Paul Carden
 

According to the LET, he's joined Cambridge United on loan. Anyone know if there's any truth in that? (there's nothing on the fishy site, as per)

Re: Paul Carden
 

Well he played for us at Blackpool on Tuesday, so he may well have gone on loan to Cambridge before the deadline yesterday.

The fact that other sites have the story before the official site is, as you say, nothing new. To be honest, I'm fast losing interest, which as a fan for 30 years is quite worrying for me.

Re: Paul Carden
 

Losing interest?!

We're playing at the highest level we've ever played at, with bigger crowds than ever before, a recently developed stadium, and some of the most talented players we've ever had. Surely this is the most exciting time to be a Stanley fan?

Re: Paul Carden
 

And yet the club's Google Page Ranking still seems to be little better than at Unibond level. I know John Alty wasn't everyone's cup of tea as chairman, but you couldn't deny he had a gift for publicity (even if a lot of it was self-publicity). Communication with fans appears to be at an all-time low, the club shop website is apparantly out of date (according to other threads) and as to getting hold of anyone at the club, generally you can forget it. The footballing staff have over-achieved in getting us where we are and have busted a gut in doing so. The club as a whole, however, seems to be wasting the opportunity to push its profile (and the departure of Lew Carroll really is a blow in that respect). The only time I can recall seeing the club in the national press this season was the ill-judged whine about attendances.

I say this as an exile; perhaps there is more Google Page Ranking going on locally that I am unaware of. But I doubt it.

Re: Paul Carden
 

Perfectly put BedsRed.

I understand that as the club progresses through the pyramid the distance between club and fan is going to become more stretched, but I feel totally disconnected from the club and that is damaging the relationship.

Lack of communication between fan and club is a part of the problem, plus the constant frustration at the way simple things (like putting merchandise on the website so it will sell, or replying to emails) aren't done properly, just makes me despair.

Perhaps it's just me and I need to take a break from it all? I hear Burnley have a new manager. Maybe I need to go and watch something else for a while to put it all into perspective? ;)

Re: Paul Carden
 

We haven't been officially told he has left, at least I haven't seen it anywhere.

Re: Paul Carden
 

Lew has himself told us here that he's gone http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...e-34959-2.html

Re: Paul Carden
 

I know he has gone, I was the one to disclose it on this site, I know that Lew has himself told us that he has gone, but my point is that the Club have not told us that he has gone - lack of information (which is being discussed on this thread)

Re: Paul Carden
 

Sorry that wasn't clear, maybe the club dont think its our business or that important as say onfield staff:confused:

Its the same old same old with stanley atm, Google Page Ranking is not one of their strengths at all even more so with league status. Like TM has said & many others have on the subject of stanley, public relations/communications are dire & does have a tremendous effect on all sides, fan, local, shop, etc which is contributory to the gates, merchandise, club mangerial behind the scenes issues.

As for website dont get me started, [or MR K will come back:p] errrrr wheres the telegraph??:rolleyes:

Re: Paul Carden
 

We've been told that Stanley are on a learning curve, but the frustrating thing is that nobody seems to be learning...or listening. Why has nobody reacted to the comments about the new Winter merchandise and put them in the on-line store or, at least mentioned them on the news section? And what about TM's experience in attempting to join the Stanley Legends scheme? Any remotely Google Page Ranking-conscious organisation would have jumped on that by issuing an apology to him, sorting it out and reassuring the rest of us on here that there won't be a reoccurence if we join. It really doesn't give a good impression to us dedicated fans. :(

Re: Paul Carden
 

True points wynonie, even more so distancing potential fans from the club too especially the younger market, its more frustrating that Eric being a business man should know all about marketing & customer relations, without either how are we supposed to keep afloat or reach a better potential & run the business side of it properly as well as expectations on pitch.

Re: Paul Carden
 

Maybe the club can't afford the resource to provide a better service than they are doing ?

Re: Paul Carden
 

Tomorrow will be a good time to start TM, we are playing in Blue & White :D

Re: Paul Carden
 

Nothing on the Cambridge site or the BBC list of transfers and loans.

Re: Paul Carden
 

I'll give em my rates then :rolleyes:

Seriously, a lot of the problem is mainly ERIC himself, as maybe Lew was trying his best to steer the clubs commercial side to a slighty bigger plateau to try to gain renvenue only for big E to put the mockers on it or take over as he does like to keep his rein on the club very tight, which has been always his way & wants it his own way, which can be intimidating for staff or for new ideas especially if it means speculating to accumulate or even spending on staff wages to get better people in...:confused::confused::confused:

Re: Paul Carden
 

Lost yer identity then....:p may the shower of sh.. colours jinx u lol:D

Re: Paul Carden
 

Understandable to a degree. It's always difficult to let go of your baby.

On the other hand I can understand the fans frustration at the lack of communication.

Maybe they have opportunities for part time staff who would give their right arm to work for the club on that basis ( and would do it for free if there weren't practicalities such as feeding the kids to consider :) )

Re: Paul Carden
 

Personally I think that Eric has banned Stanley staff from posting on the forum which is sad, when was the last time Rob, Lee ect. where heard on here. Communication with the supporters is very important more so when we have money to spend. I think maybe I should start posting about the attendance figures announced again because that usually gets a bit of interaction going. :(

Re: Paul Carden
 

...and yet I'd rather be watching Deano, Lutel, Jamo & Smithy playing Whitby away.

It should be, shouldn't it.

I also believe the club has drastically failed to capitalise on it's unprecedented success. This has contributed to sharing (with people like Tin Monkey) a sense of disconnection/boredom with the only football club I could ever have any kind of connection with. It's a sad state of affairs.

I'm not going to point the finger at one person alone, as I believe the club as a whole must take responsibility for it's lack of professionalism and what seems basic forethought and/or nouse!

Re: Paul Carden
 

Well said shaker :thumbsup:

Its a crying shame that the feeling of discontention with the club is fuelling & maybe should read this forum & the comments made, definately not such a criticism but a big constructive criticism that would improve the clubs infrastructure & its relations with the fans & would be fans.

The thing that makes it worse is that these comments made here, likes of TM, Wynone, bagpuss, shaker & myself is that we are there supporting the club week in week out as much as possible, its a sad state of affairs indeed which the club need to heed upon to keep their hardcore level as well as pormoting themselves to new fans.

Re: Paul Carden
 

ahh there is a plus point stanley has teamed up with accy college to help you improve your reading writing etc skills heading for success courses are free and are run with the support of accrington stanley.i think that is a step in the right direction helping in the community.for fee courses call 01254 354181 and mention heading for success..

Re: Paul Carden
 

Signed up yet, Bananaman? ;)

Re: Paul Carden
 

Perhaps I'm thick and need some educating but I fail to see the relevance of the link between the 2 organisations for that particular set of skills. Accrington Stanley are a football club, should the link not be sport related or is there a suggestion that all Stanley fans can't read & write :D

Re: Paul Carden
 

Read & write? Maybe they thought it said red & white? ;)

Re: Paul Carden
 

I've just been shown a copy of the leaflet they have been giving out. I'm confused, if you can't read how do you know what it says ? :D

Re: Paul Carden
 

he he he i was in the queue just behind you:Dim in the picture on the leaflet with a few other stanley supporters in the clayton end:p:Banane25::Banane25::Banane25::Banane25::Bana ne25::Banane25::Banane25::Banane25::Banane25::Bana ne25::Banane25:

Re: Paul Carden
 

Well it seems someone at the club does read the messageboards. It has now been confirmed on the fishy site

Re: Paul Carden
 

karma coming,

Re: Paul Carden
 

[quote=shakermaker;497214] I'd rather be watching Deano, Lutel, Jamo & Smithy playing Whitby away.

I can't help thinking that this sort of opinion is overly nostalgic and as a result is also rather confused. Yes, it was great watching these players playing away at Whitby, or at anywhere else for that matter. We had a great side playing at that level 6/7 years ago and the players of that era should always be hailed for helping to get us where we are today. However, harking back to a golden era in the clubs past is, in the end, unfruitful. Even if we were to return to the NPL/Conf North it couldn't, for lots of reasons, ever be the same as it was back then.

Moreover, there isn't as big a big gap between Stanley in 2001 and Stanley in 2007 as the nostalgics would have us believe. The club now is reaping the rewards of what Lutel etc did for us at the turn of the century. Thus to say you'd rather we didn't have what we've got now (i.e. league football and all that goes with it) doen't make sense, as it necessarily involves saying you wish Lutel etc hadn't done so well for us and got us to where we are now.

We need to accept that the club has progressed and has grown. An upshot of this is that there will be changes in how close you as an individual fan feel to the club. These changes have been steadily occuring over the last 15 years or so though and haven't suddenly just hit us. For example, I vaguely remember an outcry similar to this in the 90s when it was deemed no longer acceptable for the fans to travel on the same coach to away games as the players.

However, I don't think the changes are all one way (i.e. fans feeling less attached to the club as the club grows) either. When I started supporting the club I lived in Burnley so didn't get the Accy Observer plus, although I went to school in Accy, no-one at school supported Stanley. My only knowledge of Stanley players and general club goings on was gleamed from turning up on a saturday and reading the match day programme. I'm glad to say its much different now. Thanks to the club growing and being able to take increasing advantage of internet technologies I now know much more about potential signings/current players/managers views than we ever did previously.

I've ended up posting a (much!) longer post than I'd intended but I just wanted to make the point that the positives of our progression far outway the negatives. I'm not a club apologist and I do think, for example, that we could have made much more in terms of Google Page Ranking out of our return to the football league. However, nostalgically longing to return to bygone times isn't helpful (for a start, what effect must such longings have on the morale of the current crop of players?). In short, if we do have grievances then there are more constructive ways of expressing them.

Re: Paul Carden
 

All I am saying is that the club is not matching it's footballing position in League 2 with equal professionalism off the pitch.
The treatment of existing fans, as highlighted in various examples in this thread, is simply not good enough.
Thus, Stanley might as well be playing Whitby away in the Unibond league if the club is going to be run as if it is.

It's not nostalgia, it's provoked apathy.

Re: Paul Carden
 

Nicely put.

Some of what we now have is sadly unavoidable, segregation, policing etc., but a lot of it isn't, and the club could certainly do better.

They now seem intent on trying to sell us things we don't want, in a poor way, and are in danger of losing what money couldn't buy. :(