pathetic?

Salad

I think selling on e-bay table-cloths that have been scribbled on by players is embarrasing enough ....

"Geraint Jones presented the Addicks with a framed photograph of himself, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick and Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff.

The photo has been personally signed by Jones and is up for grabs for just one day more now via the auctions section of the website"

I'm sure Geraint Jones would be delighted to hear how much we value his gift to the club.

oohaahmortimer

we really are flogging anything we can , we must be so skint it's scary

pete_tong1

Maybe a question to be put to Henners are infact Mr Simmons on Wednesday.

Henry Irving

[cite]Posted By: pete_tong1[/cite]Maybe a question to be put to Henners are infact Mr Simmons on Wednesday.

I can't see a problem with selling things. We sell tickets, we sell shirts, we sell banqueting and conferencing. We also donate a lot of things to charities and do a lot of fund raising for people like Demelza on top of all the community work.

If we gave them away some fans would say we were missing commercial opportunities and slate the club for that but when we do sell something then we are desperate for money or pathetic. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Personally I'm not interested in buying a load of old programmes or some signed cricket memorabilia so I won't be bidding but there is a big and growing market in memorabilia and it seems to me Charlton are tapping into it.

Unfortunately I'm going to have miss City Addicks as I'm working away at Her Majesties Pleasure but feel free to ask Martin or Steve.

I'm sure it will be a great night and well done again to Brenda for organising it again. I wish there were more people willing to take on what she has done and get similar meetings going in Welling Whitstable or Westgate.

nth_london_addick

Henners are you going to Jail i thought it was only birmingham where the directors were corrupt?

Algarveaddick

[cite]Posted By: nth london addick[/cite]Henners are you going to Jail i thought it was only birmingham where the directors were corrupt?

Allegedly...

nth_london_addick

whoopps forgot that bit

sorry Smudge and Mrs Pescisolido and Mr Gold

Henry Irving

[cite]Posted By: nth london addick[/cite]Henners are you going to Jail i thought it was only birmingham where the directors were corrupt?

Yes. HMP Gloucester. I fought the law and law won.

Barn Door Varney

[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]

[cite]Posted By: pete_tong1[/cite]Maybe a question to be put to Henners are infact Mr Simmons on Wednesday.

I can't see a problem with selling things. We sell tickets, we sell shirts, we sell banqueting and conferencing. We also donate a lot of things to charities and do a lot of fund raising for people like Demelza on top of all the community work.

If we gave them away some fans would say we were missing commercial opportunities and slate the club for that but when we do sell something then we are desperate for money or pathetic. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

But this wasn't even a Charlton item, it was something that was given to the club!!

Sorry Henry I can understand your defence of the club but surely you can see that "commercial oppertunities" and flogging off items that have been given to the club on Ebay aren't the same thing.

Think it's pretty shameful to be honest.

Henry Irving

Perhaps that item but do you think that Jones has given that photo to Charlton and Charlton alone or has he given dozens away to numerous clubs and people. If a Charlton player signed a shirt or ball and then saw it up for sale should he be disgusted.

In any case the other posts referred to selling off other stuff as "bad enough" and "flogging anything we can, we must be so skint" so were not just about that one item.

I can't see a problem myself. Any unique Charlton related material should be kept for a Charlton musuem (if that ever happens) and if they were selling anything like that I'd be furious but I really just can't see what all the fuss is about.

SantaClaus

It's Rodney and Del Boy stuff. Like others have said it raises a huge red flag about the state of our finances.

AFKABartram

Its all about perception in my eyes.

And by flogging things of extremely low value and gifted to the club, it gives off the air of desperation.

I've been against these ebay sales right from the off. A good way to raise cash by auctioning unique opportunities ie. dressing room tours, packages, match sponsorship etc. But things like signed programmes and gifts is a step too far.

Personally, i think its all a bit embarrassing, and if they really have the need to offload these items, it should be done purely for charity.

razil

Isn't it such small amounts? Would it be better just to give the lot to a charity and let them auction it if all they are really doing is clearing out the closets...

:D

Barn Door Varney

[cite]Posted By: AFKABartram[/cite]Its all about perception in my eyes.

And by flogging things of extremely low value and gifted to the club, it gives off the air of desperation.

I've been against these ebay sales right from the off. A good way to raise cash by auctioning unique opportunities ie. dressing room tours, packages, match sponsorship etc. But things like signed programmes and gifts is a step too far.

Personally, i think its all a bit embarrassing, and if they really have the need to offload these items, it should be done purely for charity.

Spot on.

EGAddick

At first glance it may show the club in bad light but fundamentally I think it's just indicative about what the football business has become. Reap in £100 here, go and spunk it on £5k a week on a useless player.

Charlton are not solely guilty of trying to reap in as much revenue as possible, from every conceivable angle, all clubs do it. It's a business that is penny wise pound foolish. If it means doing these 'embarassing' ebay sales is the level we're at then so be it. At least we're not selling the ground!

pete_tong1

'At least we're not selling the ground! '

lol maybe the training ground ;-) que henners lol

Barn Door Varney

How about we get RM flogging Charlton bric-a-brac from a suitcase in the west stand car park, that should bring in a few quid!

"To late, to late will be the cry, when the man with the bargains has passed you by!!"

Airman Brown

Presumably if you do a deal with eBay you have to feed the beast. I think the issue is whether you do the deal in the first place, but given that it is such a mainstream phenomenon it's easy to why the club would be comfortable with that.

Henry Irving

[cite]Posted By: SantaClaus[/cite]It's Rodney and Del Boy stuff. Like others have said it raises a huge red flag about the state of our finances.

Does anyone really believe that raising £50 or whatever is going to have a major impact on the state of our finances? How much do you think the club's annual budget is?

You might as well say "why sell replica shirts for £10 in the club shop? It looks cheap and makes us look desperate to get rid of them".

If people think it looks cheap or desperate then complain to Steve Waggott or Matt Wright about it but if someone is embarrassed to ask for business or make a sale, no matter how small, they are not going to be a good salesperson.

You are right EG in a way about raising small amounts of money here and then "wasting" it on players but as you say that is football. The retail team don't pick the players.

As a business model football doesn't make sense as you spend so much of your income on one loss making part of your operation. In any normal business you'd shut down the playing side as a dead dog and just keep open the conferencing and Banqueting and retail parts as they make a profit.

But football isn't a normal business, "customers" demand more and more investment in the playing side and are incensed if the business doesn't spend on players ("lack of ambition", "club has given up", "why are we a selling club") so clubs create alternative streams of income to support the playing side.

Even in the Premier League we can see clubs like West Ham cutting back because their investors have seen that £100m+ spend doesn't bring Champions League football so the huge income stream that they expected hasn't materialised.

SantaClaus

Or maybe this is just a reflection on how up the creek the conferencing/banqueting/corporate part of the business are (mates in that industry are spending a lot of time in the pub this summer). Fair enough you don't throw money away but when a business like Charlton, that as Henry says has such an enormous turnover starts focusing on peddling £50 tat on Ebay it's a worrying sign.

Henry Irving

[cite]Posted By: SantaClaus[/cite]Or maybe this is just a reflection on how up the creek the conferencing/banqueting/corporate part of the business are (mates in that industry are spending a lot of time in the pub this summer). Fair enough you don't throw money away but when a business like Charlton, that as Henry says has such an enormous turnover starts focusing on peddling £50 tat on Ebay it's a worrying sign.

Last figures I saw our C & B were doing OK. Personally I think it's the bottled beer that has made all the difference but Paul Ellison will no doubt tell me I'm wrong.

Thing is I don't think the club is "focusing" on £50 on e-bay, it's just some fans on here because that is in the public domain and on the OS.

From my perspective the commercial focus has been much more on the far bigger sums generated by the shirt and radio sponsorship deals and the new kits.

pete_tong1

'radio sponsorship deals '

any new radio deals then Henry ?

Algarveaddick

Of course they could be doing what a lot of people do on e-bay, getting rid of stuff they really don't have any more use for, and don't have the space to store?

If one of our number happened to pass The Valley and saw a member of staff putting items such as this in the skip, we would be on here having a debate about wasting potential money making opportunities.

razil

talking about radio henners whats happening with the site/commentarys next year? (sorry if I've missed it on another thread somewhere)

Barn Door Varney

[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]

[cite]Posted By: SantaClaus[/cite]Or maybe this is just a reflection on how up the creek the conferencing/banqueting/corporate part of the business are (mates in that industry are spending a lot of time in the pub this summer). Fair enough you don't throw money away but when a business like Charlton, that as Henry says has such an enormous turnover starts focusing on peddling £50 tat on Ebay it's a worrying sign.

Last figures I saw our C & B were doing OK. Personally I think it's the bottled beer that has made all the difference but Paul Ellison will no doubt tell me I'm wrong.

Thing is I don't think the club is "focusing" on £50 on e-bay, it's just some fans on here because that is in the public domain and on the OS.

From my perspective the commercial focus has been much more on the far bigger sums generated by the shirt and radio sponsorship deals and the new kits.

I doubt that we are hard up for £50, but as AFKA said it's the perception of it by others and the message it sends out, that we are cheap and small time. Can you imagine the stick we would give to palace if they did something like this?

Try and justify it anyway you like but flogging off something that has been GIVEN to the club is embarrassing.

WSS

maybe if we put Bent/Faye on ebay we could actually get rid of them?

Barn Door Varney

[cite]Posted By: Algarveaddick[/cite]Of course they could be doing what a lot of people do on e-bay, getting rid of stuff they really don't have any more use for, and don't have the space to store?

If one of our number happened to pass The Valley and saw a member of staff putting items such as this in the skip, we would be on here having a debate about wasting potential money making opportunities.

Fine, then put it on Ebay and make clear that the money will go to charity or give it to a charity raffle. Why make the club look like a bunch of spivs?

Algarveaddick

Fair point Barn Door Lisbie.

Henry Irving

[cite]Posted By: pete_tong1[/cite]'radio sponsorship deals '

any new radio deals then Henry ?

[cite]Posted By: razil[/cite]talking about radio henners whats happening with the site/commentarys next year? (sorry if I've missed it on another thread somewhere)

It's being reviewed as the club said it would be but we have a three year deal with BBC London which generates a lot more than the e-bay auctions ever will. We shall have to see if there is a way to other overseas commentaries as well. I have made the point that the BBC London need to sort out the platforms they use, IMHO

[cite]Posted By: Algarveaddick[/cite]Of course they could be doing what a lot of people do on e-bay, getting rid of stuff they really don't have any more use for, and don't have the space to store?

If one of our number happened to pass The Valley and saw a member of staff putting items such as this in the skip, we would be on here having a debate about wasting potential money making opportunities.

Exactly

[cite]Posted By: Barn Door Lisbie[/cite]

Try and justify it anyway you like but flogging off something that has been GIVEN to the club is embarrassing.

Embarrassing to whom? I'm not embarrassed. If you are then fair enough but that's down to you not the club.

I wouldn't even be embarrassed if we sold Marcus Bent for £3m. Laughing all the way to the bank but embarrassed? No way.

razil

Henners were you not tempted to apply for that PR job at the club?

Salad

Fair point WSS.