Next Season - General Changes (4 Viewers)

[torchomatic]

"Maximise football related incomes." Sounds like a good plan. What's is it then?

Stadium Changes
Close all the corners (Blocks 4,5,14,15,25,26). Restrict seats above the steps in North and South stands.
Make North stand and existing Family area a kids go free area with a paying adult. Block access between North and East stand at Block 15 to stop transfers into East stand.
Increase kids pre match activities/entertainment, seek volunteers to help with specific skills.

From Sisu point of view.
- Try to extend existing deal with agreed escalations for Championship and Premier League. Also, maximise football related incomes where it becomes a win win for both Wasps and CCFC.
- Develope the grass area between the stadium and Tescos (Next to station) with all the things Sisu/fans say they need. Halls, office facilities, hotel ?, club shop, ticket office (tied into Ricoh system). Prematch Fanszone etc etc. CCC need to play their part in this.
- Close the Gallagher "Superstore".
- A lot of the corporate and television incomes are not available at league 1 level so a push is needed for the Championship to up our visibility.
- In such, keep Mowbray. Review the players, particularly as what I saw at Bristol has made me rethink on the ability of our players.
- Communicate better with the fans. Apologise for Northampton and wasted years. Drop the new stadium and JR nonsense saying they were misguided or make up any apologetic get out to save their face.
- Make a clear positive statement for the future. If necessary, say they are not 100% happy but will give it their best efforts.

Fans (relies on above)
- Take on board the Sisu apology, their statement for the future, forgive them and then get behind the team in every way they can. Encourage others, particularly the kids. Volunteer for Sisu initiatives.

 

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[Otis]

"Maximise football related incomes." Sounds like a good plan. What's is it then?

It's related to incomes and is about football and we should maximise it.


What part of that don't you get?

 

[torchomatic]

That's the mentality though on here isn't it?

It's related to incomes and is about football and we should maximise it.


What part of that don't you get?

 

[torchomatic]

Thoroughly depressing. It's remarkable how many people on here though don't seem to get it. The Ricoh isn't ours, never will be. We will never get anywhere while Wasps own it. That's the sad truth out of everything that has happened over the last few years. That one fact will have a devastating effect on our club.

That whole article was pretty depressing wasn't it torch. Thing is there's nothing in it you can't see happening to us, if anything we'll be worse off as we're tenants not landlord. You look at things like that article and the fate Stockport have suffered, the only other club I can think of who are in the same position as us - renting of a rugby club, and being a club that manages to stick around L1 looks like the brightest possible future for us.

A lot of suggestions to move forward seem to involve either dropping prices, simply not possible in our situation - its our only decent revenue stream, or starting new businesses from scratch hoping they make millions that can be diverted into the club. Even if you ignore the fact that its only a small number of new bussinesses who succeeded to that extent why would SISU, or any other owner in the future do this? They would have to invest money, and possibly lose it. If they wanted to run a sports bar or a car showroom they would and if it made money that would be the owners not ours. The sports bar idea is great but it only really works if its at the Ricoh, that either won't happen or will see a huge chuck of cash going to Wasps and not us. It illustrates exactly the problem we now have.

 

[italiahorse]

That whole article was pretty depressing wasn't it torch.

I hate to be around you on a night out.

Lighten up, try and say what we can do, not what we can't.
Somethings we can't change, we know what they are. What can we do to progress CCFC?

We are at the Ricoh next season so how can we improve what we have got ?

 

[torchomatic]

I know. We could maximise football related income? Sorted. I'll get onto Tim.

I hate to be around you on a night out.

Lighten up, try and say what we can do, not what we can't.
Somethings we can't change, we know what they are. What can we do to progress CCFC?

We are at the Ricoh next season so how can we improve what we have got ?

 

[chiefdave]

Lighten up, try and say what we can do, not what we can't.
Somethings we can't change, we know what they are. What can we do to progress CCFC?

The point you don't seem able to grasp, or choose to ignore, is there is very little we can do. Thanks to the sale of the Ricoh we are now at the level we will be for many years to come. Can we have a good season next year and get promoted? Yes certainly we can and that should be the aim. Our crowds, as much as they have dropped, are still high for L1 and, unless SISU are outright lying about the budget relative to other teams in this division, we should be challenging.

I would love a season where we are pushing for promotion and have a realistic chance of a trip to Wembley in the JPT. The problem will be the following season, we simply won't have a budget to compete no matter how well the club is run. Of course there are things that need improving. The range of merchandise available, the availability of merchandise of matchday, selling of sponsorship, selling of corporates, marketing in general.

The flip side is the cost / benefit of some of those things. For example the marketing is terrible, we all know that. Improving it will likely involve a cost, would it generate enough extra sales to cover that cost. Are people really not going to games because they don't know we exist or that we are back at the Ricoh? I would say most local people are fully aware of the club, just look when we have a 'big' game. There's some things that could be done at low cost but would a £250K spend on advertising for example generate an extra £250K in ticket sales?

 

[Otis]

That's the mentality though on here isn't it?

Yes, I know, it is. That's why we at least need some suggestions etc. Anyone can just say the words we need more income. We need practical suggestions of ways in doing so.

 

[chiefdave]

Yes, I know, it is. That's why we at least need some suggestions etc. Anyone can just said we need more income. We need practical ways of doing so.

Realistically we have limited areas we can work in:

1) Merchandise - There can be huge improvements made here. Increase the range and have items for all sections of the fanbase. Have as much as possible for sale at the ground and in multiple locations so people don't have to go searching for it.

2) Ticket sales - A tricky one, we've seen reduced prices don't bring a significant increase, certainly not enough to offset the loss of revenue the reduction causes. They do have data on ticket sales but having pay on the gate negates the usefulness of some of that data. For example you could send all those who haven't been for a certain amount of time a targeted offer but you have no idea if those people have been turning up every week and paying on the gate. The trick is to find ways of making offers where you're only offering discounted tickets to people who otherwise wouldn't be attending. I would look into Brody's idea of using the bill pay points you find in shops all over the city as ticket selling points, or similar. I'd have a mobile ticket outlet in town on the morning of match, have a minibus (or actual bus if there was demand) waiting and grab the blokes being dragged round town by their other halves. Sell them a ticket to the game with transport to and from the city centre.

3) Sponsorship - Hopefully with a full close season to work with they can work on getting back all the lost sponsors from when we moved to Sixfields.

4) Corporates - As above, we need to get them back. I would also look at a rebranding of some of the offers. One of the biggest growth areas in the music industry is value added tickets, they're the stupidly overpriced ones that give you 'extras'. The additional cost of the ticket generally far outweighs the cost of the extras. We should look to offer something along those lines targeting at the average fan. At the moment when most people think corporate they think prawn sandwich brigade going to matches in suits. Do something that will attract others. For example you could have a £75 ticket where you get a program, decent meal (but not fancy, things like decent burgers, fish & chips etc), meet and great with a current player (if there's someone not playing though injury) or a legend, maybe tie in with the casino to offer something after the match or with the hotel for an overnight. Plenty more like that you can do thats just off the top of my head.

There are things that can be done. The issue is that in the grand scheme of things they won't resolve the main issue.

 

[pusbccfc]

I think if we were top 6 all year we'd get crowds of about 15,000. You'd get a sell out for a play off semi or a promotion confirmation.

 

[Ashdown]

Realistically we have limited areas we can work in:

1) Merchandise - There can be huge improvements made here. Increase the range and have items for all sections of the fanbase. Have as much as possible for sale at the ground and in multiple locations so people don't have to go searching for it.

2) Ticket sales - A tricky one, we've seen reduced prices don't bring a significant increase, certainly not enough to offset the loss of revenue the reduction causes. They do have data on ticket sales but having pay on the gate negates the usefulness of some of that data. For example you could send all those who haven't been for a certain amount of time a targeted offer but you have no idea if those people have been turning up every week and paying on the gate. The trick is to find ways of making offers where you're only offering discounted tickets to people who otherwise wouldn't be attending. I would look into Brody's idea of using the bill pay points you find in shops all over the city as ticket selling points, or similar. I'd have a mobile ticket outlet in town on the morning of match, have a minibus (or actual bus if there was demand) waiting and grab the blokes being dragged round town by their other halves. Sell them a ticket to the game with transport to and from the city centre.

3) Sponsorship - Hopefully with a full close season to work with they can work on getting back all the lost sponsors from when we moved to Sixfields.

4) Corporates - As above, we need to get them back. I would also look at a rebranding of some of the offers. One of the biggest growth areas in the music industry is value added tickets, they're the stupidly overpriced ones that give you 'extras'. The additional cost of the ticket generally far outweighs the cost of the extras. We should look to offer something along those lines targeting at the average fan. At the moment when most people think corporate they think prawn sandwich brigade going to matches in suits. Do something that will attract others. For example you could have a £75 ticket where you get a program, decent meal (but not fancy, things like decent burgers, fish & chips etc), meet and great with a current player (if there's someone not playing though injury) or a legend, maybe tie in with the casino to offer something after the match or with the hotel for an overnight. Plenty more like that you can do thats just off the top of my head.

There are things that can be done. The issue is that in the grand scheme of things they won't resolve the main issue.

Our esteemed owners were talking about dispensing with ACL and employing a professional events coordinator to come up with ideas for utilizing the Ricoh more. There is no reason that they can't still do this and pay an extra rental to Wasps as long as there is profits to be made. Of course you would then have to assume that if this is the case would the cash be invested in the team. Truth is though that SISU have never been really constructive.......only destructive !

 

[Hobo]

Buy the old social club opposite the Ricoh....we can pinch a bit of revenue off Wasps on their match days

 

[skybluetony176]

Buy the old social club opposite the Ricoh....we can pinch a bit of revenue off Wasps on their match days

Isn't that site owned by the council now? If not it sounds like a sensible idea.

 

[Nick]

Slightly related, I wanted to book a birthday party at the ricoh years ago because of the football club.

Was quoted hundreds, not allowed own food. They wanted £10 per kid for nuggets and chips.

 

[Nick]

Buy the old social club opposite the Ricoh....we can pinch a bit of revenue off Wasps on their match days

Bought by wetherspoons isn't it? Deffo sold.

 

[torchomatic]

Do it this year. Wasps will need some better players next season.

Slightly related, I wanted to book a birthday party at the ricoh years ago because of the football club.

Was quoted hundreds, not allowed own food. They wanted £10 per kid for nuggets and chips.

 

[chiefdave]

Our esteemed owners were talking about dispensing with ACL and employing a professional events coordinator to come up with ideas for utilizing the Ricoh more. There is no reason that they can't still do this and pay an extra rental to Wasps as long as there is profits to be made.

In reality that would be pretty difficult. The advantage to SISU's plan would be that the Ricoh would be managed by the same company that stages these events, it then makes it easy and more profitable to stage the events at the Ricoh. It's the reason why you see booking agencies favour certain venues or chains of venues over and over again. You could offer a guaranteed fee and try and get events in that way but in my experience that is a fast track to losing money. And of course as a venue hirer rather than operator your costs would be far higher.

And of course there is another problem. Lets say SISU staged a Coventry Comic Con, as an example, at the Ricoh and it was a huge success. The next year what's to stop ACL from staging it themselves. They can offer a better deal as they have lower costs which would mean more money for themselves and more money for the talent. We'd end up with the rubbish nobody else, in a better position than us, will book.

 

[chickentikkamasala]

Remove these 2....

Replace them and start an open and honest relationship with the supporters. Unfortunately whilst these 2 are still involved with the club, Sisu will never win over the fans.

 

[Hobo]

Bought by wetherspoons isn't it? Deffo sold.

Another opportunity missed by the Real Estate Queen.

 

[torchomatic]

Ann Lucas?

Another opportunity missed by the Real Estate Queen.

 

[italiahorse]

I know. We could maximise football related income? Sorted. I'll get onto Tim.

I'm saying we need to prolong the current deal with a longer term deal and try and improve the access to the incomes available when we play.
'When' we get into the Championship particularly we need to have tied up the rent incremental and again for the PL.
Wasps benefit from us being here so it is good business for them to keep us here and keep us sweet.
One of the sweeteners we currently have from ACL (pre Wasps) is access to some of the incomes we generate.

You may argue that we need more but even Leicester in the Championship only made circa £900K from conferencing and catering (ACL controlled in our case).
They made circa £1.4M from retailing/merchandising, £5.5M from sponsorship/advertising/corporate and £5.8M from Match receipts.
All of these are within our control, but rely on us having a product to sell and in L1 this is severely restricted.

The Championship is not out of our reach in the next couple of seasons and when achieved we need to work hard to get sponsors, fans, advertising and corporate incomes back.
That may give us a chance of staying there.

 

[italiahorse]

Remove these 2....

Replace them and start an open and honest relationship with the supporters. Unfortunately whilst these 2 are still involved with the club, Sisu will never win over the fans.

I'd settle for the one on the right !!!

 

[italiahorse]

Yes, I know, it is. That's why we at least need some suggestions etc. Anyone can just say the words we need more income. We need practical suggestions of ways in doing so.

We need to get into the Championship to get back the incomes we have lost first.
No one is interested in us at this level and that includes the fans.

 

[italiahorse]

Realistically we have limited areas we can work in:

1) Merchandise - There can be huge improvements made here. Increase the range and have items for all sections of the fanbase. Have as much as possible for sale at the ground and in multiple locations so people don't have to go searching for it.

2) Ticket sales - A tricky one, we've seen reduced prices don't bring a significant increase, certainly not enough to offset the loss of revenue the reduction causes. They do have data on ticket sales but having pay on the gate negates the usefulness of some of that data. For example you could send all those who haven't been for a certain amount of time a targeted offer but you have no idea if those people have been turning up every week and paying on the gate. The trick is to find ways of making offers where you're only offering discounted tickets to people who otherwise wouldn't be attending. I would look into Brody's idea of using the bill pay points you find in shops all over the city as ticket selling points, or similar. I'd have a mobile ticket outlet in town on the morning of match, have a minibus (or actual bus if there was demand) waiting and grab the blokes being dragged round town by their other halves. Sell them a ticket to the game with transport to and from the city centre.

3) Sponsorship - Hopefully with a full close season to work with they can work on getting back all the lost sponsors from when we moved to Sixfields.

4) Corporates - As above, we need to get them back. I would also look at a rebranding of some of the offers. One of the biggest growth areas in the music industry is value added tickets, they're the stupidly overpriced ones that give you 'extras'. The additional cost of the ticket generally far outweighs the cost of the extras. We should look to offer something along those lines targeting at the average fan. At the moment when most people think corporate they think prawn sandwich brigade going to matches in suits. Do something that will attract others. For example you could have a £75 ticket where you get a program, decent meal (but not fancy, things like decent burgers, fish & chips etc), meet and great with a current player (if there's someone not playing though injury) or a legend, maybe tie in with the casino to offer something after the match or with the hotel for an overnight. Plenty more like that you can do thats just off the top of my head.

There are things that can be done. The issue is that in the grand scheme of things they won't resolve the main issue.

It's limited in D1 so we need to get back into Championship asap

 

[chiefdave]

It's limited in D1 so we need to get back into Championship asap

Why did no one ever think of this before. We should just get promoted and everything will be OK!

 

[Hobo]

Ann Lucas?

I don't remember Ann Lucas bigging up her real estate expertise? where as Seppala went on record proclaiming she was an expert.

 

[torchomatic]

I was just saying. after all she's responsible for the property deal that we will probably never recover from.

I don't remember Ann Lucas bigging up her real estate expertise? where as Seppala went on record proclaiming she was an expert.

 

[chiefdave]

To be fair if Sepalla has made money in real estate she's probably done it by not buying crappy social clubs in Cov!

 

[Gynnsthetonic]

What about buying back the Sky Blue Connexion, and why was it sold in the first place, I've been to weddings, conferences and been a member of the sports club, great location for a hotel as well

 

[Philosoraptor]

To be fair if Sepalla has made money in real estate she's probably done it by not buying crappy social clubs in Cov!

True but if your looking at increasing revenue and people aren't coming through the turnstiles, for whatever reasons, then you have to increase the match day experience to boost revenue. It may be all good and well saying that there is space to build at the Ricoh complex but given their record of how fast these people put up stadiums, atleast a rented place in town could be in place for the start of next season.

 

[skybluetony176]

I was just saying. after all she's responsible for the property deal that we will probably never recover from.

I'm starting to think you don't understand how elected councils work.

 

[torchomatic]

Of course i know. Who's watch was it on. You may want to read articles and comments an quotes from the time of the decision.

I'm starting to think you don't understand how elected councils work.

 

[italiahorse]

Why did no one ever think of this before. We should just get promoted and everything will be OK!

.... because they have given up and prefer whinging ?

 

[Gazolba]

Provide a team that gives 100% for 90 minutes, plays entertaining football, and wins more home games than they draw or lose.

 

[skybluetony176]

Of course i know. Who's watch was it on. You may want to read articles and comments an quotes from the time of the decision.

Not her decision though. It's an elected council and all councillors from all parties voted for it. It's not a dictatorship. She's not the boss of a hedge fund.

With regards to the comments and quotes from her. You know how the colonels face is on the front of the bucket? It doesn't mean he's out the back frying your chicken for you.