Season Ticket Prices

[MangoRed]

Handed his resignation in quite a while ago, and yep was doing 3 or so jobs on his own.
 

[Bob's Orange]

I think he has has left the business.

he's in charge of the golf merger thingy now.

In all seriousness, yeah I heard that he had left also. Given the amount of jobs he had according to the 'who's who' it appears the club have quite a bit of recruiting to do.

[horlock07]

I think Finance Director/Head of Retail/Head of Ticketing and part time general dogsbody Greg Norman didn't turn up to his shift due to 'burnout'

I assume he is very tied up with the PGA Tour, LIV Golf & DP World Tour merger after the news yesterday. 

[Bob's Orange]

Handed his resignation in quite a while ago, and yep was doing 3 or so jobs on his own.
 

In the last advisory board it was stated 'We always aim to improve our back of staff operations and aim to run our business as efficiently as possible'. Perhaps Greg Norman doing the 3 roles he did was the most efficient way of running the business, and I'm well aware that during the close season we aren't making any income and so staff changes are perhaps penciled in for August, but on the face of it we really need to make some good recruitment behind the scenes.

[horlock07]

In the last advisory board it was stated 'We always aim to improve our back of staff operations and aim to run our business as efficiently as possible'. Perhaps Greg Norman doing the 3 roles he did was the most efficient way of running the business, and I'm well aware that during the close season we aren't making any income and so staff changes are perhaps penciled in for August, but on the face of it we really need to make some good recruitment behind the scenes.

I would imagine there would be a degree of internal review regarding what is actually needed, for instance do we need a DoF or just someone who knows how finance works (a financial controller or accountant), the retail is hardly something that needs a head (just basically a shop manager) and likewise with it mainly being automated and outsourced, ticketing.

I think the club has tied itself in knots with its internal structure which plus parts of the fan base jumping on literally anything and spinning in a bad light has become something of a potent blend of toxicity.

[MangoRed]

In the last advisory board it was stated 'We always aim to improve our back of staff operations and aim to run our business as efficiently as possible'. Perhaps Greg Norman doing the 3 roles he did was the most efficient way of running the business, and I'm well aware that during the close season we aren't making any income and so staff changes are perhaps penciled in for August, but on the face of it we really need to make some good recruitment behind the scenes.

Completely agree with you. Much needed improvement RE recruitment needed behind the scenes. Bored of saying it but football people are needed. As you've mentioned AB answers, this answer I found a little odd as it didn't really answer the Q/answer with conviction -  We always aim to improve our back of staff operations and aim to run our business as efficiently as possible. (when asked if we have sufficient staff to run club professionally). This AB also mentions You will see announcements soon in relation to the vacant Football roles so hopefully we get that soon.

Head of ticketing, retail, finance and media are all currently vacant. Also, club secretary, player care manager and first team sports scientist are also all vacant. 4 vacancies in the academy also (3 positions advertised on club site)

Changeover in staff is pretty normal at swindon/lower league clubs but as mentioned above, people with a football background have to be priority. No head of ticketing, retail, finance and media is making it harder for people at the club, can cause unrest if it means poor coms etc  and obviously all 4 of those areas are crucial to a club like ours in pre season. Just my take on it.

[Nemo]

It's sort of interesting that they don't seem to publicly advertise vacancies on the administrative side of the business. I assume one of our many partners must be a recruitment firm!

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Completely agree with you. Much needed improvement RE recruitment needed behind the scenes. Bored of saying it but football people are needed. As you've mentioned AB answers, this answer I found a little odd as it didn't really answer the Q/answer with conviction -  We always aim to improve our back of staff operations and aim to run our business as efficiently as possible. (when asked if we have sufficient staff to run club professionally). This AB also mentions You will see announcements soon in relation to the vacant Football roles so hopefully we get that soon.

Head of ticketing, retail, finance and media are all currently vacant. Also, club secretary, player care manager and first team sports scientist are also all vacant. 4 vacancies in the academy also (3 positions advertised on club site)

Changeover in staff is pretty normal at swindon/lower league clubs but as mentioned above, people with a football background have to be priority. No head of ticketing, retail, finance and media is making it harder for people at the club, can cause unrest if it means poor coms etc  and obviously all 4 of those areas are crucial to a club like ours in pre season. Just my take on it.

If we're addressing this and not offering peanuts for these roles, then it should do away with a lot of the worry and bad feeling that is starting to filter through to the fanbase. When Stevie Wonder can see things are falling through the cracks, it just breeds discontent.

[THE FLASH]

I showed up on the 30th to get my ST and it was closed...bit miffed as i checked the opening times.

Have to suck up the extra cost now i suppose. My own fault for avoiding Online at all costs i suppose but i wanted to sort the correct seat out after switching stands.

[Bob's Orange]

I showed up on the 30th to get my ST and it was closed...bit miffed as i checked the opening times.

Have to suck up the extra cost now i suppose. My own fault for avoiding Online at all costs i suppose but i wanted to sort the correct seat out after switching stands.

I checked the comms last week and it was advertised as being open 30th and 31st from 9-4.

Don't really think it's your fault to be fair but fair play for you for not making a big deal out of it.

[RobertT]

I would imagine there would be a degree of internal review regarding what is actually needed, for instance do we need a DoF or just someone who knows how finance works (a financial controller or accountant), the retail is hardly something that needs a head (just basically a shop manager) and likewise with it mainly being automated and outsourced, ticketing.

I think the club has tied itself in knots with its internal structure which plus parts of the fan base jumping on literally anything and spinning in a bad light has become something of a potent blend of toxicity.

I'd imagine they will close out the DoF role, or just recruit a more football admin type role.

On the other side though, it does need someone in charge - even under Danny Lee the shop side was a mess (based on a personal visit) and he had the ticketing side much improved, plus matchday Hospitality etc.  Even with an outsourced ticketing operation, you need someone able to manage that vendor relationship, the matchday turnstile crew, determine pricing and packages, matchday hospitality operations, the Legends Lounge etc.  I think you can have less Senior Managers of each of those areas reporting to a Head, but that should be separate from Finance.

[Batch]

I showed up on the 30th to get my ST and it was closed...bit miffed as i checked the opening times.

Have to suck up the extra cost now i suppose. My own fault for avoiding Online at all costs i suppose but i wanted to sort the correct seat out after switching stands.

it's not too much to ask that they are open when they say they will be.

it's not too much to ask a club to reply to various queries

I don't blame the staff that are employed.

I don't blame the club for minimising costs, but it seems we are currently under critical mass.

[Bob's Orange]

it's not too much to ask that they are open when they say they will be.

it's not too much to ask a club to reply to various queries

I don't blame the staff that are employed.

I don't blame the club for minimising costs, but it seems we are currently under critical mass.

I think that's fair - I hate to beat up on the club relentlessly but during Early Bird Season Ticket time surely you get the shop open as much as possible, those loyal fans that want their regular seat may even leave the club shop with some 'merch' bringing in additional revenue. Not having the place open when advertised during the Early Bird window isn't good at all.

I'm not one of the 'club don't deserve the fans' type people, but for us to amass the Season Ticket sales we have, the club really has to do better.

[Peter Venkman]

I think that's fair - I hate to beat up on the club relentlessly but during Early Bird Season Ticket time surely you get the shop open as much as possible, those loyal fans that want their regular seat may even leave the club shop with some 'merch' bringing in additional revenue. Not having the place open when advertised during the Early Bird window isn't good at all.

I'm not one of the 'club don't deserve the fans' type people, but for us to amass the Season Ticket sales we have, the club really has to do better.

100%

[Mooneyraker]

I don't remember the club ever being this shambolic or seemingly run by a skeleton staff before. Even during Power's reign of terror (barring the denouement) it was functioning fairly normally, as it did under the Wills/Diamandis period. This has to be an active decision from Clem/Aberdeen. The ticketing side is unforgivably shambolic. I've never had less confidence in my purchase as a consumer than when buying tickets at STFC. I assume my season ticket has been successfully actioned but have no proof it has.