Having read the match programme from last night I have to say that I am mightily concerned about our ability to create revenue streams.
The programme is a fantastic and informative read imo, but what is massively lacking is any sort of commercial input, there are very few ‘paid for’ advertisers,and worringly again there were NO match or matchball sponsors.
There is no reference to past/future match sponsorships or player sponsorships, and as we all know we cannot survive on gate receipts alone.
Other than ‘our’ (the supporters and GEs efforts) I really don’t see any concerted effort at raising the profile and more importantly the finances to sustain and support JVs ambitions.
Sorry to appear (unusually) negative but it is a forum, and that is my opinion.
I’ve not heard or read much about match/ball sponsorships this season. It’s a strange one really because we have such a good product to sell and it’s a great day out.
I’m also concerned as to the next Sportsmens Evening. Announced within days of having to cancel the Barry Fry event up pops another £30 per ticket night.
I do hope some spadework has been performed prior to booking Dave Watson as I do understand that Everton players can produce their own following. However I already have had Wittoners thinking it was the Dave Watson of Manchester City & England fame.
The first i had heard about Dave Watson was when reading the program after the game. It isn’t exactly being pushed by anyone is it - much like the Barry Fry evening, and we all know what happened there :-
Who is now responsible for pursuing match and match-ball sponsorship?
I agree, the commercial side is pretty poor at the minute. The supporters seem to be doing alot more than those actually on the payroll.
Yes it is very worrying when we don’t have sponsors for games etc I still the think that the business and money is out there it’s just a case of getting someone from Witton around the local business fraternity and not just relying on fans to come up with sponsorship.
Its a great opportunity now as Vic’s look as though they are finished until next season. As when they do reform as a fans club, you can bet there will be a lot of local support for, particulary from the business world so Witton really need to jump on this market now while we have the opportunity and are the only team in town.
The sportsmans dinner I see as a total waste of time, Barry Fry is a bigger name than Dave Watson and that was cancelled! I really think that this area needs to be looked at before jmping stright into another potentially failed event. I personally couldn’t care less about Dave Watson and at £30 I doubt very few other non Everton fans will either.
Is there not an opportunity to go for personalities from other sports i.e Mike Atherton, Domonic Cork, Darren Gough, Paul Cullen etc all have involvement in local sport and would be of far more interest than a journey man centre half!
As I always say I am not knocking anyone’s effort at the club because I know how much hard work goes in but just suggesting that maybe we need to access what we are doing as whole instead of lurching from one bad idea to another!
I have made statements in the past regarding the advertising, events and website (some of the commercial activities). I think we/the club need to make serious progress in these areas before reaching a point where lack of money becomes an issue.
Programme; I used the Osset Town programme as an example before. They had 40+ advertisers in their publication and yet they are a club that has not done as well as us over the last few years and have an average lower gate. The town is a very similar size to Northwich and therefore their success in this area must be down to the people doing it. If 40 advertisers each pay £10 per ad it is easy maths; £400 additional income x say 25 programmes per season (including cups) makes £10k per year extra. I am assuming here that sales cover the cost of the print. Mark Lyon/GE may be able to confirm this. The programme itself is now excellent thanks to Mark’s work.
Events; We have to cancel the Barry Fry Sportman’s Dinner and now I believe we have arranged one with Dave Watson (as posted above). Promotion of this is poor at best and do we face the prospect of this being cancelled like the other one? Who is promoting this? Have we given any consideration to the fact that Social Night with Beaver is near to this date? I understand from Jim that Winter Ball ticket sales are going well (which is down to his efforts), the Race Night tickets organised by Andy got off to a good start last night. Why is it that only the events managed by the fans work!!! I don’t see Frosty the Snowman being a room filler on the Sunday after we had a match the day before - why on earth was this not worked into a Kid’s Christmas Party day for the Saturday and promoted to the 1,800 juniors that we have issued tickets to (then all of a sudden you might have turned it into an event that worked)!
Sponsorships; Who is talking to local businesses regards match ball and match sponsorship - I don’t know!!! Surely if we do not have a sponsor then at least we can use the opportunity to attract new potential businesses to the ground. We only have a finite number of these to sell over the course of the season so every game that passes without a sponsor is an opportunity lost!!!
Website; don’t even want to go here again, but I see the website promotional leaflets were again being handed out at the gate last night yet apart from the addition of a few updated stories the site remains an extremely poor effort I am afraid.
The board has a responsibility to address these commercial issues and to not place such a heavy reliance on the fans to deliver the goods (and the money). Fans will stop putting the effort in if they don’t feel it is being matched, then the revenue will drop, the player’s budget will have to drop to match - in short we lose out in every area.
The team is 4 points clear at the top of the division, it is about time the off the pitch work matched the effort on it!!!
I have printed the postings off and will, on behalf of the concerned supporters, discuss these at tonight’s Board meeting.
Further, there is a vacancy for anyone who may have the time to be involved with the commercial side of WAFC. The Board is not a closed shop and, in my opinion, needs a fresh face or two at this time to make the best of the opportunity that comes our way from NVFC’s situation.
As ever GE your communication and efforts appreciated.
If the budget relies on contributions from fans to donate personally and raise money through events then I think we need greater understanding of what this means. The fans agreed to back JV in building the best team we could for this season and we will continue to do that, at the same time I appreciate the that the club/the board did the same and increased the playing budget for the season. I think that as far as the main fundraisers are concerned the issue requires a little more transparency regards the revenues needed and how these are to be achieved. It is better to understand these issues now rather than finding out further down the line that the budgets cannot be sustained.
I think the concern here is the belief that commercial opportunities within the club are not managed to their maximum potential. When we have no match sponsor or matchball sponsor and little programme advertising in naturally raises questions - the implication of this being that it puts greater requirement on the fans raising additional income to cover such shortfall (in areas that really should be the bread and butter commercially)!
So far this season from the fans monies have/are being generated from the following;
200 Club
Fans Forum
Away Travel
Social Night (Live Music from Beaver)
Race Night
Winter Ball
Aside from the Half Time Draw and Results Predictions that you promote extremely well there is little evidence of other successful activity!
The supporters are extremely pro-active in their weekly ‘extra’ contributions and I think it’s great that the ones most active are doing such a good job.
The budget has been set at £x (with the top-up via the supporters contributions) and my efforts with the HT draw/ organising the predictions sheets & previously Dinners/Car Boots are effective, profitable and necessary. But we are not collectively good at everything and, yes, we need to be better commercially.
Questions are correctly asked why are there no match sponsorships etc and there have been attempts to get sponsors but they have happened. So we need a fresh face(s) to give it a go.
I doubt that any of the forum readers who read my post will come forward to offer??? Prove me wrong.
I don’t have enough free time - or experience for that matter - to be able to take on such a demanding role. However, i want to do my bit to help out where possible - as i’m sure do many other Witton fans.
For starters can we offically pencil the Supporters Team in to sponsor the Leek home game in January.
Also we need to sort out the player sponsorship that was provisionally discussed last time we sponsored a game. I think we agreed on Lloydy? We’ll sort finances out asap GE.
With respect GE I think the solution is not necessarily just about a fan or fans volunteering or coming forward. There are many examples of where fans will do this and hopefully will do more in the future. The best example right now is Mark Lyon and the programme, which I can’t praise enough!
The board members beyond just yourself have responsibilites for commercial interests and revenue generation. By example with Mark Lyon doing the programme what resource has this now released that can be focused on other areas? When it comes to Sportman’s Dinners and such events do the directors each take on the responsibility for bringing in say a minimum of one table each (from their network of professional associates)? When it comes to selling the club is there demarcation for who does what - for example who is responsible for finding match sponsors?
I appreciate that many individuals give up many hours for the club and in the main go without individual reward (including the ground staff, etc). They same is true of the Board members, however as Directors it is more an obligation of the position than being purely voluntary for the love of the club!
You don’t have to be a fan to join up - has has been the case over the years!
However, my case in point, if you have a love for the club you’re more likely to be more pro-active and successful at the task.
Anyway - off for my tea now to build my strength to tackle the Board meeting.
Eli you’re a gentleman however I am not sure that mammals are allowed on and in truth your previous offer of a pork pie in the other post is perhaps more appealing!
In all seriousness it would be something I would consider should the opportunity arise years down the line. Work schedule (Moscow, Mumbai and Warsaw in the next 4 weeks) plus home and possibly little rabbits in the next couple of years means I cannot give something like this enough time. At the moment other media bits occupy most of my waking hours.
I thank you anyway for considering I would be even worth consideration.
Whilst I am not in a position to do this I would happily contribute to some form of marketing sub committee that made decisions with the board. Something like this could include several supporters rather than just one and that would share the workload and resources. Something of this nature as a half-way house might be a topic for consideration.
I agree with all the raised above and have questioned the setup several times over the recent months - I’m interested to see what the board meeting response was.
I can think of 3 significant sponsorships this season, Jack Richards set up by Chad, supporters team, and my firm which I co ordinated. The player sponsorship I know has moved to GE as it wasn’t happening until then.
GE - myself I have no issues witht he board (you know me well enough) I think the issue I have and many other people have is that it is clear the current set up for whatever reason isn’t working and it is solely the boards decision/ability to change it. (I know certain changes have been made and am unaware of the success of this over the last month). This fact however doesn’t make anyone more willing to join the board etc so I’m not saying I’d like to be in the position any more than you & Mike W etc
As we stand at the moment I feel people may (although knowing most unlikely) be slightly more willing to assist etc if they didn’t think it was being done by someone else or that they were getting paid for it. A lot of voluntary work goes on by many people within the club - someone supposedly in a paid position not pulling their weight is a sure fire way to I would say increase apathy in this area. Whilst a slightly different situation - you only have to look at the response Pritch had when he was commercial manager from people offering to help him out!
