Waterford FC owner Andy Pilley sat down with club fans at the SETU Arena last night for a question and answer session as he begins his tenure at the club.
The Fleetwood Town owner - who also boasts clubs under the same umbrella in Dubai and South-Africa - stressed the importance of community involvement, developing multiple revenue streams to improve the club's finances as well as his goal to bring stability to the club in the immediate future.
Pilley stressed that he is merely the custodian of the club. He pointed out to the some 300 people in attendance that it is their club and he is just helping to guide it in the right direction.
He paid less than £1,000 for the Lancashire-based club in 2004 and has overseen exponential growth in the past 18 years. They have climbed six divisions, they have opened an international academy for young players and Pilley has invested several millions of pounds into the club's development.
What does all that mean for Waterford FC? Well the club has now been sold twice in two seasons with fans crying out for some stability. Pilley last night said that this is his first goal.
The financial stability of the club is his main concern as he begins the work - referring to "multiple revenue streams" more than once. Asked to elaborate afterward Pilley said increasing the variety of incoming revenue is a challenge he's been working on for the last 18 years. "The job is very similar in Ireland. What I must do, is create a football club that is not reliant on any one individual's wealth, because that is a dangerous business model" said Pilley.
Buying and selling as a means of generating revenue is another trend that Pilley hopes to develop. Recent years have seen players come and go on very short-term contracts. This current season was the first time in a long time that the bulk of the previous squad was retained, but Pilley is of the view that players must be sold when the price is right. He recognises that it's a fine balance and sales can not be made at the cost of "sporting success".
Aside from increasing the revenue through smart transfer market practices, Pilley is hoping to change the match day experience for fans in order to keep the ledger topped up. "We want to have lots of other [revenue] streams be it food and beverage, be it merchandise. There are lots of other streams when it comes to football clubs. Without blowing my own trumpet too much, I know of those and that's something which I will endeavor to deliver to Waterford."
A fully professional club requires staff to keep it pointed in the right direction, but a fully professional club with sights on playing in Europe is a different beast altogether. The new owner spoke about the need to increase staffing at the RSC if they are to make the push to the Premier Division and beyond. "The reality is, we're going to need more people. We are going to need more people who are based in Ireland than can help take this football club to where it needs to be off the pitch and to enhance the supporters experience and the confidence of the business community" he remarked.
