JDH on the official messageboard posted a useful summary yesterday evening, so I've copied it below:
The mood was pretty positive tonight, certainly regarding the team's performance so far this season. I made note of a number of items that were discussed:
Stadium
Robbie aware and frustrated by the amount of time it takes for fans to leave the car park after the game. Has lobbied the council for a separate exit to be built but all tied up with the Northern Gateway development. Access via Boxsted Road is not an option - club would like it but council have categorically stated this will never happen.
Bringing back the shuttle buses is not under consideration. Bus usage was dropping year-on-year with the club subsidising them to the tune of over £1,000 per game. The fact gates are up this season indicates removing the buses has not seen a dramatic impact on crowds. Nothing stopping a group like CUSA or anyone else from sorting their own arrangements.
Question around older fans struggling with steep steps - would the club put metal handles/rails on all aisle seats for older supporters to hold onto when making their way up the stands. Response was that this would be a prohibitive cost.
Question around whether supporters bar would be serving real ale. Robbie said that though real ale drinkers are vocal in support of it when the club has tried previously to sell it they've ended up throwing a lot away due to poor sales. Plan is to stick with bottled beer as even when the option of draft and bottles are both there most people still go for bottles.
Having the big screen outside the West Stand is working well in having people congregate and spend money. Optimistic about this as the temperatures get warmer. Minor complaints about the screen being too dark so want to try and see if they can improve this.
Club
Club is ambitious - no reason why we wouldn't want to be promoted to League One this season. We can be a sustainable League One club but unlikely to be sustainable in the Championship if we got there in the next few years.
Total spend on Luke Norris, Harry Pell and Ben Stevenson was £350,000 - highest transfer spend for a number of years. Also looking at purchasing a couple of young players from another club (the club was named but a request was then made not to publicise as the deals are not yet finalised). The feeling from Robbie and John was that they expect some departures for fees in the summer - no names mentioned but certain players have been attracting interest from higher leagues and there was an acceptance that we won't be able to hang onto all of them. Robbie didn't see this as necessarily negative as we will look to get best price and it also demonstrates that we are a good stepping stone to higher divisions.
Harry Pell will be out for at least another two weeks. Tom Lapslie's injury less serious, looking at him being back in 10 days.
One question centred the around poor results of the U23s and U18s this season and whether this indicates we do not have good youth options on the horizon. Robbie rejected this stating that most of the U23s consist of U18s players and most of the U18s consist of U16s players. Anyone above 18 should be looking at senior game time with loans to Braintree, Dulwich Hamlet, Maldon & Tiptree etc. A lot of other teams play older players in their U23s who won't make it in their first time. Robbie is really not interested in the results of the U23s and U18s, feels it is more important for them to get experience against older players.
Question around iFollow/streaming and whether this was a threat or opportunity. Robbie feels positive regarding this - thinks it is the way football is going and see it an opportunity to increase revenue or create closer interest with the club. EFL clubs will be meeting this week to discuss further - at the moment clubs are split as to the future of streaming with larger clubs less likely to see it as worthwhile compared to smaller clubs. One of the options for discussion at that EFL meeting is whether streaming of all Saturday 3pm games would be allowed (though this is unlikely to be passed). Colchester are sufficiently keen on streaming that if the EFL rowed back on it we would push forward even taking over the streaming ourselves. For next season we are considering streaming U23s and U18s games and possibly Maldon & Tiptree games. |  |
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