I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their support on the site over the past season. As a team, we’ve put out a significant amount of content, from the podcast to YouTube, from news and events to the history and featured articles.
There are too many people to thank for their input, and even though I’ll attempt a short list, I already feel bad at leaving someone out. Thanks to Malcolm, Chris, Charlie, Ben and Tom, all of whom have been heavily involved in the different content strands this year. Thanks to Bubs for his great images and Henry for his work on our shortform video content. Thank you to everyone who has submitted an article or engaged with our content, and please, anyone I’ve forgotten, please do not think you’re not appreciated.
I’d like to thank the Patreons of the site as well, those who put a couple of quid in every month to help keep us going. Costs are rising and (as is natural) people drop out of the Patreon system, which means we’re experiencing a little bit of a deficit. That’s where this article comes in.
The Patreon System
For those who do not know, Patreon allows you to donate money each month to the site, if you like the content. We then use that money to run the site, and you get certain benefits. There’s a Patreon-only Discord channel where members can discuss the latest news and events, chatter during a game and ask us question, suggest articles, etc. From time to time I drop a special report from Wyscout in there, as well as a couple of other bits. The feedback I’ve always had is Patreons don’t really expect anything extra, they’re just happy to keep contributing to the content on the site, so we can keep offering the latest news and views.
I haven’t pushed it much recently, and some people often say ‘I didn’t know you had a Patreon system’ because it’s not always obvious. We rarely come out with the begging bowl unless it is for chairty, but it feels like a good time to just outline why we have a Patreon, and why we are asking for anyone else who enjoys our content to get involved.
Rising Costs
The obvious reason is rising costs. For clarity, we pay out a lot for the site. There are our subscriptions to Wyscout (stats), Kickly (graphics), Streamyard (streaming), British Newspapers (research), Descript (transcribing interviews) and Jetpack (backend website stuff). We have to pay for hosting and some imagery, as well as Stats FC for the player-rater. Once a year, we have to renew our domain, and I’m sure there are odds and ends that I haven’t included. Last year, that came in at around £190 per month, just for the site to go live before anything like time, travel costs and equipment had been factored in. Before a key had been pressed in anger!
Sadly, those costs are going up. Wyscout is going from a reasonable monthly fee to a one-off yearly fee (the wrong side of £600). Other subscriptions, such as Jetpack (which keeps the site spam-free) and Streamyard, have crept up. With Patron income falling slightly, it does make things a little difficult. I don’t want to have to choose which things we can afford, as they all contribute significantly to our offering.
The Solution
The solution is to turn to readers, especially those who visit every day, engage with the content but are not Patreons. Can you spare a couple of quid a month to help us keep doing what we do? We have plans for more video content next year, as well as expanding some of the stats stuff we do to opponents, giving you more insight into the games that are coming up. To keep doing this, we are asking for new Patreon members.
The details for the Patreon scheme can be found here ( https://www.patreon.com/staceywest/membership ) and membership starts at just £2 per month. We ask if you do enjoy the site, would you miss the price of half a pint of beer, once a month? If not, please do consider joining up. It will allow us to keep doing what we do next season (the ninth year we’ll be offering coverage of the Imps), and hopefully beyond!
Up the Imps
If you have any suggestions or comments, please drop me an email, gary@staceywest.net. If you have any comments or suggestions for the podcast, use podcast@staceywest.net.
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