It’s good that there’s at least some discussion about alternative plans beyond Lewes FC Holdings Limited. However, despite the conversation, no concrete proposals have emerged.
Seven or eight years ago, we dedicated an entire fanzine to this very topic. It was titled Plan B, a long-form document outlining a strategy to grow the club by tapping into local sponsorship, reducing costs, and building a large-scale hospitality operation.
Then, around two and a half years ago, I, along with three others, put together a new proposal. Amongst us were three individuals all of whom had successfully managed and operated larger hospitality operations than Lewes FC, some of which you would have heard of, and another with 30 years of experience on staging festivals. So before you knock it, this was a pretty formidable and experienced team from the entrepreneurial side of event management, hospitality and catering, presenting a plan to create the largest catering and hospitality setup in British football outside the major leagues.
Below were our financial projections—none of which even accounted for additional sponsorship revenue, increased fan engagement, local involvement, or the many other benefits that such a plan would generate. But it’s not inconceivable that the plan could well be worth in excess of £2,000,000 profit a year to Lewes FC. Sound outlandish? Read the plan.
5-Year Financial Projections
| Year | Revenue (£) | COGS (30%) | Gross Profit (£) | VAT (20%) | Staff Costs (20%) | Net Income (£) |
| Year 1 | 900,000 | 270,000 | 630,000 | 180,000 | 180,000 | 450,000 |
| Year 2 | 1,300,000 | 390,000 | 910,000 | 260,000 | 260,000 | 650,000 |
| Year 3 | 1,750,000 | 525,000 | 1,225,000 | 350,000 | 350,000 | 875,000 |
| Year 4 | 2,200,000 | 660,000 | 1,540,000 | 440,000 | 440,000 | 1,100,000 |
| Year 5 | 2,700,000 | 810,000 | 1,890,000 | 540,000 | 540,000 | 1,350,000 |
We tentatively titled it I Love Lewes. You’d think the leadership at Lewes FC would have embraced such a proposal with open arms. Instead, the entire plan was shelved because Maggie Murphy refused to disclose the financial figures and contractual arrangements she had in place with Only With Love. These were informal arrangements and customary to divulge. And as with any legitimate business plan, if you don’t have access to the current financials, you’re operating in the dark.
Amazingly, and I have this is writing from the club, I was told outright, presumably because I write blogs that criticise how the club is run, criticisms that, in hindsight, have largely been proven correct, the board simply wouldn’t entertain working with me. I was explicitly told that some directors “wouldn’t want to work with me.”
For the past 15 years, the club’s board has fostered an embarrassingly immature and petty culture, arrogantly taking the road to ruin rather than embracing the culture of volunteering and fan engagement .
I believe my response was that there were also some directors I wouldn’t particularly want to work with—but I’d happily do so for the benefit of a football club that I love.
As with many things, timing is crucial. One of the key people willing to help oversee the project has since returned to Australia, and I haven’t even checked whether the other two would still be interested.
Besides, because of the despicable treatment of my wife by the current board over the misogynistic hate assault she endured, I think everybody would understand a line has been crossed, and I would not be interested in pursuing this anymore.
To be clear, the plan was arrived at through four people with deep industry knowledge and getting a bar manager to run it would be disastrous, akin to getting a pub team manager to manage Man Utd.
I’ve now thrown the drafts of our proposal into ChatGPT to make it vaguely readable, and I’ll publish it here next week.
The plan revolves around creating six major income streams through catering and hospitality—including a large festival. At present, the club has one income stream in this area, and even that is being run incredibly poorly.
For the past 15 years, numerous directors have been aware of my desire to take on the club’s hospitality operations. Yet, through what appears to be petty prejudice, they may have squandered a fantastic, self-sustaining community model. Just to stress as a disclaimer, many directors would have been unaware of any offer or plan from me, including the latest batch from the end of 2023.
The Rights of Fans. 