Grateful Boro chairman Bull's rallying call for final push from 'amazing' fans

Bull has been amazed by the excellent efforts the club’s supporters have made to help boost Athletic’s coffers to fill the void left by the scrapping of the season, and feels one more final push can help them get through the current crisis safely..

He said: “Everyone has done very well but we need to make one more final push to get that £5,000 we need to be safe, getting people signed up to the Boro Draw would help give us a regular income if we need to put the club into hibernation.

“If we get that extra bit of cash then we can keep ticking over during that spell and we won’t need to ask the fans to help us out again in a few months’ time.”

In an update issued on the Boro website, Bull said: “You will remember that when our season was cancelled we announced the impact on us would be in the region of £40,000 in lost revenue. We can now update you on the progress that has been made to date and I’m pleased to say that it is substantial.

“We are grateful to our players with whom we were able to come to a mutual agreement over the remainder of their contracts, this alongside actions we have taken to mitigate other costs have allowed us to reduce the amount required to plug the resulting gap in this season’s finances to around £25,000.

“In the four weeks since all football stopped everyone has been working hard to raise that money and we have been making good progress.

“Our fellow fans, the Valley Bar Seadogs have raised an amazing £8,000 through their “GoFundMe” page and we have also received a further £8,000 in individual contributions. £3,000 has been raised so far through our two “Virtual Matches” against Gainsborough and FC United and we received a £1,000 donation from our Supporters’ Club making a fantastic total of £20,000 raised to date.

“This has allowed us to manage and prioritise a number of payments including those to our smaller local suppliers and football creditors who we know will be facing challenges of their own.

“We are continuing to raise funds through all the existing initiatives including the upcoming virtual matches and our commercial team are working hard on exciting new projects which will be announced in the near future.

“Once we have ensured the future of the club in the short term, we will need to immediately shift focus on to our ongoing sustainability. We still face uncertainty about when football will start again which may directly impact both the amount and timing of the income streams we would normally receive prior to a new season. However, we are hopeful that the fantastic response we have received to date is an indication that we will all be ready to meet this challenge.

“We also still have a number of fixed expenses relating to the running of the club that have to be covered on a monthly basis whether we are playing football or not. “One way that individuals can help us manage this is by providing a regular monthly income through membership of our “Boro Draw” at a cost of £5 per month. This repeat income, alongside that of our Trust Memberships, assists the club greatly throughout the year and enables us to plan with more certainty.

“Working together we must ensure that we can all move forward and be ready whenever football starts again, with this in mind and looking to the future we should remember our club’s fan-owned status and reassure you that any additional funds raised will go towards achieving our aims as a “not for profit” organisation, aiming to succeed both on and off the pitch.

"Thank you to everyone that has contributed towards our survival in these difficult times when many in our community are faced with far greater challenges than those experienced by our football club."

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