What do we do Thursday night and beyond?
Jan 24, 2018 15:45:53 GMT
Al, Ian H Block, and 7 more like this
Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2018 15:45:53 GMT
Please read this as a companion thread to the one Jeff has put on.
It seems pretty clear to me that following todays statement that we are right in the brown stuff financially. So what do we do moving forward?
Tomorrow night will be a very difficult one for the current board. I think that we are all going to be given two options.
i) lock the gates and walk away
or
ii) work together and put a new plan in place to secure the future of our beloved football club
So what should we do Thursday night?
Turn up or tune in. We lambast this board for woeful communication, but the meetings are generally very informative despite the minutes being slow to come out and brief.
Secondly, I am going to listen. I want to know what the board have been doing this last 3 months when low gates, poor commercial performance and no Alabi money meant they must have been warned of this coming?
Next, I will be interested to hear the questions from the floor, and the answers that arise. My feelings are that the board suffer from a lack of available time and skills. I also feel that they lack a sense of urgency, and show an unwillingness to admit mistakes and offer transparency.
I would like to see the board offer a bit of contrition, and I will be asking the board if individually they can look us in the eye and tell us that they can commit enough hours to the football club in order to make it work. I would then ask that any board member that cannot do this step down immediately.
What outcome do we want from the meeting?
We desperately need a plan of action. We desperately need to engage our supporter base.
If we feel failed by the board, then maybe we need to look at ourselves too. We have a hardcore home supporter base of 1300. Our membership currently sits at 1000-ish. Only a quarter of them voted in the AGM. 250 supporters were bothered. As stated in other threads, our owners contribute 'only' 12k a year to our club. But many of us buy season tickets, pay on the gate, seals lottery, 50-50s, merch, whatever budget builder there is etc, but keeping asking the same people for the same money will, and has, start to grow tired... so what do we do?
Moving forward we need to ensure that we as supporters become engaged with our club. We need a plan to invite everyone in to work to make our club better. We need to encourage people to volunteer their time, specialisms or just enthusiasm to help us all work together to maximise our chances of putting a competitive team on the field in a Chester shirt, at as high a level as we can. We have great marketing people, legal folk, people in advertising, people in blue chip environments etc all over the fanbase. They should be encouraged to muck in. Community isn't just about the people you live by, it is also the people you share an interest with. Deva Chat is a community, for all its foibles...
Doing this will help us strenghten our difference, which is our unique selling point to prospective supporters and sponsors. Our difference is that we are the club. Somebody mentioned that only a professional can deliver a sponsorship. I would counter that MBNA, Swettenhams, Big Storage, CWAC etc would not have wanted to know an owned club. Strengthen our offer by working together to create a club that is friendly and welcoming to our local people and businesses. Going back to our roots. Our volunteers are the lifeblood of this club, it has been a long time since they have been loved. We need to love them and nurture them, and by God we need to add to their ranks.
We also need to look at what model we look to use to develop this club financially. I am the most hardened supporter of fan ownership. I have seen what private ownership has done to my club over the years, and never want to go back to that. Would I turn away a person who has £200k to put into Chester? No. Would I ask why he wants to do it, and what he wants in return? Yes. If the answers were acceptable to my fellow owners, I would happily accept the money. BUT, those people are pretty thinly spread to non-existent. So we need to look for a way to develop our club that will enable us to at least dream of one day being able to get back to the Football League. For me the answer is down the road in Crewe.
Our club has had 3 major windfalls since reforming. £110k for Antoni Sarcevic. £110k for Sam Hughes. £150k for the FA Cup run which ended at Barnsley - Craig Mahon was the catalyst for this. We need to be doing what Crewe do. Develop our own boys (with James Jones and Tom Crawford proving we are very good at this already, and should only get better), and go out and sign 18-23 year olds that we can develop and sell on (Alabi and Heneghan - I know, I know...). Lets us stop giving older players 2 year deals on daft money which handcuffs us. Lets go out and look to our own doorstep, the cities within our hour or so travel, and the Welsh leagues. There are diamonds. Lets get out there and mine them.
I sort of went off on one there, but what I am getting at is that it is doable. Community - Academy - Fundraising/Commercial - Volunteers - Facilities - H&S - Operational - Communication - Membership are all areas we as a club will need bodies to help rebuild and develop what we have. I am willing to put in my hours, and I know there are many others who are. This isn't another tub thumping, call for help. This is a "stay away and regret what you've lost when its gone" post.
Please don't walk away and be part of the problem. Step up, muck in and hopefully be part of the solution.
It seems pretty clear to me that following todays statement that we are right in the brown stuff financially. So what do we do moving forward?
Tomorrow night will be a very difficult one for the current board. I think that we are all going to be given two options.
i) lock the gates and walk away
or
ii) work together and put a new plan in place to secure the future of our beloved football club
So what should we do Thursday night?
Turn up or tune in. We lambast this board for woeful communication, but the meetings are generally very informative despite the minutes being slow to come out and brief.
Secondly, I am going to listen. I want to know what the board have been doing this last 3 months when low gates, poor commercial performance and no Alabi money meant they must have been warned of this coming?
Next, I will be interested to hear the questions from the floor, and the answers that arise. My feelings are that the board suffer from a lack of available time and skills. I also feel that they lack a sense of urgency, and show an unwillingness to admit mistakes and offer transparency.
I would like to see the board offer a bit of contrition, and I will be asking the board if individually they can look us in the eye and tell us that they can commit enough hours to the football club in order to make it work. I would then ask that any board member that cannot do this step down immediately.
What outcome do we want from the meeting?
We desperately need a plan of action. We desperately need to engage our supporter base.
If we feel failed by the board, then maybe we need to look at ourselves too. We have a hardcore home supporter base of 1300. Our membership currently sits at 1000-ish. Only a quarter of them voted in the AGM. 250 supporters were bothered. As stated in other threads, our owners contribute 'only' 12k a year to our club. But many of us buy season tickets, pay on the gate, seals lottery, 50-50s, merch, whatever budget builder there is etc, but keeping asking the same people for the same money will, and has, start to grow tired... so what do we do?
Moving forward we need to ensure that we as supporters become engaged with our club. We need a plan to invite everyone in to work to make our club better. We need to encourage people to volunteer their time, specialisms or just enthusiasm to help us all work together to maximise our chances of putting a competitive team on the field in a Chester shirt, at as high a level as we can. We have great marketing people, legal folk, people in advertising, people in blue chip environments etc all over the fanbase. They should be encouraged to muck in. Community isn't just about the people you live by, it is also the people you share an interest with. Deva Chat is a community, for all its foibles...
Doing this will help us strenghten our difference, which is our unique selling point to prospective supporters and sponsors. Our difference is that we are the club. Somebody mentioned that only a professional can deliver a sponsorship. I would counter that MBNA, Swettenhams, Big Storage, CWAC etc would not have wanted to know an owned club. Strengthen our offer by working together to create a club that is friendly and welcoming to our local people and businesses. Going back to our roots. Our volunteers are the lifeblood of this club, it has been a long time since they have been loved. We need to love them and nurture them, and by God we need to add to their ranks.
We also need to look at what model we look to use to develop this club financially. I am the most hardened supporter of fan ownership. I have seen what private ownership has done to my club over the years, and never want to go back to that. Would I turn away a person who has £200k to put into Chester? No. Would I ask why he wants to do it, and what he wants in return? Yes. If the answers were acceptable to my fellow owners, I would happily accept the money. BUT, those people are pretty thinly spread to non-existent. So we need to look for a way to develop our club that will enable us to at least dream of one day being able to get back to the Football League. For me the answer is down the road in Crewe.
Our club has had 3 major windfalls since reforming. £110k for Antoni Sarcevic. £110k for Sam Hughes. £150k for the FA Cup run which ended at Barnsley - Craig Mahon was the catalyst for this. We need to be doing what Crewe do. Develop our own boys (with James Jones and Tom Crawford proving we are very good at this already, and should only get better), and go out and sign 18-23 year olds that we can develop and sell on (Alabi and Heneghan - I know, I know...). Lets us stop giving older players 2 year deals on daft money which handcuffs us. Lets go out and look to our own doorstep, the cities within our hour or so travel, and the Welsh leagues. There are diamonds. Lets get out there and mine them.
I sort of went off on one there, but what I am getting at is that it is doable. Community - Academy - Fundraising/Commercial - Volunteers - Facilities - H&S - Operational - Communication - Membership are all areas we as a club will need bodies to help rebuild and develop what we have. I am willing to put in my hours, and I know there are many others who are. This isn't another tub thumping, call for help. This is a "stay away and regret what you've lost when its gone" post.
Please don't walk away and be part of the problem. Step up, muck in and hopefully be part of the solution.
