Sheffield Wednesday Steering Meeting - The Minutes

[Guest Deleted member]

2 hours ago, alanharper said:

A slightly easier version to read of the OP (it was a bit cluttered on the mobile site), thanks to @Whitechapel Owl for making the effort to initially compile the tweets

 

 

 

DC confirmed that he is 100% behind Carlos and the length of his contract is not important he also confirmed that Carlos goes to the board recommending which positions he wants to improve and then the agency/scouts go looking

for players that fit that position to recommend to him with 8/9 clubs enjoying parachute payments it is difficult to compete in the transfer market so first choices are not always within our reach DC realises fans expectations

 

Steering Meeting have risen over the past 2 years and still believes we have the squad to push for promotion this season DC said hey had on a couple of occasions taken note of fans desires to signed certain players

 

The club confirmed that as this is an informal meeting it will not be reporting back to the fans what has been discusses that is down to us attending the meeting to feed back to the fans

 

DC takes full responsibility for the club both on and off the field he again raised the issue of social abuse both to his family and to the players on Twitter and Facebook if the fans have something to say about the club they should email him direct and he will answer all points raised he has received over 400 emails regarding the “Ask the Chairman” and he hopes to have responded to everyone by the end of October beginning of November if he doesn’t respond to your email please send it again so he can address your points

 

DC wishes to apologise to fans who cannot afford a ST or a match day ticket but he says needs must with regards to generating revenues to help contribute towards keeping within the FFP rules he believes in his pricing policy and confirmed that if we want to continue attracting better players and not go backwards he has to raise as much as he can in areas of tickets sales and the retail his idea regarding 1867 Membership has not taken off so he is looking for other ways of generating income he hasn’t ruled out naming rights for the stadium

 

The launch of the 150 year third kit will hopefully take place in November the delay in the home/away kits was explained in more detail stocks of the home kit did arrive in September however the club felt that the numbers delivered would have meant a potential sell out within days so held these back until further deliveries arrived it is the same situation with the away kit once further stocks have been delivered these will go on sale the infant and Juniors only have shirts available currently as insufficient stocks were delivered to put out the full kits the shorts and socks will be available at a later date the infant kits do not have embroidered badges and logos as they believed this would cause irritation to those wearing them the club confirmed that they are to continue dealing directly with the manufacturer and plans are already in place regarding next season’s kits it was confirmed that the quality will be even better next season than this and they had learnt a lot of lessons from this season’s issues DC said that returning to a striped home shirt wasn’t out of the question but wouldn’t be drawn into whether that was going to be a possibility the club are to use a different manufacturer for next season’s kit and we were given the impression companies like Nike and Adidas use the same company

 

DC confirmed that we hold these meetings because the club wants to engage with the fans for us to share opinions in return the club will try to do as much as possible to action points raised but admitted they can’t do everything two major concerns raised from fans have been addressed one being the catering which to a significant cost to the club they ended the contract with the supplier and have gone in house they asked the fans to be patient while they got things right and are aware of many teething issues however things are improving and sales are up and the club will continue to look at ways of improving the service extra kiosks are being looked at for both the kop and the North however space is very limited on the North and the club are looking at the spiral stairs area for a possible location the second area the club has responded to following fans comments was the removal of Sondico as the shirt supplier the decision to go in-house allowed the club to better dictate the quality improve the delivery times and to not have to pay a third party so retaining more profit to the club

 

the club believe that the 150 year celebrations are going well so far and that there is more activities to come however they didn’t disclose what these were going to be

 

plans are still in progress with regards to the shop the question was asked as to way when the ticket sections was busy why the retail side couldn’t help to reduce the queues both sides work from different systems so they are unable currently to help out during the busy periods

 

the club are aware that the prints had players names in the wrong order and this is being addressed I apologise at this present time as I don’t know if those who have already bought one can take them back and get a replacement

 

the topic of fans behaviour at home and away games was raised following the incidents at Derby on Saturday there is a text number in the programme for you to use immediately if you see anything of that nature when we are at at Home game the club will then monitor CCTV and act with immediate effect

 

a number of fans complained about the brightness of the advertising boards at the last home game and this will be addressed at the next home game

 

Access from the 1867 lounge direct to the South Stand has been looked at and a turnstile would need to be fitted to the entrance/exit door to allow this to happen no action is planned at this moment in time

 

the club are looking at ways to raise our profile globally but until we reach the PL this is difficult the club are looking at an International Facebook page and are looking to establish links with Universities in the Far East to raise it on the club website is a “Community” section that talks about all of the things the club are doing in both the UK and abroad

 

Stadium Development didn’t get it usual long discussion Capacity for this season currently sits at 34,234 with talks on going with SAG to get this increased the on going comments about the Presto sign still being visible on the West Stand was raised and the club are looking into repainting the roof however due to scaffolding issues this can only be done ore season

 

other discussion points included ifollow where the club are continually working to improve the service season ticket sales this season were close to 21,000 the three year season ticket of two seasons ago at this moment in time isn’t planned to be made available again

 

Between 200 and 300 tickets are given away to schools for every home game to attract the youngsters to S6 and a junior season ticket holder is chosen each game to be a mascot

 

With regards to decision making at the club DC confirmed that it has 10 Managers all given the authority to make key decisions within the club and that he does hand control to them

 

for personal reasons this will be the last meeting I will be attending I hope someone from the group takes over the baton and feeds back to you all of the items discussed at the meeting

 

 

 

This is a great post - but its not going to sit well with the 'I'm Alright Jacks'

[adelphi1867]

4 hours ago, Grandad said:

https://twitter.com/malcolm_fox2/status/923438548732268544

 

Simple solution.

Don't go on Twitter.

 

[adelphi1867]

Were'nt dem Blunts and cardiff fans calling for their owners to do one 18mths ago?.

[bigdan2003]

DC should apologise to Malcolm. 

 

What does he expect? if you don't like criticism, don't run a football club. It's going to happen regardless of whether you're doing well or not. He needs to keep an open mind and try to filter our the utter tools from the people with genuine issues.  Don't have a go at loyal fans....the life blood. 

Really concerning. 

 

[BobsMagicCalculator]

3 minutes ago, bigdan2003 said:

DC should apologise to Malcolm. 

 

What does he expect? if you don't like criticism, don't run a football club. It's going to happen regardless of whether you're doing well or not. He needs to keep an open mind and try to filter our the utter tools from the people with genuine issues.  Don't have a go at loyal fans....the life blood. 

Really concerning. 

 

With Chansiri it has been put up or shut up now for a good while and because performances are poor on the pitch it now goes less un-noticed.  What gets me is why there wasn't ROARS of laughter, when he claimed that the 150th anniversary so far was a great success.  

Edited October 26, 2017 by BobsMagicCalculator
forgot pic

[DesWalker]

2 hours ago, gypsyowl said:

4a #swfc Steering Meeting DC wishes to apologise to fans who cannot afford a ST or a match day ticket but he says needs must with regards to

4b #swfc Steering Meeting generating revenues to help contribute towards keeping within the FFP rules he believes in his pricing policy and

4c #swfc Steering Meeting confirmed that if we want to continue attracting better players and not go backwards he has to raise as much as he

4d #swfc Steering Meeting can in areas of tickets sales and the retail his idea regarding 1867 Membership has not taken off so he is looking

 

This for me lays the problem.

 

Chansiri is right, for us to realistically win promotion (which is the only reason he bought us) then he has to charge these outrageous prices, but for me personally I feel embarrassed every time I walk through a turnstile & see how much it is for POTG. Some people find it funny that we rip of fellow football fans who work all week then pay their hard earned money on a Saturday to watch football. But I am ashamed.

 

I know it gets discussed a lot but it’s shameful. 10 years ago on cross you couldn’t walk to the edge of your street on match day without seeing floods of families in Wednesday shirts leaving their houses to walk to the ground. I don’t live on Cross any more but whenever I go back & speak to old mates, they all say the same, love Wednesday but can’t afford to take their family, the worst thing is there’s a few pigs knocking about round here as well, that never used to happen when I lived there.

 

Luckily I can afford a season tickets & my son is in the forces so when he can go he’ll go with his mates.

 

My twin daughters have never been bothered about football luckily for my wallet, they are 11 now so would cost me a fortune to take them both.

 

Any way getting back to my point, I like Chansiri, I believe he will do everything to take us up but you have been badly advised my good friend. Sheffield/South Yorks may have some wealthy parts but there’s still some proper working class areas, money is tight, most people will sacrifice doing normal social stuff so they can afford to go to football (I’ve been there!), now it’s impossible to afford £42 for a Cat A game or £39 for a cat B, that is a lot of money as it’s not just about the match ticket, it’s the pints before/after, the beres pork sandwich, bookies, it’s all a part of the match day experience I used to love but it all adds up cost wise. Sheffield people need football, when you’re working your arSe off all week, football keeps you going, the thought of that Saturday morning when you wake up, cook breakfast, clock watching until 11am when you make your way to boozer, meet up with pals & sink several. Some of the best laughs I’ve ever had have been sitting around a table at mid-day on a Saturday hearing all your pals stories of the last 2 weeks, reminiscing of the years gone by watching Wednesday.

 

But all this is not possible for a lot of people.

 

If the below were 2 realistic options moving forward (they’re not) then there would be no competition, from the people I know anyway.

 

1. US fans pay through the roof for all merchandise, match tickets, season tickets the most expensive they’ve ever been, probably most expensive in the league? – in return we will be competing top 6 & have a star named line-up. (supposedly..!)
2. Pay what you’d expect at this level. £400 season ticket, £26 - £30 match day ticket. £40 shirt, £20 for young’uns, in return our squad will be a mix of premier league loans, free transfers & maybe the odd transfer fee paid for, because of this we’ll more than likely be around mid-table.

 

It's an absolute no brainer for me because Wednesday is a family to me, I’ve always lived amongst Wednesday fans, I don’t care how bad we are, some of my early memories of watching us was late 70s, I saw the highs of the early 80s, the 90’s & they were great memories but some of my favourite memories watching Wednesday were during the bad times, because me & my mates went to football & that’s what it’s all about.

 

What I would love to see (not going to happen now DC is so heavily involved but I’m going to say it anyway), is go back to affordable pricing, get rid of all this modern rubbish Doyen Sports, Head Coach titles, signing foreign players for them to sit on the bench? Not giving youth a chance! One of the best prospects we’ve had in a while won’t sign a new contract & will more than likely leave for peanuts… Give a MANAGER a job, Mr Warnock would have been perfect back in 2013 after Dave Jones left, but there’s other alternatives, Mick McCarthy, Arry Redknapp & just give them a project to work with, weeling & dealing in the transfer market & football is so huge nowa days you’d still get the 28k average if the pricing was right.

 

I’m not sure how many people will read this but I feel better for typing but my main point is -----------------------à Pricing out working class football is shameful.

 

Excellent post, don't quite agree on Redknapp but definitely agree with the point you are making.

[@owlstalk]

9 minutes ago, BobsMagicCalculator said:

With Chansiri it has been put up or shut up now for a good while and because performances are poor on the pitch it now goes less un-noticed.  What gets me is why there wasn't ROARS of laughter, when he claimed that the 150th anniversary so far was a great success.  

Agreed

 

[Dick_Turpin]

Apparently Malcolm made a joke on Twitter about the kits and that was regarded as "spreading lies" about it so he got it in the neck during the meeting.

[TrickyTrev]

1 hour ago, brian joicey said:

i simply CANNOT forgive him for the blunts debacle, the lack of response in the subsequent matches is rubbing salt into the wounds . finding it hard to 'pick myself up off the canvas' 

 

This x 100!!!

 

I get the impression that the players, coaching staff and certain people at the club just didn't "get it" and some to this day still don't understand just how much this defeat and performance hurt.

 

Whenever I think about it, it just makes me really angry if I'm being honest.

[gypsyowl]

12 minutes ago, DesWalker said:

 

Excellent post, don't quite agree on Redknapp but definitely agree with the point you are making.

 

thank you for reading my friend

[fred mciver]

Student Owl,

 

I hope you are not suggesting that this wall between Doyen departments is  not robust and so no conflicts will arise.

 

It'll be just like those Wall St barriers meant to make seperate Sales from Research teams.

 

Let's hope Doyen bring us more like Charlton brothers than Lehman Bros.

 

 

[OWLERTON GHOST]

1 hour ago, shezzas left peg said:

If your getting 34000 sell outs EVERY home game, pricing is not an issue, but if not you drop the price a bit, as it's cheaper more people can afford it therefore more bums on seats, so to speak. 

Total agreement here 

However ....

The wife's favorite sayings are ;

"You get what you pay for"

&

"Buy cheap get cheap"

This currently does not apply in the realms of "wednesday" presently.... 

Edited October 26, 2017 by OWLERTON GHOST

[WatfordOwl]

I think what concerns me the most is the overriding feeling among fans that we are getting to the point of being so disconnected from the club.

 

When the promises of honouring tradition within the club are broken and apparently there is no room for dissenting voices even when things are going well, then that is extremely worrying.

 

Whether people view SWFC as a business or a club, the one thing you simple cannot ignore are the customers.

 

We are the fabric of the last 150 years and it is a crying shame that the powers within the club have an attitude of my way or don't bother coming.

[Dick_Turpin]

1 minute ago, WatfordOwl said:

I think what concerns me the most is the overriding feeling among fans that we are getting to the point of being so disconnected from the club.

 

When the promises of honouring tradition within the club are broken and apparently there is no room for dissenting voices even when things are going well, then that is extremely worrying.

 

Whether people view SWFC as a business or a club, the one thing you simple cannot ignore are the customers.

 

We are the fabric of the last 150 years and it is a crying shame that the powers within the club have an attitude of my way or don't bother coming.

Similar thing has happened to mates who used to follow clubs and now don't bother. One was an avid Chelsea watcher until they got good!  By gaining stuff on the pitch you lose a lot of the tradition and romance. 

 

[sage owl]

3 hours ago, gypsyowl said:

4a #swfc Steering Meeting DC wishes to apologise to fans who cannot afford a ST or a match day ticket but he says needs must with regards to

4b #swfc Steering Meeting generating revenues to help contribute towards keeping within the FFP rules he believes in his pricing policy and

4c #swfc Steering Meeting confirmed that if we want to continue attracting better players and not go backwards he has to raise as much as he

4d #swfc Steering Meeting can in areas of tickets sales and the retail his idea regarding 1867 Membership has not taken off so he is looking

 

This for me lays the problem.

 

Chansiri is right, for us to realistically win promotion (which is the only reason he bought us) then he has to charge these outrageous prices, but for me personally I feel embarrassed every time I walk through a turnstile & see how much it is for POTG. Some people find it funny that we rip of fellow football fans who work all week then pay their hard earned money on a Saturday to watch football. But I am ashamed.

 

I know it gets discussed a lot but it’s shameful. 10 years ago on cross you couldn’t walk to the edge of your street on match day without seeing floods of families in Wednesday shirts leaving their houses to walk to the ground. I don’t live on Cross any more but whenever I go back & speak to old mates, they all say the same, love Wednesday but can’t afford to take their family, the worst thing is there’s a few pigs knocking about round here as well, that never used to happen when I lived there.

 

Luckily I can afford a season tickets & my son is in the forces so when he can go he’ll go with his mates.

 

My twin daughters have never been bothered about football luckily for my wallet, they are 11 now so would cost me a fortune to take them both.

 

Any way getting back to my point, I like Chansiri, I believe he will do everything to take us up but you have been badly advised my good friend. Sheffield/South Yorks may have some wealthy parts but there’s still some proper working class areas, money is tight, most people will sacrifice doing normal social stuff so they can afford to go to football (I’ve been there!), now it’s impossible to afford £42 for a Cat A game or £39 for a cat B, that is a lot of money as it’s not just about the match ticket, it’s the pints before/after, the beres pork sandwich, bookies, it’s all a part of the match day experience I used to love but it all adds up cost wise. Sheffield people need football, when you’re working your arSe off all week, football keeps you going, the thought of that Saturday morning when you wake up, cook breakfast, clock watching until 11am when you make your way to boozer, meet up with pals & sink several. Some of the best laughs I’ve ever had have been sitting around a table at mid-day on a Saturday hearing all your pals stories of the last 2 weeks, reminiscing of the years gone by watching Wednesday.

 

But all this is not possible for a lot of people.

 

If the below were 2 realistic options moving forward (they’re not) then there would be no competition, from the people I know anyway.

 

1. US fans pay through the roof for all merchandise, match tickets, season tickets the most expensive they’ve ever been, probably most expensive in the league? – in return we will be competing top 6 & have a star named line-up. (supposedly..!)
2. Pay what you’d expect at this level. £400 season ticket, £26 - £30 match day ticket. £40 shirt, £20 for young’uns, in return our squad will be a mix of premier league loans, free transfers & maybe the odd transfer fee paid for, because of this we’ll more than likely be around mid-table.

 

It's an absolute no brainer for me because Wednesday is a family to me, I’ve always lived amongst Wednesday fans, I don’t care how bad we are, some of my early memories of watching us was late 70s, I saw the highs of the early 80s, the 90’s & they were great memories but some of my favourite memories watching Wednesday were during the bad times, because me & my mates went to football & that’s what it’s all about.

 

What I would love to see (not going to happen now DC is so heavily involved but I’m going to say it anyway), is go back to affordable pricing, get rid of all this modern rubbish Doyen Sports, Head Coach titles, signing foreign players for them to sit on the bench? Not giving youth a chance! One of the best prospects we’ve had in a while won’t sign a new contract & will more than likely leave for peanuts… Give a MANAGER a job, Mr Warnock would have been perfect back in 2013 after Dave Jones left, but there’s other alternatives, Mick McCarthy, Arry Redknapp & just give them a project to work with, weeling & dealing in the transfer market & football is so huge nowa days you’d still get the 28k average if the pricing was right.

 

I’m not sure how many people will read this but I feel better for typing but my main point is -----------------------à Pricing out working class football is shameful.

great post. I would also add that seemed less negativity amongst the fans then than now, even when were really crap.

[room0035]

Can i just say i appreciate the people who take time to go to these meetings but as a fan who now feels more like a customer than a fan why bother.

 

Since DC took over his control over the club, The club has gone backwards in all aspects such as advertising, marketing, catering, general match day experience since everything has been brought in house and now are the worst they have been for 20+ years. Person for someone with no football experience as DC keeps telling us why bring everything in house. Surely looking after whats happening on the pitch should be his first priority.

 

I could sort the match day catering in one game, get in anybody who has worked for a club in the championship or the premier league who has experience of managing a catering facility in this environment, if need be poach the staff paying them more money to come and sort out this mess that DC and co have created. This should have been done 2 years ago but instead we have the teething problems excuse or we are improving - No its not it is still one of the worse in the division by some distance.

 

The club store again have had two years to get rid of the old stock and make sure the stock in there is current season and arrives in a timely manor, it sound like we got rid of Sondico without having a clue what we were doing and have ended up with a supplier based 9,000 miles away who takes 6 weeks to send an order, last order September but end of October before they send enough stock to sell and it will be November before we have the stock from an order placed in May. Simply not good enough. As for the bit about using the same people as Nike it did make me chuckle, Nike will place an order for 1 million shirts we place one for 20,000 which order do you think the company will priorities we will continue to have the same problems year in year out as long as we have amateurs running the club.

 

I note from the information from the minutes there did not seemed to be any mention of the issue of selling no corporate boxes for the last 3 years due to the completely unrealistic pricing structure, for anyone in attendance was anything mentioned to DC and JP using any common sense to try to get the prices lowered and some business sponsorship back for a team struggling with FFP and with no problems with ripping their own fans off with ticket and merchandise prices, to then completely ignore a whole revenue stream again seems completely incompetent from the club.

 

For me from my none marketing background i would offer the boxes for the rest of this season on a game by game price, if you want the box it is £500 a game, if you want a meal it is £25 a head on top, if you want an option of a bar you pay that for what you want, you want to meet a player say Waddle, Pearson, Hirst etc, you pay for this on top. If marketed right this could bring in after cost of staff, food, drink, £30k+ a game for the rest of the season could £500,000 profit. 

 

Doing this you would not just get Corporate use but also fans who would pay a bit extra for a game to watch with 8-10 mates in a box. But again as said I am just a fan what do i know.

 

  

[Hack-Abusi]

@gypsyowl absolutely spot on post. Brilliant.

[Weshallovercome]

10 managers?.......crikey.

 

 

p.s.....Great post earlier, gypsyowl.....you're not alone in thinking what you do(apart from the arry bit, obviously)

[toppOwl]

2 hours ago, owls maniac said:

The high pricing for the sake FFP is a huge red herring in my view. When you’ve got players like Fletcher on £30k a week the money on the gate is a drop in the ocean. It’s greed- pure and simple- and will alienate a lot of supporters in the long term.

 

Don't agree with some of the pricing but you have no idea how much Fletcher or any other players is on.

[toppOwl]

1 hour ago, adelphi1867 said:

Were'nt dem Blunts and cardiff fans calling for their owners to do one 18mths ago?.

 

Yes, funny how a few wins changes the outlook.