By Slick
April 5 2006

They lined up on the top table like a cross between the panel on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?" and some local version of the Marx Brothers. On the left, Clilverd, genial, irreverant, playing to the crowd, supported by the solid performers Morley and Pomphrey, the dryly humourous Portch and at the far end the intuitive young coach, offering small asides before his later presentation. All watched over by the amiable Humpo, who had a clip mic and wasn’t afraid to use it!

Rob Clilverd’s presentation was slick and confident, the club’s plan has been blown out of the water by promotion and now they have to think up another. The “team”, of which the supporters are very much a part, have delivered on and off the field, but the club are still fiercely ambitious: we need the “floating voter” to join the party.

The total number of supporters during 2004/5 was higher than ever came to watch Bristol in the Premiership. The hard work starts now – we must “thrive not just survive”
Goals must be achievable, so :
Year 1 - establish Bristol as Premiership side
Year 2 - compete for qualification to the European Cup
Year 3 - qualify for the EC in our own right

Attain 6000 Season Ticket holders. We’re there if every existing STH persuades one person to sign up. ST priced competitively compared to our rivals. Interest in rugby has grown hugely since last in Prem. With this many STHs, average attendance will be over 7800.

Every club has a different model, but single ownership is not for Bristol. A huge thank you to Malcolm Pearce, because what is being delivered is what he said should be the case all along. The business model at Bristol is unique and very workable.

The Bristol Matchday Experience is second to none. The season saw many memorable evenings at the club. Richard Hill, the players and the board will continue to encourage this club atmosphere.

In NL1 Bristol Rugby was a £1.5m business which lost £200K over the year, entirely financed by the board. This is no overdraft, no borrowing. Investment was continued to enable us to secure promotion. In the Premiership, that business will expand to around £4.5m. After the early years of haemorrhaging money, most Premiership clubs make a surplus, including Quins. John Portch and his staff have done a fantastic job in controlling costs to maximise the money available for the team.

750K has been raised by a share issue. There are now 15 shareholders with no-one controlling more than 13%. This investment is “from the heart not the head” because all have Bristol Rugby’s interests first. The board have investigated a large scale share issue, but the costs would have been around £150K and the timescale would have limited Richard Hill’s ability to sign new players. Richard has “outstanding news on recruitment that he will share with you…………………sometime, but not tonight! Apparently the player hasn’t told his mum!”

The club is very, very close to signing a new sponsor, but “in the spirit of Hilly we’re not going to tell you” – yet. There are limited avenues of increased revenue - only 18 corporate boxes, all already sold; player sponsorship is another source.

Aiming to raise £400K through Business Packages for 100 local businesses. For that they get 4 season tickets, their own bar on matchdays with a pasty (their’s are sprinkled with parsley to make them more upmarket!), plus 2 International tickets & hospitality for Twickenham, hospitality for 4 at a home game, first choice for tables of 10 for home game and wine tasting, food evening, golf days etc. This scheme will only cover 3% of the ground capacity and 16% of the total number of seats, maintaining the balance between club ethos and opportunities for business. A recurring theme is that the board feel as part of the club as the supporters and want everyone to know their absolute commitment to protecting the “family silver.”