Hello everyone and thank you for your continued interest in Widnes Town Football Club.
Before you do anything else, please consider joining our Facebook Group for future updates and invite anyone who likes football in Widnes AND other people that you think might be interested in supporting our new club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/801738545833438
Club Funding Formula
As we continue planning for our first year of operation, much time and effort has gone into researching operational costs and forecasting budgets.
As a club, we believe that our projected operational costs for year one would be in the region of £100,000. This number is very much in line with other reformed clubs at this level.
Revenue sources (based on 100k target):
Sponsorship 35% / £35,000 – currently forecast to exceed target
Fundraising & Events 35% / £35,000 – currently forecast to exceed target
Matchday Revenue 30% / £30,000 – based on average attendance of 200 (ambitious)
Shortfall met by committee members, although likely the budget would be reduced to account for less income, higher expenditure.
Does not include Community Trust activity / revenue. The goal of the Community Trust is to raise funds to provide a permanent home for all senior and academy teams in addition to providing grants to junior clubs to help provide places for Children in teams who cannot afford to pay fees etc. We also hope that the Community Trust will become more of a Widnes Community Football Group involving all area clubs and acting as a united voice to liaise with key operational partners such as Halton Council, the Member of Parliament and other agencies.
As of now, we are in advanced discussions with multiple companies around the various shirt sponsorship placements and have launched a target of selling 40 x Community Partner bundles which include two large advertising boards, a match or ball sponsorship, a player sponsors and programme advertising all included in the price.
If anyone knows a company that might want to hop on board, please get in touch!
Projected Timeline
Now: Secure sponsorship pledges and initial fundraising (in progress). Appoint volunteers to key non football roles (in progress). Put in place football leadership. Agree three initial kit designs (completed). Book fundraising events for 2026 (in progress).
November: Possible initial Crowdfunding appeal similar to what Nuneaton did. Sign ground agreement following meeting with three ground options (one option in Widnes, one option approx 20 minute drive from Widnes Town Centre and one option approx 35 minute drive). Submit formal application to League and Football Association. Secure three or four pre-season friendlies to generate revenue. Announce a Christmas Draw? (will need community support to sell tickets and get prizes). Advertise academy and sign up players for teams launching next summer (BTEC Sport and BTEC Creative options <creative option available to non players>, Degree options also potentially available)
December: Sell supporter memberships to include home & away shirts with admission to all friendlies & League matches included in membership. Goal is to hit half of the fundraising goal for next season through supporter and sponsorship pledges by December 31st. Demonstrating significant cash at the bank – important for League Application.
January: Launch Monthly Draw with Community Trust, affiliated clubs and others. Launch weekly quiz night and bingo night.
February: First Monthly Comedy Night and a Guest Dinner
OTHER FUNDRAISING EVENTS HELD BEFORE START OF SEASON
June: Start Pre-season Training
Last Saturday July: First League Match
Football Leadership:
The club is being created in a way to keep the football operations as appointed staff separate from elected roles. What we require now:
Club Secretary and / or First Team Secretary
First Team Management & support roles such as physio, analyst, coaches etc.
Ladies Team Management
Kit Manager to join Summer 2026 (appoint now so we can plan needs for next season kit needs)
Academy Teams will be operated in partnership through designated education provider, we will need to appoint a manager for each Academy Group. Coching team will be appointed by club but paid through education provider.
Club Secretary and First Team Secretary would represent Football Leadership on the Committee / Board so no need to stand for election each year. Football Leadership could only be removed / replaced by the overall Committee / Board of the club.
As a Steering Group, we have one person on our radar for the Manager job at this time and will attempt to make contact in coming weeks. Failing this, we would advertise the position regionally.
Ground Situation
Given the volatile utility bill issue, we are looking at significant pitch rental fees for next season regardless of where we play.
The DCBL Stadium is the only pitch in Widnes that we could play at and compete in the National League System at Step 5 or Step 6. Any other option in Widnes would mean playing in the Liverpool County Premier League.
There are a couple of options outside of Widnes, but any ground out of town will see an approximate reduction in projected attendances by at least half. Taking into account the costs involved of renting a ground, the decision on whether to rent the stadium per game vs an out of Town Ground will likely result in similar financial outturn – Higher rent at the stadium essentially equates roughly to lost revenue (Gate) at other grounds outside of Widnes. This means whatever option we end up with, the financial outturn remains very similar in terms of net position, but there is also a potential risk to non traditional revenue such as fundraising events if we have less of a fan base attending fixtures – less regular supporters = less people willing to attend fundraising functions & events.
Because of different factors and complexity of discussions with potential landlords, we now expect final confirmation of plans for home fixtures for next season to be in place by early December.
Promotion of the New Club
We are lucky to have some very creative minds working on this project, and also have the ability to send out materials to all Widnes Residents at little to no cost to the club thanks to one of the Steering Group. This plan includes:
A glossy booklet announcing the club as soon as a Ground agreement is in place, detailing everything about the new club, our plans and advertising the Academy etc.
A flyer promoting pre-season friendlies to be delivered to all homes in the area in June.
A flyer detailing opening league fixtures, Holiday fixtures and any possible big games once the fixture list is revealed in July.
First home league match we would partner with a food bank to allow entry by donating items requested by the food bank, and for the second home fixture we would do a “pay what you want” admission with everything collected given to a local charity. For our first year, we will have to get creative on how we can entice people to come and watch us.
The goal is to achieve average attendances of 200 by the end of the first season, anything above that will be a bonus. Getting to 200 is ambitious, but we think it is doable – especially if we can have a go at promotion.
There is a lot more detail that we can get into, but ultimately we have a pretty solid plan to deliver a competitive NWCL Division 1 team next season at the very minimum. We are keen to involve as many people in the community as possible and ultimately ensure that we have a team in the National League System from next Summer once again.
We obviously have a vision, how much of that we can deliver will be determined by what level of support we can get from the community. The first goal is simply establishing a club again, anything after that point is a bonus.