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Archived News from February 2014

PAUL & TINA BROUGHTON ON RECENT OFF-FIELD ISSUES
4th February 2014 18:17


Interview with Operations Directors Paul and Tina Broughton, by Mark Stevenson, for StagsPlayer

Recorded on Friday 31 January 2014

The full audio interview is here for StagsPlayer subscribers:
http://www.player.mansfieldtown.net/latest-news/article/3651037/date/20140202210000/page/0/name/audio--paul--amp--tina-broughton-on-recent-off-field-issues-at-club

Transcribed in full below by Martin Shaw:

Mark Stevenson: there is concern amongst the faithful, following last night’s statement by the SFU group, that the club’s sole benefactor John Radford has had to cut his monthly loans into the club by 66%. Why has such a cut been enforced or advised?

Paul Broughton: the first point I’d like to make is this is (now) John’s personal wealth [previously funds were directed to the club through One Call] [note this is what Paul Broughton meant to say and a small amendment from what he did actually say]. When myself and Tina were brought in 18 months ago, it was always the intention for us to make, as quick as we could, the club to be self-sufficient. We’re not going to be there yet, it’s a 3 year plan and we’ve got another 18 months to go. It’s not a surprise. For our fans out there, no need to worry, that’s where we’re at.

Mark Stevenson: regardless of that, what sort of impact will this cut in monthly loans have on the club?

Tina Broughton: there’s no impact Mark, no impact at all. We’re actually at a better position than what we were last season with the revenue that we’re bringing in at the moment.

Mark Stevenson: so the fact that such monies are not coming in, how can that not be having an impact?

Tina Broughton: well it’s not having an impact. That’s why .. ok the refurb on the Sandy Pate bar which we got an awful lot of sponsorship for .. but that was the whole point, we’ve got to run this club as a business. We can’t get the revenue into this club once a fortnight with a football match, that’s hence why we brought the 3g pitch in and why we brought the Sandy Pate bar in, and why we are looking at other avenues to bring more business into the club. We’re trying to run it as a business and at the moment very successfully.

Mark Stevenson: what is the state of the club’s finances at present?

Paul Broughton: even without the Liverpool game which gave us an awful amount of finance last year, we are definitely in a better place. The 3g pitches, I know people are going to say its only £25 an hour, but it’s 4 hours every night, for one pitch, and we’ve got 2 pitches. The guys are then going into the bar and then you’ve got that income from there as well. We’ve got the functions such as the darts, the Friday night with live artists, the Monday nights. People are going to say that’s not £66 grand a month, of course it’s not, but the idea is that we’re actually generating the club income by not taking from one individual person. Don’t get me wrong, John’s going nowhere, but even if it’s not John, surely every fan wants the club to be in such a state that it doesn’t matter who’s there at the top, that the club’s running as at close to self-sufficiency as possible, so if somebody wants to put in £10 grand a month that would suffice.

Mark Stevenson: just how far off is the club from being self-sufficient?

Tina Broughton: it’s where we expected it to be at this stage. And I think we’re actually closer than where we expected to be.

Mark Stevenson: is the chairman considering the recent proposal made by former directors Steve Hymas and Andy Saunders by which they are willing to accept repayments now of £48,000 per month (Mark meant per year) commencing at the start of next season?

Tina Broughton: no, why should he? Sorry I feel very strongly about this. If you’ve got a business and you plough money into a business for however long you’ve got that business and then somebody else takes that business over, why should you expect your money back? Business doesn’t work like that. That is lost money, gone.

Mark Stevenson: they will say though, I’m sure, that they weren’t donations, they were loans.

Tina Broughton: no, you don’t go into a business and expect your money back.

Paul Broughton: even if it’s a loan, the criteria that John put forward to them hasn’t been met. There’s only one part of 3 or 4 points that’s been met and that is that we’re back in the league. And no disrespect to Steve and Andy but that’s because of John that we’re back in the league. That’s not due to anybody else money-wise. If John hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t have had the money to give Paul Cox to get us promoted.

Tina Broughton: and don’t forget like in any football club or any position like ours, we’re not going to be in profit for a lot of years. You run as a club with a really tight budget. The budget depends on what players we can bring in, what players we can send out. We are at a really tight budget.

Paul Broughton: John brought myself and Tina in to run the club for him and that doesn’t mean John doesn’t make decisions, of course he does. The idea is that we’re there, we run it, on behalf of the board, so if there’s any questions we can go back and say this is the point that we’re at. We’re there to run it for the club, for the fans, for John, for Carolyn, that’s what our job is.

Mark Stevenson: can you give assurances that the chairman is still committed to his initial vision of both financial and spiritual backing for the long term future of the club following even last night’s revelations [SFU statement]

Tina Broughton: John is born and bred Mansfield, he’s always been a Mansfield fan, there has never been a doubt of his commitment or never should be.

Mark Stevenson: he’s not going anywhere?

Tina Broughton: course he’s not, no.

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