Laurence - if you want my take on this situation, we have two alternatives (1) while we are solvent, look for an investor who will take control of the club and commit to funding its ongoing losses (2) do nothing and wait until we drift into administration, at which point the club will either fold up or be bought out by someone over whom we have no control. There is no third alternative to suddenly make the club, or any other club outside the PL, sustainable/ profitable (if there was then someone else would have put it into practice). Apologies if you think that that is "negative" - to me it's just facing reality.

What Spit said.

Exactly if Hartlepool can find a rich yank,surely we can with the greatest story,, location and the wimbledon name should attract many buyers.

Hartlepool been bought by another yank I see landon smith ?

We were royally shafted up the backside a generation ago. To attract new supporters we need a successful football team being able to compete in league football. I don't suppose many new supporters are too interested in the good deeds the club and volunteers do around the local area.

All very depressing chat to see out the year! Hopefully 2026 will be prosperous for club and all fans alike ! COYDs!

It isn't even treading water if the amount of subsidy that owners of clubs are expected to pump in continues to rise.

My take on all of this is that as shown with the WAWF, members are just not into this donation lark anymore when it’s simply to cover the loss per season and even then the debt will get larger if we want to be competitive in L1 or even L2.

One good idea would be to find a buyer while still have club to sell.

I have been clear with my ideas Laurence. I would sell up instantly.

A new supporters club would be WUP 2.0 it's good on paper, sensibly moderation if you don't act like a dick and subject to being ignored/dissed by those who have actual power

stop being so negative and come up with your own ideas, please, Stu and Nick?

In broad terms, our operating loss excluding player sales (and ignoring depreciation in excess of capital spending) is £2.3m per year, which is indeed approximately £10 per week (actually £12.63 per week but let's be optimistic) for each of 3,500 members. That, though, assumes 100% take-up, which is pretty unlikely as a large proportion of members have simply received their membership for free with their season ticket without even asking for it, let alone paying for it - to assume that those members will all be willing to give the club more than £500 per year is utterly implausible. To keep the charge down to £1,000 per year you would need nearly two thirds of the members to agree to contribute or, putting it another way, if half of the members agreed to contribute they would have to stump up over £1,300 each (you can call that £3.60 per day if it makes it seem less but that won't make people any more willing to pay it). Bear in mind that that level of generosity is what we need to just treat water as we stand, it would get us nowhere nearer having a competitive budget, so it's funding survival, not success.

So we want to start a new supporters club and volunteer that new fans run it.

Are we being serious here!! Just as much as legacy members are not going to pay £1.48 per week, what makes us think new supporters will who were not around at the time and lets be honest, if you just go to PL on matchdays, you would have no idea we are fan-owned let alone skint.

Thanks Timmy - I also flagged up you can use the Plum App to put the money aside for you from your bank account, and then each month pass it over to whoever is managing the fundraising. In addition, I suggested it might be good idea to create a new supporters club, which then comes without any baggage. Fresh start.

Happy new year to WTID in the land of OZ, who is currently living in the future in 2026. 🤣

'£1.48 a week to stay fan owned or we sell'.

Such an email would need to state how much of that money would be spent wisely versus squandered with no plan or accountability.

A couple of bits of early new year content. New episode of the Womble Coefficient pod, including reviews of the Stevenage and Exeter games and previews of the Orient and Wycombe games: Spotify [Link] Apple: [Link] And a new Plough Lane By Numbers blog looking at the current state of League 1 and stats-based thoughts on how we need to improve: [Link]

Edit - £10 week / £1.48 day

Spit - it’s not a bad idea. Haven’t we got like over 9,000 members now? One in three need to cough up. Great bellwether for fan ownership - £1.48 a week to stay fan owned or we sell

Maybe the Dons trust should email members and say we need £10 a week from each of you to remain fans owned,might actually see how many still want to be fan owned

Tomato Swig - I presented the idea in a different way on discord. The target audience is NOT existing season ticket holders, but the newer supporters.

Stuart, that is over £500 over a full year. Adding that to the cost of a current ST would make the ST unaffordable to many supporters.