football fans like us are the ones 1874 need to attract but why support a club not in your town.
How do a club attract players when you can't get promoted which means good players will move on worse players will come performance will drop crowds will dwindle and the club will fold hope I'm wrong and someone please tell my this won't happen and why.
 
Interesting to discover yet another Bramall Lane link! (eg Beer Fest ...) Welcome, from someone who spent many a student Saturday on the terraces there whenever the finances and rail links couldn't cope with following the Greens.

A response? You seem to have got the bug "despite" Winsford - is there a particular reason? Why not go to the other red-and-white-striped lot? It can't just be the pies? Just curious.

You are right - why should anyone new from Northwich make the effort to trek to Winsford? Yet some do, or have. Finding a way to convince more to do so, and to keep doing so, is the big challenge. That is why getting ourselves a home in Northwich remains so vital - but not at a risk to other factors in the club's existence. It is not going to happen overnight, sadly.

On progress and promotion - as I understand it, the BS would allow us promotion from the NWCFL, but that of course remains a big ask from a league where there is only one promotion spot and for a club in its debut season in this division, especially given the stiff competition from Linnets and Glossop.

The BS option has been taken up for one more season. No doubt all these discussions will resurface in 12 months time, whichever league we are in. The important thing to me is that we retain 'sustainability' as a core value. We are painfully aware of the consequences of "chasing the dream", and many of us are as guilty as the next person of pushing for success on the field while being blind(ed) to the effects off the field. That, in a way, is what has got us where we are now. We will no doubt find our natural level in time, at which point thoughts of chasing promotion will recede and the challenge will be to keep a decent team, decent performances and decent crowds while "enjoying" mid-table mediocrity somewhere. That is the fate of most football clubs.

In the meantime I'm pleased to see that most of those who have joined us on the journey are enjoying the ride so far. Keeping up the momentum will get tougher every year.
 
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I think Chris makes some good points. I do however wonder what significant pitch and floodlight improvements we could make to the BS without a reasonable amount of funding; but perhaps there are plans afoot which have yet to be revealed?

Regardless of where we play and in which league, can we realistically see crowd numbers increasing significantly next year? Only time will tell on that score. So far, since our conception our number of defeats (probably draws too I suspect) total single figures; we've yet to experience an indifferent run of results, in short, we've only seen the "good times". It's still early days and as much as I too would have looked forward to watching 1874 at WP next season, we need to assess how the profit and loss pans out over a "normal" season, before we open those purse strings too far. In fact I would go as far as to say the Board has a responsibility to err on the side of prudence and not gamble. Promotion wouldn't necessarily guarantee us bigger crowds next season and neither would playing at WP. Is it worth taking the chance to find out? Well that's up to the individual to decide.
 
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