The Steering Group contains those with experience of finance, accounting and running football clubs. This knowledge and experience has been vital in setting out the level of finance needed to set up and run a football club at Steps 5/6/7 of the Non League Pyramid. As we do not know what step/league we will be placed in yet, we have had to model all of these options.

We are grateful for the help of Hinckley AFC for not only publishing detailed accounts but also offering advice and guidance.

Costs: The value quoted in the image below is based on Step 6 football for year 1 with a competitive, yet sustainable, playing budget and is based on a fully itemised projection of all expenditure required to start and operate a football club. All costs have been benchmarked against other local clubs playing at the same steps. However, we have also modeled costs at the other steps the club could be based at.

It should be noted that at Step 7, we proposed to restrict the playing budget to paying players expenses only, as per the norm at that level. 

The aim is to fund the year 1 from the following sources:

• Matchday Income - £34,650
  (This is based on an average gate of 200, and this represents the number required to deliver a competitive budget. Any additional income will be ringfenced for development purposes, as opposed to increasing the playing budget).

• Business Football Community - £35,000.

• Supporters/Community Funds/Fundraising - £35,000.
  (The aim is for supporters to generate additional income through schemes such as the 200 club, events and other fundraising initiatives, see fundraising page for further details).

• Other sales and income - £6,500.

If this is achieved it will result in a budget surplus of £11,300 which can be reinvested into the club.

If things do not go to plan, the impact would be a reduction in playing budget.

If there was a higher than projected attendance, there would be additional funds which could be put towards projects such as finding ways to return to Nuneaton.