New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[horlock07]

That q and A is aids

That's fucking harsh, nice of them to clarify at Question 21 that we traditionally play in red

[horlock07]

O'Dwyer Groundworks is a dissolved company, so assuming some reincarnation or similar naming.  Spidey senses tingling - Irish...

I suspect its nothing more sinister than someone has chosen to type over an existing document template, but they really don't help themselves.....

[RobertT]

I suspect its nothing more sinister than someone has chosen to type over an existing document template, but they really don't help themselves.....

Yeah - I think it's a very old document that they keep saving over.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

That q and A is aids

That good?

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

"Swindon Town and the Eady Trust paid for the refurb – we will not
disclose the refurb cost. "

Nice little earner for one of their mates that, just to fuck it up and have to waste more of poor Mr Eadys money he left.

"Do the minority shareholders of STFC have pre-emption
rights in the event of the club being sold?  

No"

Surprised we got a straight answer on that.

[tans]

I suspect its nothing more sinister than someone has chosen to type over an existing document template, but they really don't help themselves.....

They even listed one of the persons names who asked a question. Question 15

Cant even proof read correctly

[RobertT]

My experiences as a paying customer at the CG are very limited these days.  So when I do come back, I try not to assume it is always that bad (which is a statement itself).

The notes from the AB have my piss boiling a little though.  I came back over Christmas and attended the Colchester Utd game in person, using the DR stand.  I walked up to the far end of the stand to check the turnstiles were not somehow open but nobody had bothered to use them, around 30 mins prior to kick off.  The queues were several hundred long at this point, and no, those turnstiles were not initially open.  So please fuck off with some sort of fan blaming again - it has nothing to do with being late, nothing to do with being fucking imbeciles that cannot check for open entry points, and everything to do with running the business as a shell.  Just be honest (they won't), that cutting every expense to the bone means you cannot operate all the turnstiles all the time, because staffing would be too thin.

Anyway, while that angers me, it talks to a bigger issue.  It is a very visual piece of evidence that shows the club simply has no idea, no strategy, no tactics, on what it needs to do in order to maximise earning potential.  Instead, the CEO keeps identifying what he thinks the issues are - earning too few pounds per ticket (previous rant about season ticket holders getting too many free games, all the adults pretending to be kids, and now it's Nationwide doing the freeloading).  He is not wrong to identify the revenue earned by the business is not big enough relative to the customer base, he is so far off base on how to change that.  If you make it impossible to get into the concourse areas of the ground, and keep people in queues, you substantially reduce your earning potential for each paying customer.  Forget the ticket price - they already paid you.  Your job is to get more than double what they paid to get into the ground from their wallet on the day - by having them confined to areas where YOU are the ONLY option to spend money.  People cannot spend money in queues.  They cannot be in the shop, they cannot be in the concourse wondering if they fancy a beer, or a burger (don't get me started on the catering facilities).

Clubs at our level could probably compare notes and find they all earn a very similar amount of money per customer in ticket revenue.  The area where some do better is getting more money beyond that - through retail, through hospitality, through catering, through event hosting, through office space rental etc.  I recently have experience of a friend being unable to part with nearly 10k for an event because a) the space is not fit for purpose, and b) because the ability to engage and book is tricky.

Sorry Mr Hall, you are a fucking pleb.

[tans]

"Swindon Town and the Eady Trust paid for the refurb – we will not
disclose the refurb cost. "

Nice little earner for one of their mates that, just to fuck it up and have to waste more of poor Mr Eadys money he left.

"Do the minority shareholders of STFC have pre-emption
rights in the event of the club being sold?  

No"

Surprised we got a straight answer on that.

Wont be a straight answer though will it

[RobertT]

To continue my rant - imagine a shop being told it could charge about 12 quid for 10k customers to visit the shop 23 times a year, paying every time for entry.  Then, they will stick around in your shop for between 2 and 3 hours a visit and have their methods of payment on them.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

My experiences as a paying customer at the CG are very limited these days.  So when I do come back, I try not to assume it is always that bad (which is a statement itself).

The notes from the AB have my piss boiling a little though.  I came back over Christmas and attended the Colchester Utd game in person, using the DR stand.  I walked up to the far end of the stand to check the turnstiles were not somehow open but nobody had bothered to use them, around 30 mins prior to kick off.  The queues were several hundred long at this point, and no, those turnstiles were not initially open.  So please fuck off with some sort of fan blaming again - it has nothing to do with being late, nothing to do with being fucking imbeciles that cannot check for open entry points, and everything to do with running the business as a shell.  Just be honest (they won't), that cutting every expense to the bone means you cannot operate all the turnstiles all the time, because staffing would be too thin.

Anyway, while that angers me, it talks to a bigger issue.  It is a very visual piece of evidence that shows the club simply has no idea, no strategy, no tactics, on what it needs to do in order to maximise earning potential.  Instead, the CEO keeps identifying what he thinks the issues are - earning too few pounds per ticket (previous rant about season ticket holders getting too many free games, and now it's Nationwide doing the freeloading).  He is not wrong to identify the revenue earned by the business is not big enough relative to the customer base, he is so far off base on how to change that.  If you make it impossible to get into the concourse areas of the ground, and keep people in queues, you substantially reduce your earning potential for each paying customer.  Forget the ticket price - they already paid you.  Your job is to get more than double what they paid to get into the ground from their wallet on the day - by having them confined to areas where YOU are the ONLY option to spend money.  People cannot spend money in queues.  They cannot be in the shop, they cannot be in the concourse wondering if they fancy a beer, or a burger (don't get me started on the catering facilities).

Clubs at our level could probably compare notes and find they all earn a very similar amount of money per customer in ticket revenue.  The area where some do better is getting more money beyond that - through retail, through hospitality, through catering, through event hosting, through office space rental etc.  I recently have experience of a friend being unable to part with nearly 10k for an event because a) the space is not fit for purpose, and b) because the ability to engage and book is tricky.

Sorry Mr Hall, you are a fucking pleb.

The mantra of this ownership is blame fans sadly. A minority of morons lap it up. Some reasonable people will give a certain amount of benefit of the doubt but the goodwill has eroded long ago from anyone with half a brain willing to wait and see.

[tans]

So Adam Hart is now a consultant for S&C which has been outsourced this season. (Funny that)

Makes a change from being listed as Operations Director i suppose.

Why do they think they can just lie and blame all the bloody time.

[RobertT]

Because it broadly works.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Neil Ball the more orange hats/can't spell morfuni head clem fanboy on facebook in response to the trust statement.

"Surely that shows where money is spent. Anyone who runs and supports a lower league club must realize its a up-hill struggle to just keep afloat. We are lucky to have an owner who is putting money into our club. That is what most football fans want".

Speechless.

[Audrey]

Maybe he was closely associated with the LL ‘refurb’

[Mplanney]

My experiences as a paying customer at the CG are very limited these days.  So when I do come back, I try not to assume it is always that bad (which is a statement itself).

The notes from the AB have my piss boiling a little though.  I came back over Christmas and attended the Colchester Utd game in person, using the DR stand.  I walked up to the far end of the stand to check the turnstiles were not somehow open but nobody had bothered to use them, around 30 mins prior to kick off.  The queues were several hundred long at this point, and no, those turnstiles were not initially open.  So please fuck off with some sort of fan blaming again - it has nothing to do with being late, nothing to do with being fucking imbeciles that cannot check for open entry points, and everything to do with running the business as a shell.  Just be honest (they won't), that cutting every expense to the bone means you cannot operate all the turnstiles all the time, because staffing would be too thin.

Anyway, while that angers me, it talks to a bigger issue.  It is a very visual piece of evidence that shows the club simply has no idea, no strategy, no tactics, on what it needs to do in order to maximise earning potential.  Instead, the CEO keeps identifying what he thinks the issues are - earning too few pounds per ticket (previous rant about season ticket holders getting too many free games, all the adults pretending to be kids, and now it's Nationwide doing the freeloading).  He is not wrong to identify the revenue earned by the business is not big enough relative to the customer base, he is so far off base on how to change that.  If you make it impossible to get into the concourse areas of the ground, and keep people in queues, you substantially reduce your earning potential for each paying customer.  Forget the ticket price - they already paid you.  Your job is to get more than double what they paid to get into the ground from their wallet on the day - by having them confined to areas where YOU are the ONLY option to spend money.  People cannot spend money in queues.  They cannot be in the shop, they cannot be in the concourse wondering if they fancy a beer, or a burger (don't get me started on the catering facilities).

Clubs at our level could probably compare notes and find they all earn a very similar amount of money per customer in ticket revenue.  The area where some do better is getting more money beyond that - through retail, through hospitality, through catering, through event hosting, through office space rental etc.  I recently have experience of a friend being unable to part with nearly 10k for an event because a) the space is not fit for purpose, and b) because the ability to engage and book is tricky.

Sorry Mr Hall, you are a fucking pleb.

Rob, I can assure you the turnstiles issue was not a one off I think the Colchester game was the start, there are big queues every game now and definitely less turnstiles open now than earlier in the season as well as only the centre food area being open in the DRS, obviously cost cutting but then they run out of food and drinks, and complain we’re not sustainable