New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[STFC_Manc]

Dont forget how different the plans for statue park looked from what we got.

Not surprising with the slop that ended up on social media. I'm sure people will be clamouring for a box in DRS if they're being served that.

I've been several times and always got good food, shock.. social media is always best or worst case being displayed.

[Batch]

The 1879 suite food was damn good in 2023. I think the pic was robins suite?

Might have all changed since of course.

In ground normal food is shite though. Those sausage rolls 🤢

[STFC_Manc]

The 1879 suite food was damn good in 2023. I think the pic was robins suite?

Might have all changed since of course.

In ground normal food is shite though. Those sausage rolls 🤢

I've been in both recently and always enjoyed the food. Not tried the food in the ground though.

[Bob1978]

Dont forget how different the plans for statue park looked from what we got.

Not surprising with the slop that ended up on social media. I'm sure people will be clamouring for a box in DRS if they're being served that.

I don’t have a problem with statue park - the statue is the star of the show and it’s excellent - nice space around it too. That was down to the trust though.

[Honkytonk]

The key objective is to make more revenue for the club, so it's more sustainable than it currently is now.  Your points all make sense but don't really drive additional revenue, as we aren't filling all the seats currently.

Sorry to quote you again Manc, I'm not picking a fight.

If the goal was to make more revenue, the operation of the club would not run out of food, drink, and club shop items on match days. It wouldn't actively work to reduce the number of people entering the ground in the run up to the game. It's not like they're currently maximising their revenue streams. Running out of food in a fancy new cafe under the DRS will be exactly the same as running out of food in the hole in the wall under it now.

I don't for a second believe a new stand and more boxes will mean the club can sort out basic match day operations.

[STFC_Manc]

Sorry to quote you again Manc, I'm not picking a fight.

If the goal was to make more revenue, the operation of the club would not run out of food, drink, and club shop items on match days. It wouldn't actively work to reduce the number of people entering the ground in the run up to the game. It's not like they're currently maximising their revenue streams. Running out of food in a fancy new cafe under the DRS will be exactly the same as running out of food in the hole in the wall under it now.

I don't for a second believe a new stand and more boxes will mean the club can sort out basic match day operations.

Agreed they can make more of what they have now.  However the potential is higher under the proposal. You can sell corporate boxes for a lot more than normal corporate

[Tails]

Agreed they can make more of what they have now.  However the potential is higher under the proposal. You can sell corporate boxes for a lot more than normal corporate

The normal corporate they can't sell at the moment anyway?

[No Longer Posh Red]

The normal corporate they can't sell at the moment anyway?

To be fair to STFC_MANC selling a box for a season to a company is more likely than selling tables to groups in a one off basis.

When I was in Peterborough our company had a box, and people at the company could apply to use it on match days (not that I ever did).
I’d assume they could probably find 10 companies in Swindon, maybe less if someone took two together.

You would think all of this should be in the business case, which nobody’s seen yet.

My biggest concern with all of it is the fact that they have shown an inability to get things right first time and on time, which is likely to leave the DRS closed for some time at the start of the season

[Bob's Orange]

To be fair to STFC_MANC selling a box for a season to a company is more likely than selling tables to groups in a one off basis.

When I was in Peterborough our company had a box, and people at the company could apply to use it on match days (not that I ever did).
I’d assume they could probably find 10 companies in Swindon, maybe less if someone took two together.

You would think all of this should be in the business case, which nobody’s seen yet.

My biggest concern with all of it is the fact that they have shown an inability to get things right first time and on time, which is likely to leave the DRS closed for some time at the start of the season

In the Premier league the company my dad worked for at the time, BCA had a corporate box and he went to quite a few games that season using it. You'd imagine some of the bigger companies like Nationwide and Zurich would snap these up.

[4D]

I trust all the work to market these has been done? 

[Tails]

To be fair to STFC_MANC selling a box for a season to a company is more likely than selling tables to groups in a one off basis.

When I was in Peterborough our company had a box, and people at the company could apply to use it on match days (not that I ever did).
I’d assume they could probably find 10 companies in Swindon, maybe less if someone took two together.

You would think all of this should be in the business case, which nobody’s seen yet.

My biggest concern with all of it is the fact that they have shown an inability to get things right first time and on time, which is likely to leave the DRS closed for some time at the start of the season

I guess it comes down to the old adage of "If you build it they will come". As it stands there is little demand for hospitality from STFC and they are throwing money and time at a project to increase hospitality. I'm biased I know because I'm cynical of absolutely everything they do... I'm just not sure this will come to fruition in the way they think it will.

[tans]

I trust all the work to market these has been done? 

Depends of there is a tribute act concert or not first

[4D]

Call me old fashioned but we're a lower league club who will likely float around league 1 and 2 with the occasional possibility of reaching the Championship (maybe every 20 years). Our crowds have been fairly consistent the last 35 years but I  believe we should be marketing the club for future fans, not to people who probably don't support STFC or never will. People are already staying away. Go back a couple of years and the crowd against Bradford would have been around the 12k mark, especially if the bank hadn't fallen into such a state as to be condemned. Reducing spending everywhere but promoting corporate is wrong in my opinion, they should be concentrating on improving facilities and the matchday experience for the actual fans. It's not a concert venue or a corporate venue, it's a football stadium ffs.

[horlock07]

In ground normal food is shite though. Those sausage rolls 🤢

Is the food at any ground at this level any good, admittedly I've only followed us to various northern outposts in the last few years but the food has been invariably, sparse, ludicrously expensive and shite!

[theakston2k]

There’s only going to be 10 boxes though, so it’s hardly going to be a game changer in terms of income. The rest of the hospitality will be largely the same as it is now. If you compare to Adam’s park, Vale Park, London Road etc they have at least double that number of boxes. On match days even if you assume best case the box users are going to be completely new customers your only looking at a maximum of around £150k extra a season.

There’s no future proofing, room to expand if demand is there. It’s the standard bare minimum approach we always see from this lot and in the process show nothing but contempt for ordinary fans. We struggle to reach 50% of our capacity but if this happens there will be almost no tickets available to normal fans in the central sections of our 2 side stands which is beyond poor.

It’s still a lot of disruption for minimal benefit IMO. Do it right or not at all.