THE owner of Goole Vikings, Mark Richardson, has laid out a bold plan for the East Yorkshire club to make it big in League One and beyond.
The Vikings were awarded a League One franchise last month – in front of Bedford Tigers and Anglian Vipers – and will take to the field next season for the first time in a professional environment.
For Richardson, his ambition is shared by the locals and business people of Goole.
“I’ve always been very ambitious, I run my own business and I’ve been involved in a few rugby league clubs with sponsorship with Super League and League One,” Richardson said.
“My business will support this but looking at the business economics the people we can link with and when we announced we would go for the application, the amount of people that reached out to us we were getting emails daily from players, coaches and off-field roles with sponsorships.
“We have been very lucky that the whole storm around this has generated people coming to us rather than dropping a new team and having to look out ourselves.
“We have three or four player in the back ground that will help us financially.”
In terms of potential attendance numbers, Richardson was keen to stress just how well the Vikings have been doing in the amateur game.
“Games in the past have got attendances between 350 and 500. Look at average attendance in the League One, discounting Oldham and Keighley, the likes of Midlands get around 300 and 400.
“So we knew that us at amateur level competes at the bottom end of League One without any marketing or press.
“Throwing the media challenge out there to back us, we strongly believe we could be in the top third of attendance within the 20km radius.
“As you start to see the team be constructed, it will draw people in as their second team. There will be notable characters.”
Will Richardson be interested in a dual-registration agreement in the future?
“It’s important we don’t back ourselves with one club, we will bring talent to the club no matter where they come from.
“It’s something we would consider in the future, but you have to be careful with that. Some dual registration agreements because five or six players don’t get in a squad and then that reduces your ability to bring in other talent.
“We are coming for everyone in League One.”
With Richardson aiming to become everyone’s ‘second team’, just how will the Vikings plan their fixture dates?
“We have looked at it, it is a conundrum. We are helped with having Super League with Thursday, Friday and Saturday games.
“The amateur games have always been Saturday which have conflicted in the past.
“We have had thoughts to go to Sunday so traditionally the Super League clubs won’t be playing on that day and could come and see us.
“The stadium is a community venue, there are other teams playing there. We want to give a smuch focus to our amateur teams as well as us.
“We have looked at double-headers, playing different days as well as weekend options.
“We will have a period of unrest whilst the stadium is being redeveloped. It is a moving piece, we have got that in mind where we would like to go.”
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