Steering Group Meeting Summary

[Birley Owl 1867]

43 minutes ago, bigdan2003 said:

Thanks for the summary. 

 

I noticed some work happening in the south stand car park - any one know what this is? Seems be a dressing tarmaced area, looks like it's been prepared for something to go on it. 

 

Also some portakibin units have been placed in the car park - I guess they'll be selling food and drink? 

That bit I think is just extending the concourse possibly sag related. It really is a bottleneck around there with the kiosks and the dirty smokers blocking path.

 

I'd imagine so, unless it is a pop up club shop with shirts/programmes etc.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Birley Owl 1867

[Jarvy]

To clarify guys I wasn't there myself, I wrote this summary by aggregating reports from people who did go and reports from journalists etc so I'm afraid I can't answer further questions until more reports come out.

 

Thanks for the praise and +reps though! I'll certainly do it again next time.

 

8 minutes ago, Grandad said:

Can I ask - what was the abusive stuff at the end? How did people conduct themselves generally?

 

Didn't want to dwell on that as it's just some mindless negative stuff that isn't constructive at all.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Jarvy

[StudentOwl]

13 minutes ago, Almat said:

Superb work, Jarvy. Assuming you are a regular attendee I think I speak for my fellow posters here in saying it would be brilliant if you could do this after every meeting. Totally accept it if you haven't got the time but imo this is the best summary we've had since these meetings started. Thanks again. 

 

PS who the flip do Sondico think they are?? Kudos to DC for telling them to stick their shirts where the sun don't shine...

It's worth noting that it wasn't Sondico who moved the goalposts RE the anniversary kit, it was a different an unnamed supplier 

Whilst Sondico didn't give us good quality products, they're not responsible for the late kit arrival

[FreshOwl]

thanks for all the info but 5hrs to go through all that? 

[Almat]

4 minutes ago, StudentOwl said:

It's worth noting that it wasn't Sondico who moved the goalposts RE the anniversary kit, it was a different an unnamed supplier 

Whilst Sondico didn't give us good quality products, they're not responsible for the late kit arrival

 

Ooppss, apologies to sondico. 

[Trawdenowl]

Thank you very much.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Trawdenowl

[StudentOwl]

52 minutes ago, lincolnowl said:

Re: the Morrison deal was it a fan spouting at the meeting who is to be banned or a someone from social media at the time of the offer who is known and won't be invited? 

From what's been said it seems like we "officially" bid £3m as per the news reports at the time

 

However, the actual figure was much higher than this, and this was revealed at the meeting last night. We then had a fan there go against requests of those at the meeting to keep it under wraps by putting it online. Naivety from both parties there... the club shouldn't have revealed the true figure and could have got away with "The actual figure quoted is not accurate, we had a deal in place for a CB at a much higher price", but equally the fans there should have accepted the wishes of the football club they support... could have easily just said "Our bid for Morrison was much higher than £3m... not allowed to say more but rest assured that isn't accurate". Alas, it is what it is, the bloke's a twát and took advantage of a rare time the club has opened up about such matters

[Dick_Turpin]

2 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

thanks for all the info but 5hrs to go through all that? 

It's a brief summary - e.g. "Very strong" defence he made re certain issues is passed over in a sentence. Presumably that took a bit of time and may have got a bit heated

[Spookone]

I actually enjoyed reading that and to me at least is puts a positive light on the club, although we have more than our fair share of idiotic fans, it does show the club wants to succeed as much as any of us do - but its not quite as easy as some lame brains think. 

[Jarvy]

6 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

thanks for all the info but 5hrs to go through all that? 

 

Everyone reports that the same questions kept getting brought up over and over with little productive value to the subsequent discussions. Perhaps a more formal agenda would make sense in future meetings.

[Spookone]

4 minutes ago, StudentOwl said:

From what's been said it seems like we "officially" bid £3m as per the news reports at the time

 

However, the actual figure was much higher than this, and this was revealed at the meeting last night. We then had a fan there go against requests of those at the meeting to keep it under wraps by putting it online. Naivety from both parties there... the club shouldn't have revealed the true figure and could have got away with "The actual figure quoted is not accurate, we had a deal in place for a CB at a much higher price", but equally the fans there should have accepted the wishes of the football club they support... could have easily just said "Our bid for Morrison was much higher than £3m... not allowed to say more but rest assured that isn't accurate". Alas, it is what it is, the bloke's a twát and took advantage of a rare time the club has opened up about such matters

 

And some fans ask why we don't get more information from the club - this is your answer  

[BARMYARMY2010]

16 minutes ago, Chardron said:

Interesting re FFP.

 

£150 Million in three years,WTF how on earth can that be ?

Edited August 3, 2017 by BARMYARMY2010

[Hedwig]

Fantastic Summary Jarvy, really appreciate it !

 

If we weren't sure, it sounds like we're in safe hands, with the Chansiri family at the helm..

Just need the kn0bs to lay off personal abuse of them on Social Media now..

 

Other thing is we should be looking at doing something to West Lower to increase capacity in there to 2000, then the upper is ours !

[StudentOwl]

3 minutes ago, BARMYARMY2010 said:

£150 Million in three years,WTF how on earth can that be ?

£30m purchase price + writing off the existing debt at purchase + c.£32m in transfers over the last 2 years (according to transfermarkt) + huge increase in wages over last two years + ground and pitch improvements + training ground improvements + his sponsorship of pretty much everything

 

 

 

[kevtheowl]

2 hours ago, Jarvy said:

Summary of results for people who don't want to traul twitter/45 pages of a thread.

 

The meeting went on for well over 5 hours, which is abnormal. 

 

Hillsborough

A Richard Stanford was introduced to the group, he is SWFC's representative when dealing with SAG?SYP etc.

 

He's working closely with them to resolve issues causing reduced capacity and fan segregation and it's hoped that we will be able to increase capacity once more to 38,000, including opening the west stand both to home and away fans more regularly.

 

Richard seems to be working hard on filling Hillsborough to capacity. His strategy is to work stand by stand through the ground, debating/reasoning with SAG/SYP over each in turn. This begins with the South Stand.

 

Richard is addressing security issues with a hands on approach too. He says many stewards still regard fans as "hooligans" and he describes them as "set in their ways". He says attitudes need to change and one of his first objectives this season will be a new recruitment drive for better stewards and training courses for existing ones. He is looking for more locally based stewards who presumably are more sympathetic toward the club.

 

His next meeting is with SAG on the 7th of August, and it's hoped for a positive result inching towards relaxing safety regulations.

 

The West Stand is under review. Plans have been drawn up to improve the concourses there. The club would like in future to seat both home and away fans there. These plans and segregation issues are being addressed, rest assured there is no intention to keep Hillsborough at a 33,000 capacity.

 

Richard personally expressed frustration at having to leave empty seats segregating fans.

 

Electronic Advertising Boards will be put in place at Hillsborough over the next couple weeks.

 

The Kit

The company we were working with previously was all on track however they turned around in May and attempted to alter the deal we previously had, demanding double the amount of money. This forced the club to find another supplier and do designs, manufacturing etc in just 3 months. Seems the club really worked round the clock to get the kits ready for the season as the delay was beyond their control. The new kit will be in the shop at the end of August. No news on pricing however Chansiri said the quality was "Better than sondico". Interpret as you will.

 

The club wants to apologise for the delay in the kits and they accept the delay has had a major impact on pre season revenues.

 

The third kit will be available at Owls in the Park, manufactured by the same company Elev8. 

 

Performance

An abnormal topic for a Steering Group meeting, on-pitch matters were discussed with DC giving his personal opinion. He agrees with fans that we were an unexpected success in that first season and teams were much more prepared for us to stifle our football in 2016/17. DC expressed frustration with this too. He was happy we have improved and stabilised our position as one of the Championship's best sides, going from 6th to 4th place over 2 years. He agrees we missed a golden opportunity last year however reassures fans everything will be done this season, within the bounds of FFP, to achieve promotion this season.

 

Social Media

Chansiri confirmed he doesn't personally go on social media but he's aware of the negativity from "fans", including abuse of his family - presumably Att. He said this was totally unacceptable but seems to realise it's a vocal minority. He encouraged anyone with concerns about the club to write to him as he'd respond to any (respectful) questions/concerns.

 

Club Communication

It was claimed that the reason for the lack of info R.E new kits etc on the Official Site is to prevent further negative speculation. It is the view of the club that explaining the issue with kit production would just generate further negativity. Negativity on social media was described as "damaging".

 

It was further reiterated later on that part of the reason for lack of online updates was because the club are reluctant to make statements out of concern it could cause "social media frenzy" resulting in further misinterpretation.

 

Pricing Policy

DC "very strongly" defended his pricing policy for kits, boxes and sponsorship.

 

Club Shop Stock

Far too many shirts and kits after Christmas were delivered by Sondico to the club shop, hence the huge surplus in kits there even now. DC did however defend the price of these, and is looking to sell remaining kits from last year to "markets abroad".

 

It is confirmed that the shop management are talking to various suppliers to find new merchandise for the club shop. We can expect a "significantly larger" range of quality products in the club shop over coming months, however Chansiri asks for patience as it's understandably a work in progress. A cafe is still being considered inside the club shop.

 

Meadowhall SWFC Branch

This was deemed too expensive by the club as the rent prices in Meadowhall/other retail outlets are far too high to make the shop profitable. This seems reasonable considering the Megastore is already quite big, and with work could become really good. From what has been said, there are great plans in place for the megastore.

 

150th Anniversary Celebrations

Barcelona and Real Madrid were approached to play at Hillsborough to celebrate the anniversary. Barcelona were enthusiastic however due to conflicting starts to seasons they were unfortunately not available on the date of the anniversary. However from this we can see the club is trying really hard to make the anniversary special.

 

Away Fans Allocations

The club is obligated to offer a minimum of 2000 tickets. Some fans wanted to put away fans on the lower tier of the West Stand however that tier only seats 1500, so we have to put them on the top tier. 

 

The club went into some detail on how negotiations on allocations happened. Apparently 4 meetings take place before figures are agreed upon between clubs. Sheffield United will offer 2,300 away tickets to Wednesday fans at the away derby fixture. The number is so low due to recent restrictions also imposed on Bramall Lane by SAG. It was asked whether or not we could offer them the same number. I can't find whether there was an answer to this question though.

 

Fulham will allocate 2700 tickets to us for our away fixture with them.

 

Season Ticket Holders Loyalty Scheme

Season ticket holders will be able to earn points by using your card in kiosks at the new "Cashless Hillsborough". I assume you can use those points as some kind of loyalty scheme like a Nectar card or maybe they mean Ticket Priority Points. Presumably the former.

 

Record numbers of season tickets have been sold beating the 19,700 sold last season. WAWAW.

 

Misc

The club's technical team is working on allowing fans to access the online merchandise shop without having to go through the ticket queue. 

 

Don't expect another Rangers friendly. Rangers fans were sat in both the South Stand and Kop, due to Wednesday fans selling them their tickets. This led to fighting in the South stand. Rangers fans dealt a "serious amount of damage" to the North Stand whilst there and a number of private properties outside the ground after the match. The atmosphere was much more hostile than the club anticipated. They expected a very friendly atmosphere like last time hence the loosened safety regulations.

From impressions from the meeting, this mistake will not be made again with Rangers. 

 

iFollow will be available on a match-by-match basis or a seasonlong basis. 

The club is requesting feedback from subscribers on how to improve and develop the service. They are working on including live commentary in the future however this is quite tricky due to technical limitations. (I'm a tech person, they're not bullshitting this it can be quite tricky).

 

Additional portacabin kiosks will be placed in the Kop and North Stands to reduce queuing there.

 

Kit/Player sponsorships are more expensive this season as an attempt to raise revenues and make the club profitable.

 

The person who leaked the financial details of the Sean Morrison deal will be banned from future meetings. Revealing our hand like that can jeapardise future dealings in the Transfer Market as explained by DC.

 

Final

DC described Sheffield Wednesday as now being "part of his blood" as he and members of his family have become great fans. WAWAW.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you jarvy UTO mate.     UTO 

[upperwinngardensowl]

Good summary but that's a long session for very little new news.

 

Why are we starting the SAG discussions with the South Stand?

Its only full when the North is "sold out", there is only a small section pointlessly closed off, and the coppers can, and do, stand in the area between the South and the Lepp.

Would have thought there were other areas that need more immediate attention.

 

p.s. if we give the Pigs 1 more ticket than they give us I will be a bit miffed.

p.p.s. will be interesting to see what restrictions SAG have put in place at the Sty.

[darra]

1 hour ago, Ash76 said:

I don't really care and it doesn't matter but this supplier issue. You'd have thought they'd have signed a legally binding deal so that goalposts couldn't be moved 

 

Not buying that one myself (the explanation not the kit)

Probably did but it would take

time to thrash it through the courts. Might still be planning to do that for all we know. Might be an idea to offer the shirts at a cut price for the first week as a sort of apology for the delay

 

[The Hoppy Hopper]

Excellent summary. Thanks. 

[GoldGigsChris]

13 minutes ago, upperwinngardensowl said:

Good summary but that's a long session for very little new news.

 

Why are we starting the SAG discussions with the South Stand?

Its only full when the North is "sold out", there is only a small section pointlessly closed off, and the coppers can, and do, stand in the area between the South and the Lepp.

Would have thought there were other areas that need more immediate attention.

 

p.s. if we give the Pigs 1 more ticket than they give us I will be a bit miffed.

p.p.s. will be interesting to see what restrictions SAG have put in place at the Sty.

 

If the problem is overcrowding on concourses, the South Stand may be an easy win.   There's rooms behind that could be knocked through to create more space.

 

RE: North. It was funny how many fans Rangers were allowed to have. Maybe he's already made headway on the roping off of the westerly block? 

 

 

[WalthamOwl]

Lets hope we dont fail to get promoted then, DC saying decisions need to be made if we do fail, probably selling our better players etc i would guess and getting rid of CC. Hope neither of those happen.

Edited August 3, 2017 by WalthamOwl