I wasn’t there and didn’t hear what was said, but I will make two observations.
Retail revenue is bound to be up sharply, because the effect of taking it in-house is to put all sales - and cost of sales - on the books. Previously the club received only a percentage based on turnover. I would expect sales also to be up given Castore were useless, but that’s not the same thing.
.
He cited revenues being up by £2m. When asked how he said about commercial, and gave examples of the doubling of beer sales and retail going up from £600k to £1.2m.
On reflection, there was no insight into when that revenue gain was measured from and to, and given that retail has only come back in house in the last few months that seems significant to me, but no idea on how measurable it truly is and from when, or whether it was a projection exampled as a fact.
Others please correct me if I’ve relayed those figures wrong.
Sounds about right to me. I'd have liked to "dig further" but I'm conscious that I ask the most questions as it is and don't want to give everyone the hump.
No , you keep going at em . Thanks for taking the time going asking ‘those questions’ my Essex passport doesn’t allow me to visit the people’s republic of Bromley
more importantly Henry Irving’s notes haven’t arrived is he ok or has CM locked him up in the Museums dungeon after yesterdays grilling
Some of us have museums to help run but I'll get round to it.
Glad people enjoyed the evening, it was an opportunity to ask questions and hear answers and it has sparked a lively discussion. Never perfect but these evenings aren't scripted
CM and GC were the last to leave partly because Covered End was bending Charlie's ear.
They want similar groups across Kent so get thinking you Folkstone, Tonbridge and Dartford Addicks.
They didn't say it but I think an Addicks group in the City could work too.
Another thing I'm not sure has been mentioned, is a chap infronf of me asked about Roland's mindset towards us and if he has a grudge.
Gavin Carter said he doesn't think the protests helped, which I wasn't really a fan of hearing. The fans who travelled to Belgium and persisted with protests played a crucial part in wanting Roland to move the club on I imagine.
I took that again, as a way of using an excuse of not buying the Valley. Roland is a greedy business man, he's quoted us a price before, if we play the waiting game, and the club is inherited by his family, they may be even worse than him. Sometimes it's better the devil you know.
I actually came away quite concerned how they've distanced themselves from purchasing the Valley. It sounds crucial as part of their revenue plans, but they seem to be relying solely on a fair stadium rent. This plan would be fine, if they went for broke for promotion, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Again maybe I've read it wrong, just my view. My gut tells me right now, this group of owners will be looking to move the club on within the next 5 years, while keeping the club fairly stationary. Hope I'm very wrong.
That wasn't my reading of the Valley and SL situation at all. I'll type up my notes later.
I wasn’t there and didn’t hear what was said, but I will make two observations.
Retail revenue is bound to be up sharply, because the effect of taking it in-house is to put all sales - and cost of sales - on the books. Previously the club received only a percentage based on turnover. I would expect sales also to be up given Castore were useless, but that’s not the same thing.
.
He cited revenues being up by £2m. When asked how he said about commercial, and gave examples of the doubling of beer sales and retail going up from £600k to £1.2m.
On reflection, there was no insight into when that revenue gain was measured from and to, and given that retail has only come back in house in the last few months that seems significant to me, but no idea on how measurable it truly is and from when, or whether it was a projection exampled as a fact.
Others please correct me if I’ve relayed those figures wrong.
Like I said, retail will be up sharply because if, for argument’s sake, the club was previously receiving £5 per shirt sold in the shop by Castore, the whole purchase price net of VAT is now going through its books. But so is the cost. Some years ago the club was getting about £150k pa from outsourced shop sales IIRC. That was all profit though. Putting all the revenue on the books doesn’t mean the club is necessarily better off, although it may be. I believe the shop was probably making a loss prior to 2012. Overstocking kit was likely an issue.
Catering is still outsourced so I doubt the club makes a lot from beer, however much is sold. I have a feeling they used to get 8% of sales, which seems about right.
This is why I was only ever interested in tickets, which have almost no marginal cost of sale. Sell a ticket at £24 make £20 on the transaction net of VAT. Sell £24 worth of beer, make (on assumption above) £1.92 (less if you factor in VAT).
CM seemed excited by talk of new revenue streams such as Wrexham have regenerated through Netflix.
CM is the only person with media profile from "Sunderland till I die" and his taste in musical anthems
So Charlie its time to "do the decent thing" and push yourself forward.........
How about another Netflix series...........no you're not keen?
Dragons Den?
Come Dine with me?
Strictly?
Love Island?
When Charlie was talking about Wrexham having Reynolds as a face and Birmingham having Brady as a face, he hinted that they were working on something that would be revealed in the next week or two. That was intriguing.
CM seemed excited by talk of new revenue streams such as Wrexham have regenerated through Netflix.
CM is the only person with media profile from "Sunderland till I die" and his taste in musical anthems
So Charlie its time to "do the decent thing" and push yourself forward.........
How about another Netflix series...........no you're not keen?
Dragons Den?
Come Dine with me?
Strictly?
Love Island?
When Charlie was talking about Wrexham having Reynolds as a face and Birmingham having Brady as a face, he hinted that they were working on something that would be revealed in the next week or two. That was intriguing.
Thanks very much guys for organising last night, always an enjoyable evening 👏 👏
If one thing came Out of last night, it would be great to see other supporter groups start up around Kent, and have a go.
Just out of interest how much did you raise from ‘contributions’ last night, and did it cover the room hire costs?
Collection raised £127 which may be a record and more than covers the £50 room hire and leaves a little in the kitty for drug fuelled debauchery by the committee future expenses
CM seemed excited by talk of new revenue streams such as Wrexham have regenerated through Netflix.
CM is the only person with media profile from "Sunderland till I die" and his taste in musical anthems
So Charlie its time to "do the decent thing" and push yourself forward.........
How about another Netflix series...........no you're not keen?
Dragons Den?
Come Dine with me?
Strictly?
Love Island?
When Charlie was talking about Wrexham having Reynolds as a face and Birmingham having Brady as a face, he hinted that they were working on something that would be revealed in the next week or two. That was intriguing.
American musician I heard.
Did anyone ask why we've stopped playing Addicks to Victory?
CM seemed excited by talk of new revenue streams such as Wrexham have regenerated through Netflix.
CM is the only person with media profile from "Sunderland till I die" and his taste in musical anthems
So Charlie its time to "do the decent thing" and push yourself forward.........
How about another Netflix series...........no you're not keen?
Dragons Den?
Come Dine with me?
Strictly?
Love Island?
When Charlie was talking about Wrexham having Reynolds as a face and Birmingham having Brady as a face, he hinted that they were working on something that would be revealed in the next week or two. That was intriguing.
American musician I heard.
Did anyone ask why we've stopped playing Addicks to Victory?
Interesting to consider how much beer the club can possibly sell. If there are 10,000 adults at a match then I’d be surprised if it’s much more than 2,500 pints.
VAT, duty, staff costs, supply, third party profit is going to eat most of that revenue. If we very generously assume the club makes £1 a pint that’s £57,500 across 23 home games. You can play with the assumptions but it’s not going to be a huge earner.
Another thing I'm not sure has been mentioned, is a chap infronf of me asked about Roland's mindset towards us and if he has a grudge.
Gavin Carter said he doesn't think the protests helped, which I wasn't really a fan of hearing. The fans who travelled to Belgium and persisted with protests played a crucial part in wanting Roland to move the club on I imagine.
I took that again, as a way of using an excuse of not buying the Valley. Roland is a greedy business man, he's quoted us a price before, if we play the waiting game, and the club is inherited by his family, they may be even worse than him. Sometimes it's better the devil you know.
I actually came away quite concerned how they've distanced themselves from purchasing the Valley. It sounds crucial as part of their revenue plans, but they seem to be relying solely on a fair stadium rent. This plan would be fine, if they went for broke for promotion, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Again maybe I've read it wrong, just my view. My gut tells me right now, this group of owners will be looking to move the club on within the next 5 years, while keeping the club fairly stationary. Hope I'm very wrong.
You might want to revise that figure if we're still in division 3 in 18 months time. Carter is talking rubbish if he thinks the protests have any connection to Dushitelet's mindset.
Carter may well be right. it's a 50/50 call for me as to whether Duchatelet holds a grudge, even if it's a small one. Let's be honest he's hardly likely to be doing us a favour is he.
Disappointing If Carter said that, although maybe he didn't mean it as a criticism. I wonder if he was close enough at the time to be aware of the following: 1. The Standard Liege fanbase is much more volatile than ours; their protests had quite an edge, and there was the time a few of them burst into his office and started haranguing him. Yet he did a deal. 2. His son was playing with fire in Budapest too; fans on long term boycott, and deals with some quite heavy local people falling through, but he also eventually got a deal done. 3. A respected Belgian news journo described RD as "autist", which we might just translate as "wired up differently to normal people".
Our board just need to try and find a proposal that makes more financial sense to -probably - Roderick D. than just sitting on the property. I'm sure they are doing that, but I'm with @Braziliance and @ElfsborgAddick in not being a fan of Carter's comment. Stick to the figures, that's the only thing they are interested in.
Another thing I'm not sure has been mentioned, is a chap infronf of me asked about Roland's mindset towards us and if he has a grudge.
Gavin Carter said he doesn't think the protests helped, which I wasn't really a fan of hearing. The fans who travelled to Belgium and persisted with protests played a crucial part in wanting Roland to move the club on I imagine.
I took that again, as a way of using an excuse of not buying the Valley. Roland is a greedy business man, he's quoted us a price before, if we play the waiting game, and the club is inherited by his family, they may be even worse than him. Sometimes it's better the devil you know.
I actually came away quite concerned how they've distanced themselves from purchasing the Valley. It sounds crucial as part of their revenue plans, but they seem to be relying solely on a fair stadium rent. This plan would be fine, if they went for broke for promotion, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Again maybe I've read it wrong, just my view. My gut tells me right now, this group of owners will be looking to move the club on within the next 5 years, while keeping the club fairly stationary. Hope I'm very wrong.
You might want to revise that figure if we're still in division 3 in 18 months time. Carter is talking rubbish if he thinks the protests have any connection to Dushitelet's mindset.
Carter may well be right. it's a 50/50 call for me as to whether Duchatelet holds a grudge, even if it's a small one. Let's be honest he's hardly likely to be doing us a favour is he.
Disappointing If Carter said that, although maybe he didn't mean it as a criticism.
it’s been misinterpreted a little. It was asked whether it was felt Roland held a grudge, and he agreed, said he thinks he probably does. Which I suspect most of us thinks is the case.
Thinking that Roland holds a grudge and thinking that the protest activity was wrong / counterproductive are two entirely seperate things.
Carter I find pretty impressive tbh. If I'm reading him right then he very much appears a stand-up guy who wants the club to do well for genuine reasons.
It was noticeable the couple of times Charlie didn’t like a question being asked (he’s a body language readers dream) and gave an answer that wasn’t fully addressing the question, Carter then come in and offered something much more genuine. Just my take.
Another thing I'm not sure has been mentioned, is a chap infronf of me asked about Roland's mindset towards us and if he has a grudge.
Gavin Carter said he doesn't think the protests helped, which I wasn't really a fan of hearing. The fans who travelled to Belgium and persisted with protests played a crucial part in wanting Roland to move the club on I imagine.
I took that again, as a way of using an excuse of not buying the Valley. Roland is a greedy business man, he's quoted us a price before, if we play the waiting game, and the club is inherited by his family, they may be even worse than him. Sometimes it's better the devil you know.
I actually came away quite concerned how they've distanced themselves from purchasing the Valley. It sounds crucial as part of their revenue plans, but they seem to be relying solely on a fair stadium rent. This plan would be fine, if they went for broke for promotion, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Again maybe I've read it wrong, just my view. My gut tells me right now, this group of owners will be looking to move the club on within the next 5 years, while keeping the club fairly stationary. Hope I'm very wrong.
You might want to revise that figure if we're still in division 3 in 18 months time. Carter is talking rubbish if he thinks the protests have any connection to Dushitelet's mindset.
Carter may well be right. it's a 50/50 call for me as to whether Duchatelet holds a grudge, even if it's a small one. Let's be honest he's hardly likely to be doing us a favour is he.
Disappointing If Carter said that, although maybe he didn't mean it as a criticism.
it’s been misinterpreted a little. It was asked whether it was felt Roland held a grudge, and he agreed, said he thinks he probably does. Which I suspect most of us thinks is the case.
Thinking that Roland holds a grudge and thinking that the protest activity was wrong / counterproductive are two entirely seperate things.
Carter I find pretty impressive tbh. If I'm reading him right then he very much appears a stand-up guy who wants the club to do well for genuine reasons.
It was noticeable the couple of times Charlie didn’t like a question being asked (he’s a body language readers dream) and gave an answer that wasn’t fully addressing the question, Carter then come in and offered something much more genuine. Just my take.
Another thing I'm not sure has been mentioned, is a chap infronf of me asked about Roland's mindset towards us and if he has a grudge.
Gavin Carter said he doesn't think the protests helped, which I wasn't really a fan of hearing. The fans who travelled to Belgium and persisted with protests played a crucial part in wanting Roland to move the club on I imagine.
I took that again, as a way of using an excuse of not buying the Valley. Roland is a greedy business man, he's quoted us a price before, if we play the waiting game, and the club is inherited by his family, they may be even worse than him. Sometimes it's better the devil you know.
I actually came away quite concerned how they've distanced themselves from purchasing the Valley. It sounds crucial as part of their revenue plans, but they seem to be relying solely on a fair stadium rent. This plan would be fine, if they went for broke for promotion, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Again maybe I've read it wrong, just my view. My gut tells me right now, this group of owners will be looking to move the club on within the next 5 years, while keeping the club fairly stationary. Hope I'm very wrong.
You might want to revise that figure if we're still in division 3 in 18 months time. Carter is talking rubbish if he thinks the protests have any connection to Dushitelet's mindset.
Carter may well be right. it's a 50/50 call for me as to whether Duchatelet holds a grudge, even if it's a small one. Let's be honest he's hardly likely to be doing us a favour is he.
Disappointing If Carter said that, although maybe he didn't mean it as a criticism.
it’s been misinterpreted a little. It was asked whether it was felt Roland held a grudge, and he agreed, said he thinks he probably does. Which I suspect most of us thinks is the case.
Thinking that Roland holds a grudge and thinking that the protest activity was wrong / counterproductive are two entirely seperate things.
Carter I find pretty impressive tbh. If I'm reading him right then he very much appears a stand-up guy who wants the club to do well for genuine reasons.
It was noticeable the couple of times Charlie didn’t like a question being asked (he’s a body language readers dream) and gave an answer that wasn’t fully addressing the question, Carter then come in and offered something much more genuine. Just my take.
I agree and i think Roland reaped what he sowed. Protests were a response to his mismanagement. He was already failing and would have continued to fail, which is what he really can’t handle. Before the protests he blamed the comms staff and Chris Powell. If it hadn’t been protests it would have been something or someone else.
Sorry for the long post, but my point is, it feels like anything they want to do, there's an excuse in play for not doing it.
Multi billionaire owners right, who have allegedly fell in love with our club, and are completely invested. So if that's the case, and you view it as a long term project, and want to improve facilities etc, surely you buy the Valley now and show intent so you can improve the facilities, which will get the ball rolling with other aspirations like match day revenue, new fans coming along etc.
If you gave me a billion, buying the Valley for 50 million, or whatever Roland quoted it before, is chump change to improve what I love. Then someone could argue that it's not my money, and it's a lot, which is fair. But if I was in love with something, 5% of my net worth would be easy to part with.
I could understand if they didn't want to buy the Valley, to save money, and use it on the first team to secure promotion, then buy the stadium when are in a better footballing position, but it feels to me as though they aren't rolling high with the money they have, and not owning the facilities is a massive stumbling block in extra revenue in their big medium to long term plans.
In summary, I don't believe they're as ambitious as Charlie and Gavin tried to portray. I think they will be, IF we find ourselves promoted. I am of the opinion right now, they're trying to do it a bit luckily, and similar to Sandgaard, are underestimating how much money you have to spend to get out of this league, typically speaking.
Same old same old, we have owners losing 8/10 million a year just to tread water until they get fed up & pass it on to the next in the chain.
I really wish I could attend, but distance and health won't allow me to. I would like to ask, "leaving soundbites and platitudes to one side, what is the aim for this ownership, what are the milestones and what happens if they are not achieved in a reasonable timescale?" I don't want to hear about 5 yr plan nonsense, this club won't grow until we're out of this Division, and that needs to happen this/next season. Do they realise crowds will ONLY come back when we're playing attractive and winning football....fan zones won't cut it! Will anybody, maybe not in so many words ask this and follow up with secondary questions? Thanks
I answered above. Sustainsble growth within SCMP & we have the 4th largest playing budget.
We need to increase revenues and are by bringing back in house hospitality & the retail. I can’t recall the figures but revenue is up possibly 20% (did he say) and costs have been reduced by retaining less academy players that we don’t think will “make the grade” as one example.
Cutting costs in the academy, now where did I see this written down before they took over?
Funny that they denied it at the time but open to admitting it now. Even if they're attempting to justify.
CM actually said they had cut costs in the academy as the previous regime had kept a bloated U21 squad of players unlikely ever to make it, by reducing that number of players they could then focus more effort, attention, coaching and money on those that were left and whom they felt had the best chance of progression.
He was strong in his view the owners wanted to double down on the academy with a goal of making it the 5th most productive in the country (currently ranked 8-10th in productivity each year).
So his point was money was previously poorly spent and is now being more targeted and better spent. I couldn't disagree with any of what he said in the academy.
He can dress it up however he likes.
The fact is that he has reduced the budget for the academy. After denying they would do so before they took over.
Has he? If he talked about hiring new coaches is it not possible that they’ve just redeployed the budget in a different way?
"I can’t recall the figures but revenue is up possibly 20% (did he say) and costs have been reduced by retaining less academy players that we don’t think will “make the grade” as one example."
"CM actually said they had cut costs in the academy as the previous regime had kept a bloated U21 squad of players unlikely ever to make it, by reducing that number of players they could then focus more effort, attention, coaching and money on those that were left and whom they felt had the best chance of progression."
I don't know why you're trying to defend him when it's clear from the implication of what he said that total costs have been cut.
If he was spending more or redeploying the funds, that's what he would've said. He didn't. He said 'savings' and 'cut costs'.
My concern is that it has always been muted that a team has a style of play from youth to first team, with the way Jones likes to play football will the ethos of what has been coached for years in the Academy change ?
I've been thinking the same, I'm pretty sure that Jones has said he wants all the youth to play in the same style as the first team so that they're "ready made" for the step up to the first team as & when they make the break through.
Pretty much every club does the same - not peculiar to Jones (I know you didn't say that). It should certainly apply to the U18s/U21s and I'm pretty sure Citeh's youth teams don't play Pulis Ball
The $64,000 question is whether or not that playing style is going to be effective in us being promotion candidates.
I think it makes perfect sense to have a similar style from the First team down as far as you want to go but as far as we are concerned under Jones, looking ahead would promising youngsters want to join a club playing kick & rush ?
You ask whether or not that playing style is going to be effective in us being promotion candidates, I'm pretty sure that you know the answer to that. This is like watching "All our yesterdays", Christ people get slated on here for daring to suggest that we should play 4-4-2 ? This is like watching an under 10s playground 30 a side kick about where we just kick the ball as far as we can & all run after it.
I really wish I could attend, but distance and health won't allow me to. I would like to ask, "leaving soundbites and platitudes to one side, what is the aim for this ownership, what are the milestones and what happens if they are not achieved in a reasonable timescale?" I don't want to hear about 5 yr plan nonsense, this club won't grow until we're out of this Division, and that needs to happen this/next season. Do they realise crowds will ONLY come back when we're playing attractive and winning football....fan zones won't cut it! Will anybody, maybe not in so many words ask this and follow up with secondary questions? Thanks
I answered above. Sustainsble growth within SCMP & we have the 4th largest playing budget.
We need to increase revenues and are by bringing back in house hospitality & the retail. I can’t recall the figures but revenue is up possibly 20% (did he say) and costs have been reduced by retaining less academy players that we don’t think will “make the grade” as one example.
Cutting costs in the academy, now where did I see this written down before they took over?
Funny that they denied it at the time but open to admitting it now. Even if they're attempting to justify.
CM actually said they had cut costs in the academy as the previous regime had kept a bloated U21 squad of players unlikely ever to make it, by reducing that number of players they could then focus more effort, attention, coaching and money on those that were left and whom they felt had the best chance of progression.
He was strong in his view the owners wanted to double down on the academy with a goal of making it the 5th most productive in the country (currently ranked 8-10th in productivity each year).
So his point was money was previously poorly spent and is now being more targeted and better spent. I couldn't disagree with any of what he said in the academy.
He can dress it up however he likes.
The fact is that he has reduced the budget for the academy. After denying they would do so before they took over.
Has he? If he talked about hiring new coaches is it not possible that they’ve just redeployed the budget in a different way?
"I can’t recall the figures but revenue is up possibly 20% (did he say) and costs have been reduced by retaining less academy players that we don’t think will “make the grade” as one example."
"CM actually said they had cut costs in the academy as the previous regime had kept a bloated U21 squad of players unlikely ever to make it, by reducing that number of players they could then focus more effort, attention, coaching and money on those that were left and whom they felt had the best chance of progression."
I don't know why you're trying to defend him when it's clear from the implication of what he said that total costs have been cut.
If he was spending more or redeploying the funds, that's what he would've said. He didn't. He said 'savings' and 'cut costs'.
I wasn’t there and didn’t hear what was said, but I will make two observations.
Retail revenue is bound to be up sharply, because the effect of taking it in-house is to put all sales - and cost of sales - on the books. Previously the club received only a percentage based on turnover. I would expect sales also to be up given Castore were useless, but that’s not the same thing.
.
He cited revenues being up by £2m. When asked how he said about commercial, and gave examples of the doubling of beer sales and retail going up from £600k to £1.2m.
On reflection, there was no insight into when that revenue gain was measured from and to, and given that retail has only come back in house in the last few months that seems significant to me, but no idea on how measurable it truly is and from when, or whether it was a projection exampled as a fact.
Others please correct me if I’ve relayed those figures wrong.
Sounds about right to me. I'd have liked to "dig further" but I'm conscious that I ask the most questions as it is and don't want to give everyone the hump.
No , you keep going at em . Thanks for taking the time going asking ‘those questions’ my Essex passport doesn’t allow me to visit the people’s republic of Bromley
more importantly Henry Irving’s notes haven’t arrived is he ok or has CM locked him up in the Museums dungeon after yesterdays grilling
Some of us have museums to help run but I'll get round to it.
Glad people enjoyed the evening, it was an opportunity to ask questions and hear answers and it has sparked a lively discussion. Never perfect but these evenings aren't scripted
CM and GC were the last to leave partly because Covered End was bending Charlie's ear.
They want similar groups across Kent so get thinking you Folkstone, Tonbridge and Dartford Addicks.
They didn't say it but I think an Addicks group in the City could work too.
There's at least 3 of us in Lincolnshire. Wonder if their satnav goes past Watford?
Another thing I'm not sure has been mentioned, is a chap infronf of me asked about Roland's mindset towards us and if he has a grudge.
Gavin Carter said he doesn't think the protests helped, which I wasn't really a fan of hearing. The fans who travelled to Belgium and persisted with protests played a crucial part in wanting Roland to move the club on I imagine.
I took that again, as a way of using an excuse of not buying the Valley. Roland is a greedy business man, he's quoted us a price before, if we play the waiting game, and the club is inherited by his family, they may be even worse than him. Sometimes it's better the devil you know.
I actually came away quite concerned how they've distanced themselves from purchasing the Valley. It sounds crucial as part of their revenue plans, but they seem to be relying solely on a fair stadium rent. This plan would be fine, if they went for broke for promotion, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Again maybe I've read it wrong, just my view. My gut tells me right now, this group of owners will be looking to move the club on within the next 5 years, while keeping the club fairly stationary. Hope I'm very wrong.
You might want to revise that figure if we're still in division 3 in 18 months time. Carter is talking rubbish if he thinks the protests have any connection to Dushitelet's mindset.
Carter may well be right. it's a 50/50 call for me as to whether Duchatelet holds a grudge, even if it's a small one. Let's be honest he's hardly likely to be doing us a favour is he.
Disappointing If Carter said that, although maybe he didn't mean it as a criticism. I wonder if he was close enough at the time to be aware of the following: 1. The Standard Liege fanbase is much more volatile than ours; their protests had quite an edge, and there was the time a few of them burst into his office and started haranguing him. Yet he did a deal. 2. His son was playing with fire in Budapest too; fans on long term boycott, and deals with some quite heavy local people falling through, but he also eventually got a deal done. 3. A respected Belgian news journo described RD as "autist", which we might just translate as "wired up differently to normal people".
Our board just need to try and find a proposal that makes more financial sense to -probably - Roderick D. than just sitting on the property. I'm sure they are doing that, but I'm with @Braziliance and @ElfsborgAddick in not being a fan of Carter's comment. Stick to the figures, that's the only thing they are interested in.
I have no problem with someone offering an opinion and can’t understand why it’s disappointing, when it’s possibly true.
CM seemed excited by talk of new revenue streams such as Wrexham have regenerated through Netflix.
CM is the only person with media profile from "Sunderland till I die" and his taste in musical anthems
So Charlie its time to "do the decent thing" and push yourself forward.........
How about another Netflix series...........no you're not keen?
Dragons Den?
Come Dine with me?
Strictly?
Love Island?
When Charlie was talking about Wrexham having Reynolds as a face and Birmingham having Brady as a face, he hinted that they were working on something that would be revealed in the next week or two. That was intriguing.
American musician I heard.
That genuinely gave me a LOL moment Have to say I saw the comment before scrolling down to see the pic
Sorry for the long post, but my point is, it feels like anything they want to do, there's an excuse in play for not doing it.
Multi billionaire owners right, who have allegedly fell in love with our club, and are completely invested. So if that's the case, and you view it as a long term project, and want to improve facilities etc, surely you buy the Valley now and show intent so you can improve the facilities, which will get the ball rolling with other aspirations like match day revenue, new fans coming along etc.
If you gave me a billion, buying the Valley for 50 million, or whatever Roland quoted it before, is chump change to improve what I love. Then someone could argue that it's not my money, and it's a lot, which is fair. But if I was in love with something, 5% of my net worth would be easy to part with.
I could understand if they didn't want to buy the Valley, to save money, and use it on the first team to secure promotion, then buy the stadium when are in a better footballing position, but it feels to me as though they aren't rolling high with the money they have, and not owning the facilities is a massive stumbling block in extra revenue in their big medium to long term plans.
In summary, I don't believe they're as ambitious as Charlie and Gavin tried to portray. I think they will be, IF we find ourselves promoted. I am of the opinion right now, they're trying to do it a bit luckily, and similar to Sandgaard, are underestimating how much money you have to spend to get out of this league, typically speaking.
Same old same old, we have owners losing 8/10 million a year just to tread water until they get fed up & pass it on to the next in the chain.
Sorry for the long post, but my point is, it feels like anything they want to do, there's an excuse in play for not doing it.
Multi billionaire owners right, who have allegedly fell in love with our club, and are completely invested. So if that's the case, and you view it as a long term project, and want to improve facilities etc, surely you buy the Valley now and show intent so you can improve the facilities, which will get the ball rolling with other aspirations like match day revenue, new fans coming along etc.
If you gave me a billion, buying the Valley for 50 million, or whatever Roland quoted it before, is chump change to improve what I love. Then someone could argue that it's not my money, and it's a lot, which is fair. But if I was in love with something, 5% of my net worth would be easy to part with.
I could understand if they didn't want to buy the Valley, to save money, and use it on the first team to secure promotion, then buy the stadium when are in a better footballing position, but it feels to me as though they aren't rolling high with the money they have, and not owning the facilities is a massive stumbling block in extra revenue in their big medium to long term plans.
In summary, I don't believe they're as ambitious as Charlie and Gavin tried to portray. I think they will be, IF we find ourselves promoted. I am of the opinion right now, they're trying to do it a bit luckily, and similar to Sandgaard, are underestimating how much money you have to spend to get out of this league, typically speaking.
Same old same old, we have owners losing 8/10 million a year just to tread water until they get fed up & pass it on to the next in the chain.
Assuming that there is a next in the chain......
I suspect the next owners will be a subset of this lot.
I really wish I could attend, but distance and health won't allow me to. I would like to ask, "leaving soundbites and platitudes to one side, what is the aim for this ownership, what are the milestones and what happens if they are not achieved in a reasonable timescale?" I don't want to hear about 5 yr plan nonsense, this club won't grow until we're out of this Division, and that needs to happen this/next season. Do they realise crowds will ONLY come back when we're playing attractive and winning football....fan zones won't cut it! Will anybody, maybe not in so many words ask this and follow up with secondary questions? Thanks
I answered above. Sustainsble growth within SCMP & we have the 4th largest playing budget.
We need to increase revenues and are by bringing back in house hospitality & the retail. I can’t recall the figures but revenue is up possibly 20% (did he say) and costs have been reduced by retaining less academy players that we don’t think will “make the grade” as one example.
Cutting costs in the academy, now where did I see this written down before they took over?
Funny that they denied it at the time but open to admitting it now. Even if they're attempting to justify.
CM actually said they had cut costs in the academy as the previous regime had kept a bloated U21 squad of players unlikely ever to make it, by reducing that number of players they could then focus more effort, attention, coaching and money on those that were left and whom they felt had the best chance of progression.
He was strong in his view the owners wanted to double down on the academy with a goal of making it the 5th most productive in the country (currently ranked 8-10th in productivity each year).
So his point was money was previously poorly spent and is now being more targeted and better spent. I couldn't disagree with any of what he said in the academy.
He can dress it up however he likes.
The fact is that he has reduced the budget for the academy. After denying they would do so before they took over.
Has he? If he talked about hiring new coaches is it not possible that they’ve just redeployed the budget in a different way?
"I can’t recall the figures but revenue is up possibly 20% (did he say) and costs have been reduced by retaining less academy players that we don’t think will “make the grade” as one example."
"CM actually said they had cut costs in the academy as the previous regime had kept a bloated U21 squad of players unlikely ever to make it, by reducing that number of players they could then focus more effort, attention, coaching and money on those that were left and whom they felt had the best chance of progression."
I don't know why you're trying to defend him when it's clear from the implication of what he said that total costs have been cut.
If he was spending more or redeploying the funds, that's what he would've said. He didn't. He said 'savings' and 'cut costs'.
Making a mountain out of a molehill, as per.
I couldn't give a toss if we've cut a few youngsters that will never make it in professional football if it means we're focused on the better players with more 1 on 1 time with coaches, and ultimately those players have a better success rate of breaking into the first team and making an impact.
It's very different to closing the entire academy down, which is what you're trying to allude to and "win" internet points with
Comments
Glad people enjoyed the evening, it was an opportunity to ask questions and hear answers and it has sparked a lively discussion. Never perfect but these evenings aren't scripted
CM and GC were the last to leave partly because Covered End was bending Charlie's ear.
They want similar groups across Kent so get thinking you Folkstone, Tonbridge and Dartford Addicks.
They didn't say it but I think an Addicks group in the City could work too.
Catering is still outsourced so I doubt the club makes a lot from beer, however much is sold. I have a feeling they used to get 8% of sales, which seems about right.
CM is the only person with media profile from "Sunderland till I die" and his taste in musical anthems
So Charlie its time to "do the decent thing" and push yourself forward.........
How about another Netflix series...........no you're not keen?
Dragons Den?
Come Dine with me?
Strictly?
Love Island?
If one thing came Out of last night, it would be great to see other supporter groups start up around Kent, and have a go.
Just out of interest how much did you raise from ‘contributions’ last
night, and did it cover the room hire costs?
1. The Standard Liege fanbase is much more volatile than ours; their protests had quite an edge, and there was the time a few of them burst into his office and started haranguing him. Yet he did a deal.
2. His son was playing with fire in Budapest too; fans on long term boycott, and deals with some quite heavy local people falling through, but he also eventually got a deal done.
3. A respected Belgian news journo described RD as "autist", which we might just translate as "wired up differently to normal people".
Our board just need to try and find a proposal that makes more financial sense to -probably - Roderick D. than just sitting on the property. I'm sure they are doing that, but I'm with @Braziliance and @ElfsborgAddick in not being a fan of Carter's comment. Stick to the figures, that's the only thing they are interested in.
Carter I find pretty impressive tbh. If I'm reading him right then he very much appears a stand-up guy who wants the club to do well for genuine reasons.
"CM actually said they had cut costs in the academy as the previous regime had kept a bloated U21 squad of players unlikely ever to make it, by reducing that number of players they could then focus more effort, attention, coaching and money on those that were left and whom they felt had the best chance of progression."
I don't know why you're trying to defend him when it's clear from the implication of what he said that total costs have been cut.
If he was spending more or redeploying the funds, that's what he would've said. He didn't. He said 'savings' and 'cut costs'.
You ask whether or not that playing style is going to be effective in us being promotion candidates, I'm pretty sure that you know the answer to that. This is like watching "All our yesterdays", Christ people get slated on here for daring to suggest that we should play 4-4-2 ? This is like watching an under 10s playground 30 a side kick about where we just kick the ball as far as we can & all run after it.
He said it was a very boring business making semi conductors for well know clients (I can’t remember the names, sorry).
WHAT COLOUR WERE CHARLIES PANTALOONS?
I couldn't give a toss if we've cut a few youngsters that will never make it in professional football if it means we're focused on the better players with more 1 on 1 time with coaches, and ultimately those players have a better success rate of breaking into the first team and making an impact.
It's very different to closing the entire academy down, which is what you're trying to allude to and "win" internet points with