We're keeping our heads above water, says Margate director

Wednesday 30th December 2009

MARGATE director Cliff Egan says he has been busy focussing on the commercial aspects of the football club; something that is crucial at the best of times.

But the extraordinary number of home matches Margate has lost through postponements over the past two and a half months, gives added impetus to the work.

Gate have played just two home games since the start of October and Tuesday night’s late postponement of the Tonbridge Angels game was fifth game to be called off.

“I’ve never known it – even in my first time here at the club – I’ve never know (the club) to go three months with just a couple of home games,” Mr Egan said in an article published on the club’s official website www.margate-fc.com.

“Obviously, it’s not doing the club any good financially.

“At the moment, we’re keeping our heads above water,” he remarked. “But it is a struggle.”

“Obviously we’ve still got the players to pay, we’ve still got bills to pay and basically we’re not getting the income through the gate that we’ve been expecting.

“So cash flow at the moment is difficult but we haven’t reneged on any of our debts.”

In the meantime, Mr Egan has been busy working to open new income streams for the club through sponsorship, advertising and the increasingly popular Goalden Gate SUPERDRAW.

“We’ve already had great support from some of the companies around the town and that’s obviously helped us to keep our heads above the pitch water-line,” he said.

“We’ve had people come in who’ve done advertising boards and match sponsorships at the moment ….. so I’m really pleased with that side of it.

“To be fair, we need a major sponsor at this football club – that’s obviously what I’m spending a lot of time trying to bring in at the moment.

“But it’s things like match sponsorships, advertising boards and things like that, that are going on at the moment and if anyone out there can help us at this present point in time (by taking boards or sponsoring a game) it’s going to be a major help to the football club.”

Cliff describes the Goalden Gate SUPERDRAW as a “life-line to the club,” generating four figures a month of income for the club. And as he points out, from just a pound a week, it is “the only part of the football club that actually gives money back!”

Looking forward to later in the year, Cliff revealed that the club are looking to bring a celebrity to the Hartsdown for Q&A sessions at a future England game to be shown on the big screen and the club are at the early stages of planning “quite a large event in the summer that hopefully will generate some income.” We’ll bring more news of that event as arrangements are confirmed nearer the time right here on www.margate-fc.com.

The Ryman Premier League club are currently re-vamping our Commercial Pages and in addition, will continue to feature Commercial Special Offers on the news page of the website.

But if you have any questions about getting more involved in helping Margate Football Club through advertising, sponsorship or the SUPERDRAW, contact the club during office hours on 01843 221 769 or contact Cliff Egan directly on 07868 564 563 or by cjpromo@btinternet.com.

Article courtesy of www.margate-fc.com

Margate v Maidstone United

Ryman Premier League

Saturday 2nd January 2010

Kick Off 3:00pm

At Hartsdown Park, Hartsdown Road, Margate, Kent CT9 5QZ