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Klaipėda’s Neptūnas, which has consistently reduced its debt burden in recent years, faced the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic last spring, which left the organization, like the rest of world basketball, out of its road. However, the port city club has regrouped successfully, negotiated the terms of the contracts with the players and formed a team with a long-term and competitive vision.
In 2018, the managers who took over the club found a gap in the budget of 1.4 million euros, which consisted of debts and taxes to be paid to the State. At present, the debts of Neptūnas amount to 720 thousand. EUR, most of which is 480 thousand. EUR – for club members who constantly pay off debt with support.
“It was extremely difficult to work, because at the beginning of the work about 200 thousand were placed in our bank accounts. arrests in euros, we had to endure threatening letters from creditors about unpaid wages to former players. We managed to reach an agreement with them and conclude peace agreements, “he told the” bcneptūnas.lt “website. Vilius Sukonas.
It should be noted that during a particularly difficult time, the loans granted in 2018 are canceled annually by the shareholders. Information had appeared in the media that the club’s shareholder, Sigitas Ambrazevičius, had loaned 800,000 to the club. and now he’s trying to get them back. That is not true. S.Ambrazevičius will cancel all funds lent to support over time.
The club would also like to point out that the money from the Neptūnas basketball section is not mixed with the money from the Neptūnas football. These are completely different legal units with separate budgets.
“I would like to be very happy that after joining forces with the Kęstutis Ivaškevičius Academy, we managed to reunite the football team” Neptūnas “. Kęstutis Ivaškevičius and Tadas Vaitkus are making great efforts to bring football back to life in Klaipėda. The academy , which unites 400 young footballers, is growing and attracting new talent every year, and together with the “Neptūnas” football club we have created a pyramid of football clubs, “said V. Sukonas.
This season the budget of the basketball club “Neptūnas” is expected to rise to 1 million. part of which will also be used for debt relief. Klaipėda City Municipality makes a very strong and active contribution to this, without which the support club would have had to declare bankruptcy. The budget was cut by a third compared to 1.5 million last year. The reason is the sales of the companies that support the club due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the reduced financial opportunities of the members to support the team.
“We have assessed the potential risks and carefully formulated the new budget. We want to make sure we raise that money. Most importantly, the players are paid for their hard work in a timely manner. We want basketball players to feel good about it. Klaipeda, to spread the message that the players, their interests, mood and motivation are important to Neptune, ”said V. Sukonas.
Neptune hopes that the remaining part of the debt, which has been pressing the team for several years, will be covered quickly. Basketball players from the port city need the support of Klaipėda residents in the match, the financial support of Klaipėda and Western Lithuanian companies and the strong backing of the stakeholders of the club and the Klaip ciudadda city municipality.
“It seems to many that it is very easy to attract sponsors, but Sigitas and I had to visit many sponsors both in Klaipeda and in other Lithuanian cities, I can say that agreeing the support is a very difficult task. Our club offers advertising packages with the best price-quality ratio, the prices are several times lower than those of the competition, but even in this case it is difficult to attract sponsors.
Companies often ask: what are the benefits for us? Yes, there are companies that need to be visible, but there are also companies that love basketball and want to support their beloved city team. We also have businesses that are socially responsible and contribute to the existence of Lithuanian sports and support not only basketball, but various sports, ”said V. Sukonas.
The Port City Club is delighted to have managed to retain the general sponsors Mannol and Optibet, and other socially responsible Lithuanian companies are also contributing to the team’s existence.
Unfortunately, there are no state-owned companies on the list of sponsors, as the government places strict restrictions on them. Because of this, a significant part of the money that could be received from the Klaipeda Port Authority, Lithuanian Railways and other state-owned companies operating in Klaipeda is being lost. The leaders of Neptūnas devised a supporting model, which was presented to the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitan Nausėda, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and the politicians of the city of Klaipėda.
“After all, we want it to be convenient for companies to support basketball and sports in general. Under this model, sports teams could compete more strongly in Lithuanian and European tournaments, budgets would increase, new jobs would be created. and more taxes would be collected in the state budget. We hope that together we can implement this plan, with the help of which all sports will be able to take a step forward, “said Sigitas Ambrazevičius.
“We hear comments that basketball is a profitable activity and we benefit from it, but in reality it is not. The municipality carries out strict supervision and estimates are made according to which the money of the population is spent. Then, the Municipal representatives and state auditors send and inspect the reports. For several years in a row, when the reports submitted by us and the money spent are an example for other sports organizations in Klaipeda, how to manage the finances of the institution, “added V. Sukonas .
Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Klaipėda basketball pyramid, which began operating more firmly in early 2019, is also helping the Neptūnas club survive. There is a close connection between the Vladas Knašius basketball school, the “Neptūnas-Akvaservis” reserve team, the “Neptūnas” women’s team and the “Neptūnas” men’s main team.
Forward Klaidas Metrikis has opened the door of the main team and is playing in it, Nojus Mineikis is at the door, but not only has he made great progress: 3-4 players from the youth team will join Neptūnas training during the season , and the club plans to use the dual license rule regularly.
A great achievement is that we finally managed to keep in Klaipeda the most promising young locals of their year, such as Mintautas Mockus, Gabrielius Mažeika, Aringas Brazauskas, Kristupas Keinys. The goal of the substitute team will not be to be as high as possible in the NKL table, but to educate the young players. The club hopes that the best basketball players from the substitute team will join the Neptūnas first team each year and form its backbone for the future.
“I would like to thank Alfredas Kaniavas, the director of the V. Knašius Basketball School, for his great initiative, who always strives for both his students and the city’s main team. He oversees talents, communicates with his parents, and Dainius Vaitelis, the sporting director of Neptūnas, is graceful and successful for the pyramid. He looks after the development of young athletes on the field on a daily and ongoing basis, as well as helping off-site with schools and colleges. Also worth mentioning is fitness coach Laurynas Gendvilas, who leads fitness coaches across the entire pyramid. He is highly competent and earns the respect of athletes for his consistent and rigorous work. Laurynas Gendvilas is constantly improving, deepening her knowledge, leading seminars for the fitness coaches of the doubles team, the women’s team and the men’s soccer team, ”said V. Sukonas.
Last season the Neptūnas women’s team was born, whose coach became Dalius Ubartas, who returned to Klaipėda this summer and who contributed significantly to the organization of the summer sports camps. A strong women’s team was assembled, and the young basketball players from Klaipėda joined in professional training. The club made plans for the future, with which it was proposed to reactivate women’s basketball in Lithuania.
Last March, COVID-19 put the brakes on the Betsafe-LKL championship, and Neptune, which was in a difficult situation and could no longer cover previous deals, faced discontent from players and agents.
“I won’t hide, I had to get mad,” Sukonas said with a smile. – When the passions subsided, we started working to terminate the contracts for the previous season and finalize the contracts for the new season. We seek to rewrite previous contracts. With the help of agents, we reached new agreements with the players. I want to be glad that some of the elders understood the thankless situation of “Neptūnas” and of all Lithuanian basketball. They agreed to the new terms offered by the club. But there were also players who threw pain in the media and gave false information that was not spoken to or consulted. I can say that everything has been done and that the economic conditions for it are adequate. We have learned a lot from this COVID-19 pandemic, but we have lost a lot. I hope everything ends as soon as possible and not only Neptune, but also other teams recover economically sooner. “
Neptūnas jerseys are worn by seven players who competed in Klaipėda last season, and the team was joined by five newcomers: Evaldas Šaulys, Benas Griciūnas, Giedrius Stankevičius, Norbertas Giga and Aidas Einikis, who returned to the team. This “Lithuanian parade” will be led by Tomas Gaidamavičius, who, like the team’s players, has signed a long-term contract with Neptūnas.
“Together with the head coach, we agreed that this year the team will not have foreign legionnaires, it is a great opportunity for Lithuanian basketball players to improve, show their courage and dominance,” said V. Sukonas.
The Klaipėda “Neptūnas” basketball players fell in the final of the FIBA Champions League national team in Bulgaria and after a four-year break they will not compete in the group stage of the main tournament, but the students of T Gaidamavičius is not without motivation to fight on the home front.
“This year’s team and its composition were formed in accordance with the actual inventory budget, taking into account that the pandemic may repeat itself and the season may end again,” explained the head of Neptune. – We met with coach Tomas Gaidamavičius and found a general consensus that we are forming a younger team, where the youth of Klaip beda’s basketball pyramid could be revealed and that we would develop real basketball stars in a few years. It is very gratifying that the coach works for the future life of the team, the players, the club, and not for a personal resume. Tom is a great specific strategist who especially enjoys discipline during practice and games. We are satisfied with the team’s work, we hope that we do not present one or two surprises. I will not talk about the place in the tournament tables, but we will fight for the highest place. I ask for the support and patience of the fans, they trust in this process ”.
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