FANS FORUM this THURSDAY

[Alan Greenaway]

6 minutes ago, Stuntman Mark said:

Yes we are looking at doing this sort of thing, probably a bit nearer the ground initially. We've been looking at the location of our season ticket holders and can clearly identify areas in town where there aren't many, if any. The most obvious being the immediate neighbourhood around the ground. I will need lots of volunteers for that one so I trust I can count on you Alan and Glen?

 

Maybe have a brief chat after the game tomorrow.

[GlenSTFC]

13 minutes ago, Stuntman Mark said:

Yes we are looking at doing this sort of thing, probably a bit nearer the ground initially. We've been looking at the location of our season ticket holders and can clearly identify areas in town where there aren't many, if any. The most obvious being the immediate neighbourhood around the ground. I will need lots of volunteers for that one so I trust I can count on you Alan and Glen?

If I lived in Slough I would.

[3spirit]

Just watched the forum meeting video on the Slough Town FC website,which was well presented and clearly shows where the club as a whole is right now. I wish to thank all the steering committee,our managers and the others on the panel for their sterling efforts on the night, and more importantly, what they have being done over the last few years to keep our club afloat. We are lucky to have such a dedicated bunch.  

I will endeavour to get some posters off Mark Bailey, to put around my vicinity and places I visit to help the cause. I'm limited in financial terms at the moment,so can't do much in this regard but if every fan did a little something for the club, then that surely is a step in the right direction. I'm a great believer in the ripple effect.

However, my current view, on where the club wants to head ie promotion to the National League, is very much a mixed one, as unlike the vast majority of fans,I have come to the conclusion that I prefer the grass roots amateur game, than the one solely about money and professionalism, so for me I don't necessarily see it as the best way forward for current make up of the club, to survive, given that we have no money man/financial backer at the helm, or do we appear to be attracting any major sponsor. 

That said, of course I would like to see Slough promoted this season via the play offs, as Bakes and Unders deserve a crack at playing against the best that non league football has to offer, and the fans who have stuck by the club through thick and thin, deserve to be back watching the cream of the non-league football. Slough as a club have endured and it would be fitting if we could accomplish top non league football again after all this time, even if it only lasted one season,was to be part time and done on a limited budget.

I just think those running our club need to be honest with themselves, and put their ego's aside, to decide whether the club can feasibly go forward/seek promotion, with no real financial backing, as it seems wrong to keep getting out the begging bowls to ordinary fans to seek to gain promotion.

I just feel the club could be jumping the gun somewhat, and might bite off more than it can chew, if promotion arrives, as Steve Easterbrook's shoes are big ones to fill, and the steering commitee haven't really done this yet. If this got remedied soon,then I'm all for seeing the club build for the future.

[Banny]

43 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

Just watched the forum meeting video on the Slough Town FC website,which was well presented and clearly shows where the club as a whole is right now. I wish to thank all the steering committee,our managers and the others on the panel for their sterling efforts on the night, and more importantly, what they have being done over the last few years to keep our club afloat. We are lucky to have such a dedicated bunch.  

I will endeavour to get some posters off Mark Bailey, to put around my vicinity and places I visit to help the cause. I'm limited in financial terms at the moment,so can't do much in this regard but if every fan did a little something for the club, then that surely is a step in the right direction. I'm a great believer in the ripple effect.

However, my current view, on where the club wants to head ie promotion to the National League, is very much a mixed one, as unlike the vast majority of fans,I have come to the conclusion that I prefer the grass roots amateur game, than the one solely about money and professionalism, so for me I don't necessarily see it as the best way forward for current make up of the club, to survive, given that we have no money man/financial backer at the helm, or do we appear to be attracting any major sponsor. 

That said, of course I would like to see Slough promoted this season via the play offs, as Bakes and Unders deserve a crack at playing against the best that non league football has to offer, and the fans who have stuck by the club through thick and thin, deserve to be back watching the cream of the non-league football. Slough as a club have endured and it would be fitting if we could accomplish top non league football again after all this time, even if it only lasted one season,was to be part time and done on a limited budget.

I just think those running our club need to be honest with themselves, and put their ego's aside, to decide whether the club can feasibly go forward/seek promotion, with no real financial backing, as it seems wrong to keep getting out the begging bowls to ordinary fans to seek to gain promotion.

I just feel the club could be jumping the gun somewhat, and might bite off more than it can chew, if promotion arrives, as Steve Easterbrook's shoes are big ones to fill, and the steering commitee haven't really done this yet. If this got remedied soon,then I'm all for seeing the club build for the future.

THOSE RUNNING OUR CLUB ARE NOT ON AN EGO TRIP. They work damn hard at doing the best they can for the good of our club, as has Steve Easterbrook who shunned praise and many others who just "muck in" to do what needs doing.

[GlenSTFC]

I was about to highlight that very sentence and question it’s meaning! 

[Rebellier]

3spirit

I generally agree with you especially when you talk about club ambition, but "ego trip"?  What planet are you on????

[A Rebel and a Saint]

This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things you've ever said 3spirit.

At no point has anyone on that panel said that they're desperate for promotion to the point of being an ego trip. It was said several times that the Club is punching above it's weight where it is now and how difficult it would be for the club if it were to be promoted. However given the position we're in it would be stupid to not be planning ahead in case promotion actually happens. 

The people running our Club have said several times that they are volunteers and fans, they would not put the Club in jeopardy.

It's also not about getting out the "begging bowl". We're not running around signing players left,  right and centre. It's just simple appeals for people to help the club with general costs. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by A Rebel and a Saint

[Irishadrian]

I'm with the people who would like us to make a genuine push for promotion this season

Who would have thought at the start of the season that we would be where we are today?  And where is the evidence that we would do as well next season at this level?  We should grasp what we have imo

If we gain promotion our average gates would double There are a number of clubs mostly ex EFL who have a huge following of full price paying supporters 

We would be charging NFL prices for admission (£15?)

We should price season tickets sensibly  25/33% discounts are more than generous  The half price and more tickets of recent seasons were imo great for the punters  but not so for the club

It's been decades now since the club played at non leagues highest level  and a return is long overdue.

I sincerely hope the fainthearts dont prevail.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Irishadrian

[A Rebel and a Saint]

No one is saying that we wouldn't take the chance if it did happen. It's just that the club needs to be cautious about planning for the future with no money to back it up beyond matchday revenue and sponsorship, and if the club wasn't ready it would be a disaster and could undo all the hard work of the last 3 or 4 years.

However using your argument, where's the evidence that our gates would double? Would that even be enough? The top level of non league has changed so much from when we were last in it, it's more an extension of the pro game than it is non league. Maidenhead currently travel around 2.5 times further than we do, that's a huge increase in costs for the club, players and fans to both physically do and to pay for. 

[3spirit]

17 hours ago, Banny said:

THOSE RUNNING OUR CLUB ARE NOT ON AN EGO TRIP. They work damn hard at doing the best they can for the good of our club, as has Steve Easterbrook who shunned praise and many others who just "muck in" to do what needs doing.

What that sentence was about, was not a knock at what people are doing for the club,as I thought I had explained in the rest of the post. It was, can we really afford to go up currently with no new chairman/financial backer/main sponsor at the helm?

My post was really my thoughts on the whole subject of the club at the moment.Hence why I said ' my current view is very much a mixed one '. My heart says go for promotion but my head says we should look to find a backer first before we over extend the club.Hence why I said about people's ego's.  'Ego trips' is your quote,Banny, not mine.

I just feel we're racing ahead of where the club currently needs to be. Yes, I would like to see this season's team promoted but not at detriment of what the current club are able to do.

At the end of the day, I feel I've done my bit for Slough Town FC over the years. OTHERS HAVE DONE FAR MORE, I KNOW.  My mission was to see a football club/ground back in Slough, and that it would be a great place for community cohesion and for the younger generations to go. To this extent we're well on the way to achieving this.  

Currently I don't feel on the same page as most of the attendees/the club officials/fans, as all I want to do is watch good semi-pro/ amateur non league football, without paying a queen's ransom to do it. Perhaps it's just an age thing or a 'phase' with me but I just feel the club is steaming ahead, without weighing up the pro's and cons of what promotion will truly mean, given they have no money man behind them.            I might be in the minority on this subject but felt after 30 odd years of watching Slough through 'thick and thin', I thought it was a worthy point to make. It was never meant as a swipe at those running our club. My post was just an alternative viewpoint, to what is currently being proposed.

[GlenSTFC]

Your exact quote was “just think those running our club need to be honest with themselves, and put their ego's aside”. That’s pretty clear in stating it’s their ego’s and not fans in general.

[Radders]

Right guys, time to lose the rest of the games this season to put the risk of promotion to bed. Everyone’s egos are getting too big winning all these games. I spoke to Kay the other day about her upcoming trip to the oscars and John porter invited me round to have to look at his new £70 billion mansion. 
 

WHAT A LOAD OF ABSOLUTE BO**OCKS AND AN ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS COMMENT TO MAKE ABOUT THE UNBELIEVABLE PEOPLE WHO LOOK AFTER OUR CLUB.

 

That comment is an embarrassment and the explanation a load of twaddle. Sorry but this is one time where the mark has seriously been overstepped!!!

[Shredding Green]

On 03/02/2020 at 01:17, Irishadrian said:

I'm with the people who would like us to make a genuine push for promotion this season

Who would have thought at the start of the season that we would be where we are today?  And where is the evidence that we would do as well next season at this level?  We should grasp what we have imo

If we gain promotion our average gates would double There are a number of clubs mostly ex EFL who have a huge following of full price paying supporters 

We would be charging NFL prices for admission (£15?)

We should price season tickets sensibly  25/33% discounts are more than generous  The half price and more tickets of recent seasons were imo great for the punters  but not so for the club

It's been decades now since the club played at non leagues highest level  and a return is long overdue.

I sincerely hope the fainthearts dont prevail.

One way in which clubs try and improve their attendances for the future is to offer attractively priced tickets whilst attendances are below the required level. The aim is three fold :- i) Income from persons taking up the offers would not otherwise be received. ii) Get more spectators through the turnstiles and they will spend some money on other things whilst they are in the ground. iii) It is hoped that some of the additilonal spectators will pass the word around and become regular supporters in the future.

[3spirit]

On 03/02/2020 at 18:10, Radders said:

Right guys, time to lose the rest of the games this season to put the risk of promotion to bed. Everyone’s egos are getting too big winning all these games. I spoke to Kay the other day about her upcoming trip to the oscars and John porter invited me round to have to look at his new £70 billion mansion. 
 

WHAT A LOAD OF ABSOLUTE BO**OCKS AND AN ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS COMMENT TO MAKE ABOUT THE UNBELIEVABLE PEOPLE WHO LOOK AFTER OUR CLUB.

 

That comment is an embarrassment and the explanation a load of twaddle. Sorry but this is one time where the mark has seriously been overstepped!!!

Look Radders, perhaps I could have phrased it better but I do believe people jump on the bandwagon and are quick to react to a word, yet miss the context of the written article.

I couldn't care less if you agree with me or not. I never said 'ego trip'. I said 'ego's'. Every human being has an ego. Just like your ego has inflated,Radders, for you to come on here and slag me off. That's your prerogative,I'm fine with that but I won't be changing my opinion, regardless of you writing in capital letters to make your point known.

The reason for the wording of 'ego's' was to highlight that certain people [not all] involved with the club now, are ambitious and aspiring to take the club as high as possible, that's not a bad thing but are they experienced enough to run a football club at a higher level, when we haven't a proper chairman/money man at the helm? 

As much as I like Bakes and Unders, managers come and go. What I've learned of watching Slough over the years, is the club is the most important thing. I would love to see Slough in the National Premier, like the old Conference days but I just wonder with how the steering committee is at the moment[with no Steve Easterbrook], is it the 'right time' to push the boat out and go hell for leather to play higher level football? Are we really ready?

Someone needed to be the pantomine villain to ask this question, as too many on this forum are sycophants and will say yes to anything. It doesn't matter diddly squat what I think, I'm only one fan in a crowd but least I'm not in the flock of sheep, like most on here.

Edited February 4, 2020 by 3spirit

[Shredding Green]

On 03/02/2020 at 07:16, A Rebel and a Saint said:

No one is saying that we wouldn't take the chance if it did happen. It's just that the club needs to be cautious about planning for the future with no money to back it up beyond matchday revenue and sponsorship, and if the club wasn't ready it would be a disaster and could undo all the hard work of the last 3 or 4 years.

However using your argument, where's the evidence that our gates would double? Would that even be enough? The top level of non league has changed so much from when we were last in it, it's more an extension of the pro game than it is non league. Maidenhead currently travel around 2.5 times further than we do, that's a huge increase in costs for the club, players and fans to both physically do and to pay for. 

What a disappointing gate at Crabble in National League last evening. 8th. placed Dover Athletic v the runaway leaders Barrow but only 972 turned up to watch Dover Athletic win 2-1. And there was no competition apart from television.
I am at The Hive this  Saturday for Barnet v Barrow in the FA Trophy 3rd. Round.

[Radders]

Believe me 3Spirit I have no ego, but you believe what you like to make yourself feel better. 
 

I don’t see how anyone can say we are going ‘hell for leather’ to get promoted. We have got to 2nd in the table with the squad that started the season; we haven’t really added to it except for a player striving to return to his former level who has played a total of around 20 minutes for us and is now out on ‘loan’ and a player that the managers themselves have effectively termed a ‘bench warmer’ (I mean no offence by this, just what has been said).

If we were breaking our wage structure or spending silly money to bring players in then we would be going hell for leather. Players going out and winning football matches is not going hell for leather. Any team that goes out not wanting to win games for fear of getting promoted would probably end up closer to relegation.

 

My anger was solely targeted around the use of the word ego. An ego would be one of our volunteers demanding a wage to do their job. An ego would be one of the team refusing to communicate with the fans because they are deemed insignificant. An ego is not 6 people sat in front of a group of fans, in their own time, honestly answering questions asked of them by the fans. 

If you want to label yourself the pantomime villain that’s fine (if a little egotistical) but I was just calling out what I felt was a highly unfair word to associate with the people who run our club.

[Irishadrian]

5 hours ago, Shredding Green said:

What a disappointing gate at Crabble in National League last evening. 8th. placed Dover Athletic v the runaway leaders Barrow but only 972 turned up to watch Dover Athletic win 2-1. And there was no competition apart from television.
I am at The Hive this  Saturday for Barnet v Barrow in the FA Trophy 3rd. Round.

Not sure that's really a surprise Dover aren't  one of the better supported teams  They attracted in the  six hundreds against Maidenhead and a number of sub thousand gates  Only good gates at holiday times and against nearest rivals

[Irishadrian]

20 minutes ago, Irishadrian said:

Not sure that's really a surprise Dover aren't  one of the better supported teams  They attracted in the  six hundreds against Maidenhead and a number of sub thousand gates  Only good gates at holiday times and against nearest rivals

And of course that's just short of an 800 mile round trip so little away support ex EFL or not

[3spirit]

On 05/02/2020 at 05:56, Radders said:

Believe me 3Spirit I have no ego, but you believe what you like to make yourself feel better. 
 

I don’t see how anyone can say we are going ‘hell for leather’ to get promoted. We have got to 2nd in the table with the squad that started the season; we haven’t really added to it except for a player striving to return to his former level who has played a total of around 20 minutes for us and is now out on ‘loan’ and a player that the managers themselves have effectively termed a ‘bench warmer’ (I mean no offence by this, just what has been said).

If we were breaking our wage structure or spending silly money to bring players in then we would be going hell for leather. Players going out and winning football matches is not going hell for leather. Any team that goes out not wanting to win games for fear of getting promoted would probably end up closer to relegation.

 

My anger was solely targeted around the use of the word ego. An ego would be one of our volunteers demanding a wage to do their job. An ego would be one of the team refusing to communicate with the fans because they are deemed insignificant. An ego is not 6 people sat in front of a group of fans, in their own time, honestly answering questions asked of them by the fans. 

If you want to label yourself the pantomime villain that’s fine (if a little egotistical) but I was just calling out what I felt was a highly unfair word to associate with the people who run our club.

Radders, I wasn't really referring to what is happening with our squad, on the football side of things, I was talking more about the current financial structure off the field and whether the club could afford [long term] to go for promotion and be able to sustain it for a few seasons at the National Premier level.

Someone has now informed me that there seems to be more money in the club funds than I thought there was, so perhaps my worries are wide of the mark.

Anyway I think I've said more than enough on the subject, so think it best to let sleeping dogs lie, and just see how it all pans out.

[Irishadrian]

3spirit

I do get the feeling that some people who would prefer not to chase promotion are somewhat understating 

 

the clubs finances I believe it was ARAAS  who earlier in this thread said the club had only the game to game gate revenue and some sponsorship to run it

We did amass a huge ( for a club of our status) sum of money from our cup runs in recent seasons Surely there must be a residue from that?

I think the club would find it much easier to attract smaller cash donations if there was more transparency re the finances  Obviously not detailed but a bottom line position