STANDING ORDER FOR GOALDEN LOTTERY
CFORD 6 POST FROM PORT CHAT
This season is now beginning to
establish a rather depressing pattern not too dissimilar to the last two thirds
of our last season in the Conference. From where I view the situation the
problems are as follows:
1.0 We seemed to go into this season with an attitude of we were the best at the
level below and we should not have too many problems holding our own in the
league above. I was worried by this approach, the FA Cup game against Hereford
last season should have been warning enough this was never going to be the case.
A large number of the players were never going to be good enough and we should
have seriously strengthened the squad. We did not, and we are now in a mess.
2.0 The biggest mistake however was not changing the commercial set up. We look
like a complete bunch of amateurs off the field. Some of our so called fund
raising efforts are akin to those of pub sides. You need a business plan, you
need to target major revenue sources (other than bodies through the gate), local
investment etc. Before anyone says it cannot be done etc I will provide an
example. Eastleigh, my local team played in the Wessex League about 5 years ago.
Each year they have been promoted and they are now near the top of Conference
South. They are part time, but have money. This has not been achieved with a
wealthy Chairman, but with a whole host of local investment by at least 30 or 40
companies all involved with the club, getting great local exposure through
advertising, press articles and some kudos as being part of a local success
story. There is not an inch of space at the ground not taken with sponsors
advertising. The point is that lots of small investment = big money. They only
get 300 to 500 a game but probably have about the same funds available as we do.
In addition, this is all done in the shadow of Southampton FC.
3.0 The part time / full time issue. No big deal in my opinion. I understand a
number of the players do not have any other source of income other than playing
for the club. These players would probably welcome the opportunity to go onto a
flexible full time arrangement for a modest increase in wages and other players
could make adjustments to their other work patterns as they see fit to train
more regularly than Tue and Thur evenings and again receive some form of modest
compensation. We then only need a full time fitness coach to plug the gap.
Hardly rocket science and there must be many other permutations which would also
work.
4.0 The fans deserve a lot better than they are getting at the moment. I will
not dwell on recent events as they are well documented and there are varying
opinions. However, the point is the club needs to enter the into real world and
work with the fantastic support the club has (moronic moaners excluded) and move
the club forward.
5.0 At present, I feel we have a cat in hells chance of competing with the top
10 or so teams in this league. When we play away at Grays I will be there, but
travelling in the full expectation of a loss. This is wrong. We should feel we
should be able to compete in every game. I know RSA stated in a previous thread
he expected us to be defeated today - everyone should ask themselves did they
really expect us to win? The majority will say no. This shows how potentially
out of our depth we are.
6.0 I have not seen as many games as others this season but living close to
Southampton is my excuse. However, we look like the Mike Walsh team of a few
seasons ago, in as much as we look a very poor second best. The difference this
season when compared to the past has been more passion and application at each
game. If this is falling away (as reported yesterday) then we are in big
trouble.
7.0 With regards to the way out of this mess. Well firstly, its time to grind
out the results to stay up. Liam Watson is learning and he needs as much vocal
support we can give him. I doubt if we will be able to get many new faces in in
January, but boy do we need them. The club needs to give him every last penny it
can afford to get the right sort of players in, to incentivise those players we
need to keep, and to pay for methods which will take the club forwards.
8.0 The club also needs to look forward. Not assuming we will stay up and then
maybe take a look at what we do next season. But to completely re-structure the
commercial activities of the club which will allow the club to go forward rather
than try to hang on by our finger tips to Conference survival.
Here endeth the lesson.