Batt

[Webbo MFI]

another money grabbing [****!!****]?

[Midweeksaint]

Here we go again! If he has been offered a full time contract with Stevenage and better money good luck to him. Surely the mistake lies with the club for not having him on a contract? Lessons learned and all that.

[rwsacfc]

cant belive it !!!! hes gone to stevenage which annoys me even more !!! cant blame him if he wants to play full time football though. Does anyone out there know wether we are thinking of going full time in the near future, or would it be too risky, given recent events at the muff, thoughts ?

[saslufc]

With crowds averaging little over 1000, it's hard to see how we would be able to go full time without it being underwritten by some rich benefactor. What we've achieved so far on a limited budget with part time players ought to be applauded.

 

That said, others in the division manage it somehow without significantly bigger crowds. Anyone aware of the relative profit/(loss) of other in the league other than the Muff and Crawley?

 

 

DL

[Rob_the_Saint]

You'll find the ones that are successful without large crowds (not a lot) have significant other revenue streams and a lot more commercial activity than we do.

[Boney Maroney]

And that is the heart of the problem, Rob. We don't have any commercial activity. It was different in the Conference South but we are now at the highest level of non league football and it is criminal that this golden opportunity is being wasted. I am no expert but I would have thought that any club playing at a high profile national level, one below the Football League, would be able to attract a minimum of £200K in sponsorship from a city this size, with the right commercial person in charge. I just hope something is in the pipeline now for next season. It will be of little or no use leaving it until the close season before something is done about it.

[AFF]

What a strange game football is! I'll put it down to the people and the passion, but some of the comments on the boards this morning are beyond reason.

 

Damian Batt loses a full-time job, and another club says "Come and work for us. We want you for 20%/25%/30% of the working week and we'll pay you 20%/25%/30% of a weekly wage." Fair enough says t'lad and the boy done good, both [in the] first half and [in the] second half, and we all took the positives from that.

 

His abilities do not go un-noticed by a competitor who does want people on a full-time basis. They offer him a full-time post on full-time money and off he goes. He did very well indeed for us, and was one of my players of the season. Every good wish and good luck to t'lad from me.

 

Contracts? Whaaaaaaaat?

 

There's another thread with comments about players' contracts. We have about 8 of em' signed up on contracts for the next two and in one case, three seasons, if the web-site can be believed. In half-a-dozen cases, there were extensions agreed to the existing contracts just before Christmas, if I remember correctly.

 

Now most of that doesn't make a great deal of sense to me, but then, firstly, the contracts are dealt with by people whose job it is to know what they are doing, and secondly, I don't know anything about football. What have agents got to do with anything, anyway?

 

Really disappointing news for us but good luck to Damian from me.

 

 

[Hatboy]

I've always wondered how Forest Green do it, they don't get bigger crowds than we are this season and all they seem to have to offer is their naff clubhouse at the new ground that i can't see makes any money ! And a health club.

 

Surely this is why we need a new ground with facilities that will be used all week round.

[AFF]

[i have a feeling that I might regret this...]

 

What facilities do you have in mind "that will be used all week round", Hatboy?

 

Conference facilities? A function room for weddings and barmitzvahs, etc.? Leisure facilities in the form of a gym with ancilliary equipment? A 'social' clubhouse in the form of a Licensed bar?

 

Something similar to 'Woollams', the OA Sports' premises on Harpenden Road?

 

Just curious to have another person's view, by the way.

 

 

[Laz]

We have a bar but we opt not to open it during the week!

 

(I have no idea if this is a constraint of the licence!)

 

I doubt if many people would use it anyway.

 

In fact, it shuts at 6:15 on a matchday so we don't utilise it during Saturdays!

 

And I couldn't help but noticed that the next supporters club event is being help elsewhere.

 

 

[Rob_the_Saint]

Laz

 

The Quiz Night is being held at the Waverley Club because the bar will be open for the complete duration of the event.

 

AFF

 

Woollams is a good example of how to use sports facilities wisely. Get a few all-weather pitches with floodlights and these can be used virtually all year round, 12 hours a day (local residents permitting). A decent club house with bar, function rooms, fitness & health club, beauty parlour (OK, forget that last one) etc would also be a good source of revenue. This all takes time to set up of course, so for the next few years we'll just have to concentrate on survival.

[Laz]

Robster, should I assume then that the bar has closed during a previous supporters club event? If so, why?

[AFF]

Hi Robster. [Lots of points back to you, Rob!]

 

Apart from the tennis courts, there are no all-weather pitches at Woollams. The St Albans School bit - which is the northern-most building on the site, with the pitches etc surrounding it - has an all-weather hockey pitch.

 

The southern-most building - that's the one with the tent-like roof to the balcony that is closest to Harpenden Road - is 'OA Sport'. It has eight changing rooms at ground floor level with a gym/'leisure complex' that is the size of our boardroom at t'Park, and two small physio/treatment rooms. The bar area is on the first floor which can be divided into a big 'un and a little 'un, and there are a couple of small Committee/meeting rooms elsewhere on the first floor.

 

That southern-most building is surrounded by 6 rugby pitches in the winter, and 3 cricket pitches in the Summer.

 

The beauty treatment/parlour bit is the size of a small two bedroomed flat on the second floor.

[JKiF]

does the small two bedroomed flat have a walk-in wadrobe?

[AFF]

Although I have seen the accommodation once, JKiF, I wasn't paying a great deal of attention, certainly not to that level of detail. I think, probably not.

 

I gather that the lady what runs the beauty thingie is very highly thought of. If you fancy a quick facial, or whatever people do in these places, mention my name and she will probably add 10% to the bill, mate!

[JKiF]

only 10%?

 

;-)

 

 

[Duke of York]

Originally Posted By: Boney Maroney

We don't have any commercial activity. I am no expert but I would have thought that any club playing at a high profile national level, one below the Football League, would be able to attract a minimum of £200K in sponsorship from a city this size, with the right commercial person in charge. I just hope something is in the pipeline now for next season. It will be of little or no use leaving it until the close season before something is done about it.

The commercial activity really does need to be stepped up at St Albans City. The season got off to a great start with the majority of the match sponsorship packages and match ball sponsorships selling straight away with the introduction of a part-time commercial manager. He tried to introduce a number of initiatives to increase the profile of the club within the city. He introduced a number of brand new sponsors that had never previously had any dealings with the Saints. Despite this, the commercial manager was shown the door after bringing in £30k in two months.

IR picked up the commercial responsibility after the commercial manager left. Even with IR's contacts there were no more sponsors or perimeter advertising introduced to the club. Even the programme adverts stopped coming in with the exception of the Doublotto - does anyone actually play this game?

[Sensible]

Weren't you the former commercial manager?

 

If so, why do you refer to yourself in the third person?

[AFF]

The Owners and the Board of our football club rarely, if ever, come onto this forum, I believe, and although they are, presumably, capable of answering criticism, they choose not to do so on here.

 

I read criticism of the Board in that contribution from the Duke of York, and although I have no knowledge of the situation, other than from what I read on here, I will make a brief observation in response.

 

I may be wrong, but I recall from the News Section of the Official web-site that the Commercial Mangaer was appointed in June/July 2006. I picture that the busiest time for the Commercial Department of a Football Club in terms of attracting the season's new sponsors would be in the three/four months from April at the end of the previous season. Perhaps the chap hadn't been found at that earlier time but let's pass over that.

 

I picture that 50%+, as a minimum, of the season's 'commercial' income should be secured within the first 8 weeks or so of the start of the season. As Duke of York says [and he appears to speak with good knowledge], "the majority of match sponsorship packages and match ball sponsorships (sold) straight away". And he says that the chap was shown the door after a total of £30,000 was brought in after that first two months?

 

I don't know the terms of reference of the Commercial Manager when he was appointed. I don't know what he was supposed to be selling. I don't know whether he had a number of super, whizzo schemes that were vetoed by the Board that would have brought in squillions, if they had been implemented.

 

But on the brief summary presented by Duke of York, I'm not impressed at all by the figure of £30,000 produced during what should be regarded as the prime 'selling' period of the year.

 

[i don't know anything about football.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rob_the_Saint]

Originally Posted By: Duke of York

IR picked up the commercial responsibility after the commercial manager left. Even with IR's contacts there were no more sponsors or perimeter advertising introduced to the club. Even the programme adverts stopped coming in with the exception of the Doublotto - does anyone actually play this game?

I for one wonder exactly what IR did while he was here, apart from trying to introduce the Doublotto fiasco.

The pitchside advertising does not seem any different since the start of the season, still lots of empty spaces.