The session began with an opening statement by Marske United Chairman & Committee Chair Mark Hastings-Long who spoke for approximately half an hour to the packed room of supporters, volunteers and committee members addressing the club’s past, present, and future situations.

During a brief interval the Weekly Cash Draw was conducted by Commercial Director Paul Hart.

A question-and-answer session then took place with Mr Hastings-Long and Marske United CEO Craig Gibbin which was led by newly elected Committee Vice Chair & Supporters Club representative Dave Greensmith.

At one stage an overview was then provided by Stan Glover of the Marske Sport and Recreation Partnership in relation to the ground lease, clubhouse and facilities.

The room also showed appreciation to Nicky Ward and Dan Wilson, the remaining members of the Management Team, as well as the Media Team for their continued work.

The club have until the 31st of January 2024 to ensure all payer and football club debts have been paid in full and provide written evidence of this to the NPL/FA in order to be able to apply to restart next season.

With this in mind, our focus is on this work and the club has sufficient funds for this. The next item to focus on will be transferring of control from the members (unincorporated) association to Marske United football Club Limited, and the FA have been asked for the process to follow for this to be allowed.

Once the above two items have been concluded the board of directors will then set up the governance procedures for the club and the club can then move forward on many other matters/ideas.

The Chairman asked for all fans to look forward to the future, not backwards with recriminations and that future statements will be made as and when decisions have been made and they can be announced.

An abridged notes summary of key points discussed throughout the evening is available below:

• Marske United has applied to join the Northern League Division One (Step 5) for next season’s rebuild.

• The club has put forward a strong case in its application, but based on past precedent will most likely end up in Northern League Division Two (Step 6).

• There is a small possibility the team could be placed in the Northern Counties East Football Leagues (Step 5-6) Wearside Leagues (Step 7-9) or North Riding Leagues (Step 7-8) which the club would appeal based on geographic and other reasons.

• A decision will be made by the FA Alliance Committee and the National Systems Committee by the end of May and Marske United have requested personal representation as part of this process.

• The club have budgets prepared for all eventualities and have already spoken to players and coaches interested in coming onboard for next season.

• However, nothing can be finalised or taken further until the club knows what division it is in.

• With this season curtailed, options to roll over season tickets and board sponsorships into the first half of next season are being considered, but no decisions have been made yet.

• To join a new division, they have to be debt free. Otherwise, a phoenix club would be required which would void the lease on Mount Pleasant.

• If Marske United went under, the first team and the reserve teams would cease to exist.

• The Reserve team is going to play its home matches at Mount Pleasant for the remainder of the season.

• Funds for the Juniors Teams are ring-fenced, but they would not be allowed to call themselves Marske United any more. Nor would a new First Team if we had to start again.

• Marske United required £120k to see out the season. The debt was only a fraction of this figure (Approx. £28k), with the rest being ongoing running costs.

• The club only raised half of the £120k required. £40k was via fundraising efforts with the rest contributions from the new directors.

• This would just about be enough to clear most of the debts and pay the wages up to and after the Morpeth game.

• Marske United is currently on track to be debt free by the end of January 2024 with some additional efforts this month.

• The biggest ongoing cost was wages. The club’s wage bill was around £7k a week.

• Player wages exceeded gate income and other revenue streams.

• On average the club was losing £5k per week and £20k per month.

• If the season carried on the club would have been bankrupt by the end of January.

• The players are not to blame for the club’s problems which ultimately stems back to poor financial controls and mismanagement.

• The club lost approximately £40k last season.

• This is due to the cost of survival, floodlight sabotage, mid-season managerial changes and subsequent squad upheavals alongside costly loan signings.

• All of this year’s season ticket money and sponsorship revenue raised by the commercial team went to service some of last year’s debt.

• This season, against warnings, an increased budget was set based upon an unrealistic average attendance target of 650 fans which did not add up under scrutiny.

• The club would need crowds of around 1,200 each week, which isn’t realistic nor sustainable.

• The essential drainage work in the summer was delayed not due to man power shortages, but due to delays in buying materials.

• This ultimately prevented home friendly revenue against larger local clubs who were interested in playing at Mount Pleasant

• The club started the season with nothing in the bank and has been fighting from week to week to survive unbeknownst to many at the time, including volunteers.

• A brief financial report was delivered at the AGM, but no balance sheets were presented nor were there any official minutes.

• By all accounts the ex-chairman who runs a multi-national firm could not give the club the day-to-day attention it required at this level.

• The day after the AGM, the ex-chairman notified a handful of officials of his resignation via text, but no official letter of resignation was ever received by the club committee, FA, or NPL

• When this was eventually relayed to the club committee in October, words were requested to communicate this position to supporters, but these were never received.

• The ex-chairman never attended any of the subsequent committee meetings, which became weekly at one point as the club’s troubles grew.

• Volunteers from the bottom had to step up and find solutions.

• With no balance sheets, an independent financial advisor was brought in.

• Every time the club turned a corner a new unknown debt was discovered.

• Eventually an agreement was reached to hand over control of the club to the volunteer directors of Marske United Limited on the understanding of the club’s debt being £7k.

• Two days later, just before kick-off against Gainsborough Trinity, the new volunteer directors and independent financial advisor were informed that the club’s debt was actually in the region of £23k+

• This was on top of the delayed wages as well which were moved from weekly to monthly to buy the club time.

• If the new directors did not proceed with the limited company and put in their own significant financial contributions to plug the gap then Marske United would have died at the end of November before the Stafford Rangers game.

• The club would not be here without that intervention.

• However, with the situation stabilised, the share issue was launched to raise capital to create a sustainable platform for the club going forward.

• A limited company brings transparency in terms of reporting and structure.

• The football authorities were fine with the idea in principle. However, they needed 6-8 weeks (at this time of year) to process the change in accordance with the rules that every team abides by.

• Marske United couldn't play games during that period, hence the suspension.

• This is why most clubs change their structures in the off season which the club is currently now exploring.

• The club assumed it was ok mid-season, but never asked properly and apologies reservedly.

• Nor despite many months of public intentions from the club in statements did the football authorities enquire until till it was too late.

• The club is sorry for how it handled this situation.

• There was £60k in terms of expressions of interest regarding shares from individuals.

• £20k shares sold in the first few days and most of this has been refunded as only approximately £3k gave written permission for their shares to be converted to donations for the fundraiser.

• Additional companies interested in coming onboard as investors and sponsors pulled out with the uncertainty.

• Some of these companies have indicated they may return for the rebuild next season.

• The club has wanted to communicate more, but could not for multiple reasons.

• The first being a threat of legal action. The second being the effect of panic on the club’s finance with potential sponsors pulling the plug and the third being the club’s full co-operation with the football authorities.

• The club reverted to its old structure to get the suspension lifted and formally ratified the ex-chairman’s departure via a vote held in-line with the club’s constitution.

• The current chairman was voted in alongside a new committee of volunteers.

• The current chairman has passed the Fit & Proper Persons Test.

• The club has been in constant dialogue with the football authorities since the suspension.

• The club thanks the football authorities for their guidance and support behind the scenes which is often unseen by most.

• Other clubs are in similar positions. Corby recently announced they need £70k to survive.

• The football authorities can only act based on public information.

• Marske United’s financial position necessitated public solutions.

• Marske United had one of the highest numbers of contracted players in the division.

• Most clubs have 11-13 contracted players and the rest non-contract pay as you play.

• Marske United had 17 upon their resignation and even more at one stage.

• Contracted players are paid whether they play or not.

• The club had to ultimately withdraw as it was clear to everyone that the funds were not there to complete the season and any delays would have incurred more costs to clear.

• In recent weeks and months every cost cutting and revenue raising measure has been explored and exhausted.

• Players have been offloaded. The team bus has been cut. Ticket offers were introduced with grants, businesses, and local political representatives approached and exhausted.

• The first team management team went above and beyond in their fundraising appeals and left with the club’s blessing.

• After checking with the football authorities, the players were offered the option of significantly reduced wages as a last resort, with those unable to continue offered the option of mutual terminations or transfers.

• All of the players needed to agree on one of those three options. The club could not afford to pay-off players. Unfortunately, there was no consensus.

• However, upon withdrawing from a league these contracts are voided by the football authorities, which is what the club has unfortunately had to do to survive.

• All our players are now free agents.

• The club has provided support to the players since and wishes them well.

• Playing the reserve team was not an option as the club could not expect teenagers who suffer heavy defeats in their own league to travel across the country with no team bus and jump five divisions. This was also not allowed by the NPL as it would not keep the integrity of the league.

• The attendances keeping the club afloat would collapse at the potential scorelines the integrity of the league would be compromised with our upcoming opponents facing a much-weakened side.

• On New Years Eve the ex-chairman approached the club about a return.

• Discussions took place, but all of the cost saving and revenue raising ideas proposed had already been explored and implemented by the volunteers, so the ex-chairman wished the club well.

• Ultimately Marske United Football Club was built on a house of cards. There were no solid foundations.

• Everything was forecast on best case scenarios rather than worst. There was no accountability in terms of structure and decision making.

• The success of recent years papered over the cracks, and it has all come crumbling down due to lack of financial controls, mismanagement, and misfortune.

• There have been multiple resignations of club officials already for a range of reasons.

• More resignations are expected to follow.

• The club have asked for volunteers to step forward and help fulfil these roles which will be advertised soon.

• The club has been in dialogue with the Professional Footballers Association.

• While the PFA have limited jurisdiction over non-league football, they acknowledge the positive steps the club has taken in terms of giving players representation at key meetings and paying due wages.

• This week the club paid the players their due bonuses and signing on payments (win, goal, clean sheets etc) and their travel expenses which they are entitled to. The players have also returned their team/training kit.

• The club placed on record its appreciations to fans and club partners for their patience and loyal support.

• The club also paid tribute to sponsors who brought forward their payments to keep us going and praised the attitude of many players for the way in which they have conducted themselves.

• The club also thanked the volunteers who have stepped up, working 12–18-hour days unpaid, weekends and bank holidays, Christmas and New Years Day on top of their regular jobs to keep us afloat.

• Plans to build a proper pathway for boys and girls teams from junior levels to reserves to senior levels are currently being developed to make our community club more sustainable going forward.

• Grants will soon become accessible for the Marske United to develop facilities and improve Mount Pleasant which are not available to Step 3 clubs.

• A number of upcoming social events will take place in the clubhouse in to raise funds for the club including a race night, quizzes and more live music events as well.

• Should their be a demand for a restart of the share issue for fans, this will be considered, once the control of the club has passed to Marske United Football Club Limited.

• The club will communicate more updates when it is able to do so.