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38.4 "It is noted that none of the witnesses relied upon by Mr Haigh, in particular the two other groundsmen, were called by Mr Haigh to give oral evidence so that their accounts might be tested; "
I don't think it can be classed as a stitch up when the decision not to bring the witnesses to the hearing was down to the defendant.
some more info has been shared on the fan wall on 'X' this morning, & it transpires that the memorial wall will only happen if the fan wall sells sufficiently well.
Chaff. More details soon. It will be a similar feature but on a wall down by the Sandy and a different brick type. I’m waiting for our supplier to get it organised, however, it is also dependent on the fan wall selling sufficiently well too. Good to see your interest though
hopefully the owner of this project within the club recorded some research / spoke to fans to see which 'wall' had the most appetite from fans, so that the second 'wall' had the highest chance of happening before committing to one or the other going first.
In the Trust newsletter, Murray mentions a stumbling block being our timeline differing from that of prospective investors... what that doesn't say is if we want to go faster or slower than those investors.
From the outside looking in, there are a few options why it isn't happening for us...
- We're such a basket case financially its not worth it (but we can't be as bad as others surely?) - Our threshold of 'the right person' is perceived to be too high, and it puts people off - Our chairman / board are difficult to do business with
There is clearly an issue, and the £350K secured loan isn't guaranteed to be enough to see the season out. We're selling names on bricks for £80+ (not in itself a bad idea) before honouring earlier commitments (volunteer army, season card prize draw, team photo, 3rd kit launch) so that appears to be a desperate attempt to get more cash in now... how bad actually is it? & what can we actually do as fans at this point? It feels bleak, and as fans it feels like we can't drive change - we're at the mercy of those in the boardroom.
I'd sum last night up as incredibly frustrating. I think the limited numbers in the squad are now actively dictating our style of play... we haven't got the numbers to rotate, which means with the current schedule we are going slow / probing / passing rather than full pelt running at teams to try and preserve energy.
When we signed Jez a Chesterfield fan referred to him as a 'speedboat without a driver'... I think that's a bit harsh, but I really do feel that he struggles with in-game decisions that haven't been practised on the training ground. Plays that have been worked on seem to click with him, but if the ball falls to him from a random deflection he seems to freeze. He also needs to track back and compete more for headers / challenges... his attempt to track back for their first goal last night was disgraceful.
On the right, Oduroh & Jez seems to be missing something as a partnership. If Oduroh brings it forward, Jez doesn't seem to move forward at the same time, so we lose forward momentum and end up stopping or passing sideways. I'd like to see Keohane at RB with Conway at LB on Saturday and give that a try.
Taylor was off it, and he was lucky not to get a second yellow when his head went... is Ferguson injured or just out of favour? Based on last night he is now our fourth choice CB.
We also need to be a bit smarter and play the ref / conditions more. That ref last night was whistle / card happy, & Solihull took full advantage. I lost count of the number of times we were tripped / pushed / arm across the chest or throat and stayed on our feet, losing the ball and momentum when Solihull were a bit more streetwise.
Hopefully we get a positive result on Saturday, and then get some rest / recovery time with us not having a Tuesday game again until the 24th... the second half on Sat & last night we look knackered, flat and at times bereft of movement and ideas.
'Football is broken' might very well be true - but it cannot be used as a smokescreen by the current board when they are actively choosing to not engage with the fanbase, actively choosing not to drive improvements and revenue throughout the club, and actively choosing to say one thing and do another to their paying customers.
When all of the above changes for the better, and we are still in the mire, then and only then can we say we are where we are because 'football is broken'.
Some interesting nuggets from McNulty last night, which possibly explain the lack of action from the club & seeming cancellation of the volunteer army tomorrow.
"...once the situation with the club settles down, once we have a budget to compete..."
Is there an investor on the horizon, & anybody involved in improvement of the club has downed tools in that respect as we wait for the investor to come in?
That scenario is probably more palatable than the constant lip service & say one thing / do another that keeps happening.
I believe the motion passed at the EGM was approval of the director loan 'if required', & it will be a board decision / vote (excluding Simon Gauge & Richard Knight) as to if / when it is used?
Questions need to be asked by fans,shareholders, & publicly by the Trust, about why nothing else has been done to improve revenue / cashflow if that loan ends up being drawn down.
If more had been done, would we need the loan? If yes, would we need as much of it?
The article that Judd has shared about Exeter is interesting... I get that their trust membership is bigger than our total matchgoing fanbase, but there is absolutely nothing in there that we couldn't do as fans / volunteers.
I'm beginning to feel the board have been lucky to avoid prolonged criticism - last season frustrations were aimed at on the pitch problems... this season, thanks to McNulty & the squad, it becomes easy to hide behind better performances on the pitch.
The club deserve credit for the McNulty appointment, and also for the retro kit launch (albeit that was in process from last season).
This week looks busy, with expected / promised activities being:
- Chesterfield (H) on Tuesday night - Planned volunteer army on Thursday (now with less than 72 hrs notice) - Season Card hospitality draw & winner announcement - I think I read that the Season Card team photo was to be announced this week too?
Since the EGM & the Fans Forum, I haven't seen any improvements or any drive to sort off the pitch stuff out. People who offered help after the forum haven't had responses and highlighted issues still persist. What has happened on the back of the (really good) Trust focus groups? I think its fair to now say the club are saying one thing and doing another, whilst paying the Trust lip service at best.
The club feels paralysed everywhere apart from on the pitch. We're not bothered about improving things now - as TS has suggested, our eggs are in one basket and the ONLY priority / activity now is to find an investor.
All fair points DL, and on reflection I can see that I probably come across as moaning for the sake of it and probably hypercritical too - I will say, though, its from a real desire for us to be better and frustration that we constantly miss opportunities TO be better. We are talking a lot about how we are struggling financially, and I struggle to reconcile that with the poor off field behaviours and performance.
I'm not sure if my criticism is often pointed at the wrong place - should it be pointed at the people responsible for hiring staff members who maybe aren't right for the role? Should it be pointed at staff members who are capable but choose not to go all in to maximise opportunities? Should it be at the COO for allowing departments not to be running full tilt? Or should it be at the BoD for not holding the COO / department heads to account? The answer is probably a mixture of all four, and the things I often point out probably get lost because there are so many and it feels a bit targeted as they're generally about the same departments.
Just to answer your point on the sponsorships, the EFS is the only NEW sponsor I can see since the commercial team changed. Adrian (previous head of commercial) secured FootAsylum as far back as February. My frustration is that we haven't seen more brought in, we haven't bothered with a commercial brochure, and we haven't proactively contacted current / lapsed sponsors for players... I'm genuinely pleased to see us offering sponsors on new signing announcements (as was suggested on here), but that shouldn't be at the expense of 'smiling and dialling' too. There are so many things that should be being done (even with our limited headcount) and so many offers of support that aren't being taken on, its easy to start asking questions such as 'do they even care?'
Maybe this messageboard isn't the right place to share criticism of commercial / retail / communications operations, but having tried at forums, emails to the club, emails to (& meetings with) directors, feedback at the trust events and no notable improvements, I'm struggling to see how else we can get things improved.
I'm fully expecting to get pelters for this, but sadly I wouldn't be surprised if the BoD decided to sell without consulting fans / the trust. I hadn't heard the rumour, and still don't know the detail of it, but people I trust are worried and that makes me worried. The level of disdain / ignorance / viewing fans as an inconvenience that has been apparent over the last few months makes me question a few things.
Taking away the money put in to see off Morton House (for me they are burning through that goodwill at a rate of knots, & they also weren't the only ones heavily involved in saving us, the Trust & others contributed in ways other than financial)...
What, if anything, have we seen from the board that suggests:
- They are trustworthy / honest when it comes to being accountable to / working in tandem with fans or the trust?
- They are serious about improving the club. Apart from bars, what is ACTUALLY tangibly better than it was 2 years ago? Kit supplier at a stretch? How many NEW sponsors have we seen in the last 6 months, for example?
- That their priority is to safeguard the club and not solely to get their money back at any cost?
- That the rest of the BoD have any faith at all in SG, and it isn't a pure dictatorship resulting in partners / sponsors / staff being disillusioned and leaving?
Let me be clear - this isn't 'harking back to the old days' as the previous lot were awful too - but actions aren't matching words at the minute and, although its frowned upon to question those in the board room, I think we need to start having a grown up conversation about it.
It should've been communicated when they said it would be. It shouldn't take our head coach on BBC RM, or fans on a messageboard, calling it out for the article to come out.
You can see when articles and posts are reactionary - normally they are written in advance and scheduled to go live on the website on the hour or half past the hour... the one this morning was done at 10:41.
It can't be because of the other thread, they don't read this messageboard.
This constant gatekeeping of information, missed deadlines and empty promises to fans and the trust need to stop.
That being said, the information in the article is interesting and probably answers most questions that people have (I don't think we'd ever get told the cost, its probably commercially sensitive). If this had been released when originally promised, there probably wouldn't have been the difficult questions for McNulty last night about it, and fans / shareholders would be less 'suspicious' as we'd have the information we'd been asking for & promised.
I agree with a lot of what TS has said above... I came away from that interview last night having more faith in McNulty than before but also being more worried about behind the scenes stuff than I was. Credit to the presenters for asking difficult questions (such as "am I right in saying that, although you're not solely responsible for signings, its your head on the block if they don't work?")
"We have previously cited the use of MRKT that needs communicating with the supporters. The Club are looking at producing a podcast early in July to give a full explanation, putting out a text version soon after."
For me we are no longer in 'early July' - the away kit launch is scheduled for late July so you'd think that takes priority in the next 13 days - so its another missed promise from the club and they risk, again, looking like they are paying lip service when challenged by fans or the trust. We were due to be told about a new catering partner last week and that also didn't materialise.
What is happening to create a situation where deadlines and promises are constantly missed, and staff / partners are choosing to leave at a rate of knots?
McNulty is clearly doing his best, and there is no doubting he cares, but last night there was a clear undertone of frustration at how things are being run, and a clear desire to point out he is responsible for getting the most out of the players he has and that is it... no sole accountability for signings, nothing on finances or negotiations, nothing behind the scenes. He will, rightly, be judged on how the 16 perform on a matchday, but we (& I'm as guilty as anyone of this) need to remember that he's on a hiding to nothing being asked to do his job with one hand tied behind his back.
*edit - fully expecting a half arsed update on MRKT to materialise in the next couple of days now that the club have been openly challenged on it... McNulty clearly was saying he thinks the fans should be getting better communication, but that isn't in his remit for most stuff.
I've read, re-read and re-read this thread again - partly to try and work out if I was moaning for the sake of it (I wasn't!), and partly to try and find a way to convey my current thoughts in a productive way.
I know this will sound like dramatic language, and somebody better with words might put it better, but its beginning to feel like fans are being held to ransom by the club.
If people point out the smaller issues and criticise off-field performance, there is a train of thought that the board will raise the drawbridge, not engage on the seemingly 'bigger' issues, and things won't improve. At the same time, if nobody points out the issues, still nothing improves. We're in a holding pattern of just having to accept the status quo and accept that our expectations are too high for how the club should operate.
We've had a fans forum, trust / fan meetings, individuals have met with directors, questions have been sent directly to the trust, feedback has been shared privately with the club, feedback has also been shared on here & social media, there have been offers of support through a volunteer army, specific offers of support for defined activities, and offers of free consultancy / advisory conversations to improve stuff. That means around 10 different approaches have been tried, by multiple people, and still we don't see improvements.
Nobody wants to create a divide with the club, I certainly didn't want to detract from the good work at the open day, and Wozz is bang on with what is possible when the club and fans pull together and work together for the good of the club.... but at the same time it feels like one way traffic right now. Fans want us to be better, and fans want to help us be better, but it just isn't happening.
Its so frustrating. Its so avoidable. & its up to the club now to decide if they genuinely want to accept support to be better (& that means more than just fan engagement meetings which, when you really look at it, is only a commitment to 2 or 3 more sessions than have always happened) or whether they don't want help, will run things how they see fit, and its up to us whether we continue to support the current product 'as is'.
I was critical over the weekend, but to be clear not of the open day - that was a good idea, seemed well attended and well received, and the club should rightly be applauded for it.
I don't subscribe to the view, though, that small things shouldn't be called out. The lack of improvement on the small things makes me question decision making & attitude towards the bigger things.
The online shop not being updated for a publicised kit launch isn't good enough - but its deemed acceptable as people are 'busy'.
Typos on the season card voucher booklet - its a tiny thing, and feels petty to even call it out, but when you walk past poor performance it becomes acceptable... how many times last season did we see spelling mistakes etc on the official site? It just looks amateur & is so easy to avoid!
Today we've released a video with EEL... that is a big improvement as we all wanted to hear more from our captain. BUT the video is poor... the audio is all over the place & you literally can't hear parts of it.
The crux of the issue at the club is we have a culture where poor output from paid employees is accepted. Somebody either looked at the video, for example, & thought it was good enough to go out. OR they know it shouldn't go out in that state but publish it anyway as there will be no comeback. Either of those scenarios is a worry.
Until that culture changes, we will keep making mistakes, keep missing opportunities and keep looking amateur.
"Improvement needed of online shop — not updated enough and needs to be checked more often"
"We need fans to be involved in ideas — focus groups on kit designs, merchandisem pricing, consistent approach moving forward"
"Which Director / Staff member is overseeing the Club Shop / retail and what support do they need, and what will they accept. What processes can be implemented to help eg retail committee"
"As an exile, I rarely get to visit the shop and rely mostly on the online shop."
"I have also noticed that not all items in the shop are available to supporters online — this could be to do with capacity within the staff, but it results in lost sales."
"The Club Shop — Survey the Fans and ask what they want"
I'd like the Trust to ask the club the question, and commit to publishing the answer online, what feedback from the supporters meeting was taken on board and implemented ahead of this launch?
Everything coming out of the club feels like lip service, communicating only when they want our money, expecting us to have our bellies tickled with talk of reengagement and then blindly opening our wallets, without ever actually trying, intending or working to be better.
The replica kit page still shows 3 kits, none of which are the actual kit:
& when you click through, the kit page still says the club can't yet confirm the winning kit:
Social media pages are actively linking through to the club shop and this is the customer journey, a full hour and a half after the kit launch. There is nowhere on the shop to see the kit, nowhere to see / buy the shorts and socks, no signs of the keeper kit on there anywhere.
As somebody has said above this is absolute basics. Either the club haven't planned for these activities to take place today, or they have planned it but the person responsible for completing the tasks hasn't. Either way its poor, but it feels like nobody is held accountable for these constant misses. Its a shame, because the kit is decent, but the club have again failed to get the basics right.
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