Very balanced account, Henry, considering as host you can't be critical. But there is a lot to be read between those lines. You've referred to SK, but I don't think he was there!
Very balanced account, Henry, considering as host you can't be critical. But there is a lot to be read between those lines. You've referred to SK, but I don't think he was there!
Very balanced account, Henry, considering as host you can't be critical. But there is a lot to be read between those lines. You've referred to SK, but I don't think he was there!
Henry asked some fantastic relevant questions, which really put them both on the spot
Very balanced account, Henry, considering as host you can't be critical. But there is a lot to be read between those lines. You've referred to SK, but I don't think he was there!
Henry asked some fantastic relevant questions, which really put them both on the spot
Many thanks Henry. Anyone who is kicking themselves at not being able to attend will get a second chance with the East Kent Addicks (Curb It thinks we don't do enough drinking, but then she's not met me) at the Kennington on Thursday 7th November, 2013 KO 19:30.
Good summary Henry - I recall someone asked what Ben and Steve thought of the supporters Trust but didn't note the precise answer and wouldn't want to misquote anyone!
Many thanks Henry. Anyone who is kicking themselves at not being able to attend will get a second chance with the East Kent Addicks (Curb It thinks we don't do enough drinking, but then she's not met me) at the Kennington on Thursday 7th November, 2013 KO 19:30.
Did i say that? If i did it was in jest. I am looking forward to Eltham Addicks on Tuesday.
Good summary by HI, covers most things so i won't go over them.
My personal view was that SB was a decent bloke. Took a lot of stick about Millwall but to be fair to him he explained the decisions and admitted mistakes were made which is all you could ask. Personally I tended to agree with him. Only a couple of arrests and minimal injuries make the decisions, however unpopular, probably the right ones...just the communication that let them down. HI did his best re the leaked sales doc but realistically they were never going to answer much about that and it is more than their job is worth...worth asking though.
I didn't warm to BK at all, for a chap who has worked in footy all his life I was amazed that in front of a group of fans (we are not just business customers, we are more emotionally involved than that) he constantly talked about the "brand" of Charlton, he talked about "sweating the asset" and despite waxing lyrical about our history and how wonderful it was he never used the words "The Valley", just "The Venue". In addition he started every answer with the words "I am going to be completely honest with you" which, when i don't know someone always comes across as disingenuous, especially when overused!
I am probably just a difficult person to please and at the end of the day he is a corporate FD who is just using "management speak" but having claimed to have had a football background I did find this all a little odd. Funilly enough, he stated there were plenty of areas to improve and i agreed with him on many of them so maybe he has the substance and not the style which is probably the best way around anyway!
When I used to work in the City I had a little game with a colleague about how many phrases of management jargon we could fit into one meeting. He beat me hands down some of the ones we managed:
Hoist it up the flagpole see how it flies, kick it around the playground, helicopter view, going forward, and many more. The funny thing is that nobody had a clue about what we were doing.
I found Ben Kensell an interesting bloke to listen to. He clearly has drive and was very clear in what his aims in the role were, to make money. As a supporter this is precisely what I want to hear. He did use a lot of terms (sweating the asset must have been used at least 10!) which were could either be termed as Business talk or bulls***, but he was very clear he has loads of ideas which the club currently don't do and he will put in place. By marking his intentions it will be interesting where he is at with this in a years time and only then will it be able to asses.
Steve Bradshaw I thought was very poor in response with the Millwall situation. No one seems to want to answer why Millwall were not kept in. Saying that as a guest he was not as bad as Steve Waggott.
Comes from squeezing more out of the resources you have. Think of it in terms of cutting costs, maximising the capabilities of your current systems and fully utilising the skills of your personnel. In other words, get rid of what you can and make the rest of the lackeys take up the slack.
(All with the implied goal of putting any resulting profits in your own pocket!)
Comes from squeezing more out of the resources you have. Think of it in terms of cutting costs, maximising the capabilities of your current systems and fully utilising the skills of your personnel. In other words, get rid of what you can and make the rest of the lackeys take up the slack.
(All with the implied goal of putting any resulting profits in your own pocket!)
Cheers Lookie. Why didn't he just say that instead of giving bullshit business talk jargon!!
Comes from squeezing more out of the resources you have. Think of it in terms of cutting costs, maximising the capabilities of your current systems and fully utilising the skills of your personnel. In other words, get rid of what you can and make the rest of the lackeys take up the slack.
(All with the implied goal of putting any resulting profits in your own pocket!)
Cheers Lookie. Why didn't he just say that instead of giving bullshit business talk jargon!!
Because he was "shooting from the hip" ? (Or is it "shooting the breeze" ?).
When I used to work in the City I had a little game with a colleague about how many phrases of management jargon we could fit into one meeting. He beat me hands down some of the ones we managed:
Hoist it up the flagpole see how it flies, kick it around the playground, helicopter view, going forward, and many more. The funny thing is that nobody had a clue about what we were doing.
I upset someone at a meeting once when I asked why he couldn't just say 'planning' rather than 'forward planning'. I've never carried out too much backward planning.
To be fair to BK his use of sweating the asset was more about maximising use of the Valley for match and non-match days or at least that is how I heard it.
When I tried to ask about Varney and the other departures SB said he had great respect for PV.
There were, as ever, a fair sprinkling of Lifers there so I'm sure that can fill in any gaps or correct any mistakes.
People asked why we could afford new flat screen TVs ...
BK earlier used the example of the TV screens to show how a deal could be put together with suppliers and advertisers to improve things - he said it was relatively simple - he didn't quote cost and hoped that more ideas would follow - improvements of this type, more bums on seats and a "step change" were the main themes
He also stated he was investigating non football revenue such as music but the the risk was generally with the venue and not the promoter nor the artist. SB added that at Colchester they had needed 90%+ sales to break even on non football events - so clearly if things don't sell well they end up taking money out of the club.
There was also a question from the floor about the competitive threat which West Ham might pose once they move to the Olympic Stadium.
BK stated that CAFC have a few years to get their house in order and that he knows people on the commercial side at West Ham - they are targetting the commercial / conference market by under cutting competitors which he found somewhat strange given that the Olympic Stadium is a brand new facility with perfect transport links etc.
BK also spoke of trying to fix a disconnect with the Community Trust - extract more value from the juniors involved - perhaps 20,000 - in terms of getting them to pay to come in (not just comps). When pushed on how many he said he would love to capture all of them but settled on 20% I think. Basically this was all connected to the West Ham question in that CAFC need to use what is available right now... BK stated that they had captured a lot of data from the Wigan game, thanked the Supporters Trust for organising the distribution of 16,000 flyers AND was clear that there were 1,000 fans who had never been to the Valley before
So, amongst all the jargen there were some tangible examples about action and current thinking - we will have to see what comes up in terms of real activity and more importantly whether the revenue increases... for at the top of the meeting BK was adamant that he wanted to increase revenue in order to support the first team ... and if that performs better it is obviously easier to sell seats
When I used to work in the City I had a little game with a colleague about how many phrases of management jargon we could fit into one meeting. He beat me hands down some of the ones we managed:
Hoist it up the flagpole see how it flies, kick it around the playground, helicopter view, going forward, and many more. The funny thing is that nobody had a clue about what we were doing.
Lingo Bingo - can play it in just about any management meeting, especially if you're an old cynic like me
To be fair, sweating the assets means making the most of capital expenditure you've made.
For example, a car plant with £200m of robots in it will operate 24 hours a day, rather than 9-5 to maximise the return on this expenditure.
Wetherspoons spend a lot of money building a pub, then want it used throughout the day to maximise the return on the capital expenditure (e.g. by encouraging people to have morning coffees there)
In a Charlton sense, it means maximising the commercial return from the capital investment in The Valley, i.e. getting in as much income as possible from non football uses as possible. Of course, this is nothing new as the previous commercial team would have strived to do exactly the same thing, renting executive boxes and hospitality suites out for meetings and seminars for example.
Comments
Thanks for the compliment D.
Good meeting all round & always a pleasure to chat to Lifers, inc CE & Badger.
Would be great to see them and others at our Player Q & A in Bexley next Thursday evening.
My personal view was that SB was a decent bloke. Took a lot of stick about Millwall but to be fair to him he explained the decisions and admitted mistakes were made which is all you could ask. Personally I tended to agree with him. Only a couple of arrests and minimal injuries make the decisions, however unpopular, probably the right ones...just the communication that let them down. HI did his best re the leaked sales doc but realistically they were never going to answer much about that and it is more than their job is worth...worth asking though.
I didn't warm to BK at all, for a chap who has worked in footy all his life I was amazed that in front of a group of fans (we are not just business customers, we are more emotionally involved than that) he constantly talked about the "brand" of Charlton, he talked about "sweating the asset" and despite waxing lyrical about our history and how wonderful it was he never used the words "The Valley", just "The Venue". In addition he started every answer with the words "I am going to be completely honest with you" which, when i don't know someone always comes across as disingenuous, especially when overused!
I am probably just a difficult person to please and at the end of the day he is a corporate FD who is just using "management speak" but having claimed to have had a football background I did find this all a little odd. Funilly enough, he stated there were plenty of areas to improve and i agreed with him on many of them so maybe he has the substance and not the style which is probably the best way around anyway!
Hmmmn
Hoist it up the flagpole see how it flies, kick it around the playground, helicopter view, going forward, and many more. The funny thing is that nobody had a clue about what we were doing.
Steve Bradshaw I thought was very poor in response with the Millwall situation. No one seems to want to answer why Millwall were not kept in. Saying that as a guest he was not as bad as Steve Waggott.
(All with the implied goal of putting any resulting profits in your own pocket!)
(Or is it "shooting the breeze" ?).
When I tried to ask about Varney and the other departures SB said he had great respect for PV.
He'll be saying he's bringing the milkshake to the yard next !
He also stated he was investigating non football revenue such as music but the the risk was generally with the venue and not the promoter nor the artist. SB added that at Colchester they had needed 90%+ sales to break even on non football events - so clearly if things don't sell well they end up taking money out of the club.
There was also a question from the floor about the competitive threat which West Ham might pose once they move to the Olympic Stadium.
BK stated that CAFC have a few years to get their house in order and that he knows people on the commercial side at West Ham - they are targetting the commercial / conference market by under cutting competitors which he found somewhat strange given that the Olympic Stadium is a brand new facility with perfect transport links etc.
BK also spoke of trying to fix a disconnect with the Community Trust - extract more value from the juniors involved - perhaps 20,000 - in terms of getting them to pay to come in (not just comps). When pushed on how many he said he would love to capture all of them but settled on 20% I think. Basically this was all connected to the West Ham question in that CAFC need to use what is available right now... BK stated that they had captured a lot of data from the Wigan game, thanked the Supporters Trust for organising the distribution of 16,000 flyers AND was clear that there were 1,000 fans who had never been to the Valley before
So, amongst all the jargen there were some tangible examples about action and current thinking - we will have to see what comes up in terms of real activity and more importantly whether the revenue increases... for at the top of the meeting BK was adamant that he wanted to increase revenue in order to support the first team ... and if that performs better it is obviously easier to sell seats
He looks them in the eye and politely enquires : "Did the wind blow up your arse and waggle your tongue?"
http://www.castrust.org/2013/10/another-big-week-charlton-fans/
For example, a car plant with £200m of robots in it will operate 24 hours a day, rather than 9-5 to maximise the return on this expenditure.
Wetherspoons spend a lot of money building a pub, then want it used throughout the day to maximise the return on the capital expenditure (e.g. by encouraging people to have morning coffees there)
In a Charlton sense, it means maximising the commercial return from the capital investment in The Valley, i.e. getting in as much income as possible from non football uses as possible. Of course, this is nothing new as the previous commercial team would have strived to do exactly the same thing, renting executive boxes and hospitality suites out for meetings and seminars for example.