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Andrew Howard returns

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  • Article read pretty realistically to me.
    Apologies for the DevC like wordy post here but it has prompted my sharing some issues that I’ve been mulling over for a while.
    The Couhig’s have made their money turning round struggling businesses. To paraphrase Pete C. ‘we look for businesses with leaking taps because we can identify something that needs fixing and we know how to do it’. Well that was us when they turned up in the summer all right, both metaphorically and in reality. So their business acumen gives that a fighting chance.
    The return of Andrew H. signposts ambition and hard nosed business pragmatism. This time round he won’t be required to tap into any Chairman like emotional intelligence to glad hand and charm the faithful, which means he can play to his management strengths ie get us some amazing ball breaking deals over the line. With that brief in mind he can only be an asset.
    What does concern me, as someone who has spent their professional life attempting to leverage the relationship between brands, sports organisations and ‘fans’ at all levels of ‘commitment’, is this observation by the journalist...
    “they will have to overcome cultural differences they have mostly never experienced before”
    Having worked in sports marketing here and the States my concern is that, either side of the pond, these are fundamentally different disciplines. To base a business model on achieving a cultural shift in consumption of the product here in to account for an incremental 50% of your consumers is just not possible, given the entrenched place the game holds in domestic society. If financial sustainability is predicated on this premise alone it will struggle.
    What is encouraging is the mention of a concerted push to attract serious sponsorship funding. The above cultural barriers do not hinder this revenue stream in the same way, indeed they are much closer aligned to the US model. This is where financial sustainability and the income to create a stronger squad, enhanced performance and a more enjoyable game day experience can be achieved. What the club needs is the equivalent of an Andrew H. to deliver these sponsorship funds. We thought that was going to be Mark P. An announcement as to who will take up this challenge must now be high on the owners ‘to do’ list.

  • Neil Peters it is then!

  • It is extremely unlikely that @perfidious_albion takes even half the time it takes me to compose a comment so I would have thought his latest must have post-dated the announcement about Neil Peters’ appointment. Would be interested to know his reaction to it - in particular the extent to which his role seems to meet the criteria he had in mind.

  • Winning doesn't seem to have had a massive impact in increased attendances does it? Am I missing something?

  • edited March 2020

    I hope we do, but I don't think we'll see a marked increase unless we're in the Championship. People in the High Wycombe area just aren't that interested in Wycombe Wanderers and I think it will be a tall order to change that. But...I'm sure that's a challenge the Couhigs and co. will relish.

  • @peterparrotface said:
    Winning doesn't seem to have had a massive impact in increased attendances does it? Am I missing something?

    Average attendances are certainly up from last season, but not by as much as they should be considering where we are in the table.

  • We just have to do something extraordinary enough to persuade a couple of thousand local people to change their normal Saturday afternoon routine. I think that these days, only promotion to the Championship would achieve that.

  • @glasshalffull said:

    @peterparrotface said:
    Winning doesn't seem to have had a massive impact in increased attendances does it? Am I missing something?

    Average attendances are certainly up from last season, but not by as much as they should be considering where we are in the table.

    We've had a good season. Average attendances are up. Who's to say it's that's a big enough increase for some.

  • @glasshalffull said:

    @peterparrotface said:
    Winning doesn't seem to have had a massive impact in increased attendances does it? Am I missing something?

    Average attendances are certainly up from last season, but not by as much as they should be considering where we are in the table.

    Telling people they are wrong for not coming is not the way to attract them to games IMO

    You've been trying that for 30 years

  • @glasshalffull said:

    @peterparrotface said:
    Winning doesn't seem to have had a massive impact in increased attendances does it? Am I missing something?

    Average attendances are certainly up from last season, but not by as much as they should be considering where we are in the table.

    Success is always the way to build up the fanbase...but I doubt it is every going to be anything but a slow crawl as we progress. Whatever some may say and recent results might suggest, we've seen some good football and some great results this season.

  • @micra said:
    It is extremely unlikely that @perfidious_albion takes even half the time it takes me to compose a comment so I would have thought his latest must have post-dated the announcement about Neil Peters’ appointment. Would be interested to know his reaction to it - in particular the extent to which his role seems to meet the criteria he had in mind.

    It was spooky wasn’t it. I came out of posting, rather pleased with my missive, only to be confronted by the announcement!
    The role Neil P has been tasked with isn’t quite the same as the one I envisaged. Flogging match day hospitality and getting a local fan owned tyre depot sponsoring the dugouts etc etc etc will only take us so far. What we need is some ‘blue chip’ global sponsorship bringing in ‘game changing’ wedge. There are professional outfits who can bring in that sort of relationship. Not sure we are geared up for that yet. Perhaps this is the area Rob C and Mark P agreed to disagree on?

  • Not my area @perfidious_albion .

    could you explain what value you think we might offer to your blue chip global sponsor and hence why they would part with a game changing wedge.

    For businesses not based in nor with a significant customer base in HW nor with senior management being life long fans, hard as it is to say but in truth aren't we just a fairly average nondescript lower league football club.

    Could you explain please.

  • the only way we will attract the crowds they are hoping for is to get to the championship, sorry but I just think they will stay the same as long as were league one.

    Unfortunately as were so close to London and the easy access to it, people will still go to watch the premiership teams. Couldn't think of anything worse myself !

  • Cultural change or gaining and keeping championship football are all very difficult but the new ownership and organisational changes should hopefully bring the club the ability to take advantage of its existing opportunities in a better way. You can spend a huge amount of money on posters to increase the gate and you probably should but let's not forget things like staffing a bar properly so that people don't take one look at the queue and decide not to bother. Hopefully the village is producing some good money and the stadium, vere suite and area can be used for more events and we can attract more sponsors.

  • @eric_plant said:

    @glasshalffull said:

    @peterparrotface said:
    Winning doesn't seem to have had a massive impact in increased attendances does it? Am I missing something?

    Average attendances are certainly up from last season, but not by as much as they should be considering where we are in the table.

    Telling people they are wrong for not coming is not the way to attract them to games IMO

    You've been trying that for 30 years

    Why must you always go into attack mode?
    I wasn’t telling anyone they were wrong for not coming and in any case it’s pretty unlikely that those people not going to games are going to be reading the Gasroom, isn’t it? I merely made the observation that the team deserves to have more support considering how well they’ve done. What’s wrong with that?

  • I see Fleetwood have just announced a pre-season tour to South Africa. Somehow I can't see them becoming a global phenomenon...

  • @glasshalffull said:
    I wasn’t telling anyone they were wrong for not coming and in any case it’s pretty unlikely that those people not going to games are going to be reading the Gasroom, isn’t it? I merely made the observation that the team deserves to have more support considering how well they’ve done. What’s wrong with that?

    Personally I would say there is little correlation between Gasroom posters and match attendees. Take DevC and our US posters as examples.

    I see the Couhig's as watching Field of Dreams and using the 'if you build it.....' mantra. I have no idea why people would not come and see games but there are thousands who don't with thousands of different reasons. I have to assume most are quite happy with those reasons.

  • I am amazed with the decision to appoint Mr Howard. I look forward to glasshalf's comments. >

  • @DevC said:
    Not my area @perfidious_albion .

    could you explain what value you think we might offer to your blue chip global sponsor and hence why they would part with a game changing wedge.

    For businesses not based in nor with a significant customer base in HW nor with senior management being life long fans, hard as it is to say but in truth aren't we just a fairly average nondescript lower league football club.

    Could you explain please.

    Akinfenwa and his million plus Instagram following is one thing that does set us apart from other lower league clubs. Maybe there is some way to leverage that? But he won't be around forever.

    I agree that there isn't a big untapped pool of megabucks businesses itching to sponsor relatively low profile and not-often-on-the-tv football clubs.

  • Sorry meant glasshalfempty.

  • Visited a family friend who lives a 10 minute walk from Dagenham & Redbridge ground where he had a season ticket for years. I asked him if he’d seen any good games recently to be told ‘I don’t go anymore - I’ve got sky sports so why would I bother?’

  • One of the many interesting points that Rob Couhig made in his recent interview with Phil C was that he was convinced that marketing an EFL club such as ourselves around the globe, where there is allegedly massive latent interest in attaching oneself to such a club, could be hugely financially beneficial. Whilst extra 'bums on seats' in the stadium will increase revenue, 'bums on sofas' watching iFollow, and opening up a global online shop full of merchandise - which his wife has been focussing on recently - could open up a very lucrative additional revenue stream which ultimately would increase the amount we are allowed to spend on the playing side of the business. Time will tell how the interest grows around the globe (I'm naturally a little sceptical myself) but all credit to them (as overseas investors) to see the overseas opportunity that perhaps we, closer to home, do not fully appreciate.

  • @perfidious_albion said:
    What we need is some ‘blue chip’ global sponsorship bringing in ‘game changing’ wedge.

    We noticed and commented on there being a Barclays bank advertising board around the pitch (in front of the Beechdean stand towards the away end) at the Bristol match and it was a good sign of some extra revenue and hopefully a sign of attracting larger companies to advertise at the ground.

    By the Fleetwood match that advertising space was empty and no sign of Barclays.

    Seemed a bit odd!

  • @DevC said:
    Not my area @perfidious_albion .

    could you explain what value you think we might offer to your blue chip global sponsor and hence why they would part with a game changing wedge.

    For businesses not based in nor with a significant customer base in HW nor with senior management being life long fans, hard as it is to say but in truth aren't we just a fairly average nondescript lower league football club.

    Could you explain please.

    There are untapped big spenders out there we have never heard of on our little island. Sponsorship opportunities don’t end at the bottom of Hillbottom Rd. IF we are to be a ‘world wide phenomenon’ - yes I know... then we need to fish in a bigger pond.
    Egs: Casumo, KB88, M88.
    Never heard of them, me neither, all sponsor teams we may aspire to emulate:
    Reading, Wigan, Bournemouth
    Or how about we do go ‘blue chip’. Could we be a Brighton? Similar demographic, etc. They are sponsored by American Express.
    What I was alluding to is that we should dare to dream. The financial gearing of attracting a big fish is one of the last bargains left in sports marketing - there is no barrier to flying missions to attract this income. I’m just not sure we are thinking big enough in this area at the moment, what’s the worst that could happen, Coke Cola say no thanks.

  • @FmG said:

    @perfidious_albion said:
    What we need is some ‘blue chip’ global sponsorship bringing in ‘game changing’ wedge.

    We noticed and commented on there being a Barclays bank advertising board around the pitch (in front of the Beechdean stand towards the away end) at the Bristol match and it was a good sign of some extra revenue and hopefully a sign of attracting larger companies to advertise at the ground.

    By the Fleetwood match that advertising space was empty and no sign of Barclays.

    Seemed a bit odd!

    Possibly something to do with Reading women or U23s

  • edited March 2020

    @Slaphead said:

    Visited a family friend who lives a 10 minute walk from Dagenham & Redbridge ground where he had a season ticket for years. I asked him if he’d seen any good games recently to be told ‘I don’t go anymore - I’ve got sky sports so why would I bother?’

    I find that very sad. I have to drive to the Chair of Dreams, but love the ups and downs of live football. I also now have Sky Sports (some deal Mrs W did with the desperate call centre worker selling packages on the end of the Sky Phone I think) but very rarely watch the live games as I find it a very antiseptic underwhelming experience (sorry @glasshalffull ). I might get slightly interested in a LIVE Forest or League One game but could quite happily live without it. I think I would most certainly miss going to the game of a Saturday. If I lived 10 minutes from the ground I would even go to the Johnsons Paint Vase LDV Trophy group games! (possibly)

  • I was at the Watford - Liverpool game and found it quite sad that it felt like I was just watching on the telly.

  • Was the 'Devon Hornets' banner on display at Watford ?

  • @ChasHarps said:
    Was the 'Devon Hornets' banner on display at Watford ?

    Can't say I saw it

  • @chairboyscentral said:
    I was at the Watford - Liverpool game and found it quite sad that it felt like I was just watching on the telly.

    I actually thought it was a good game and is the only one I have watched from start to finish on Sky this season. Excellent refereeing, no bookings, no VAR reviews and Mr Parry's number one team getting smacked.

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