so what do we want first?
 

new set of players approx squad value £500 000

ground development at an estimated £500 000

developing the commercial side which will involve building some new premises etc. approx cost £500 000





these are the things we all keep saying we need, but where does the money come from? you can only do so much at once and it is a small miracle that we have come as far as we have.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

new players!
I think we need 2 new players on loan till the end of the season and then decide when we know which league we are in!

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Should we be satisfied and accept relegation then? We're ok, we've come as far as we can in a short time?? Is that the attitude?

The opportunity was there to move up a gear and adopt a more professional attitude at the club and we blew it!! Being professional in our attitude as a club costs next to nothing. An experienced full-time person to manage the commercial side of the club (image, merchandise, sponsorship, etc) doesn't cost half a million, but it could potentially raise a substantial sum that would help the club move forward. Instead we have a stockless 'shop' for over half a season and some tat for sale on E-bay.

According to your thinking we aren't a League club. We are a little amateur set-up that should be happy to stumble around in the big time for as long as it lasts. On this season's showing, perhaps you're right. :(

Re: so what do we want first?
 

What a very honest post this is.... i couldn't agree more TM

Re: so what do we want first?
 

new set of players approx squad value £500 000

ground development at an estimated £500 000

developing the commercial side which will involve building some new premises etc. approx cost £500 000

We want all three!
Thirty odd years ago the big target was league football. Let the above be the next big target.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Macca you are always saying it that if we have a roof people will come but to me Tin Monkey has the answer it was the commercial side of the club that we blew and there is no going back on missed oppurtunities.
How I see it is:
The commercial side has been a joke all season - unprofessional
The team started well but are now a joke - semi-professional
The fans have been excellent all season - professional

Re: so what do we want first?
 

In terms of quality Stanley have the best supporters in the League.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

I have to disagree with this. I worked with Joyce Pickles a few times this year, & she has been excellent at her job. Joyce works part time (to my knowledge) for the club. The problem lies with other admin area's. i.e.

We spent nearly £1000 on advertising at the ground, only to find out that our advertising board didn't get erected for nearly 6 weeks. When we phoned up the club we were told that we had to do it ourselves.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

“There are eight million stories in the Naked City,” and this is one of them.

My brother-in-law received equally shoddy treatment over his advertising board. He's had a board on the ground for a number of years, even though he's not a Stanley fan and certainly doesn't 'need' a board on the ground in Accrington. Frankly it's an embarrassment.

It's easy to sit back and be critical all the time, but things like this really wind me up. I know the few staff who are there are probably doing the work of 10 men, but that's the problem. It's heads down and keep ploughing on in the same old way, which just isn't good enough. Like I said earlier, properly trained, experienced staff would pay for themselves and raise more money for the club. Take on 2 full-time staff with experience and give them 12 month contracts based on performance. If they don't pay off after a year then fine, but I honestly think the right staff would raise much more than they cost.
Alot of business is about image and presentation. Stanley is run like businesses were 25 or more years ago. It doesn't cut the mustard in this day and age.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

I did not name names, Joyce if she had been there at the start may have made a difference but I suspect on her own she would have made little headway. The only person who could make difference is Eric Whalley but from what we have seen he seems unwilling to think ahead or employ someone who might have the answers, in the meantime we lose numerous amounts of money every week.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Getting back to Maccas question,I say put all availiable funds into the squad to boost it.After we have survived the drop,THEN re-evaluate priorities and make the neccesary adjustments within the admin.I fully support the notion that if you take care of the cents,the dollars will look after themselves.In other words,have everything in the back functioning perfectly and then dress your shop window.
When everyone(most) were screaming for a roof,we were riding high looking comfortable.Now its all hands on deck. Survival first,commercial second.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

well thats the problem now is that we cannot spend anything on the squad at this moment.

If and when we do survive the drop we have to work out whether spending money on the squad (which guarantees nothing) is more important than spending money on the ground or spending money on the business development. We need the business side eveloping in order to generate the revenue streams we need to do the other two. But we also need to develop the ground in order to attract and retain new fans. But we also need to BUY new players.

Who'd be a Chairman eh?

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Catch 22 in terms of to attract more fans, sponsers and players we really need to develop the ground, but to do that more revenue is needed and to do that more people need to come through the gate on a matchday and as well as revenue form other streams

Re: so what do we want first?
 

It's not all doom & gloom. Just look at the likes of Carlisle over the past 4/5 seasons. Each season they were fighting against relegation into the conference, now they're in the top half of League 1. Things have to be right on the pitch first. When things are going well, the fans won't mind standing in the rain cheering on the team. When the teams is doing well, more sponsors will come forward.

NOW THAT'S A POSSITIVE CATCH 22.

:D

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Now that is the daftest statement on this site I have seen in ages. The fans DO mind standing in the rain, wind and cold - how many examples of theres no f in roo etc etc do you want. Lets leave the business to the board - obviously mistakes have been made, but they can be rectified and I am sure next season will be a lot better. BTW the club has already started spending by upgrading the lights and don't forget that due to league rules, we have to have seating for 3000 within 3 years of joining the league. The only problem with that is - Do the board try for a new ground in the greater Hyndburn area (not anywhere near junc 6 M65) or do they upgrade the current ground. Huge decisions, and one I am glad I am not a chairman for. Anyone with a huge lottery win please assist the club, everyone else - keep drinking the coke and coke zero to get a decent amount for players.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

So you think that by having a roof, everything else will be OK? Come on, even a crack smoking monkey could see that there is no point having the best stadium (with a great new roof) if you're playing in the conference or even lower.

I'm not saying that there should be a roof. But, the club has to prioritise it's funds. And the fans should realise this.

This isn't a dig at anybody. It's an observation from an outsider.

:)

Re: so what do we want first?
 

the priority is to stay in the league its the only way to attract more supporters which will increase revenue its simple you dont set up a business with all the hard work and let it go to rack and ruin by complacancy which is happening now .sorry to be deppresive but its a home truth we need to survive this season or it could be the end of stanley thiis is our metormophis. leave the staduim alone concontrate on the squad do what needs to be done .i think we should have question and answer why the players all drove to the match yesterday what would have happened if one got a puncture. would that influence the selection of the team . we werent that lucky :D or was it fraser eagle in a huff the fans should be told :Banane14:

Re: so what do we want first?
 

[/quote]We spent nearly £1000 on advertising at the ground, only to find out that our advertising board didn't get erected for nearly 6 weeks. When we phoned up the club we were told that we had to do it ourselves.[/quote]


I know this is smaller but my dad paid £80 to have 2 commemorative plaques put on a pair of seats in the stand after my grandma & grandad died, it took the club nearly 7 months to arrange them and attach them. They even admitted to losing them once! I actually found this rather insulting but kept my peace over the situation in hope that they would soon appear which they did in time but not until the next season had started.

The club have got to realise that on some fronts its the little things that matter.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

:( If last night is anything to go by, we won't have anything. Less than 1000 home supporters and hardly anybody in the bar after the game.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

You can't open/close/open/close/lock/unlock/lock/unlock the bar as and when you think fit and expect people to go in. As I said ten days ago, I for one will never go in again!

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Makes you sound like Billy Nomates ;)

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Thought Macca started this thread to try and get some perspective going, from where we are now, which is a good idea.

However the list of gripes - no roof, no beer @ Clayton end, club shop, club bar, lack of information, shoddy treatment etc. surfaces again, and is even added to.

There is no real feeling of a plan, supporters are becoming alienated from the club, (not the team), it's becoming a death by a thousand cuts scenario.

It would seem that the club need to give some serious thought to points raised on this thread, money is ebbing away needlessly

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Remember 45 years ago yesterday we dropped out of the Football League.
The priority above all else is to preserve our football league status then we can progress from there.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

so back to the thread then with this point, its too late now for the team. The team we have now will have to get themselves out of the coal hole(Tm Doug). But what about during the summer and next season?

Is this team good enough to survive another season without significant additions? Would the fans stand for it?

Can the fans put up with another season without a roof? and seats? would we stand for em? (sorry bout the last one) Could we cope with another season of muddy puddles around the bar?

Or can we do without the revenue gained from increased commercial activity? Can we manage without spending a bit extra in a bigger better club shop?


We can't have any two out of the three as we cant afford it yet. We shouldn't try to do all of the three half-arsed as it would be money wasted. One big money signing without players around him would do nowt. A bigger shop with nowt in it would be a waste. A crammed shop would gain nothing else as you still couldn't get more than three people inside (other than shoplifters).

What would you do if you were in charge? which area would you prioritise?

I suspect most people would go along with strengthening the team as a succesful team will take care of the rest. Well sorry but I dont believe that. At the start of this season we thought we had a succesful team, but we still only drew 2000 home fans for our biggest ever game.

I believe we should appease the fans we have left firstly by getting the roof up, no excuses, no ifs and buts, just building work. And it begins the day after our open day on the 29th April.

Secondly we should put up some extra portacabins for toilets next to the bar/food bar in the main stand. Then the clubhouse could be internally locked and open thus making money. Then a couple of extra portacabins for offices, put in 2 full time marketing guys on 25k plus 10% of all generated profits, they should fill their boots with a brand like ours. We should also take on a couple of part time customer service staff whose sole responsiblity is ensuring that all mail, email or otherwise, is responded to within 3 hours. Let the people employed to run the club - run the club. Let the people employed to build the lottery - build the lottery. etc Estimated running costs including purchases, of around £100k for the first year. The second year should take care of itself and the third year should be complete and utter profit. Every year we dont do this means we are still two years away from it happening.

Owt left over from owt we have should go into a winner of a bonus system for the squad. I've said before (and been laughed at) that the team should share any prizes from cup competitions amongst themselves. Every year we get knocked out of the FA Cup it costs us around 16k prize money for the first round, plus potential gate receipts and TV money. Give the players the 16k and the club can have any surpluses. We don't budget for cup runs so we lose nowt in offering it. But that dividend might just be the solution to being able to sign the likes of McClean, Bishop, Mannix, Perkins, Twiss etc. It also may be enough to prevent the likes of Barry, Craney and Roberts moving on for a couple of hundred extra.

Finally every fan entering the ground should bring a roll of bog paper to help soak up the water on the car park/swamp. The soggy residue could go into a papier mache building fund for the away end.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Well they shouldn't be.

Accrington Stanley has been carried on by a limited company, an unincorporated association and another limited company. It is much bigger than any of them or the people who manage it or play for it from time to time and it will endure for ever.

People may not like the personnel or the management from time to time but they should never feel alienated from the "club" because it is a great institution.

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Just an observation, Haggis.

I agree with Sparkie, when she said, "The club have got to realise that on some fronts its the little things that matter."

Better information from the club would cost little and help a lot :(

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Re: so what do we want first?
 

Amen.
Tinpot