Congratulations to Danny and the team on their win on Saturday. It was the first game in the last four fixtures that I did not attend, so I must take part of the credit.
I just spent the best part of three weeks at the club, working with the staff on budgets and future plans. Trying to balance the budget is not easy in football and it is not made any easier by the difficult economic times that are affecting the UK. The budget for the stadium electricity bill alone for the next year is 46,000 pounds.
The local council has no funds to help so we continue to seek local and national grants and financial support from local businesses. We want the club to help local youngsters get involved with sport as proud players and future fans.
The focus on next year’s budget is to grow our youth section and at the same time maximize the use of the stadium to offset those running costs. Even if we are able to achieve our goals in these areas, it will still leave only a basic budget for the first team. We are grateful for the help that we get from our current supporters but we really need a bigger first team budget if we want to push on, and unfortunately I have reached the limit of what I can provide.
Also it is not a good situation for the club to be dependent on one individual as those that know the history of our club can attest. Therefore the club does need to attract additional investment. Ideally that would be Bradford based individuals who could join our board as part owners or potentially as majority owners.
Meanwhile best of luck to Danny and the team for the remainder of this season.