Just In

[Tom Stronach]

why?

 

Because it's absolutely horrendous.

 

Disgracefully over-priced drink which is usually flat and warm. It takes ages to get served, there's no atmosphere, there's very little variety of beer/lager and you get chucked out at half two by a woman screaming in your ear who could easily be mistaken for a rotweiller.

 

It's just a tragic state of affairs. A few simple changes and the place could thrive. A real shame.

[Vladimir Putin]

why?

 

Have you ever been there?

[jaggybunnet]

Seriously, does he have to tell you?

 

compared to some of the pubs i have been in it isnt that bad.

 

and am i not allowed to ask a question????

[B.C.G. JAG]

compared to some of the pubs i have been in it isnt that bad.

 

and am i not allowed to ask a question????

It's pretty awful. I didn't say you weren't allowed to ask, it's just that it's a question that doesn't need asking. Like others have said, it's the most miserable place for a pint - completely soulless and devoid of atmosphere with crap expensive drinks. If the Club is serious about enhancing the matchday experience for fans as well as raising some easy revenue then maybe the Directors should have a look at what the ordinary punter gets served up as opposed to those sitting in hospitality. The Catering thread gives a bit of a clue that these things are pretty far down the list of priorities at the club, but it should be one of the simplest things to get right. It should be easy money for the club.

Edited August 9, 2011 by B.C.G. JAG

[hebridean jag]

what if (and its a big if) the board have looked at the team, spoke with Jackie and said this team will stay up so lets keep the cash to pay off more of the debit instead?

 

I would be happy if this was the case, happier than spending money on a player that may get us to second and therefore nothing apart from more debit.

 

my reasons for this are on post 61 of this thread. is this what I would ideally want no, could it be better for the club in the long run, I think so.

 

and what if we did get to the spl, there is no pot of gold just more debit with higher wages. until Scottish football is sorted out there is little point in getting into the spl

 

only an opinion but there you go

Well, it`s an opinion.

 

We must have the only support in the world where many amongst it are more interested in the club`s balance sheet than the team on the park. If however your`re premise is correct, have the board factored in what effect an obviously weak and struggling team have on our attendances and overall income. Seriously, what`s the point in watching a team who are trying to make mediocrity a virtue?

 

As for your second point, if the balance book is so important to you that`s nonsense.

 

TV and media coverage is greater for ALL SPL clubs than for SFL clubs. Not only is that an income stream, it allows the clubs to make far more money from various sponsorships than we can even dream of. (Using the Herald as an example, Sunday`s print gave more space to the Dunf - Inverness game than the ENTIRE SFL - perhaps sponsors notice this sort of thing). As an added bonus, average attendance for SPL clubs( at higher ticket prices) will be three or even four times ours and this for clubs who a few years ago were on the same level as ours.

 

My opinion, for what it`s worth is that the current boardroom strategy means that our income in this diddy league is such that it will be all but impossible to pay off any of our debt. In any branch of the entertainment/sport field there is a direct corellation between investment and income. This is an unfortunate fact, as our diminishing support will clearly show.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

We must have the only support in the world where many amongst it are more interested in the club`s balance sheet than the team on the park. If however your`re premise is correct, have the board factored in what effect an obviously weak and struggling team have on our attendances and overall income. Seriously, what`s the point in watching a team who are trying to make mediocrity a virtue?

Not strictly true, tho'. Being a bit voyeuristic when those clubs like Dundee, Livingston & Gretna have run into bother I've noticed their websites are peppered with posts along the lines of "don't care what division we're in as long as we've still got a team to watch". I'd find it hard to believe fans of other clubs are not influenced by the trials and tribs of those three. In fact posts on Falkirk & Q o S websites are more often or not revolving around finance.

According to the Board this season is planned as to be break-even. I hope to hell that they have factored in the customer satisfaction element. Personally I don't get the impression that our fans sights are set that high but the views of season ticket holders are more academic than pay at the gate punters.

Edited August 9, 2011 by lady-isobel-barnett

[jaggybunnet]

Well, it`s an opinion.

 

We must have the only support in the world where many amongst it are more interested in the club`s balance sheet than the team on the park. If however your`re premise is correct, have the board factored in what effect an obviously weak and struggling team have on our attendances and overall income. Seriously, what`s the point in watching a team who are trying to make mediocrity a virtue?

 

As for your second point, if the balance book is so important to you that`s nonsense.

 

TV and media coverage is greater for ALL SPL clubs than for SFL clubs. Not only is that an income stream, it allows the clubs to make far more money from various sponsorships than we can even dream of. (Using the Herald as an example, Sunday`s print gave more space to the Dunf - Inverness game than the ENTIRE SFL - perhaps sponsors notice this sort of thing). As an added bonus, average attendance for SPL clubs( at higher ticket prices) will be three or even four times ours and this for clubs who a few years ago were on the same level as ours.

 

My opinion, for what it`s worth is that the current boardroom strategy means that our income in this diddy league is such that it will be all but impossible to pay off any of our debt. In any branch of the entertainment/sport field there is a direct corellation between investment and income. This is an unfortunate fact, as our diminishing support will clearly show.

 

how so, unless you have some stats to show different the extra costs higer wages, higer police and stewarding costs are but a few i expect, for what the massive crowds in the spl or all that millions of tv money that is spread equaly between the teams .

 

at the moment i dont see any financial bonus to going up in a crap and stale spl where unless you spend loads on bigger players (more debit) you will go down anyway.

 

as for dropping numbers, thats happing in ALL the clubs with smeltic seamingly not havine a waiting list for there season tickets anymore. also i can see the hike in ticket prices stopping far more people going to matches (hibs ar £22 and £5 for kids) than being in the sfl.

Edited August 9, 2011 by jaggybunnet

[policemans whistle]

There is talk of Falkirk going into admin due to the debt they ran up while playing in the SPL

[Mr Bunny]

how so, unless you have some stats to show different the extra costs higer wages, higer police and stewarding costs are but a few i expect, for what the massive crowds in the spl or all that millions of tv money that is spread equaly between the teams .

 

at the moment i dont see any financial bonus to going up in a crap and stale spl where unless you spend loads on bigger players (more debit) you will go down anyway.

 

as for dropping numbers, thats happing in ALL the clubs with smeltic seamingly not havine a waiting list for there season tickets anymore. also i can see the hike in ticket prices stopping far more people going to matches (hibs ar £22 and £5 for kids) than being in the sfl.

 

Sort of agree: though there would be more money in the SPL (bigger crowds for certain games, more spnsorhip, fuller hospitality at more games) there would be more expenses too. But I think you exaggerate the downside.

 

I'd add that it might just be possible to make a profit or at least clear off some debt but only if we made the decsion that any strengthening of the team would be limited no silly signings or offering silly wages. We'd have to accept we might go straight back down again but that though doing so we'd strengthen the club for the long term.

 

We supposedly did that the last time we were in the SPL, and got into more debt but that time we blew money on extending a stand we didn't need to and on a hopeless court case. We also blew our parachute payment on a team of mainly non-tryers who (along with bad management choices) got us relegated to division 2 - a disaster financially.

 

That sounds like I'm agreeing a bit with HJ but the counter to him is - buying a player or two (pushing the boat out as they say) doesn't guarantee promotion, not by a long shot.

Even spending a lot of money doesn't (unless you've got an awful lot to spend).

 

So something in between makes more sense. I think history shows us that the appointment of the right manager is the key to everything (two bad choices in a row led to the bad situation we're in now) and hopefully the current manager has got what it takes. That of course means the board must be capable of making the right choice. Our history shows we don't do that too often.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Mr Bunny

[B.C.G. JAG]

You can just feel the ambition BURNING through this support!

[jaggybunnet]

You can just feel the ambition BURNING through this support!

 

 

my burning ambition is still to have a football team to support when this eventualy goes tits up

[Third Lanark]

Sort of agree: though there would be more money in the SPL (bigger crowds for certain games, more spnsorhip, fuller hospitality at more games) there would be more expenses too. But I think you exaggerate the downside.

 

I'd add that it might just be possible to make a profit or at least clear off some debt but only if we made the decsion that any strengthening of the team would be limited no silly signings or offering silly wages. We'd have to accept we might go straight back down again but that though doing so we'd strengthen the club for the long term.

 

We supposedly did that the last time we were in the SPL, and got into more debt but that time we blew money on extending a stand we didn't need to and on a hopeless court case. We also blew our parachute payment on a team of mainly non-tryers who (along with bad management choices) got us relegated to division 2 - a disaster financially.

 

That sounds like I'm agreeing a bit with HJ but the counter to him is - buying a player or two (pushing the boat out as they say) doesn't guarantee promotion, not by a long shot.

Even spending a lot of money doesn't (unless you've got an awful lot to spend).

 

So something in between makes more sense. I think history shows us that the appointment of the right manager is the key to everything (two bad choices in a row led to the bad situation we're in now) and hopefully the current manager has got what it takes. That of course means the board must be capable of making the right choice. Our history shows we don't do that too often.

Not saying your wrong but even as Jaggybunnet says we only end up second in the divison where there is no promotion for coming second then this at least would not have a huge negative affect on attendances a promotion challenge would likely give our attendances a boost.

 

Say we do as Jaggybunnet says we dont splash out and end up mid table with a very cautious approach in the transfer market and its clear by say November we are not going to challenge then the down side by then is that attendances start to plummet and we lose money anyway.

 

As Hebridean Jag rightly says we have really been relying on the cautious approach with next to no money spent on the transfer market for the last few seasons and we still have lost a load of money due to dwindling attendances.

 

Remember when me and Alan Murray were calling on the club a couple of years back to sign John Baird from Airdrie but we were told there was no money available for new signings yet even cash strapped Raith Rovers managed to sign him. A number of us have commented on bad a way Queen of the South are but they have still been able to sign Mark McCusker who could be a very useful signing, I dont think guys like Hebridean Jag are being unreasonable at all in asking for a signing of a striker that could make a huge difference to us, such a signing could have made a huge difference on saturday (yeah I know we were robbed by the ref but we could have still came away with a point or 3 points.

 

All Hebridean Jag is saying that the policy of not spending anything which has been the case over the last few seasons has been far from a roaring success in fact quite the opposite as the club has ended up losing money due to fans apathy and resentment against the board.