When is Scally going to spend some of the money?? | Page 2 | Vital Football

When is Scally going to spend some of the money??

"The path to the premier league" brochure has now been revised with a new edition due to accompany the new 2018/19 season ticket brochure/application form. It has been retitled as "The path to the National League". Available at the turnstiles (possibly) for the forthcoming home games against Blackpool and Plymouth. Arrive early to ensure you do not miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity.
 
Captainreblue said:
You're either as deluded as PS or you are PS,Durham.
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The wider point I think Durham is trying to make is that we are no different from the majority of clubs and that Scally is doing no worse than most. Scally is not perfect and has made mistakes but some of you seem to be members of the more toxic part of the GISC who see only evil in Scally. Or in Wayne's case, Scally is the Lee Matthews of chairmaning.

The reason why we don't make a profit on most players is because we sign people as free transfers and then release them at the end of the contract. Now and again we get lucky on an Egan, Gazzaniga or talented youths like Jarvis or Dack once in a generation.

If credit can be given to Scally then it is the fact Scally signs the players his managers want and in the cases of Edinburgh, Hessenthaler and Stimson, found a considerable amount of funding. And then in the case of selling players he does tend to play a bit more hardball and only sell on his terms. All those players you mention as evidence of bad signings were all pretty much injury prone but Scally backed the judgement of his manager.
 
Captainreblue said:
You're either as deluded as PS or you are PS,Durham.

Let's congratulate PS on making some money for a business he owns, well done PS. But for every player we've ever made a profit on (and let's face it as WK says Scally hasn't identified,scouted, managed, coached the players, he's just done contract negotiations) there is a Kelvin Jack,Neil Master, Glen Thomas, Mark McCammon (spit) to name just a few,which have cost us far more in reputation alone

I've got a copy of the 'path to the premier league' brochure you/PS wrote back in 1998/1999, durham if you fancy having a read of our dear leaders plans back then (its fucking hilarious). Reading it now, the only thing he's ever had to piss in is the fucking water feature in reception.
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How may Chairmen have actually identified, scouted, managed or coached players exactly? Hardly their job and most coaches would not tolerate interference anyway.
Blame them for bad choices of manager, coach, etc if you like but that's as far as they can be held responsible.

Interesting that you list Neil Masters and Glen Thomas as they were Pulis signings. I remember the Manager expected a cut of the Akinbiyi profit for his back pocket but presumably didn't want to contribute to the cost of his bad decisions that cost the club money. Bit of a one way street.

As for the "path to the premier league" brochure it was probably deluded but only because after achieving the first step (the Championship) with a pretty entertaining team, the great and good of Medway could not be bothered to sell out a stadium that held less than 11000, even though 35000+ suddenly become fans whenever the club reached Wembley.
 
Wayne.Kerr said:
On the other hand, with a huge catchment area, there should have been a much, much better PR machine at work as well as innovative pricing to get bums on seats
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And that PR machine is competing with PR machines of London based Premier League clubs with a considerably larger budget selling a considerably better product. Gillingham don't have an exclusive monopoly rights to the Kent football fan market.

Scally has played around with various schemes down the years, tried different pricing philosophy with little success. I am sure that whatever pricing the new STs will be, there will be some calculations done by financing and marketing showing it is likely to be the optimum pricing for income.

Of course, the club haven't tried selling £400 season tickets to unemployed people with minimum disposable income yet. Someone who knows about these things once suggested that would be a goldmine source of income.
 
Well we will have to wait and see. I expect ST prices will be about the same - perhaps a £10 increase max in all areas. Will this tempt existing or first time buyers - not sure? Just look at our home gates - especially last night are we are getting down now to real hard core support. Given our poor home performances this season I am not sure many will be tempted to buy an ST unless there is a price drop sweetener. Difficult decision for the club to make as books need to be balanced, but I know a lot of long standing fans are beginning to fall out of love with GFC for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the dross being served up at Priestfield on the pitch, the lack of real progress and quality (the purple patch under SL excepted) over the last 2 seasons and the lack of information about the proposed new stadium. ST holders were alienated at the start of the season with the price of kids STs, and many have not forgotten the debacle of getting a ticket for the opening Bradford game. Sort out the very poor PR that would be a good starting point.
 
GillsBluenose said:
How may Chairmen have actually identified, scouted, managed or coached players exactly? Hardly their job and most coaches would not tolerate interference anyway.
Blame them for bad choices of manager, coach, etc if you like but that's as far as they can be held responsible.

Interesting that you list Neil Masters and Glen Thomas as they were Pulis signings. I remember the Manager expected a cut of the Akinbiyi profit for his back pocket but presumably didn't want to contribute to the cost of his bad decisions that cost the club money. Bit of a one way street.

As for the "path to the premier league" brochure it was probably deluded but only because after achieving the first step (the Championship) with a pretty entertaining team, the great and good of Medway could not be bothered to sell out a stadium that held less than 11000, even though 35000+ suddenly become fans whenever the club reached Wembley.
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My point was Durham claiming P.S. doesn't get any credit for good signings and making a profit for the club. As you correctly say it is not his remit, and therefore he shouldn't take flack or credit for any player signings, whether that be Gazziniga or McCammon and hasn't as far as I'm aware.

Didn't Pulis claim that was a clause in his contract?

But that promotion to the championship was followed by P.S. trying to milk the situation by putting in a massive hike in ST prices, which as I remember was met with a lot of negativity and may have put a lot of people off.
 
We have a negative PR machine - take the share issue. Scally got his money then effectively abandoned that class of shareholder instead of [say] giving merchandise discounts and other benefits to them. So, PR-wise we're not competing with anyone and yet we're charging top dollar for average Div 3 football, which is what it has been for ages now. Of course we don't have a monopoly [no need for exclusive] on the Kent fan population but, out of a possible half a million, we only need to attract 5,000, ie 1%.

Scally's playing around with various schemes is only dickering about. It's all very well talking about calculations and marginal cost/revenue but the problem is matching income and expenditure - you come up with optimum income but at a price that is wholly inconsistent with the product on offer. That's why we're banging on about an innovative pricing scheme.

As regards arranging for tickets for those on benefits, that should be a must for all clubs to consider.
 
Captainreblue said:
You're either as deluded as PS or you are PS,Durham.

Let's congratulate PS on making some money for a business he owns, well done PS. But for every player we've ever made a profit on (and let's face it as WK says Scally hasn't identified,scouted, managed, coached the players, he's just done contract negotiations) there is a Kelvin Jack,Neil Master, Glen Thomas, Mark McCammon (spit) to name just a few,which have cost us far more in reputation alone
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Aagin you want it both ways - if its all PS`s fault he must also get the glory - its a 2 way street

Who employed or authorized the employment of the staff who identified the players --- now lets think, could that be PS?

And how much have we made over and above because of the contacts that PS has negotiated?

Overall the club has done alright with transfers and income etc.

We have survived - many have not

If PS sells the club who knows which way that will go but as he says he will only take investment or sell teh club if he is convinced its the right thing for the club
 
Over the years especially when we had success on the pitch Scally took plenty of credit and got plenty of personal praise, so it's only right when things go a bit 'wonky' he takes the flake. I have not got a problem with that, and as I've stated in the past the one thing P.S. can't be faulted for is backing his managers.

Well done Durham, as P.S. oversees everything at GFC he does get the credit and the shit (see above), unless of course it's ITV digital, then its some else's fault.

The club have done alright over the years regarding transfers and income and without it we would have been royally fucked, as we so nearly were with those funds. Scally however has run his ( I know you like to make it clear its his ) business shockingly in terms of loss making, over the years I think it worked out at about £1m a year debt over his tenure (and that's including all the transfer funds received ) but as you say we're still here as a club, if at times we've sailed very close to the wind, so for that we should be grateful if maybe more by luck than planning.

Agree that we could have had worse but we also could have had better, but not going to agree that he will only take investment or sell the club if its in the best interests of the club, sorry but that is just bollocks IMO, PS will do what is best for PS and then the club. If he was doing it solely with the best interests of the club at heart are you saying he'd sell it for £1 if it was to the right investor/thing for the club?
 
Captainreblue said:
Over the years especially when we had success on the pitch Scally took plenty of credit and got plenty of personal praise, so it's only right when things go a bit 'wonky' he takes the flake. I have not got a problem with that, and as I've stated in the past the one thing P.S. can't be faulted for is backing his managers.

Well done Durham, as P.S. oversees everything at GFC he does get the credit and the shit (see above), unless of course it's ITV digital, then its some else's fault.

The club have done alright over the years regarding transfers and income and without it we would have been royally fucked, as we so nearly were with those funds. Scally however has run his ( I know you like to make it clear its his ) business shockingly in terms of loss making, over the years I think it worked out at about £1m a year debt over his tenure (and that's including all the transfer funds received ) but as you say we're still here as a club, if at times we've sailed very close to the wind, so for that we should be grateful if maybe more by luck than planning.

Agree that we could have had worse but we also could have had better, but not going to agree that he will only take investment or sell the club if its in the best interests of the club, sorry but that is just bollocks IMO, PS will do what is best for PS and then the club. If he was doing it solely with the best interests of the club at heart are you saying he'd sell it for £1 if it was to the right investor/thing for the club?
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I accept that we've been lucky inasmuch that Scally has stayed and who knows who might have come in? But he also has to accept blame for his many faults - the biggest shitting on the shareholders and then the fans. Yes, it's difficult to run a club but Scally is not one to share anything good or bad. He's far too concerned with others' agendas because he always plays his cards close to his chest then complains that he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
 
Captainreblue said:
Well done Durham, as P.S. oversees everything at GFC he does get the credit and the shit (see above), unless of course it's ITV digital, then its some else's fault.
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On the ITV digital point, I've always agreed with Scally on it. You make budgets in business based on expected income, and TV money is a key part of that in football. I don't have the specific figures to hand, but I recall they were a massive part of our annual revenue at the time, and just lopping that off was significantly bigger for the smaller clubs in the league at that time.

http://www.itsroundanditswhite.co.u...itv-digital-collapse-on-lower-league-football

Found this article from 2014 on it which is a good read, the scale of the collapse is amazing.
 
But Scally denied having spent/budgeted for any of the itv digital money in his programme notes and criticised those who had, then promptly used it as a reason excuse over the next few years for our financial difficulties.
 
When PS brought out that brochure he felt that the club had huge untapped potential. That view must have been reinforced by the Wembley play off attendances. I certainly believed that potential was there. Sadly, the years in the championship proved otherwise. The attendances were by and large pathetic. Some argued that was down to pricing. But you only had to look at other clubs to see that wasn't true. Ipswich Town were charging almost identical prices, were performing worse than us in the league and were regularly attracting crowds of 22,000 plus. I'm glad that PS still believes enough in the club's potential to want to pursue a new ground. In the long run it might be the only way to move the club out of a league 1/league 2 rut.

Ps For those who sneer I ask what people would have said if PS had said at the start, "of course this club will only ever be in leagues 1 or 2 and possibly have a couple of lucky years in the championship." ?
 
Therealwaldo said:
When PS brought out that brochure he felt that the club had huge untapped potential. That view must have been reinforced by the Wembley play off attendances. I certainly believed that potential was there. Sadly, the years in the championship proved otherwise. The attendances were by and large pathetic. Some argued that was down to pricing. But you only had to look at other clubs to see that wasn't true. Ipswich Town were charging almost identical prices, were performing worse than us in the league and were regularly attracting crowds of 22,000 plus. I'm glad that PS still believes enough in the club's potential to want to pursue a new ground. In the long run it might be the only way to move the club out of a league 1/league 2 rut.

Ps For those who sneer I ask what people would have said if PS had said at the start, "of course this club will only ever be in leagues 1 or 2 and possibly have a couple of lucky years in the championship." ?
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Re your PS - Of course you don't expect to hear that but, equally, the fans aren't stupid and can generally tell the difference between pragmatism and fantasy
 
Captainreblue said:
But Scally denied having spent/budgeted for any of the itv digital money in his programme notes and criticised those who had, then promptly used it as a reason excuse over the next few years for our financial difficulties.
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Don't recall ever hearing that anywhere. He signed contracts with players based on it etc
 
Therealwaldo said:
When PS brought out that brochure he felt that the club had huge untapped potential. That view must have been reinforced by the Wembley play off attendances. I certainly believed that potential was there. Sadly, the years in the championship proved otherwise. The attendances were by and large pathetic. Some argued that was down to pricing. But you only had to look at other clubs to see that wasn't true. Ipswich Town were charging almost identical prices, were performing worse than us in the league and were regularly attracting crowds of 22,000 plus. I'm glad that PS still believes enough in the club's potential to want to pursue a new ground. In the long run it might be the only way to move the club out of a league 1/league 2 rut.
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That was the big shame. We had an average attendance of 9,000 odd for the first 3 years from memory which is the largest in my time of going.

I think the problem we suffer with is that Gills aren't really an all of Medway club - if it was we'd have a better chance of emulating the likes of Swansea and Brighton, but we don't.

Do people growing up in Strood or Rochester have a real affinity with the club at all? All my mates that go regularly grew up in either Rainham or Gillingham.
 
I grew up in Rochester and yes, people from the rest of the Medway Towns do have an affinity with GFC
 
Wayne.Kerr said:
We have a negative PR machine - take the share issue. Scally got his money then effectively abandoned that class of shareholder instead of [say] giving merchandise discounts and other benefits to them.
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Why would shareholders get merchandise discounts and other benefits? If I bought £250 worth of Tesco vouchers then I wouldn't expect them to send me a £10 gift voucher to spend in store every Christmas because I hold some of their shares.

"So, PR-wise we're not competing with anyone and yet we're charging top dollar for average Div 3 football, which is what it has been for ages now."

Wrong. We are competing with London based Premier League teams with considerably bigger PR departments selling a superior product.

"Scally's playing around with various schemes is only dickering about. It's all very well talking about calculations and marginal cost/revenue but the problem is matching income and expenditure - you come up with optimum income but at a price that is wholly inconsistent with the product on offer."

If your comments responding to Waldo's match ratings are anything to go by, you probably think Scally should be paying us to watch with an extra premium if Wilkinson or Nash play.

You may call it dickering but the club has tried things and judged the schemes to be less than effective in bringing in revenue. It has been very much noticeable that dropping prices has very little real impact on the crowd and the matches with the noticeably bigger crowds are usually boosted by a generous handing out of free ticket to schools.

I suspect that most people taking up the offers are people who regularly go anyway and are just taking advantage of cheaper tickets.

By logic of the law of Supply and Demand, the price does reflect the perceived value of the product on offer.
 
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I am Rochester boy born and bred.

It would be interesting to see what percentage of fans actually come from outside the Medway Towns for games.

Medway still has the potential to support decent crowds,we have just never really tapped into it. Our visibility is actually quite low. No advertisements on local bill boards, shop windows or anything like that.

I spend a fair bit of time in Lincoln and it feels as if that city is fully behind the local team. They have had lots of success in the past few years so maybe that's what we need.

That brings us nicely back the original post. Unless we invest in the playing team that won't happen, not unless we take a step backwards first.
 
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