Fisher announce profits despite suffering losses on the field

FISHER have tonight announced that they have made a profit for the second year running – although the cost of running an amateur Kent League football club has increased, writes Stephen McCartney.


Despite the south Londoners finishing bottom of the Kent League, performances off-the-pitch have improved, with increased turnover during the 2010-2011 season.

Fisher recorded an operating profit of around £3,300 in its first season (2009-2010), having generated £16,600 in income and splashed out £13,300 on expenditure.

Last season the club recorded income of £17,209.81 and expenditure of £14,205.14, making a small profit of £3,004.17.

These figures were unveiled at tonight’s Annual General Meeting, which was once again held at Bacons College, Rotherhithe, at no expense to the club, and was attended by 20 members.

Despite poor performances on the pitch, the club’s largest income stream was gate receipts (£6,144.32), sponsorship (£6,130), and £2,187.41 came in through donations.

However, the biggest expenditure is paying landlords Dulwich Hamlet rent to use Champion Hill Stadium, which remains the same price as it did last season, although once again the club can play two pre-season games at the ground for free.

“The key points I want to raise are gate receipts increased £1,000 on the previous year, which was rather good despite performances on the pitch, our income was reasonable and we’ll be looking to increase that,” reflected Ben Westmancott, who was elected the club’s chairman by other board members recently.

He added: “We didn’t get a great deal of money from sponsorships, but a member of the Watford Supporters Trust – which is similar to us – they are very interested in what we want to achieve and gave a donation of £5,000 to the club so we link up to a  local charity and put their names on our shirts next season.”

Club members decided to keep the club’s traditional black and white striped shirts, but voted to ditch the all-red strip that the club have used for the last four years, for a blue, white and red combo, although the club will finalise its away strip soon.

But members 100% voted in favour of revamping the club’s crest to an “Angry Fish,” which will include the club’s name Fisher FC and Bermondsey.

This was something of an emotional subject and committee member Jevon Hall explained why the club should ditch the current Southwark crest.

Mr Hall, who will run the club’s online club shop, “The Fish Market,” said, “We needed a crest at short notice (when we formed in 2009) so we settled on what we had knowing we had to change it along the line, it was the council’s crest.

“It’s an opportune moment as we’re steering the club back to Bermondsey and we’ve (currently) got a crest that’s all about Southwark and Camberwell – that’s not where we want to be!”

Explaining the “Angry Fish” design, Mr Hall continued, “We looked at what is a crest and what it’s for.  It’s to tell people who we are, where we’re from and the history of the club.  The Fish symbol is named after the man (John Fisher) our club is named after. 

“But I feel very strongly – it’s ours!  We’re known as the Fish.  People get it!  Teams are named after the town they come from, but we’re named after a person.  I propose to put Bermondsey on the crest so we can tell people where we’re from.

“It’s a big part of moving the club physically back to Bermondsey, with a new management team all largely local lads and local players.”

An online poll on the club’s official website is in favour of the switch.

“We have consulted through the website this week, so we did take the website fans and they were 87% in favour of the new crest,” added Mr Hall.

“There’s a case being made there and people voting with their feet.  It’s about communicating with people, telling them where we’re from and return to our history.”

Tonight’s meeting was held at a college some 300 yards away from the clubs spiritual home – the Surrey Docks Stadium, which the chairman revealed was owned by Stadplex Limited.

A return back home would mirror the achievements of Faversham Town, who pulled off heroic efforts to get football playing again at Salters Lane, despite over grown weeds and being the victims of vandalism.

And the chairman revealed tonight that they club are longing to return back to their roots and are looking into three sites.

“It’s one of our priorities this year, there’s not much more to add than previously,” said Mr Westmancott.

“We’re looking at three sites, Southwark Park, St Paul’s Playing Field and Salters Road.

“The board have had talks with various people, Supporters Direct, Councillors, local MP’s, Barry Alpin-Dyer and we are progressing those talks and we are making some progress but we are having a time out to decide how we can make the new stadium work.”

Club secretary Dan York added, “There’s various options, nothing is necessarily moving fast.  What we can do is put a business case forward for a new stadium, what facilities we will have there, size, location, car parking, etc.”

The powerbrokers should look to bring the club back to its Bermondsey roots, especially now as the club has a Bermondsey feel to it on the pitch, with many players and its management team from the area.

Mr Westmancott added: “Our priorities that we’ve discussed as a board is to improve the on-field performance and strengthen links with youth teams and the local community and local business and bringing Fisher back home to Bermondsey is our number one priority.”

Visit Fisher’s website: www.fisherfc.co.uk