After the match Saturday I was sitting in the club having a pint with Witton legend Keith Higgins and Tony Dean two guys I like to consider as great friends. Mr Worthington asked if he could come and sit down and talk to us. Mike was basically sounding us out on our thoughts about the club how we felt it was going etc. Obviously we told him that the whole thing was going great the football was magic and the club on the up but that we also needed to guard against any complacency and to keep things going. I think personally we do perhaps need more activity on the commercial side. On the football side we perhaps need another striker now that the Dossler has gone but this is not a pressing issue!
What I really wanted to say and I hope Mike somehow reads this or at least gets wind of it how much Keith,Tony and myself really appreciated him taking time out to come and talk to us. On top of the excellent match this really made my weekend. Mike has had to take some stick over the last few years about being tight with the budgets etc and in his position he’s always going to get detractors and some criticism. I think we’ve had three great chairman in recent history of the club, Sammie Powell, Tom Stelfox and now Mike also Paul Broadhurst was ok. I think for Mike to be mentioned with people like Mr Stelfox is probably the biggest compliment I can pay him. Mike thanks for the chat Saturday it was great and I really enjoyed it. Keep up waht your doing I know the football side takes up the limelight but we must not forget the foundations behind all this. A big thank you from me!!
I think beyond any doubt Mike has done a sterling job for this football club. It is much easier to criticise than it is to ‘do’! Mike is a charming and sensible custodian of the club who I think rightly deserves the praise. He has not committed us to any risk and the club sits on a valuable asset in the ground and the land. All the examples of how not to do it are right under our nose across the water and ask any of their fans they would prefer to have a Chairman of Mike’s character and with his approach.
My only concerns with regards to the club are commercial ones and decisions over our approach (and perhaps who we partner with). We have made great progress on the field over the last 2 years and this is a time when we should be looking for similar progress off the pitch. We need more people through the gates and more revenue streams (or better returns from existing ones). These are not easy things to fix and results will not happen overnight. On the whole we do not promote ourselves well enough in the area, in my opinion. Nor do we maximise the revenue from advertising boards, the programme or our facilities (events).
You are completely right to state that the foundations are all important and this is where Mike deserves huge amounts of credit. The danger or over ambition is clear but I do feel we need to show more ambition off the pitch and make Witton Albion/Wincham Park more of a commercial force. Now is the time to do this for two reasons; (a) the current state of flux across the water which will change as new owners come in with new ideas - although they are going to go down further before recovering and (b) the quality of our football and our position in the league.
None of this takes anything away from what Mike has achieved (PAST) and the recognition for this is deserved, but if we want to play at Conference North level (FUTURE) then we need to start with better marketing.
Excellent Rabbit and I totally concur with what you are saying. My own son feels exactly the same way and has posted a comment or two to this affect. The contrast with Vics is startling as you quite rightly say as you cannot live beyond your means for great periods of time.Mike has run the club on the basis you can’t spend more than what you get in for ages. I know Mike is taking a few chances this season with our budget and yes I’d like to see more commercial activity to support our bid for promotion and beyond. I just wanted to give Mike a bit of praise in this instance as he didn’t have to talk to us but took time out to do so and I feel sometimes people do knock him a little bit for keeping a tight rein on the purse strings. I can’t see Roman Abrovomich talking to the Chelsea fans in their club!!