defo some stuff to still tweak and make better. the commercial side though is going to be a different world if bruce gets all his stuff sorted, 2 new shops potentially opening 1 in sunderland and 1 in washington. merchandise could be starting to get sold in the kiosks from next season, and hopefully lesson have been learned and tweaks will be made to the on-field side of things , we don't need a lot and it won't take a lot to sort out
I'm relaxed about on the field, there are issues that I'm sure we will deal with. The off the field has been a big concern and by the sounds of it it's being dealt with. I want us to maximise every penny off the field as it helps on the field
If a £10m investment in the stadium is just because of fan pressure then KLD is a rich fool who will soon become a poor one. I very much doubt this is the case and club are just moving things on. As always fans want everything now and just aren’t prepared to wait, on the pitch or off it.
If the club jumped every time there was 'fan pressure' we'd have held onto Stewart, doubled Alex Neil's wages and signed everyone from Yann M'Vila to Dwight Gayle ... ... the club may seem 'stubborn' to some but that means 'determined' to others. 'It's KLDs way or you're out' may seem harsh but surely it simply means abiding by the terms of your contract. If I was putting in that amount of money I'd want my staff to do things how I liked them done.
It's a combination of both. They know fans are not happy and they know things have been poor for a while. Fan feedback is paramount but they have made the changes and investment. Good decisions all round I say.
On the merchandise being sold in the Kiosks that happens over here at both AFL and NRL games. Not only in the stadium but the clubs will have mobile kiosks set up outside the stadium as well.
The latest news from the club shows that as a whole the club looks like they are starting to build and move forward off the pitch after finally stepping out if the shadows of the Legacy contracts. I guess every fan will have different opinions on what yhey think the club should prioritise next. Some want the club to look at ticketing, some want merchandising, some want the speakers fixed, some want better communication and media output, some want new stores and better refreshments, some want stadium and matchday experience improved and that is before we have even looked at the actual playing side and transfers, New head coach or youth development. Basically what is important to one fan may be less important to another and as a club I am sure these areas will all be addressed in time but the truth is that football is a business and change has to be implemented incrementally and phased in as we all know people in general do not like change if it affect their routine but given time they learn to adapt and often come to accept and even embrace the changes that they were against. Basically off the field and on the field time is required and these latest developments show that the owners have been listening and have probably been working hard behind the scenes to move the whole club toward a brighter future. This is good news and I am sure there will be more to follow and if the club have not prioritised your personal concerns give them time and understand it is not personal and they will be trying to prioritise areas based on targets (commercial and football) to help maximise and build towards a brighter future and as others have said It feels good to finally have a plan.
Its not a dig, it's just a fact, we needed changes after complaints were chucked at the club, they reacted, the stadium plans and changes are not finished yet. They are still looking at raising the East stand it's been drawn up for over a year now, just slowly slowly catch the monkey. SO NO ITS NOT A DIG AT ALL
Its not facts tho, its your opinion Stuff like the sponsorship deal would have been on the go for a while and i think it's disrespectful to the owners saying theyve only done it because of fan pressure These owners have a plan and are changing our club for the better, will they listen to fans - of course they will (all good companies will listen to their 'customers') but this whole theyve only changed it because of fan pressure is bull!! Mistakes have been made for sure but they seem to be learning from them
The wonderful thing about some of these comments is that those defending the club and ownership group are doing so with facts. All of this was in flight well before the BCB fiasco. The only fault that I can really get on board with is the missteps with recruitment, but in real terms we hit the playoffs in a season where we just wanted to stay in the league and many got carried away and overrated a fair few of our players. We all fancied a promotion tilt start of season so it’s pretty plausible to think that the powers that he did too. In this time that every other day a club is being docked points or being outed for huge losses. We are doing fine. I do expect summer to be massive and if we get the new gaffer and recruitment wrong, then I’ll have another thought on it. Right now, still feels like safe hands with a plan to me.
Speakman is annoying in many ways but no fool. The board have a carefully shaped approach they haven’t quite executed this year but they are smart. If it isn’t working they will change it, if Speakman makes mistakes he will be under pressure to make the investment work so he will adjust it. The fan frustration is of course part of the picture as the are crucial to it but the fans are pissed off about obvious things like systems not working and results being poor. Interested to see how they get the on field stuff right. If it was my organisation and I’d be putting ‘support’ in or refinements with decision making to guarantee a change not just trusting the exact same people.
We all like to have some control over our lives but for anyone who likes to always be in control football isn't a good fit. I see people demanding statements, 'refusing' to accept this or that, criticising other supporters for not feeling the same and 'accepting mediocrity' as if that someone makes them partly to blame for the anguish they're feeling etc. What's worse is that some feel 'powerless' so want to claw back control and protest. (That rarely works as the Mags found out over 10 years of Ashley.) That might've seemed a good idea a few weeks back but, after a mix of win/merchandising/stadium/etc, it would make us look foolish imo. Sheff Wed have seen their club brought to its' knees and they're on the verge of L1 ... ... imagine them watching us protest because we've finished mid-table in the Championship and didn't sign a CDM.
The fact that those trying to drum up interest in protests got as much traction as a drunk lass in heels on an ice rink kind of shows the overall though and feeling.
