12 Months on.

[Lord Elpus]

The concern for me is the mention of EFL, championship, premiership and champions league!! ....it is delusional. EFL at absolute stretch because the likes of Sutton and Harrogate and Salford have achieved it but that would take a near miracle and a new stadium being built to make it happen. My concern is when this "ambition" to make the EFL and beyond is proving to be harder than the owners & investors imagined and progress isn't linear then what happens?...don't get me wrong I am delighted with the progress made and the team Mel has assembled, many of whom he inherited and the rest brought from around this level or below (so not paying crazy money for success) and the improvement in crowds in incredible. So I am definitely enjoying the journey but you just wonder what the staying power is of the brothers and the investors when things get really tough...and the truth is they probably yet don't know themselves.

Very well put TW10. I guess we won't know about staying power until it happens. I'm all for keeping the grass pitch but I just worry about things like saying we're aiming for the premiership or people talking about new grounds etc. I think for me, it might be a case of if it's not at the Bev then it's possibly a different club.

[HamptonMad]

The concern for me is the mention of EFL, championship, premiership and champions league!! ....it is delusional. EFL at absolute stretch because the likes of Sutton and Harrogate and Salford have achieved it but that would take a near miracle and a new stadium being built to make it happen. My concern is when this "ambition" to make the EFL and beyond is proving to be harder than the owners & investors imagined and progress isn't linear then what happens?...don't get me wrong I am delighted with the progress made and the team Mel has assembled, many of whom he inherited and the rest brought from around this level or below (so not paying crazy money for success) and the improvement in crowds in incredible. So I am definitely enjoying the journey but you just wonder what the staying power is of the brothers and the investors when things get really tough...and the truth is they probably yet don't know themselves.

Very well put TW10. I guess we won't know about staying power until it happens. I'm all for keeping the grass pitch but I just worry about things like saying we're aiming for the premiership or people talking about new grounds etc. I think for me, it might be a case of if it's not at the Bev then it's possibly a different club.

Hampton & Richmond ground shairing with Brentford..

[EastTerracer]

What they don't talk about is sustainability of the club. I assume the increased crowds (though the quoted % increases seem dubious) are bringing in more revenue but costs must be up as well. Particularly with a significant number of off the field appointments. There were some interesting things in the video but I find too much of what they say to be rather generic management speak.

[Tony]

The 3G was supposed to be the basis of the financial sustainability so if that doesn’t happen then how do we get there?if the council won’t agree to increase the useable hours then I quite understand why you would not go down that road but that leaves us with pretty much the same model as before albeit with some revenue improvement from higher attendances offset by possibly higher off field costs. Club accounts for May 2023 won’t be published until early next year and given their abridged nature may be hard to discern exactly what is happening. Ramayana has invested £650,000 into the club according to their accounts as at May 2023 and still had nearly £1.7M cash on balance sheet so still plenty of firepower to deploy if they chose to do so.

[RogerSW]

As a Supporters Trust member, I was told to vote for the takeover to get the 3G pitch for the club and our community.
Does this now appear to have been false?

[TW3 Beaver]

As a Supporters Trust member, I was told to vote for the takeover to get the 3G pitch for the club and our community.
Does this now appear to have been false?

I am not a Trust Member, but I would have thought that you would have been recommended to vote in favour of the takeover, you could still have voted however you liked.

[Tony]

As a Supporters Trust member, I was told to vote for the takeover to get the 3G pitch for the club and our community.
Does this now appear to have been false?

The 3G was always subject to planning permission which could have been turned down so was never certain at the time of the vote. I don’t think there is any doubt that the new owners want to go ahead with the 3G and may still do so but if they don’t/can’t then a new strategy will be required. No doubt negotiations will continue with the council to find a satisfactory way through. The 3G would only ever provide financial sustainability if there were enough usable hours.

[Big Rich]

It seemed like an honest interview to me. It got me thinking, as I have been for a while, about what makes a football club and what is it for. The ground, the players, the fans, the history? Is it necessary to seek successive promotions as a vision? Or is it enough to experience the ups and downs that come with bouncing around the non-league pyramid? There are no right answers to this but one thing is clear: if we want to “put Richmond on the map” and make it to the football league it will be a very different club than it was before. But then maybe without the investment it wouldn’t have existed at all.

[Shepperton Supporter]

Lots of interesting comments with differing views on this topic. I perhaps have asked myself to whom the interview was targeted? Most supporters know much more about the highs and lows of non league football, the history of Beveree with its limitations and the relationship with the council and neighbours.
Could it be more for potential investors or current investors who might not be so familiar with the English non league scene and align themselves as was mentioned, both Wrexham and Ted Lasso concepts.
Leaving all this aside, we are going on a journey and not sure how far it will go. National league is a distinct first step whether via the playoffs this year or a bigger push next. A move from Hybrid training to full time with a player turnover as some might wish to remain part time? In the next few months current players being signed up for next season. Would expect new players used to full time contracts to be signed.
Greater community involvement and increasing gates (hopefully not on the Dulwich model) .

[TW10]

Going full time in the Conference South isn’t always a great idea as it will limit the players you can sign. The likes of Jake Gray and Dan Wishart have come out of full time football presumably because the rewards/ job security etc are better combining part time football with a career outside of football. They are two players as good as anything in the league who i doubt would not go full time. Inman would be another. as would quite a few others i’m sure I doubt you could replace that quality with young players offloaded from EFL clubs who would want to stay full time and won’t cost that much. That said to get out of the National league you’d have to sign experienced campaigners who would cost a fortune. That would certainly test the resolve of the owners/ backers. Ultimately a successful investment requires a monetary return on that investment. I think this would prove impossible at H&R. So the motives ultimately have to be different.

[EastTerracer]

Perhaps we should add our own reflections twelve months on.

There is no doubt things have improved on the pitch. We are playing better football and look well organised. The current run and the one last season to get us out the relegation fight have been excellent. The squad is stronger though we still lack cover in the forwards. Mel seems to get the best out of the players.

The pitch itself is improved and apart from the one postponement seems to be holding up well. Obviously we were forced to play away for 7 games at the start of the season due to the failure to get the 3G pitch and new floodlights installed. The eventual first home game was a debacle with floodlight failures despite the touted infrastructure investment. We were lucky the game could be finished. No meaningful apology or explanation was given but hopefully whatever it was is fixed now.

Crowds are clearly up with more youngsters but increases don't seem as big as claimed (different attendance counting perhaps being employed ?).

Radio Beaver coverage continues to be good. Match highlights and photo galleries are available promptly.

Minor changes around the ground which generally looks tidier. Reduced choice at bars with the introduction of branded beers. Higher prices and longer waits. Soft drinks dispensed for no apparent reason (slow and not environmentally friendly). Tuck shop typically unopen despite increased presence of kids.

Season ticket holders now forced to use turnstiles rather than walking straight in. Sometimes causes delays. Seems unnecessary.

Not a fan of the 'Hamrich' identity. Badge wording 'H&R Football Club' is poor. Beaver logo doesn't really look like a beaver. Kits while varied are bland. The halves were more distinctive.

[HamptonMad]

Many OAPs some ex players cant attend games because of the cash less payment. Many cant get a bank card because of there low pension payments. And need to pay by cash to enter the ground.