Thread by Peter McCormack

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  • Dec 27, 2021
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1/ The following thread explains in detail our vision for @realbedford. The presentation is available on our website and we are open to discussing it with anyone.

A thread 👇👇👇
2/ Our vision is rooted in delivering opportunities to Bedford, both economic and with grassroots football. Our early success means we already have funds to make these investments.
3/ Our plan will likely be criticised by footballing purists. But every football club is a business and every club wants to be successful. The success of us as a business is intrinsically linked to success on the pitch.
4/ I am a Bedford lad and have lived here my whole life. I grew up in Kempston and moved to Bedford town as an adult. My only wish is to give something back to the local community.
5/ To drive on the field success we will operate a commercially successful business. We say this without shame. We also understand this requires a relationship with the local authority.
6/ We understand the cynical eye on the corporate side of football, but a commercially successful club only has upside for the people of Bedford...
7/ ...because a profitable football club can invest in grassroots football. We have funds ready to invest now.
8/ As such, we have written to the @BedsFA requesting a meeting. We want to discuss how we can best support grassroots football in Bedford.
9/ We understand that it is tough for non-league clubs. Teams compete for the best players on a tight budget driven by the revenue they can secure from local fans. We are happy to share our ideas with any other non-league clubs.
10/ We are fortunate to be able to leverage the #bitcoin audience to get behind our team. This gives us access to millions of people internationally who will be important to our model.

Also, I love the fact that I can get people around the world talking about Bedford.
11/ But we must engage with the local community and build a fanbase in the town. We want as many people as possible to come to our games, cheer on our players and support our team.
12/ We will be hosting a fans forum in the town in January. Our exec team will present our vision, host an open Q&A and register interest in supporting our project. Register for our newsletter on our website to be notified of the details - realbedford.com.
13/ We want to offer a different experience to local fans. For example:
- We will offer cheaper shirts in our clubhouse
- Membership will be free for Bedford residents
- Tickets will be free until the end of 22/23 season (longer if we can)
14/ As noted, we have written to the @BedsFA requesting a meeting. We know we require a strong relationship with them.
15/ We want to grow out our infrastructure and have put women's, youth and reserve teams at the top of our plan. We would also like to develop a 4G pitch as there are not enough playing surfaces in the town.
16/ To support our vision for footballing excellence, we will go through the process of gaining the @FA's chartered standard accreditation.
17/ But as noted, our international audience is key to our commercial success. We know some people won't like this, they will make jokes about armchair fans, but it is these fans who will help us drive economic opportunity in Bedford. We are proud, not ashamed of this.
18/ We are building a network of international supporters clubs. People around the world want to support the vision we have for my little town of Bedford. You can follow this here: realbedford.com/fans-international
19/ We are not a known club. We accept we don't have a history that many care about. But what we can do is create history for the people of Bedford.
20/ We have started investing and made available new financial and support services to the manager and team.
21/ We have a meeting in January with the Bedford Local Authority. Top of our agenda is our ground and future development for a club with league aspirations.

Bedford can support a league club, maybe a Premier League club 😉
22/ We will explain to the local authority the unique international advantage we have and what this means for the people of Bedford.
23/ A lot has been made of the #bitcoin thing...crypto bro's invading football. There is also a lot of misunderstanding here. We are nothing like the crypto bullshit attempted with Bradford.
- No bullshit fan tokens
- No NFTs

We just operate on a #bitcoin standard.
24/ It will take time to communicate what #bitcoin is to those who don't understand. It is the financial model we operate our business on, one of sound money where our treasury is held in #bitcoin, avoiding the debasement of the £ due to economic mismanagement by the government.
25/ Shirt sales will be a key revenue stream for the club and we have partnered with @KappaTeamwearUK. We will be taking pre-orders in the new year.
26/ Big thanks to our designer @Palnoch1 who has been working tirelessly on a range of merchandise. We will start taking orders in the New Year.

Getting the Bedford name around the world 🤯
27/ We will operate with ultimate transparency providing audited monthly income reports by our accountants.

At present:
- Bank balance: £148,416.76
- Invoices due: £250,000.00
- Bitcoin treasury: 1.329 BTC (£5,0389.32)
bc1qdulgwug2n2cud06qshgffz9lt2zztfgusvdkm2
28/ We have made significant progress already. In the first week, we closed £500k in sponsorships + £250k in negotiation. We have built out some of our tech and comms and registered a network of international supporters clubs.

We have so much more to do, please be patient.
29/ We are working on our organisational structure and have made a number of appointments with our board and exec team. This will be an evolving structure.
30/ We expect a lot of cynicism towards this, we know many before have come in with grand promises and left clubs in tatters. This is not a plan built on losing money or a chairman with deep pockets. We are already profitable and plan to stay that way.
31/ Our roadmap is growing. As mentioned we have a lot to do. We will keep updating this and provide it as part of our monthly transparency reports.
32/ A lot has been made of my claim to get Bedford to The Premier League... why aim lower?

We are realistic, we don't expect Bedford to be a massive club like Liverpool or United, but we do think we can become a small professional club like Tottenham.
33/ I have always dreamed of bringing league football to Bedford and with the backing of the #bitcoin community I can do this.

There will be people desperate for this to fail, some people will hate it with a passion. So be it.

LFG ☠️⚽️🚀
If you have any questions or want to reach out:
- Email peter@realbedford.com
- Follow @realbedford
- More info: www.realbedford.com
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