Funding Stadium Improvements to Safeguard Promotion

Overview

The Situation

Following a promotion, the football club was required to complete mandatory stadium improvements to meet FA standards.

Failure to comply would have put their league status at risk.

The club had invested in new floodlights, fully owned and supported by invoices. These were initially considered as potential security for funding, with the aim of retaining ownership at the end of any agreement.

However, early discussions revealed that invoice finance did not align with the club’s income model.

The Challenge

The initial funding strategy centred on asset-backed and invoice-based solutions.

However:

• Invoice finance proved unsuitable
• Asset-backed options were limited due to sector appetite
• Multiple lenders declined, citing risk associated with non-league football income

At this stage, it would have been easy to accept the market response.
Instead, we stepped back and reassessed the structure.

Our Approach

Rather than treating this as a straightforward loan request, we took a full view of the club’s financial position and long-term sustainability.
We:

• Reviewed income patterns and matchday volatility
• Assessed asset-backed routes in-depth before ruling them out
• Analysed lender objections to rework the proposal
• Explored a wide panel of specialist and alternative lenders
• Repositioned the request to better align with current risk appetite

This wasn’t a case of sending one application and hoping for approval.
This required multiple conversations, restructuring of the proposal and careful positioning to secure lender confidence.

The Solution

After pivoting away from asset-backed routes, we secured:

• £31,000 unsecured business loan
• 12-month term
• Funds released within days of final approval

While the full £50,000 was not achievable with the current market appetite, the funding secured enabled the club to progress with the required works to meet FA compliance standards.
Promotion safeguarded.

Takeaway

This was not simply a case of sourcing finance.

It required:

• Strategic reassessment
• Persistence after multiple declines
• Adaptability in funding structure
• A willingness to explore every viable route

In commercially sensitive situations, resilience and intelligent restructuring often make the difference between setback and solution.