BARROW hope the sale of debentures, which will allow holders to effectively become part-owners, will help drive the club forward.
The Championship club, currently celebrating their 150th year and operating a Women’s Super League side and their own player development system, have long been seeking fresh investment.
Chairman and chief executive Steve Neale has previously appealed for individuals or groups to come on board to support his plans for progress – or even take the club on.
Now he says he needs help, and new members, to help negotiate a financially-challenging period.
The former player has been at the helm since July 2018 and, having been relegated in 2019, the Raiders won promotion to the second tier as League One champions in 2021.
They finished fourth to reach the play-offs in 2022, but have been eleventh in each of the last two seasons.
Debentures are issued by companies to raise capital, essentially a form of loan which investors provide to the issuer.
The club explained: “Under Barrow Raiders’ constitution, all debenture holders are members of the club, who have the power to elect their board of directors of choice and to provide some influence on the direction of the club at company meetings.
“The number of members has fallen, and the last two annual meetings have struggled to be quorate.”
Referring to the period from 2023 onwards, Neale explained: “Our cash reserves began to dwindle, and I again started having to prop up the club.
“Our income streams have diversified, and we are bringing more money into the club, but the big cut in central funds caused by a reduction in the television deal, our purchase of the old Josephine’s nightclub to release a covenant on the ground restricting the sale of alcohol and the loss of our Gold Rush lottery has hit hard.
“For the past two seasons we have had a slight reduction in the playing budget, but I have had to put in significant sums through both donations and loans to keep the club solvent, and to keep a team capable of remaining in the Championship.
“It is testimony to the great work of our coach Paul Crarey and his team that we have kept our status when most clubs have a much bigger budget backed by wealthier individuals.
“Much of our budget deficit is caused by short-term loan repayments, and the ideal solution to balance the books would be to remortgage and spread the debt over a much longer period.
“But there is a reluctance to provide funding to sporting clubs despite us having a great deal of equity in our ground.
“We need new younger members and a cash injection to help us through the next couple of challenging years while we still have the short-term debt to service.
“From a personal perspective, I can’t do much more. I have invested all my life savings, sold a second property I owned, remortgaged my house and taken personal loans to help the club through the deficit of the last three years.
“I will continue to try my best, but I need help.”
On wider plans to regenerate the area, Neale added: “There are exciting times ahead for the community with an expanding workforce and the drive to improve the town as a whole.
“Barrow Raiders are going to be part of those plans, and we still have a dream of playing at the very pinnacle of our sport.
“Despite the challenges, there are very good reasons to be optimistic about the future success of the club, given the progress we have made and the strong foundations in place.
