Quote: GT "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.'"
The reliability or otherwise of the grapevine isn't really the issue. Isn't the fact that the club aren't happy with the stadium managment a good thing?
Quote: GT "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.'"
It's not just 5%. It's 5% for every one pound taken off the admission price. You suggested (I think) £15, which would require an increase in attendance of around 1400 adults paying full price in order for the club to not lose money. Personally, I doubt we could get that at the moment. That said, I do think prices are too high, and maybe £18 would be better, but, as I said, the club have to be careful.
Quote: GT "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.'"
It does appear the SMC and Ticketline are making a balls of things. When looking for organisations that are badly run, there's two right there. But if they're not willing to listen, how does that make [iSalford[/i badly run?
Quote: GT "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.'"
True, but if the club have got limited resources, you have to look where those resources are best spent. They seem to have improved on-line communication with Facebook, etc., but it looks like the web shop has suffered. But then how important is the web shop? How much merchandise does the club sell in general?
Quote: GT "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.
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.'"
There are two comments you make here which sum up why I asked the question about what actual evidence there is that the club are badly runsure[/i there must be someone.....; you'd [iimagine[/i the club chose to close the East Stand..... These are both conjecture, not hard evidence. And it's not difficult to come up with a different view of things. Having worked for an organisation that ended up operating on a shoestring budget (and it really was a badly run organisation) I'm less sure that people could be made available to cover for others on breaks.
With regards the East Stand, we know that the SMC are keen to close stands to cut down on stewarding costs. Could this not have been the case here? Could they not have sprung this on the club at the last minute? Could this be one of the reasons why the club aren't happy?
Quote: GT "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.'"
No doubt some things could be done better, but I still don't see evidence that Salford are badly run rather than operating on a very limited budget. There are some understandable quibbles, particularly about ticketing, but, for me, it's not always clear that it's the club's fault. And it doesn't shout 'badly run club' to me. Being forced to sell the lease on your stadium without checking what effect it would have on credit streams from the bank, leading to you having to put out a begging bowl to help get you through the rest of the season is a sign of a badly run club. I'm just not seeing that at Salford (yet!).
