May has continued to be a busy month, the biggest challenge over the next few weeks is keeping the interest going, and keeping people focussed on the club still. We may not have players wages to pay, but we still have plenty of bills to pay that will stretch the coffers, and we need to start building up the funds for the start of the new season.
When I took over as Chairman 12 months ago I remember one ex-Chairman telling me that I need to have £35k in the bank by the start of the season if you are going to have any chance of getting through a potentially disrupted winter and into February. When you are looking at an account with that much money in you feel as though you can take on the world, but it is amazing how quickly that can disappear!
Anyway, what's been going on? Well, we are still awaiting confirmation of what club's will make up the Southern League next season; I think I have a fair idea how it will pan out, but we will have to wait and see the offiical announcement and then we can start planning. We have obviously lost three long trips in Tiverton, Salisbury and Truro, replacing them with the likes of Hitchin and Arlesey should reduce some of our travel costs and hopefully attract a few more away fans as well.
You will no doubt have seen that a few of the pre-season friendlies have already been arranged, the highlights being clashes with Barnet and Crystal Palace, the former being the now annual David Stanley Memorial Trophy; last year we lost the inaugural match against Hendon, let's hope we can start the season with some silverware. Talking of silverware, by all accounts the Reserves were awesome in lifting the cup at Adams Park against Chalfont Wasps this week - A game I had to miss unfortunately due to a blocked drain beneath the drive...enough detail I think! We received a very nice email from Chalfont Wasps complimenting us on our team and football played, they have become a huge credit to the club and I do hope we get a place in the South Midlands Division One and see how they get on in the Pyramid. If we do enter the South Midlands we are going to need some help and orgainsation around the Reserves on a matchday, including producing a matchday programme.
On the subject of help, it remains my challenge for the summer to bring in more help. The organisation structure that we launched last summer was supposed to be the roots of an orgnaisation that would spread out like a family true to create a web of people integral in the running of the football club, that hasn't happened...yet.
On my "To Do" list I have an idea of drafting up almost like a Situations Vacant page with job adverts for all the roles we need to fill. I was even going to start it tonight, but that would have meant sitting at my Mac in the office rather than the laptop in front of the darts scribbling these notes, but that doesn't mean I can't include some of the content in this blog, so apologies if you get bored hearing all this again, but I cannot over-empthasise the importance of getting more help to run the club. If we end up having to pay for some of the roles that other clubs get done for free, then we are failing on the community front and we will eventually fail on the pitch.
I had a drink last night after work with a supporter who raised a few points that are easily overlooked when you get too close to the club and I was disappointed in myself as to how often I was agreeing that there were things that we had not got right. Out of fairness at this stage I won't name the person because the conversation was about getting more involved and it would not be right for me to put them on the spot anymore, but hopefully a lot of good will come from these sort of conversations over a pint, after all, that's what got us here in the first place.
So what sort of positions do we have vacant, we are always asking for help, what exactly do we need?...well, here's a few off the top of my head (and I confess these are my thoughts rather than a board decision at this stage), the renumeration package is zero, but they come with massive dollops of appreciations, satisfaction and you might get a pint out of it...
Matchday Office Manager - Somebody who is able to assist with the office on a matchday and be responsibile for distribution of all player and/or visitor passes. Equally this person will be responsible for advising turnstile operators of any other promotional offers or tickets that might be expected. That way if the turnstile operator has any queries, they can direct the visitor to the office or make a call to the office, this person will answer the phone in the office also, usually calls from the turnstile. In the build-up to a matchday, ideally this same person will ensure that we have programme sellers, turnstile operators, stewards (where necessary) and all relevant passes in place so that everything runs smoothly on the day.
Boardroom Host - I'm keen to be able to replace my own mum as the main host in the boardroom, serving drinks to the guests and also providing the drinks in the dressing rooms before the game and at half-time, as well as looking after the match officials. Drinks are tea or coffee before the match and at half-time, alcoholic beverages after the game - we try to encourage keeping this to visiting officials and sponsors as there is obviously a cost involved, but this is a guide rather than a rule.
Catering - This may or may not be the same person as above. Currently it is my mum and wife that provide the food for the boardroom and players on a first team matchday. We are basically talking about 30 people in the boardroom (varies depending on visitors and sponsors) and 40 players and management, food served in The Chess Suite. With my kids deciding that they don't like football it is unfair to have them dragged over every Saturday whilst mum does food and dad watches football; put it this way, it will make my life hell of a lot smoother if I could find an alternative to this role!
Push 4 Promotion Manager - I still feel this is unfulfilled potential for strengthening the team. This is the scheme whereby supporters can donate money on a regular basis into a fund that is ring-fenced for the playing budget, a number of people participate to whom we are hugely grateful, however I believe we could raise more for Andy if we could get someone to take responsibility and control of it - promoting and managing. Hitchin Town who have come up into our league this year raise huge amounts in this way, I reckon we could do the same. It was an addition to the Push 4 Promotion fund that enabled us to bring in Paul Robinson in the latter part of last season. We currently get about £400 per month (it rose a bit, but is back down again in the close season), Hitchin get more than that a week, if we could match that, what a season we might have instore?
Commercial Sales- At a huge risk of treading on Giles' toes, I still think we need to try and generate more income through advertising and sponsorship, last season saw a huge increase, and that was done with limited resources...I always envisage a small team of people, meeting in the office with a whiteboard or flipchart pad, creating a competitive sales environment, each trying to out do each other, chalking up another sale on the board, and then someone else going out to try and surpass their efforts. I personally would not be against paying commission on completely new business.
Fundraising - Now this is where it gets tricky, in a way this should be a Supporters' Trust role, but it raises the question again of where the Trust organisation sits within the picture of the club at the moment? The committee are engulfed in the running of the club and that leaves little or no time for running a group that is specifically targeted at supporters? As much as I enjoy the relatively easy ride, my own pasts suggests that it would be hypocritical of me not to encourage supporters to try and make the Board more visually accountable for their actions...it's a whole grey area at the moment which needs painting either black or white.
One thing is certain, we need some fundraising money to come into the running of the club, it's part of the budget and will need to be an even bigger part next season. This year we budgetted on having a sportsman's dinner that never transpired, that has left a huge glaring hole in the management accounts that needs to be filled somehow, the recent Grand National Raffle proved what a difference something as simple as this can make. We have a board meeting on Wednesday next week, followed again by an invitation for Trust members to come along at 8.30pm to catch up on what is going-on, raise concerns and ask any questions.
If you are interested in any of the above roles, please give me a shout - I can be contacted via the club or through this website.
As to on the pitch, hopefully there will be some news coming out soon, I've hasd a lot of conversations with Andy about budgets and contracts, once these are done and delivered we will be sure to let everyone know, until then, stay interested over the summer months!
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