A23

[Reading Rebel]

51 minutes ago, Sir Rebel1965 said:

I have to say that anyone handing over money for a season ticket is taking a leap of faith.

There is a lot of window dressing going on, as a "membership" package looks very much like a season ticket.

If the deal on ownership was so good even the FA would have approved it by now.

Still far too many unanswered questions and the silence is deafening.

Why is it a leap of faith?

We've been assured that the budget is sustainable regardless of whether our potential new owners take over the club or not.

That tells me that nothing will change regarding Scott's plans and signings he's made for the up coming season.

So if a supporter buys a season ticket now or waits 6 weeks the season will go ahead with our squad as planned so not sure where the 'leap of faith' comes into it.

As for the 'membership' package, stunning news I know but it is a season ticket with a few benefits added on to help increase sales.

 

 

[GlenSTFC]

So I take it you won’t be attending any home matches until the FA rubber stamp the change of ownership? We may get lucky and see you towards the end of the new season!

[Nathan]

10 hours ago, Scott Davies said:

Morning everyone. It would be daft of me to start talking about the budget, but all I can say is that it’s sustainable which is the most important thing.

Nobody is on stupid amounts of money. With the ‘impressive’ signings like someone mentioned above, we were very fortunate that the players from below wanted to play the next level which we were able to offer them, that meant that these players were able to fit within the finances at a very good price. They were all offered quite a considerable amount more elsewhere at Step 3.

I can honestly say that the new owners who have been working extremely closely with the board since December, have been a breath of fresh air. The work that’s going on behind the scenes is exciting, the communication lines for myself as a young manager are brilliant to have (I speak with them on average 8-10 times a day!).

A number of players have taken pay cuts to remain with us to allow us to have a more evenly spread squad to afford us the luxury of having greater strength in depth, and that’s testament to the lads. My biggest concern last season was that if someone was to get injured then we didn’t always have the quality on the bench to replace them and you could see the drop in performance. A squad with strength across the board is a better squad than a squad with a few superstars and a lesser player to replace them if they were to ever get injured.

Hope this all makes sense. I’ll see if the club can give an update at some point soon. 👍🏼

Thank-you for the reply Scott.

I know it's easy for us armchair generals on here to criticise, and I don't expect you to say anything to put yourself or the club in any bother, but again you refer to "new owners". As there's been no announcement, and the website still explicitly says "Slough Town FC is owned by Orchard Community Sports Ltd. Company Number: 12131178", it's fair to assume that we're still waiting on something. I ask, not to stir the pot, but because getting this wrong could potentially land the club in trouble.

If it's a simple matter as waiting for the FA (which seems to be assumed), surely it wouldn't jeopadise the process for somebody official at either the club or A23 to say so?

[Reading Rebel]

On 17/06/2023 at 19:40, Nathan said:

Thank-you for the reply Scott.

I know it's easy for us armchair generals on here to criticise, and I don't expect you to say anything to put yourself or the club in any bother, but again you refer to "new owners". As there's been no announcement, and the website still explicitly says "Slough Town FC is owned by Orchard Community Sports Ltd. Company Number: 12131178", it's fair to assume that we're still waiting on something. I ask, not to stir the pot, but because getting this wrong could potentially land the club in trouble.

If it's a simple matter as waiting for the FA (which seems to be assumed), surely it wouldn't jeopadise the process for somebody official at either the club or A23 to say so?

Good post Nathan but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Whenever A23/new owners are mentioned, including in Scott's latest manager interview, it's always said in terms of 'our new owners' which they're not until we're told otherwise.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[Curtis]

What a great, positive & upbeat interview from Scott.

It sounds like he is creating a wonderful environment amongst the players, staff & volunteers at the club, & if we all as fans could replicate that then I think we could be looking at average attendances of 1,000+, which I have always said we need if we are to compete in the upper part of this division.

The thing I didn’t hear was any emphasis on the importance of good runs in cup competitions which excites fans & drives attendances up & also provides a financial boost. But then again managers tend to judge themselves more on final league positions than progression in cups.

[Reading Rebel]

7 hours ago, Curtis said:

What a great, positive & upbeat interview from Scott.

It sounds like he is creating a wonderful environment amongst the players, staff & volunteers at the club, & if we all as fans could replicate that then I think we could be looking at average attendances of 1,000+, which I have always said we need if we are to compete in the upper part of this division.

The thing I didn’t hear was any emphasis on the importance of good runs in cup competitions which excites fans & drives attendances up & also provides a financial boost. But then again managers tend to judge themselves more on final league positions than progression in cups.

If you want to drive attendances up over the course of the season you need to be winning and doing well in the league.

[GlenSTFC]

26 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

If you want to drive attendances up over the course of the season you need to be winning and doing well in the league.

It sounds like you don’t think we can achieve that? I’m feeling very positive about the new season and no I’m not expecting promotion or even the play offs. But i have hopes this squad can achieve at least a mid table finish possibly top 10 anything else would be a massive bonus. Of course a decent FA Cup run will do wonders for our awareness and budget. I just feel we’re in for a much more exciting season than last.

[Curtis]

1 hour ago, Reading Rebel said:

If you want to drive attendances up over the course of the season you need to be winning and doing well in the league.

And I’m sure Scott & the players will be doing all they can to achieve that, but I think long standing fans can also contribute enormously by being positive, friendly & welcoming if & when new fans & families start coming to matches.

[3spirit]

1 hour ago, GlenSTFC said:

It sounds like you don’t think we can achieve that? I’m feeling very positive about the new season and no I’m not expecting promotion or even the play offs. But i have hopes this squad can achieve at least a mid table finish possibly top 10 anything else would be a massive bonus. Of course a decent FA Cup run will do wonders for our awareness and budget. I just feel we’re in for a much more exciting season than last.

Scott comes across as a likeable fella in his interviews and certainly talks a good game. I liked what he achieved last season for our club. I'm not raising my expectations that Slough will storm the division and make the play-offs this season.To me anywhere between 15th place and 10th place would be a success,and perhaps we can even get a good run in one of the better cup competitions.  The National South division looks like it will be harder this season given the new teams in it, so I'm not as optimistic as some fans are.

I agree with Scott that it would be beneficial to get off to fast start at the commencement of the league season and gain points early especially as tougher games will be ahead and Slough should have a lot of new players  'chomping at the bit' to prove themselves at this level. That should work in our favour to start with but sometimes even that is easier said than done. Bakes and Unders will tell you that.

There definitely is a feel good factor this time around,though.

Last season I wasn't overly enamoured with the players we had brought in and how our season went along. It felt like the same old same old.

Least this time out there's a air of excitement in what the club is doing. I can see Slough aren't exactly 'splashing the cash' but least we are not keeping players past their sell by dates because our managers won't recruit better[because of budget restraints] which did happen last pre-season.

Scott's signings so far have been shrewd acquisitions rather than spectacular ones but they do have lots of potential to be crowd pleasers and for Slough to play a brand of exhilarating football.  Of course nothing has been achieved with them yet and only time will tell, if they can really cut it but we look like we are moving in the right direction. 

I'm not sure about the situation on the loaning of goalkeepers but perhaps that's just because I like the old fashioned ways of recruiting one from non -league football.Old fuddy duddy that I am ! ha ha !

         

[Reading Rebel]

3 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

It sounds like you don’t think we can achieve that? I’m feeling very positive about the new season and no I’m not expecting promotion or even the play offs. But i have hopes this squad can achieve at least a mid table finish possibly top 10 anything else would be a massive bonus. Of course a decent FA Cup run will do wonders for our awareness and budget. I just feel we’re in for a much more exciting season than last.

Not sure what gives you that idea, for me it's a statement of fact for most teams, if a club plays exciting attractive football and wins their fair share of games attendances will normally increase.

IMO you've still got to strive for a play-off spot but I think Scott summed it up very nicely.

A good season would be 'in mid table on the coat tails of the clubs in the play-offs'

This would give the club an opportunity to end the season with a flourish and sneak into a play-off place.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, Curtis said:

And I’m sure Scott & the players will be doing all they can to achieve that, but I think long standing fans can also contribute enormously by being positive, friendly & welcoming if & when new fans & families start coming to matches.

Not just long standing fans but all fans should be like that.

[Reading Rebel]

13 hours ago, 3spirit said:

Scott comes across as a likeable fella in his interviews and certainly talks a good game. I liked what he achieved last season for our club. I'm not raising my expectations that Slough will storm the division and make the play-offs this season.To me anywhere between 15th place and 10th place would be a success,and perhaps we can even get a good run in one of the better cup competitions.  The National South division looks like it will be harder this season given the new teams in it, so I'm not as optimistic as some fans are.

I agree with Scott that it would be beneficial to get off to fast start at the commencement of the league season and gain points early especially as tougher games will be ahead and Slough should have a lot of new players  'chomping at the bit' to prove themselves at this level. That should work in our favour to start with but sometimes even that is easier said than done. Bakes and Unders will tell you that.

There definitely is a feel good factor this time around,though.

Last season I wasn't overly enamoured with the players we had brought in and how our season went along. It felt like the same old same old.

Least this time out there's a air of excitement in what the club is doing. I can see Slough aren't exactly 'splashing the cash' but least we are not keeping players past their sell by dates because our managers won't recruit better[because of budget restraints] which did happen last pre-season.

Scott's signings so far have been shrewd acquisitions rather than spectacular ones but they do have lots of potential to be crowd pleasers and for Slough to play a brand of exhilarating football.  Of course nothing has been achieved with them yet and only time will tell, if they can really cut it but we look like we are moving in the right direction. 

I'm not sure about the situation on the loaning of goalkeepers but perhaps that's just because I like the old fashioned ways of recruiting one from non -league football.Old fuddy duddy that I am ! ha ha !

         

Not just the big teams coming into the division making it much harder next season but existing teams like Hampton who are spending big and Eastbourne who have gone full time and are really pushing the boat out on their signings.

I agree that our player recruitment does look to have an air of excitement about it but it has to come with a bit of caution.

Most have been recruited from a lower division having shown the potential to play at a higher level but it is only that, potential.

They've still not only got to prove they can make the step up but also to compete and hold their own in what will be a very difficult division. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[Sir Rebel1965]

Interesting to see on the club website that under the Academy tag it states "As part of the new A23 Football Group ownership ....."

But under The Club tag and in contact us, it states"Slough Town FC is owned by Orchard Community Sports Ltd....."

So which is it?

No wonder fans are being reluctant to buy season tickets, sorry memberships due to the farcical way the takeover is/isn't happening.

A23 are not giving me and it looks like others confidence that they/he knows what they are up to, just a load of cheap salesman's gimmicks to use the club as a shop front to sell on kids from the academy.

I hope Scott knows what he is letting himself in for when he is asked to play kids in the first team when A23 want to sell them on regardless of their suitability!

[GlenSTFC]

10 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

Not sure what gives you that idea, for me it's a statement of fact for most teams, if a club plays exciting attractive football and wins their fair share of games attendances will normally increase.

IMO you've still got to strive for a play-off spot but I think Scott summed it up very nicely.

A good season would be 'in mid table on the coat tails of the clubs in the play-offs'

This would give the club an opportunity to end the season with a flourish and sneak into a play-off place.

The way you phrased your sentence sounded like you didn’t feel we would win enough games or do well in the league to get the higher attendances.

[GlenSTFC]

21 minutes ago, Sir Rebel1965 said:

Interesting to see on the club website that under the Academy tag it states "As part of the new A23 Football Group ownership ....."

But under The Club tag and in contact us, it states"Slough Town FC is owned by Orchard Community Sports Ltd....."

So which is it?

No wonder fans are being reluctant to buy season tickets, sorry memberships due to the farcical way the takeover is/isn't happening.

A23 are not giving me and it looks like others confidence that they/he knows what they are up to, just a load of cheap salesman's gimmicks to use the club as a shop front to sell on kids from the academy.

I hope Scott knows what he is letting himself in for when he is asked to play kids in the first team when A23 want to sell them on regardless of their suitability!

As you don’t trust anyone’s word I’d like to see you seek out Ashley Smith at one of the friendlies, tell him all your negative feelings and listen to his replies. Then make your mind up. Are you prepared to do that?

[3spirit]

It would be nice to finally know who is now running our club, and if we have one new owner/investor, or two/three?

It really has been a drawn out process, so I can see why some fans are getting frustrated with the 'no firm news policy' ................. However, Scott[and his new staff]are believer's in the new structure of the club,and Scott's hands don't seem to be tied with the current player recruitment drive [unlike Bakes and Unders last season], so I'm willing to wait to see what pans out with this takeover.

Apart from the official announcement, everything seems to moving along properly,and appears to be bona fide and better than it was, [than when last season the club seemed stuck with no money and with the need to cut costs/staff], which currently on the surface looks a big step forward. So why fret?       

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, GlenSTFC said:

As you don’t trust anyone’s word I’d like to see you seek out Ashley Smith at one of the friendlies, tell him all your negative feelings and listen to his replies. Then make your mind up. Are you prepared to do that?

I don't think any supporter should have to seek out a club official to get an answer to their concerns.

If the club wants supporters to buy into and support the club, whether that's financially or anything else, good ongoing communications to supporters through the proper channels are a must. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, 3spirit said:

It would be nice to finally know who is now running our club, and if we have one new owner/investor, or two/three?

It really has been a drawn out process, so I can see why some fans are getting frustrated with the 'no firm news policy' ................. However, Scott[and his new staff]are believer's in the new structure of the club,and Scott's hands don't seem to be tied with the current player recruitment drive [unlike Bakes and Unders last season], so I'm willing to wait to see what pans out with this takeover.

Apart from the official announcement, everything seems to moving along properly,and appears to be bona fide and better than it was, [than when last season the club seemed stuck with no money and with the need to cut costs/staff], which currently on the surface looks a big step forward. So why fret?       

There will always be supporters who will happy to put their trust in people in authority at the club to do the right thing and understandably there will be supporters who will look a bit deeper into whats going on with the new ownership knowing what has happened to the club in the past could well happen again.

I think Sir Rebel is right in saying that there does seem to be mixed messages coming out of the club.

On the playing side which includes the A23 academy it all seems hunky dory as if the A23 Football Group are our new owners and in charge of the day to day running of the club.

But then as Sir Rebel says if you look up who owns the club it's still says the previous owners Orchard Community Sports Ltd. which it obviously is until we hear differently and it's official. 

Another concern for some supporters will be what's going on behind the scenes with our potential new owners the A23 Football Group.

It seems they originally had 4 directors which, due to resignations, has now been whittled down to just one which is Ashley Smith.  

With no news or any communication from the club since April it's not surprising some supporters are concerned and in some cases are holding back on buying their membership until the ownership of the club gets sorted.  

Edited June 25, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

3 hours ago, Sir Rebel1965 said:

Interesting to see on the club website that under the Academy tag it states "As part of the new A23 Football Group ownership ....."

But under The Club tag and in contact us, it states"Slough Town FC is owned by Orchard Community Sports Ltd....."

So which is it?

No wonder fans are being reluctant to buy season tickets, sorry memberships due to the farcical way the takeover is/isn't happening.

A23 are not giving me and it looks like others confidence that they/he knows what they are up to, just a load of cheap salesman's gimmicks to use the club as a shop front to sell on kids from the academy.

I hope Scott knows what he is letting himself in for when he is asked to play kids in the first team when A23 want to sell them on regardless of their suitability!

On your point about buying memberships, yes some supporters are holding out because of the new ownership saga dragging on but I would also suggest it's because there is no 'early bird' cut off date for buying a membership at reduced prices.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[GlenSTFC]

53 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

I don't think any supporter should have to seek out a club official to get an answer to their concerns.

If the club wants supporters to buy into and support the club, whether that's financially or anything else, good ongoing communications to supporters through the proper channels are a must. 

Usually no but on this occasion he’s being so ott it’s laughable. He clearly trusts nothing the club says and even when it’s all official he’d still be questioning matters!