richieb Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 All credit for the 'rallying call' - The Chairman has set his stall out & from the Boardroom to the changing room all are 'talking the talk'. We are all on the rollar coaster & getting to know each other so very well. But the bottom line is we need to start 'WALKING THE WALK' SL & Board have done their bit, but it needs to get moving on the park NOW. Off the pitch, many areas from merchandise,food & atmosphere need attention & even this is being handed over for the fans advice. All very positive, but nothing will be acheived until we gat out of this damn division. We can talk the talk - off the pitch - but DW & team must start walking the walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTop Posted October 31, 2003 Report Share Posted October 31, 2003 Off the pitch, many areas from merchandise,food & atmosphere need attention & even this is being handed over for the fans advice. All very positive, but nothing will be acheived until we gat out of this damn division. These areas aren't dependent on results on the pitch, just on good management off it. The club has improved enormously off the pitch in many areas - even the club shop is more up to date. I have been impressed with Colin Sexstone's input, particularly in the area of increasing ground usage. But... 1. There needs to be more imagination in the merchandise. The rate of knots that The Incider's Ashton Greats T-shirts are going for shows that a bit of different thinking pays off. There is a demand in football for more high-end football goods too. These are areas that the club's commercial division should be getting involved in far more. What's the point of a nice shop if it's the same old merchandise? It's not that hard to create unique merchandize rather than simply relying on manufacturers who make standard gear for soccer clubs. 2. Food. I'm not even going to go there. Unfortunately, neither do plenty of others. 3. Atmosphere. Unfortunately, it's gone forever in my opinion because clubs (including ours) show absolutely no genuine interest in bringing it back. Like it or not, the days of standing are gone. All-seaters have killed off the old atmosphere, and the at the same time the measures needed to see off the hooligans have also killed that edgy, raw experience that made going to a football game a really different experience. Some things would help, like getting rid of that bloody music when the goals are scored. But the club can't have it both ways. They can't moan that there's no atmosphere with one breath, and then tell everyone to sit down in with next. They can't moan that there's no noise and then keep the East End shut with the next. Unfortunately, it seems some aspects are not in the club's hands because if the council wants to get heavy then it can take away our licence (unless we converted some of the area back to terracing, which just ain't going to happen). Likewise, it may be too expensive to open up the East End for the 'singers' (I refuse to believe there is no way to overcome the safety issue). Fine, but you have to accept that the result is a #### atmosphere, which has been the case down the Gate for many years now for the majority of games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieb Posted November 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2003 RedTop. You seem to pass praise on as deserved, then go on & contridict with issues that directly reflect on the 'off-field' people you felt right to praise. Little confused here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTop Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 RedTop. You seem to pass praise on as deserved, then go on & contridict with issues that directly reflect on the 'off-field' people you felt right to praise. Little confused here Simple, really. The points I was making were: 1. Off the field performance is not dependent of performance on it. 2. In general the club has improved its commercial operation. However... 3. It is not perfect and I was pointing out areas where we remain obviously weak. No contradictory, just constructive criticism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Nose Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 As always RT, good points but I can't help thinking that we wouldn't be talking about the catering if the results (or more specifically the performances) on the field were better. However, as a distaraction to the mediocre performances we,ve had to suffer this season, it would be nice to eat some palitable food at half time. Snoz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTop Posted November 2, 2003 Report Share Posted November 2, 2003 Actually, people tend to moan about th ecatering etc more when there's nothing to moan about on the field. ;-) But the bottom line is that the most important thing is getting things right on the pitch. At the moment the league position is less palatable than the pies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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