Structured Dialogue | Vital Football

Structured Dialogue

SeasideEssexXile

SeasideEssexXile

Vital Football Legend
I have highlighted the section that we will o doubt be talking about.
IMO - very poorly worded.


Structured Dialogue Meeting – Monday 22nd February 2021 at 7pm

In attendance: Steve Rowland (SLO) James Ashton (Tangerine Seasiders) Phil Corbett (Yorkshire Seasiders) Ryan Jackson Scott Koudellas (Tangerine Knights) Fiona Martin (BSA) Karen McGuiness (BASIL) David Ragozzino (MSG) John Rigby (Leyland & Chorley Seasiders) Derek Spence (Former Players Association) Robert Whittaker (BST) Ben Mansford (BFC – CEO) Brett Gerrity (BFC – Director) Linton Brown (BFC – Chief Commercial Officer) Nick Horne (BFC – Club Secretary) Please would the Club look into holding an online fans forum similar to the recent one held by Fleetwood Town? It is important for all supporters to feel some connection with the staff at BFC, both playing and non-playing. Even in normal times it is especially important for exiles, who may not be able to attend matches at Bloomfield Road as frequently as Fylde coast residents. (BASIL) BM – We all miss having a live forum. We are hoping for some degree of normality to return and then possibly we can look to doing a live fans forum around football. We believe that as a Club we are very much available and accessible. The Structured Dialogue Meetings are regular and provide access to Board Directors and Senior Management with the range of questions set by the fans. In the meantime, we are continuing to increase our output from players and work on their engagement with fans during the current pandemic and Covid issues. While Simon would love to be available to join more sessions, Simon plays a pivotal role in his business which allows him to support the Club the way he does. For the good of the Club is it important that Simon continues to focus on the day job. When is the Club going to build the training ground? (Various) BG – This question has been asked in various formats by all supporter groups. The new training ground will cost in the region of £10-12million to build and there are no grants, no financial assistance or handouts available. This is money that will need to come from the Sadler families’ personal account. Season ticket sales amount to an income of around £700,000 to put the proposed facility cost into perspective. The Club is set to lose around £4million this season. So that is £16 million that would need funding before anything else if we were to build now. Covid has affected revenue streams and the salary cap has now been abandoned which may again force wage costs up. Despite the heavy financial losses the Club has continued to strengthen by paying transfer fees at a time where a lot of clubs in League One are concerned about economic survival, let alone making a £12million investment in a training ground. This is an expensive and major investment for Simon to make and we need to ensure that the correct location is selected and that it is future proof. There is a measured process being undertaken which takes time but we are making progress. Investment like this simply cannot be rushed. Squires Gate has been significantly improved and the first team squad are far better catered for than they have ever been.

Simon does get a little fed up of hearing some people repeatedly asking about season ticket refunds when he is personally investing and keeping the Club alive financially to the tune that I have already alluded to. While there is the desire to build the training ground and better the infrastructure of the Club, his enthusiasm may be diminished when a small number of supporters demand refunds upon tickets that were advertised and sold with everyone aware that the season may not happen. The Club was honest and open when selling the tickets and has provided iFollow coverage to all supporters who are entitled to it. I should emphasise that this is a minority of people who are moaning but a vocal minority and they are in danger of jeopardising the good work that is going on. Simon is not going to do all that is needed on his own, he needs the supporters alongside him, he has to feel that the financial burden is being shared and if he starts to doubt that he is less incentivised to invest further. The majority of fans are doing an amazing job with the ticket sales, iFollow, the buying of merchandise and generally supporting the Club however they can. They have been brilliant whilst themselves going through difficult economic times. The board are very grateful. We know what fantastic supporters the Club has and we value you greatly. When Simon says he’s going to do something, he will do it but please be patient. A message to some supporters is, don’t kill the golden goose, there is not another Simon Sadler out there waiting to take over.

Given that it is unlikely that 2020/21 season ticket holders will be able to attend live home matches, how is the Club planning to compensate them for the 2021/22 season? And given many other clubs have offered refunds to 2020/21 season ticket holders, why did the Club not offer season ticket holders the option to take a season break to protect their existing preferred seats? (BSA) BM – We believe we answered this type of question at the last meeting. We waited late to put our season tickets on sale when the EFL confirmed the season would run and the Government gave encouraging statements on fans attending games. We made it clear in our sales literature that any season ticket holder who couldn’t attend a game would be given an iFollow access code and on this basis we reserved the right to keep the season ticket monies. We believe we offered a fair range of pricing options and made our terms and conditions very clear at the outset. Also, as discussed above, Simon has continued to invest in the Club at a time when the Club has experienced millions of pounds worth of further losses due to Covid. When fans bought these Season Tickets, Simon invested in the squad. We will consider the existing Season Ticket holders when we review our pricing model for next season. The Sports Ground Safety Authority has found that safe standing can have a positive impact on spectator safety. Is there scope to introduce this for a section of the North Stand - as other clubs have done? Could it be financed by a crowdfunding initiative? (BST) BM – At this moment in time, especially after Covid, the Club has other more pressing financial requirements rather than changing safe seating to a safe standing area. This initiative could be considered when we redevelop the East Stand. Does the abandonment of the salary cap proposals help or hinder us going forward? (YS) BG – As a Club we voted for the Salary Cap as we believed it was a suitable mechanism to curb the exorbitant wage inflation that was been experienced across League One and League Two. We also believed it would aid the sustainability of lower league clubs and seek to prevent instances like Bury and Bolton happening again. Therefore, it is disappointing to see what has happened with the cap while the Covid implications are still being felt across the economy and football. Squad limits remain in place. Hopefully, wages will remain sensible and enable us to continue to build towards what we want to achieve - a squad capable of returning to the Championship. Companies House data suggests that the Club's operating model is based upon four companies. Is this correct? If so, could you give us some insight as to how you arrived at this? And what is the overall, aggregated financial status of the group as a whole? (BST) BM – Simon took advice from leading accountants and lawyers about how to hold the various Club and property assets which resulted in the current structure. This structure is not uncommon. It would not be right for us to go into any further detail. How do you feel the balance of the squad is? Is there a good balance between experienced pros and young players, and is a squad made up of young players sufficient to achieve promotion? Does building a squad of young talent mean that this is being produced for future sale/profit of these players, and does that help us gain promotion? (BSA) BM – We have a more balanced squad after the last two windows. The majority of players have their best years in front of us. We are far from one of the younger sides in the league and have experience in the likes of Maxwell, Madine, Husband, Stewart, Dougall and Turton. The squad isn’t as youthful and inexperienced as some early criticism suggested. As we look to gain promotion back to the Championship, we will be competing with clubs that have parachute payments and more significant commercial revenue generating capabilities. Therefore, if the Club can identify and recruit players who can grow to produce transfer profit, then such profit will enable us to compete and support Simon. Clubs like Brentford have shown this can be successful. The Club’s goal isto be in the Championship and above. Hopefully people are starting to see this squad is more capable than some of the early season results suggested. With many of our first team players out with injuries and the amount of congested fixtures we have coming up is this causing any concerns at the Club?
 
Part 2

Are there any plans in place to prevent our squad from falling short if the worst happens and we pick up a few more injuries or players having to self isolate? (TS) BM – We believe we are as well placed as others to navigate the challenges of this season. We hope that in some of the recent games when we had Covid and injury issues, the depth of the squad was highlighted. We recently we went to Wigan with 11 players missing and came away with an excellent result. Further, with the emergence of talent from the successful season the Under-18s are having, hopefully in the future, we will have further strength in depth. The likes of Rob Apter, Brad Holmes and Ewan Bange are regularly training with the First Team squad which is a credit to what Ciaran Donnelly and his staff are beginning to achieve in the Academy. When we are permitted back into the ground, how does the Club propose to ensure supporters are properly protected from Covid-19 exposure, and will any action be taken against anybody who breaches rules? If supporters are unable to or choose not to attend due to safety concerns, shielding, isolation or similar, will there be any measures put in place to help them e.g. will iFollow access still be available? (BSA) LB – We hoped for a bit of positive news from the Government today. We trust that a number of fans either experienced or saw for a far how well the Pilot game against Swindon operated. This Pilot game was held under the guidance that has been produced by the EFL and the relevant safety advisory bodies. Such guidance will be in place as we look to return any number of fans to Bloomfield Road. We would sincerely hope that should fans be able to return as soon as practicable and the fans would respect any guidance and ensure that we maintain the ability to have them get behind the team. If fans did return but certain fans had to shield, any decisions on access to iFollow would largely be dependent on the EFL and its broadcasters maintaining any agreement to permit the domestic streaming of games. Will the Club send out letters to people informing them of new season ticket prices and any early bird prices etc as they used to a few seasons ago? Such letters would help people who live out of town and do not use the internet or indeed any non-internet users including those living in Blackpool. (L&C) LB – we would look to communicate through every channel possible, but in the current digital age and with the investment the Club have made in the online retail offering and with Ticketmaster, it is unlikely that we would write to everyone. Does the Club intend to produce a DVD season review of all the matches this season? If so, could it also include the season that was cut short? (L&C) LB – If it is commercially viable option and there’s an appetite, we would look at it. I wouldn’t have thought we would but we won’t rule it out. What was the reason for BFC auctioning Poppy Shirts through a third party with only a percentage of the money going to the charity? Last season’s Poppy Shirts were auctioned through the Club with all the money going to the charity. (L&C) LB – Match Worn Shirts were the official auction partner for the Royal British Legion which raised around £5k. The Board has stated it wants the Academy to achieve Category 2 status. When would they expect to achieve this? And can the Board expand on its aspiration to have 5 youth team players drawn from the Academy in the first team squad by 2025? (BST) BG – The Club has talked recently about the importance of coaching, recruitment and the Academy. The Club is continuing to invest in these areas. Over the last few months, the Club has appointed Ciaran Donnelly as Academy Director along with other additions to the Academy’s Senior Management Team such as Matt Blinkhorn. At the moment, we need to move to become the best Category 3 Club while having an aspiration of progressing to Category 2. This will take time but the signs of improvement are there with the Under-18s top of the league and on a 10 game winning run. Rob Apter recently featured in the win against Wigan and got an assist. There’s some real talent in there, some of these players have an exciting future. What is the timeline for getting Stanley Park Arena fit to host U18 Academy games? (BST) BG - We are working towards the start of next season, it is something we’re all excited about. Both the pitch and changing facilities will need investment over the coming weeks to make this possible. We have discussed with BST about the possibility of supporter volunteers assisting with the project further down the line to make the areas around the oval more impressive and a place we can be really proud of. It will get the Youth Team back in Blackpool where it should be and hopefully fans can go there before the First Team games. SR – So there could be a volunteer project there? BG – It’s possible. The Club really appreciates the volunteer support and it could be something to be involved in. BM – It is a possible project for us all to do together. We are looking for those projects that can bring the Club and all its supporters groups together. BG – This will be an interim base until the new training ground is in place. I should mention the excellent work being done by the Armfield Supporters Group on their mental health help line initiative. The Club and Community Trust have been proud to offer assistance with this very worthwhile community project. If other supporters or groups have ideas and are able to link in with the Club, we are always open to them. Would the Club be open to the idea of live streaming Blackpool Youth games? With how well the future Seasiders are doing it would be fantastic being able to watch them. (TS) BG – We would be open to this and it is very much on our agenda. The issue at the moment is the capability does not exist at Mysercough College to do this but we would hope we can review the possibility of streaming the Youth Team games when the team plays at Stanley Park. With the rollout of the vaccine giving us hope of a return to some sort of normality, will the Club be putting themselves forward as a pilot for the return of fans to the ground, as we did so successfully for the Swindon game? (YS) BM – The Club was available to be utilised as part of the Pilot last time and would be hoping to be involved again. A huge credit goes to the match day operations team led by Steve Needham and the ticket office lead by Sarah Nibloe for allowing us to be in that position last time. Recently the Club indicated it was going to step up fan engagement and had a number of initiatives in the pipeline to engage with fans locally and nationally and also had ideas to attract fans globally via working with FIFA/Football Manager etc to give BFC a more appealing presence to ‘floating’ or casual fans from around the world. Can the Club update? (Ryan Jackson) LB – The Club has now appointed a Marketing and Fan Engagement Manager and a Videographer. We are also planning further investment in the Club’s digital offering which should create greater interaction between the Club and the fans which is really important to us. We believe over the last few months we have has improved the quality and quantity of content connected to the playing squad. The Club is working hard to enhance the bond between the supporters and the players. We hope we are making good progress and plan to do more in this area over the weeks and months ahead. Additional Questions/Points raised: Regarding iFollow, are there plans for this to continue? (Phil Corbett - Yorkshire Seasiders BM – iFollow was designed for the purpose of international streaming. It wasn’t made to be broadcast how it currently is. A large proportion of EFL and Club income comes from the broadcasters. It is something that we will have to be guided on by the EFL due to broadcast agreements and regulations post Covid. Will there be an opportunity for re-runs if fixtures are not shown live domestically? Fiona Martin – BSA) BM – within the regulations there is an opportunity to show re-runs after a certain period after the conclusion of a game. It is something we can explore when able to do so. Could there be more opportunity to interact with players via interviews? Could fans send questions for filmed responses. (Karen McGuiness - BASIL) LB – As we continue to improve our digital content we can explore these things, it’s a good point. The Gazette today published an article regarding the Revoe area. Will any further details come from the Club? (Ryan Jackson) BM – This is good news and credit to the Council for securing monies for the Towns Fund initiative. The Council has been working on a number of funding applications as it looks to regenerate certain areas of the town. One of those areas is the Southern Quarter of Revoe, which includes the Stadium. We will continue to work with the Council to investigate what can be done. However, I must emphasise these funding applications are only in their infancy and the Club has not provided any specific plans relating to the East Stand. Covid has undoubtedly been a challenge for the Club. Of all the recent challenges, which has been the most difficult? (Karen McGuiness - BASIL)
 
Last part

BM – Leaving aside the obvious financial challenges which we have discussed earlier, for me, it has been keeping the Club a Covid secure environment and as safe as possible, to allow us to continue to play games. We have continued to play throughout when we have seen many other teams have games called off. Keeping the players safe has been a real challenge and credit must go to our medical staff and Doctor who have ensured we are able to keep a team on the pitch. Was the pitch as bad as it was made out for the Burton postponement? (Phil Corbett - Yorkshire Seasiders) BM – A small area caused the issue and despite our best efforts the game was called off. When Player safety is involved and this is raised, it is hard for the Referee to go against any concerns. Is the Penthouse in the South East corner empty? (Ryan Jackson) BG – There are still ongoing legal issues. The solicitors instructed by the interim board made an error that has caused a significant delay to the process. I cannot discuss further as there are further legal actions pending. It is not a straight forward process. It is frustrating but we are determined to get the Penthouse back. BG – Thanked everyone for attending and submitting questions.
 
I thought that particular section was very poorly worded too. SS and the board appear to be a little thin skinned (this isn't the first time they've made similar remarks). Indeed, SS reminds me somewhat of Lincoln's chairman in that regard... their background is the same, so perhaps it's a trait of being (very) successful in that line of work?

That said, I can imagine some of their frustrations given some of the comments made by some of our fans since the takeover. A good example of this was the abuse the groundsman got online after the postponement the other night. Genuinely cringeworthy.

As I've said before, I've absolutely no doubt at all about SS's intentions and ambition and I'm confident that we're taking a lot of steps in the right direction. Not everything is good to go to plan straight away though (on and off the field) and I think people need to be a little more accepting of that. Rome wasn't built in a day.

The most interesting thing I took from the minutes was although the salary cap has gone the squad cap remains in place. That means a limit of 20 over 21 players next season (on the basis we're still in L1).
 
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