The Stevenage Gazette, Thursday 27 January 1972
Stevenage agree on a wages cut
MOST of Stevenage Athletic's professional players have agreed to take a cut in their wages, in a bid to help the club's flagging finances. They took the decision after a special meeting with director Sid Stapleton at the week-end.
Stevenage have 11 professionals, including player-manager Tony Gregory. He said this week that the majority had accepted the wage cut. "There are one or two who have yet to let us know," he said.
Falling attendances have caused this latest crisis at Broadhall Way. Gates have dropped to a new low of around 200 this season, though there was a revival on Saturday, when nearly 400 turned up to watch the Cheltenham match. But it's still not enough - the club need attendances of at least 600 to start paying their way.
Athletic made a loss of more than £2,600 last season, but were paying off many of their debts until attendances started their disastrous slump. The supporters' club are giving all the financial help they can, but Stevenage still need a bigger income through the turnstiles.
Except in isolated areas like Newcastle and Birmingham, football fans are a notoriously fickle lot, and in Stevenage, as in most places, good attendances are geared to good results. Athletic, with 12 defeats in their last 16 games, haven't been getting good results.
Tony Gregory said: 'We haven't played that badly, and I would say that in most of the home games we've deserved to win on the run of play. But we don't seem to be able to score at the vital moment or to keep them out at the vital moment.
"It's a vicious circle. It's getting more and more difficult to attract players to come here, particularly in the light of this latest episode."
Gregory has had to shelve a lot of his own plans for the club because of the lack of funds.
TALENT
One venture that Athletic hope will pay dividends is the formation of the new reserve side, which will play in the United Counties League next season. The reserve team will mean that players currently in the youth side will have more chance of earning a first-team place. This should encourage good local talent to stay with the club.
The idea for the reserve team was agreed in principle at the annual general meeting in September, and since then a team committee was formed to start the plan moving.
Stevenage supporters have a chance to see the outcome of that plan on Monday night, when the first team play the new reserve side. This game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was put back a couple of days to keep the Broadhall Way pitch in the best possible condition for the youth team's important Sunday match.
The reserves will be made up of youth team players and other local footballers who are too old for the youth side.
The first team is likely to be: Burke, Gear, Hawkins, Long, Dingwall, Gregory, Saunders, Butcher, Whishaw, Fogg, Spillane or Hargreaves.
The first team now have no game on Saturday. Their next Southern League outing is on February 5, when they entertain Banbury United.
Stevenage agree on a wages cut
MOST of Stevenage Athletic's professional players have agreed to take a cut in their wages, in a bid to help the club's flagging finances. They took the decision after a special meeting with director Sid Stapleton at the week-end.
Stevenage have 11 professionals, including player-manager Tony Gregory. He said this week that the majority had accepted the wage cut. "There are one or two who have yet to let us know," he said.
Falling attendances have caused this latest crisis at Broadhall Way. Gates have dropped to a new low of around 200 this season, though there was a revival on Saturday, when nearly 400 turned up to watch the Cheltenham match. But it's still not enough - the club need attendances of at least 600 to start paying their way.
Athletic made a loss of more than £2,600 last season, but were paying off many of their debts until attendances started their disastrous slump. The supporters' club are giving all the financial help they can, but Stevenage still need a bigger income through the turnstiles.
Except in isolated areas like Newcastle and Birmingham, football fans are a notoriously fickle lot, and in Stevenage, as in most places, good attendances are geared to good results. Athletic, with 12 defeats in their last 16 games, haven't been getting good results.
Tony Gregory said: 'We haven't played that badly, and I would say that in most of the home games we've deserved to win on the run of play. But we don't seem to be able to score at the vital moment or to keep them out at the vital moment.
"It's a vicious circle. It's getting more and more difficult to attract players to come here, particularly in the light of this latest episode."
Gregory has had to shelve a lot of his own plans for the club because of the lack of funds.
TALENT
One venture that Athletic hope will pay dividends is the formation of the new reserve side, which will play in the United Counties League next season. The reserve team will mean that players currently in the youth side will have more chance of earning a first-team place. This should encourage good local talent to stay with the club.
The idea for the reserve team was agreed in principle at the annual general meeting in September, and since then a team committee was formed to start the plan moving.
Stevenage supporters have a chance to see the outcome of that plan on Monday night, when the first team play the new reserve side. This game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was put back a couple of days to keep the Broadhall Way pitch in the best possible condition for the youth team's important Sunday match.
The reserves will be made up of youth team players and other local footballers who are too old for the youth side.
The first team is likely to be: Burke, Gear, Hawkins, Long, Dingwall, Gregory, Saunders, Butcher, Whishaw, Fogg, Spillane or Hargreaves.
The first team now have no game on Saturday. Their next Southern League outing is on February 5, when they entertain Banbury United.