Lewes FC have announced the departure of three players this week.
Max Howell, Lee Cooper and Anthony Thomas are leaving the Dripping Pan after the playing budget was re-assessed, something that was always planned to happen before December.
At the beginning of this season, a £74k playing budget figure was set (and published). However, the Manager is given discretion to front-load by up to 10% for the first few months to optimise the club’s chances of progressing in revenue-earning Cup competitions. So, some additional players were allowed into the squad/budget at the start of the season on that basis.
The overall club budget has ZERO in for Cup income to make sure that, unlike most other clubs, we are in no way reliant on this income area.
If, come November/December when the Board reviews its income versus budget, there is a reasonable surplus from Cup, commercial, ownership etc revenues, then the Board can (but don’t necessarily do so) decide to retain the front-loading and thereby increase the playing budget to a degree. However, any surplus revenue is also considered for usage against items like new infrastructure (e.g. toilets) or other non-football costs.
This season, there has been no significant surplus in these revenues (including Cup) so the playing budget front-loading has to be dropped. The net effect is still that players go, but this is in line with a season-long financial approach to balancing the overall budget.
We would like to thank Max, Lee and Anthony for their efforts this season and wish them all the very best in their future careers.
As ever, if you’re wondering what you can do as a fan to help get more players in, you can sell a £30 Ownership to a friend or two and you can bring those friends to a game where the club receives a net £8.80 (after 20% VAT) for each adult.
