Carshalton - I was just agreeing with what Doobs said about putting more information out about all sorts of things, not specifically the budget in detail. But a DTB member linking to a newspaper article looks like his ideas aren't being listened to. More power to Doobs!

Russ - there have been various views on the comms. I think it would be unfair of me to go into them as I have quite strong feelings on this and you would only be getting one side of the argument. I hope that makes sense. My personal stance is almost always more comms, more often. So I might like to update on plans and process. Others might prefer to update once things have happened. It would be boring if we all agreed on stuff all the time. But I’m not actually sure on the timing thing. I found out yesterday that it would be published today, having not seen it for months. I’m sure there was a reason, but it came from the cLub rather than the DTB so I wouldn’t ness know what is coming out, when, in general.

Keefy - I think it depends what sum we get. £4m and I don’t think we’d be putting that into first team budget over the coming season, and I would see an argument for paying off some debt (to reduce monthly interest payments, giving us more to spend month to month on playing budget down the line). If it were £500k, I dare say it would go to budget.

Naz, I wouldn’t disagree with you at all on that. We are a football club, not a movement. I think it’s great that we can do good things (DLAG, Foundation etc) but without the team there is nothing. On the flip side, we want to fill the ground and things such as DLAG (the best local marketing we could ever have wished for) will help us do that. Fill the ground, extend it, fill it… all means more money for the team, ultimately. Imho

Doobs - “ I would have liked to see us almost spamming fans with updates on how the management recruitment process works, how we were getting on, what happens next, retained lists, any developments or thoughts on the new leadership structure.” Yes I agree. The question is why that doesn’t happen and why DTB members need to be apologists regarding the timing of this social media piece. Because it seems like it even emanated from a DT working group? Is there a splintering in how the DTB operate?

Thanks Doobs for the detailed answer :-)

Best thing folks, in my humble opinion (IMHO?), is to make all this social media and other goody goody stuff a lower priority than wanting to have a fairly good men's footy team doing okay/good in the league which they are in. That's the priority, and if after that we can do jolly good stuff in the community and with the ladeees etc. then so much the better. Just my view, others will disagree.

Doobs if we do sell Rudoni for a decent sum , are all the proceeds put toward the playing budget or will some be syphoned off for reducing debt?

Doobs is right to draw out the important messages from the generally poorly expressed social media policy. The foul tirades aimed at players, coaches and volunteers can be intimidating and must be very dispiriting. It is clearly intended to hurt the target. It often makes foul assumptions about others on the basis of the troll's prejudice. It is perfectly reasonable for the club to seek to find ways to protect its own.

Doobs is right to draw out the important messages from the generally poorly expressed social media policy. The foul tirades aimed at players, coaches and volunteers can be intimidating and must be very dispiriting. It is clearly intended to hurt the target. It often makes foul assumptions about others on the basis of the troll's prejudice. It is perfectly reasonable for the club to seek to find ways to protect its own.

Collins-surely that sort of info is commercially confidential, we don’t want to lose potential new players by giving them the impression we have more money than we do

As I understand it in L1 you have Sunderland spending £10m and Accy on £1.5-2m and all in between. In L2 you have about ten teams spending £1.5m, a few on £1.4m, a few on £1.6m, a couple of £1.7m etc. so spending an extra £500k takes you from joint 12th to somewhere approaching the top end. No guarantees of course, but The number of STs we sell could make a hella difference.

Doobs - OK, thanks.

I think it speaks volumes about the way the club is currently being run that a member of the DTB has to come on here and post a link to a newspaper article to tell us something about next years' budget, rather than the information coming from the club itself. All credit to Doobs (and Luke) for making the effort to tell the oiks what is going on.

Hash - good question. Still a few variables that could make a big difference - like if we sell anyone - and I’m not certain what sort of budget other teams are putting together. I have heard most clubs are putting their budgets up a bit, after they went down last season following Covid. So without wanting to not answer the question, I think we will have a good budget, probably not top 2 (Salford are up there aren’t they?). Based on previous year L2 budgets most clubs seem to be around the £1.5m mark, with a few outliers (wasn’t one club on £800k?). I think we will be comfortably top half, and hopefully top 6. But like I say, so many variables. Ask me in a month?

SW - I honestly couldn’t tell you what people’s motivations are. They all give up time and stuff so will have their reasons. I guess everyone at some point sees something being done not so well and thinks they could do better (and then bangs their head on the wall and gives up :)

Thanks Doobs. So as far as you can tell us, what kind of budget are we hoping for next season? Mid table? Top half? Top 8? Bottom 2?

Doobs - I get the impression that although you say that they have the best intensions towards the club, there is a degree of self interest and pushing of certain agendas that suit one or two individuals.

More importantly, promotion it is then:) [Link]

Would agree with that, Nick.

SW - it 100% came from the club and he wasn’t on the Vlub/DTB/fan working group who put it together. I think he saw it (months ago, when it was circulated to everyone) but he would have had minimal involvement.

I think that the social media thing is fair enough so long as it is confined to postings on official club channels and there isn’t any attempt to try to extend the censorship to places like this which are outside the club’s jurisdiction. I think that official channels are always going to be pretty bland and any comments on those are not expected to be “free speech” anyway.

Thanks Lurker, SW. personally speaking, i always found the DTB so bloody secretive, and that’s kinda why I stood to try to change that. (doesnt always work!). But I can honestly say there are no bad guys on the board - we disagree on lots, we often have lively disagreements, but every single one of them has the best intentions for the Club.

You can't say for sure then ?

SW - I don’t think he was at all. In fact, the seeds of the idea can from the club, probably around six months ago.