Quote: Red John "Well, leaving aside the grapevine's well known reliability issues (remember Kevin Sinfield?) isn't the fact that the club aren't happy with the stadium a sign that they're aware of the problems? I'd be worried if the grapevine was telling you they think everything's great.'"
That quote has come directly from someone at the top of the club. Unfortunately I'm unable to say more publicly and I realise that this means it will be taken with a pinch of salt, particularly considering the way other "truths" appear on this forum and, indeed, across the internet.
Quote: Red John "I'd say better than we could have hoped. We were written off by many people (including some of our own fans) at the start of the season. Also, we will likely finish the season with the second lowest average attendance in SL, yet we're in with a reasonable chance of a play off place. Better than we could have hoped, I think.'"
I'd agree with that actually. Although I think it's still a bit early to say we've got a reasonable chance of a play off place. There's some good teams around us who are yet to start firing. Let's just hope they don't.
Quote: Red John "I agree ticket prices are too high, but you have to be careful here to avoid 'doing a Bradford'. I think we can agree that the club struggles for money. In order to keep the levels of income up at their current relatively pathetic levels, every pound you take off the ticket price has to be replaced by an increase in attendance of approximately 5% (not including money spent on peripherals, like programmes and the like). 5% of our current average attendance is around 250 people (probably a bit more). Could we guarantee that level of increase? Personally, I doubt it. So, the lost income would have to be replaced from somewhere, and that somewhere will no doubt be the directors who, despite what some people on here seem to think, don't appear to have bottomless pockets.'"
But why can we not guarantee an increase of around 5%? The reduction in price would attract more supporters straight off the bat, I know this as I know many personally who aren't in a position to commit to a season ticket or membership for one reason or another but then won't pay £20 per match. Make it more attractive for people to come in, cheaper admission, family offers (which we've started pushing for tomorrow) and so on then, providing the experience inside the ground is good, they will come back. Admittedly the last part has a lot to do with the team's performances but as we've already established that is already going the right way.
Quote: Red John "Agreed, at least partly. The membership scheme started off as a reasonable idea because it allowed members to take other people along for half price. That seems to have gone this year, and the current scheme is a crock. It's not a sign that the club has been run badly for 30 years though is it?'"
I'm not sure I suggested that it was a sign of that? Just that it is a simple, short term improvement that can make one hell of a difference.
Quote: Red John "How much of this is the club's fault? As you say further down, ticketing isn't in the club's hands. And the club aren't happy.'"
The club should be working closely alongside the SMC and Ticketline to make sure the system does what we want it to do, not just what we're told it's going to do. If members could buy advanced tickets then it would be of greater benefit to all interested parties. I'm not sure the SMC nor Ticketline are really willing to listen, though, which is a bit of a problem.
Quote: Red John "Agreed, but a functioning web site costs money. And we haven't got any.'"
A functioning website does not cost that much money. If a semi-professional, non-league football club playing the seventh tier of English football on a shoestring budget can manage it then I'm pretty certain Salford could pull something out of the fire on this one.
Quote: Red John "Yup. But then I've not experienced any problems in my dealings with the club.'"
You're lucky, then. I had the exact experience where, when enquiring about an email which had not been responded to, was told "sorry no one got back to you, we're not actually sure where that email address goes to." This is an email address that was advertised on the front of the online shop. Basic stuff which costs nothing to get right.
Quote: Red John "Again, money. Taking someone from another department isn't always possible because the other department might not be able to spare them.'"
Again, I do agree on that, but it's very bad practice to have to shut the shop, particularly at a time of day which could be the only time most people are able to get there. I'm sure there must be someone, somewhere who would be able to go down and help out, even if it's not the same person each day.
Quote: Red John "Again, was this the club or Ticketline?'"
The example that I posted on the thread, rather than just "season ticket sales" which you've selectively quoted? I'd imagine that was a club decision to close the East Stand, possibly in conjunction with the SMC. It will also have been the club who made the decision to sell season tickets in three stands.
Quote: Red John "I'm still not convinced that Salford are a badly run club rather than a club run on a shoestring.'"
We'll differ on this again, then. I do agree that we're run on a shoestring, but I also feel that a lot of basic practice is being carried out poorly. We need to improve dramatically which can only help redress the financial hamstrings in the future.
