Off the field operations
- Thread starter Oliver's Army
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Hopefully the club can prove us wrong.
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Nah, I’m not sure we do either at this stage in our development.
We're an ex-industrial town on the far NE coast with a large support of moderately incomed supporters ...
... you can only milk them so much.
Pardon my ignorance but corporate is for corporate entities, so income of the working man not really the target there is it?
I'm taking BRMCs 'corporate' comment as a generic term meaning 'next level' not necessarily high powered sponsors, etc.
The club are clearly trying to 'bump people up' from a pie and a pint to catered hospitality and executive boxes, etc.
That may work in a first exciting season back in the PL, but that will really take some maintaining.
I may be wrong but Sunderland isn't renowned for large numbers of corporate entities.
Sounds like a professional man every word spoken is calculated and on message .Im not sure extending the stadium will be anytime soon and im not quite convinced (i dont think he said but might have missed) of how he is going to attract the global fan that he speaks of ,to significantly grow the clubs revenue. that makes any difference.
I could see a world where we us grow to catch Newcastle's global footprint (its not that great )but to catch (or get within shouting distance) the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal Chelsea, and Manure would need us to stay in the prem and compete at the top end of the prem and actually win things year on year.
This is the greatest period to be a Sunderland supporter since the total football years of the 1930's.Personally i judge people on what they do rather what they say so im hopeful our interim CEO can walk the walk and its going to be interesting that's for sure.
Watching the interview my take would be they are targeting people who will never likely regularly attend the SOL so merchandise and the like. I travel to the US quite a bit and you do see increasing numbers of Man City Chelsea Liverpool and Man U merchandise and I would imagine Asia is way bigger still so targeting those markets. Certainly the US pre season tour will help. Obviously to be successful in those markets the club has to be successful on the pitch.
In terms of the SOL the aim, he said, is to take it to 59,000. We know the existing design if extended as the north stand extension would take us to 63,000 so I’m guessing there will be more focus on the high end than just putting more seats in and obviously that is where the serious money is. Hopefully a good mix of pricing will not rule ‘ordinary’ fans out though.
As I have said a few times if we extend the SOL soon we can really steal a March on the mags and get even more young people into the SOL to secure our fan base, whilst they they fanny on with their hotch potch of a stadium, given how relatively easy we can extend.
From the interview the mags have a turnover of £320m so if we want to compete with them and the real players in the premier league, within the rules, we have to maximise our income (Certainly in the NE it’s a challenge as the mags have a head start as they target the corporates but given the people we have running the club we can upset their Apple cart). Hopefully it can be done as inclusively as possible but certainly he comes across very well and there are a lot of reasons to feel very positive for the future of our club imho.
That said we do need to sort the inefficiencies of the ticket office out as it is letting the rest of the club down.
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Not sure how right it is but as I understand it Liverpool has one of the lowest percentages of season tickets available for it capacity 34k tickets for a nearly 62k capacity.
The club likes day trippers who get to one match a year or in some cases once in a lifetime because those people turn up and spend a fortune in the club shop aswell as the match ticket!
I'm sure ive mentioned before I live in Liverpool and I am aware there are some people making a very good living as they have season ticket or memberships which gives them first option of tickets which they then sell on at a hugely inflacted price to these tourist supporters. The club don't make much of an effort to stamp it out as far as I hear, because they see the benefit in merchandise sales etc..
Imo this is the way to be to maximise revenue but it loses something fan wise
The interesting point for me from that interview is having the right people in post. The right person now might not be the right person in two years time, in which case it will be thank you for your efforts and all the best for the future. It could be described as ruthless but I'd prefer look at it as developing our club to be the best it can be.
I'm looking forward to seeing who the new CEO will be, I'm confident it won't be Billy Jones from Hendon, rather it will be someone who has experience at international level, across the globe, if you like, who can take us so much further than us local supporters can imagine.
I'm getting concerned as I'm starting to get my optimism back.
As an aside, we even seem to have got under the skin of our current exec. There's something about this club.
I'm looking forward to seeing who the new CEO will be, I'm confident it won't be Billy Jones from Hendon, rather it will be someone who has experience at international level, across the globe, if you like, who can take us so much further than us local supporters can imagine.
I'm getting concerned as I'm starting to get my optimism back.
As an aside, we even seem to have got under the skin of our current exec. There's something about this club.
Im going to have to watch that again as i missed the 59000 thing(bleeding attention span is reducing as i get older). I wonder if hes looking at the actual people in the ground (paying customers not actual physical capacity which is never reached)with segregation (as i fear they are never going to fill those seats near the front of the north upper)At the moment we get a max of around 47500 ish ,so if you add the south stand 5500 seats thats 52500.
Now the east stand is a conundrum as various figures were quoted in the past ,including the south east upper it would be 11000 or 9000 extra seats, so personally if you take the 9000 figure ,take off 2000 or so for extra corporate like the south stand and add that to the actual present capacity that would give something around the 59000 mark.
One thing is for sure Old bob saw the early proposed plans and he said he was impressed and i just hope im around long enough to seethe SOL develop into an arena our magnificent fans deserve as that will only happen if we are very successful on the pitch over a sustained period.
Possibly, perhaps 59,000 home support and 4,000 away?
I definitely heard 59,000 I think
If Sir Bob is happy at the proposed designs, given his attention to detail (given he made his money in kitchen and bathroom design and manufacturing), it’s very good news imho. Get it built and get even more younguns into the SOL.
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Could always go back to the BCB being in the upper and move the away fans down to the lower. That will give us those seats back + have the east stand extension.
Probably unpopular, but you could look to offer away fans a corporate area and fleece the buggers. Obviously that would have to be removed for the mags game lol
I think bobs old proposal plans were often misquoted to 65,000 capacity but the actual was 63,500 but i think your right old bob (i know he was selling his book at the time) was a canny negotiator of price and not easily impressed.I think the lower bowl holds 35-36,000 so the west upper must hold 7000 so i think the 9000 estimate(including corner) is probably right .Anyway interesting times ahead and if the club is to grow the ground will need extending that's for sure.Considering how far we had fallen under the Yanky fool and Delboy twins i hope is a new dawn for our great club and in truth its nothing more than our magnificent fans deserve.Possibly, perhaps 59,000 home support and 4,000 away?
I definitely heard 59,000 I think
If Sir Bob is happy, given his attention to detail (given he made his money in kitchen and bathroom design and manufacturing) it’s very good news imho.
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