[Bald magician]

born in 1866, on 12 May 2025 - 01:35 PM, said:

Income is useless if you're going to spend it on players who have nowhere to train.

Your comment makes no sense whatsoever?

[born in 1866]

Bald magician, on 12 May 2025 - 01:50 PM, said:

Your comment makes no sense whatsoever?

You said that we should not be spending money on training facilities but we should spend it on the fan zone and club merch.
So with all that income we buy good players who have nowhere to train become a failure on the pitch. Crowds down, fanzone empty and a shop full of unsold merch.
Get the training facilities right to get a good end product on the pitch and the income will follow to invest in the things you require.
Make sense now?

[rodney]

Bald magician, on 12 May 2025 - 11:11 AM, said:

I disagree. Sustainable income is essential.

The fan zone and lack of basic merchandise yesterday probably lost thousands in extra income.

I’m sure the Kirk’s would welcome your feedback. Good training facilities attract good players that make a good team and attract the crowds - that’s sustainable.

Though I agree we need some sort of fan zone / facility. I would like to know what the profit was yesterday out of interest.

[Bald magician]

born in 1866, on 12 May 2025 - 02:12 PM, said:

You said that we should not be spending money on training facilities but we should spend it on the fan zone and club merch.
So with all that income we buy good players who have nowhere to train become a failure on the pitch. Crowds down, fanzone empty and a shop full of unsold merch.
Get the training facilities right to get a good end product on the pitch and the income will follow to invest in the things you require.
Make sense now?

Not really. Without sustainable income how do you sensibly develop anything including training facilities?

We are lucky at the moment as the kirks are picking up the tab on debt.

[born in 1866]

Bald magician, on 12 May 2025 - 02:44 PM, said:

Not really. Without sustainable income how do you sensibly develop anything including training facilities?

We are lucky at the moment as the kirks are picking up the tab on debt.

You will not get your "sustainable" income if the end product on the pitch is crap, no matter how much stock you put in the shop or how many fanzones you create.

[Westbars Spireite]

rodney, on 12 May 2025 - 02:26 PM, said:

I’m sure the Kirk’s would welcome your feedback. Good training facilities attract good players that make a good team and attract the crowds - that’s sustainable.

Though I agree we need some sort of fan zone / facility. I would like to know what the profit was yesterday out of interest.

Do the club make anything beyond the agreement for them to operate from there? It's not operated by CFC.

[Sammy Spireite]

dim view, on 12 May 2025 - 09:27 AM, said:

Can't the Fanzone be done as a joint venture? The business case must be clear by now. The numbers must be in.

With who though?

Who’s gonna put the money up for something that’s only gonna be busy 23 times a year?

Even “Mr VK” pulled out of the storage container idea early, presumably as the the numbers didn’t stack up.

My one gripe about yesterday having wandered around the “attractions” int he north west corner of the ground was the lack of litter bins.

I ended up walking round with a 12inch wooden spike covered in ketchup for about 15 minutes, even taking it in to the ground to the use the bins in the concourse (god know how the stewards didn’t spot it and question my intentions?!).

[Blue5]

Sammy Spireite, on 12 May 2025 - 04:28 PM, said:

With who though?

Who’s gonna put the money up for something that’s only gonna be busy 23 times a year?

Even “Mr VK” pulled out of the storage container idea early, presumably as the the numbers didn’t stack up.

Is the fan zone now purely a club initiative?

I saw this use of shipping containers in Redcar recently which I thought worked well, especially with the canopies. These things always look great when the sun is shining, not so good during the winter months and / or when it's chucking it down though!

[Trigger]

Blue5, on 12 May 2025 - 04:56 PM, said:

Is the fan zone now purely a club initiative?

I saw this use of shipping containers in Redcar recently which I thought worked well, especially with the canopies. These things always look great when the sun is shining, not so good during the winter months and / or when it's chucking it down though!

They could integrate a stockroom in to that too for the club shop aswell as whatever the fan zone needs

[DIFH]

Bald magician, on 12 May 2025 - 07:18 AM, said:

Went in yesterday with a couple of nephews. They had 25 quid each to buy some bits and came out very disappointed with nothing purchased.

I know it’s been posted on here before but I was horrified thinking there was a sell out crowd was there yesterday and not a bit of merchandise on sale ? Surely you would have stalls outside at least selling t shirts, polo shirts, scarves, mugs etc as a minimum?

I was under the impression the club were wanting to maximise business opportunities and incline streams! Start with the shop is my advice

Stock is obvious on order. If there were loads of this seasons shirts etc in there then someone could rightly have a pop at the marketing strategy.

[jack'smyboy]

Trigger, on 12 May 2025 - 10:14 PM, said:

They could integrate a stockroom in to that too for the club shop aswell as whatever the fan zone needs

Wouldn't like to see the cost of insuring that, given the EV charger cables got whipped earlier this season. I doubt the current set-up has anything of value left in it between home matches.

[dim view]

Blue5, on 12 May 2025 - 04:56 PM, said:

Is the fan zone now purely a club initiative?

I saw this use of shipping containers in Redcar recently which I thought worked well, especially with the canopies. These things always look great when the sun is shining, not so good during the winter months and / or when it's chucking it down though!

The Trust can always use more classrooms, so surely some creative person can come up with a dual purpose distinctive design?

On storage, summat I suggested to Carson years ago was that our West Stand concourse has plenty of room for a Mezzanine floor above our heads. Currently a major waste of space. Doesn't have to be owt special, just a storage floor.

[azul]

Sammy Spireite, on 12 May 2025 - 04:28 PM, said:

With who though?

Who’s gonna put the money up for something that’s only gonna be busy 23 times a year?

These fan zones seem to be common now. I wonder how they make money

[azul]

spireitetoo, on 12 May 2025 - 01:00 PM, said:

I think that's part of the problem, there isn't a stock room, afaik?

Which is why we only keep stock that'll turn over quickly

If that was the only reason could they rent one of the empty shops in town or some space in a larger shop like the club did a couple of decades ago (Co-op?)

You browse the items on match day, order them and pick up the stuff in town at your leisure.

[Painted Wagon]

azul, on 13 May 2025 - 07:44 PM, said:

If that was the only reason could they rent one of the empty shops in town or some space in a larger shop like the club did a couple of decades ago (Co-op?)

You browse the items on match day, order them and pick up the stuff in town at your leisure.

Plenty of empty shops in the town now

[spireitetoo]

Painted Wagon, on 13 May 2025 - 07:49 PM, said:

Plenty of empty shops in the town now

But not the footfall, due to online shopping and maybe the parking charges ??

[Trigger]

azul, on 13 May 2025 - 07:44 PM, said:

If that was the only reason could they rent one of the empty shops in town or some space in a larger shop like the club did a couple of decades ago (Co-op?)

You browse the items on match day, order them and pick up the stuff in town at your leisure.

Either that or there's a bit of storage space about 100 yards from the main entrance on the other side of the road. I'm sure they could strike up some sort of sponsorship deal in exchange for a decent size unit

[Burgerman]

I went down to the shop yesterday to buy my grandson some croc charms, 100% believing he was winding me up but apparently, they are a thing. The lady told me they had sold out quite rapidly. I managed to order him some from the Sheffield Retro Shop instead. I got myself a pair as well, my Mrs hates me to wear my Crocs so this will cheer her up when I'm wearing them all the time (not!)

There were one or two folk in there buying lots of stuff so they must be doing something right.

[Sammy Spireite]

Burgerman, on 14 May 2025 - 07:17 AM, said:

I went down to the shop yesterday to buy my grandson some croc charms, 100% believing he was winding me up but apparently, they are a thing. The lady told me they had sold out quite rapidly. I managed to order him some from the Sheffield Retro Shop instead. I got myself a pair as well, my Mrs hates me to wear my Crocs so this will cheer her up when I'm wearing them all the time (not!)

at £3.50 each I was glad they had sold out on Sunday when my youngest dragged me in there for two lol

[Burgerman]

Sammy Spireite, on 14 May 2025 - 10:23 AM, said:

at £3.50 each I was glad they had sold out on Sunday when my youngest dragged me in there for two lol

I got some from Sheffield Retro store for £2.50 each. He will love them.