What the hell is going on?

[Guest]

What the hell is going on? Why are all these players leaving? Someone better answer these questions very quickly, it seems like someone at the club is not being honest with the fans as per usual. If somone is messing about regarding Michael Bartley leaving the club it is not amusing, Chris please find out what is going on, at this rate we could be in relegation battle again.

[Guest]

I guess Slough are now in the same position most professional and semi professional teams find themselves in. Relegated, try for immediate promotion by using highly paid "stars", fail to get promoted and then reality takes over and the wage bill is slashed hence we will be relying on younger less experienced players. This of course means you need a talanted manager/coach to get the most out of them. Unfortunately for us it comes at a time when the club needs a higher profile/better team to justify an improved ground.

[Guest]

This is most disappointing, and it seems to me that the Club are making absolutely no effort to let fans know what is happening. Michael should not be announcing his own departure in the Fan's chatroom. Even the calls for the vital help to get the new ground seem to be completely run by the Supporters Club. Is there anybody there in the Club Management responsible for PR - and PR begins at home.

 

All that will happen as a result of this is that people will become demoralised and not inclined to go the extra mile in the campaign - why should they when clearly the club does not give a toss about who stays or goes or what the fans think - and if they don't like it - tough sh-t, they are only need them to buy the tickets, support the new ground, and other unimportant things like that.

 

It must be even worse for the people who devotedly have painted, cleaned, and maintained the ground voluntarily as well as run the website and generally displayed a devotion to STFC it increasingly does not seem to want or deserve.

 

Please Management Team, at least pretend that you do want some fans (and some effective players). Do the decent thing and let's hear from you!

[GarySTFC]

Well having read through the thread almost chuckling to myself I thought I'd better reply.

 

Anyone who came down over the summer would have seen how much Roy Merryweather desperately wants the best for this club - and seemingly would have seen which fans really care about the club.

 

For the past six years at least, ground work has been carried out over the summer months to tidy the ground and complete other various maintenance. How many "fans" turn up? This year was six, and I fear that the price has been paid with the state of the pitch, although this is now being repaired and focused on given that a lot of other tasks have been completed.

 

As for the marketing, it's carried out by the STSA. This has been agreed and in place for the last two seasons and has worked out quite well. Chris Sliski has taken control of it this year, and I am sure any help he receives will be most welcome. How much will be offered? Probably none as usual.

 

With a club of our size, a lot of people seem to think that only those working directly for the club need do anything. Quite the opposite. The more help the fans can give in whatever way possible outside of just turning up, paying their entrance and shouting support, is ALWAYS needed. Unfortunately at Slough from my experience, it always falls short of what is required.

 

Example - Back in May a list of tasks was drawn up to be completed around the ground. About 75% were completed and some remain unstarted. It has got to the point where the efforts of the few will have to continue into the friendly season and possibly well beyond due to the lack of interest/availability of a lot of fans.

 

Before everyone jumps on my back, it's not a dig at everyone as some people have come forward and said they can't make it, not everyone is local, not everyone is available in the summer (Work/Holidays) but that doesn't account for 350 people all the time. If there was a match on during one of those Saturdays, many of those people would be down at the ground.

 

Sometimes we need to do that extra bit to help out. Too often, it's not happening.

[Chris]

I agree with you Gary about the ground situation and more should have been done by supporters really.

 

As for the clubs PR, I am trying to do my best. I have tried to find out info loads of times, but there never seems to be any news that is confirmed yet!

 

Quite a few times like when new signings were made last season the site was not told anything. Personally that did wind me up a little, when we are constantly after information for the website.

[Guest]

Chris and Gary,

 

I was certainly not having a go at you two or Chris S for that matter - it seems to me that the Club Management have abdicated a lot of these tasks to the devotion of yourselves - and I think Chris's point about trying to run the website when nobody is telling him anything seems to me to put him on a hiding to nothing, and is exactly the point I am making about Management support. I think many people would recognise that Roy works very hard for the club, too.

 

I also accept that many fans, including me, have not turned up over the summer to do jobs and as you say, we have many reasons but few excuses. However, motivating volunteers is a job which needs a lot of effort as anybody who has run a voluntary body knows - it is a battle for people's hearts and minds as well as time, and I would argue that if the Owner and his co directors if any, (whatever happened to Alan Brazil?), and the Manager could help enormously by letting people know something of what is going on, as well as working to get people behind the Club in a visible way.

 

I think you guys ARE doing your best, and a good job in difficult circumstances, but think it would get a better response if you were clearly getting some leadership and support from the top as part of a clearly articulated strategy to get the new ground and get back up where we belong. If the Owner and his associates did that, I am sure that more people will feel inclined to make the effort to do more to help. It would have been great for the call to attend the public meeting to have come from Mr Deaner and Mr Brown, as well as the geeing up from yourselves and Chris S. It would be great to hear Mr Deaner and Mr Brown talking directly to the fans, even if just through a message on the website, to say what they are doing and what THEY want people to do to help and sound a bit upbeat about things.

 

For example, we now know the three people shown on the website as our top scorers last season have left the club, and one of them had to tell us himself. Now the Management team may think that is OK because we have excellent replacements. But to encourage everybody to support the new folks, let's hear that message. Getting people to understand the siutation gets people being supportive and is very basic management communications, not rocket science!.

 

It may be a wrong perception, but it looks to me, a relative newcomer, as if STSA have been left trying to get everything done despite the Management Team, not with it! Everybody associated with the club needs inspiring at the moment, and the responsibility for that is quite clear.

 

In the same way as you suggest that just coming to the games may not be enough of a contribution from the fans, it's not enough for the Top Management Team, either. I am sure that they do things behind the scenes, but a good cause won't be a good cause if nobody knows about it!

 

 

I'll shut up now!