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What is Club 135?
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Club 135 – ‘Honour the Past, Ensure a Future’

We have effectively been in a ‘Save Cowdenbeath FC mode’ for a number of years now. Many, many options and possibilities have been explored in that time such as new investors, new ground, council assistance, joint ventures, etc., but it must be concluded there is unlikely to be a white knight ready to come to the rescue. That leaves matters in the hands of all those who are fans, the local community and those with an affinity for the club or town – they (we) are collectively the custodians and guardians of this club which has spent much of its long life defying the odds. Its future lies in your hands. Club 135 is a key part of securing that future.




Your Questions answered


Why Club 135?

Established to honour the miners who founded Cowdenbeath FC some 135 years ago and the club’s 135 years in existence (now over 137 years).


What is the aim?


To raise £135,000.


When is the funding required?

From now and on a progressive basis during 2018.


How can that be achieved? 

Our plea is that every fan, or anyone at all who has a link to this old mining town or is a well-wisher or maybe just would like to aid a small town football club, donate a minimum of £10 to the Club.

Over and above making a donation the more vital role we ask you to play for our club is to be ambassadors for it by promoting Club 135 to your friends and contacts on social media, e-mail, etc. – just as if you had a sponsor sheet! And enlist those friends to enlist their friends and so on. You can also make a contribution in memory of a loved one – maybe someone who was a Cowdenbeath fan or who came from Cowdenbeath. Club 135 is absolutely vital to Cowdenbeath FC’s future.


Why is this different from the past?

The club no longer benefits from –

    • Large crowds with support drawn from a large mining community. Mining has all gone. Lower League crowds in the SPFL are generally small and the club has the lowest average crowd of the 42 in the Scottish League.
       
    • Significant transfer income - rearing your own talent and then selling players to larger clubs has largely been destroyed by the Bosman ruling on players’ freedom of contract and exacerbated by the overall financial position of Scottish football whilst the SFA has increasingly pushed support for youth development toward bigger, richer clubs.
       
    • Renting out ground for other purposes in particular the longstanding weekly market and stock cars (in situ since 1965). The club receives absolutely nothing from these sources now.
       
    • Owning Central Park - In 2010 Cowdenbeath FC lost ownership of its own ground following the property crash. A potential commercial property development plan for Central Park which looked to also secure the club’s future was stymied when Fife Council chose to grant planning permission to a rival scheme elsewhere in town which many years later still lies vacant.
       
    • An overdraft or Bank borrowing – The club has no property now to offer to a Bank as security for an overdraft which in the past was a natural means of aiding short term cash flow – Banks in general are now wary of lending to Scottish football clubs in any case having had their fingers burned by other clubs living beyond their means and going bust.

     

Why is it needed? 

In the absence of any other funding solution there may be no Cowdenbeath Football Club.


How has club survived in recent seasons?

Windfall cup receipts helped but mainly with the support of many of its loyal fans via fundraising plus unsustainable sizeable injections of funds from the fans who are the club directors.


What will the money be used for?

The club needs to build a more solid financial base to give it some breathing space and stability. Some monies are required to underpin current short term activity and the remainder to provide a firmer foundation for the future.


What are the benefits?

  1. You will have played your part.

  2. Your name will be inscribed on an honours board at the club and also on an online version.

  3. You will help preserve a club founded over 135 years ago by the Miners of Cowdenbeath which has brought honour and national prominence to the town of Cowdenbeath through all those years for future generations.

  4. By this means we collectively Honour the Past and Ensure a Future for Cowdenbeath FC.


Do you want to be a Cowdenbeath FC Shareholder? 

Anyone donating £250 or more to Club 135 will be gifted one share in Cowdenbeath FC and thus have an opportunity which has rarely ever been publicly available to become one of the club’s owners! Over 20 people have already taken this opportunity to become one of the owners of their club.