The letter and accompanying brochure was sent out to all season ticket holders, RUST members, and any remaining fans on the RUFC database. It attempts to answer the many questions that have been put towards the new Millers 05 board, and it was the new board’s intention to get the letter out to fans as soon as possible.
This is one of the first steps the board appears to have taken in order to improve communication between the club and fans. Furthermore the letter details information of a Millers fans forum on Tuesday 15th February at the MAGNA centre, where fans will be encouraged to meet and speak to the new board directly and personally.
The letter outlines the following offers which will be made available to fans:
· 10% club shop discount to season ticket holders for the remainder of the season.
· RUFC vs
· Corporate Packages vs
· Mini Season Ticket – watch the last 8 home games for the price of 6.
The brochure covers questions to the board. The following points are covered (in more substantial detail then here!):
· Who Millers 05 are and who are the RUFC board members.
· Why the new board got involved with RUFC – All board members are die hard Millers fans with the aim of helping RUFC reach its full potential on and off the pitch.
· Does the board want RUFC to remain in the Championship? - Absolutely – its much easier to stay up than get up again!
· RUST’s existing and future roll on the board – RUST are not running the club but have a small shareholding and board representation. They will play a role in decision making and RUST members will be regularly challenged through byt heir representative on the board.
· Fans Forums – There will be regular fans forums to meet the new board and share opinions on all issues.
· Ken Booth’s future roll – No involvement in the future running of the club. Will be life president and landlord (through CF Booth Ltd.)
· Club Debt/Overdraft – The £3m debt has been cleared and a new start is made with a clean sheet financially.
· Ongoing losses – Currently losing 20k per week. Stressed that the club needs to break even ASAP regardless of the division.
· Funds available to Ronnie – Currently funds for a loan signing. Any money generated by use of existing squad will got straight back into Ronnie’s fund, but no players have to be sold.
· Lease Agreements of Millmoor and the training ground – Ground has been leased for 26.5 years. The board consider it extremely unlikely that this will be needed for longer than 10 years within which period it is planned to build a community stadium. The club is given the right to break the lease annually after 6.5 years, and then Booth group is able to break it after 11.5 years (but in their case on 18 months notice and subject to payment of financial penalty). The training ground will be held on a 6.5 year renewable business lease.
· What money has been invested - £100k invested by the board, mainly from Trevor Smallwoord, Peter Ruchniewicz, David Veal, and John Harrison with an additional contribution from RUST.
· Share issues
· How fans can get involved – Emphasises the importance of supporters to the club and advertises the forthcoming offers.
· The new stand – Single tier 4000 capacity, hospitality boxes, banqueting facilities, and a new club shop which will all work 7 days a week. Money raised through Football Foundation, membership fee’s, grants, and a capital injection through the share rights issue so this will not affect revenue streams and team strengthening.
· How the board will drive commercial and marketing revenue and improve PR and communication channels – Additional expertise from specialist companies has been brought in to ‘hit the ground running’ between now and the end of the season. Current pricing and marketing issues are being looked at for next season and plans are that the club will be operating at break even from the start of next season.
· The community stadium – Intention is to move to a new stadium within the next 10 years maximum. There are already plans to strategically engage with the council and