113 replies to this topic

[Mr Magoo]

Heard Leigh have re-signed Ridyard, Littler and Parker??? and are all ready looking at signing some new faces. Has anyone heard if we are re-signing or looking at anyone?

Come on you Lions

[greengrass]

_{Just been on the york forum they have also announced some re-signings for next year to, sure Steve will be sorting it out behind the scenes no doubt. Also think it could be a ideal time following our massive strides on the pitch to start bouncing some idea's about for next season, as in deal's for the fans like the early bird (which I think was a brilliant idea, and cracking deal.) and have a real go at trying to retain the season ticket holders and maybe some new fans to.}

[PhillH]

Personally I wish we could see more deals lasting beyond one season, but particularly outside Super League anything lasting more than 12 months is as rare as hen's teeth nowadays.

Retention of this squad may prove to be quite challenging. Although the side has not won enough games to break into the top 6, several players will have caught the eye of clubs towards the top of the league due to showing up well in matches against the likes of Featherstone, Halifax and Batley. So I think the club needs to ready itself for some of the wage demands to increase, and they will either have to be met or players will be moving on.

One thing for certain is that the financial plan will need to be on the basis that Agecroft will not be ready, so presumably another season at LSV(?). The attendances there so far indicate that the level of hard core support, which went up to circa 650 at the Willows, is now back down to about 450 - similar to what we saw at Sedgley Park. All goes to show that it really does make a tangible difference when people feel that they can identify with the location and demonstrates the importance of getting that proper home base!

[greengrass]

Yeah I agree Phil and it is more frustrating for us because we never know where we are going to be playing from one season to another. I really do think the time is now to start some preperation for next season and get some deals in place, one idea I have come up with is ask the fans for some feedback at home matches and then we can have some idea of what the fans want for there money and present this back to John and see what he can muster up to match it or work around what comes back.

I think we have about 4 more matches left this is plenty of time to get amongest the fans and collect this information, I know we wont be able to please everyone but if can get some good feedback of the fans then maybe will be more attractive to potential new fans. I.e would they like anything added to a season ticket, would they change anything from this season deals, what would make you bring someone new to the club, things like this.

I think Steve Mc will be ready for the wage increases and approaches from other clubs but I hope as a club we do what Man Utd do and have a wage structure which is not to be broken and the players are reminded no one is bigger than the club. Plus I also think Steve Mc is respected that much as a coach I think this will be a major point when a player decides where his future is going to lie for next season.

[juliancaine]

more news on agecroft would be good, i think your right another season at lsv reckon it will be a permanent home at lsv now though.

Edited by juliancaine, 18 June 2012 - 10:59 AM.

[PhillH]

Yeah I agree Phil and it is more frustrating for us because we never know where we are going to be playing from one season to another. I really do think the time is now to start some preperation for next season and get some deals in place, one idea I have come up with is ask the fans for some feedback at home matches and then we can have some idea of what the fans want for there money and present this back to John and see what he can muster up to match it or work around what comes back.

I think we have about 4 more matches left this is plenty of time to get amongest the fans and collect this information, I know we wont be able to please everyone but if can get some good feedback of the fans then maybe will be more attractive to potential new fans. I.e would they like anything added to a season ticket, would they change anything from this season deals, what would make you bring someone new to the club, things like this.

I think Steve Mc will be ready for the wage increases and approaches from other clubs but I hope as a club we do what Man Utd do and have a wage structure which is not to be broken and the players are reminded no one is bigger than the club. Plus I also think Steve Mc is respected that much as a coach I think this will be a major point when a player decides where his future is going to lie for next season.

In many ways I think your first sentance indicates what the priority has to be. As (although the club has never really been much good at these things) until it puts down some proper, sustainable roots - in terms of the match day venue especially - Swinton Lions as a brand will remain a very difficult concept to sell beyond the existing hard core support.

I suspect the kind of intelligence gathering you suggest might have a slight effect but it would be marginal, as it would be a case of preaching to the converted. The people who already attend regularly are not the problem - the real challenge is to change the behaviours of people who don't currently take a proactive interest.

For that you need to define a broader target audience and do work to attract them in, rather than focussing on squeezing a decreasing pool of existing supporters for more. However, in its current situation the club has a major problem connecting to the logical target audience of the M27 community and has very limited scope to offer any effective deals or run any promotional initiatives. You can tinker with the price of admission perhaps, but that's not going to make much difference to most people.

A Championship standard ground in M27 won't be a utopian solution to getting increased support, but without it you have no basis from which to do the work to achieve growth.

One aspect that ought to be fixable is for the Trust to; be given back its representation on the Board, and; come to the table in terms of properly delivering on its original constitution taken from the Supporters Direct template. From that could flow voluntary efforts to at least do some of what you suggest. Perhaps you might wish to take this up with Martin. The bottom line in implementing any idea always being that you need to have a sufficient number of people able and willing to do the necessary work.

[bigtony]

But who would people want to keep for next season and who to try and bring in ???

[greengrass]

I understand everything your saying and your right in what you say, and I know the major problem for our club and expanding the crowd it is the ground. This is something we can not control what we can control is getting the potential new supporters away from this and we look at launching a really good and professional marketing campaign I feel we could make strides, and me working in sales and marketing for 8 years I alaways go with the motto "nothing ventured nothing gained".

We will never know if we can increase our support base because we has a club has never really targeted them, we might have done things in the past but nothing serious. I know when you launch a campaign you need financial backing for this and that would be the club's decision, this is why I stated in a previous post if look at starting doing things now then maybe by end of season and start of the off season we would be in a position to launch something for the existing fans and potential fans.

Also in relation to starting this now this would also give us time to find out what people could do and where they could volunteer no matter how small the contribution was, the reason why I say all this because when you look at the other established sides in the division we are way behind and could learn a lot off them. I feel with the progression on the field this is the ideal time to start looking at ways of going forward as a club off the field.

I agree with you Phil about the trust getting there place back on the board this would be a direct route for information to get to the powers to be and I am not sure why it all stopped but getting this relationship back up I feel is paramount for the club to move forward. For to long now we are a club just happy plodding along with what we have got and for a club and a business this could head down a long dark road which you don't come back from.

Edited by greengrass, 18 June 2012 - 04:58 PM.

[marshy1]

The reason the trust lost it's place on the board was due to the old company going in to receivership. It would be down to the new company to offer th trust shares, personally I don't see a problem with this.

[greengrass]

Thanks for that Alan, Like I say I was unaware of the reason why. I think it would be a great stride forward for the club if this could happen.

[duffymoon]

Apparently Salford have had consultants in advising of ways to increase crowd numbers at matches.Its a shame the RFL can't deploy something similar for those clubs in the championship,a team of consultants to spend time with every club and then send a report to each club about how they could improve their operations..As Greengrass says financial constraints dictates what each club can do in this department.As regards suggestions as to what us fans want from a personal perspective I would suggest regular access to the players after games similar to what we enjoyed at Sedgley Park.The situation at the LSV and indeed at the Willows to me was a them and us attitude where there was no access to the players until the final game.

[greengrass]

That would be perfect if we could do that but like already stated money talks, but we could maybe start a little forum of people to work together and put idea's in and see what we come out with. There is no point to all this if the club fail to acknowledge us and our idea's, we need to start working alongside each other and get rid of that them and us attitude because I agree with you Duffymoon it does feel like that.

I am not just saying it because I am a massive Lions fan but the potential with our club and its history is massive if we can get it right of the field then who knows how big we could get, and we are getting it right from where we came from and to now i.e the corporate hospitallty, early bird offer just feel this is all for existing fan base when we should be out there getting after new fans.

[PaulT]

The proof is in the puddling a bit of good marketing and a decent offer works - the attendance at the Keighley game last season shows that - 1,662 (or around that!) and over 1,100 at the Rochdale game!

[greengrass]

To right it does Paul, the key is finding something that we can sustain over a season then build on it. Them 2 examples you gave were one of matches throughout the season but does prove it can be done.

[duffymoon]

Let's hope that the first game at Agecroft is promoted to maximum effect! Which will hopefully result in a bumper attendance.

[PhillH]

The reason the trust lost it's place on the board was due to the old company going in to receivership. It would be down to the new company to offer th trust shares, personally I don't see a problem with this.

I believe it would be more accurate to reflect that the old company was wound up expressly in order to restructure the shareholdings, one part of which involved the Trust and others (i.e. Malcolm White) effectively having their shares written off. At the time any fears/rumours that the root cause was financial problems were firmly denied. We should not forget the option of moving to Darwen was being seriously considered at the time, with Kevin Henry's fleeting arrival on the scene having been part of the package. In my view erradicating the Trust's share holding and board position was a mistake, has had a negative impact on fund raising efforts to the detriment of both the club and the Trust, was done at a time the club was contemplating moving to Darwen, and ought to be repaired.

[marshy1]

I stand corrected Phil. I do agree a voice on the board would do no harm and technically we have this in Dave Roberts who of course is a trust member. Problem there is he has shared loyalties.

[Martin]

I don't know where it's come from that the Trust don't own any shares in the club but when JK phoned me to say the club was going in administration, I agreed on the proviso that we would get the same amount of shares that our previous investment warranted.

Admittedly the certificate took a while to come but I do have it.

[marshy1]

There you go then, matter resolved thanks Martin.

[PhillH]

I don't know where it's come from that the Trust don't own any shares in the club but when JK phoned me to say the club was going in administration, I agreed on the proviso that we would get the same amount of shares that our previous investment warranted.

Admittedly the certificate took a while to come but I do have it.

Interesting, as my source is the latest official record I could find filed with Companies House, which was dated 9th January 2012 (Company Number 06045563, Swinton Rugby League Football Club Limited) and shows just the three shareholders, i.e.: 3334 Ordinary Shares held by David Paul Kidd, 3333 Ordinary Shares held by David John Kidd and finally 3333 Ordinary Shares held by David John Jones.

?????

I stand corrected Phil. I do agree a voice on the board would do no harm and technically we have this in Dave Roberts who of course is a trust member. Problem there is he has shared loyalties.

Technically, Dave Roberts may well be a member of the Trust, but in my view does not have the mandate to be considered a bone fide representative of the Trust. He owes his place on the Board to a private deal and not a democratic process involving Trust members. As far as I can tell also has no formalised responsibilities to either; represent the Trust's views, nor; to report back to Trust members on the business at Board meetings.

There you go then, matter resolved thanks Martin.

It would be nice to think so, but a few things don't add up if you ask me. Perhaps just a need for further clarification, we will see.