Bruno - how about a new messageboard sectionwhere fans can post their ideas on how the club can raise money, attract new fans, improve the profile of the club, etc? I know the club/WSU could take on some ideas and discuss at their meetings. It's difficult for people to attend in person and many people who use this site don't live near the club anymore.
I don't mind starting the ball rolling - someone has mentioned George Best playing at PVR. Let's get permission to copy the photo of Best at pvr (that's in the upstairs bar) and sell or raffle good quality re-productions? I'd buy one. Easy money.
Over the past few years there's been loads of good ideas on here.
I think your idea is a good one but I am not sure that a separate forum on WUFF is necessarily the best way to progress it.This is an unofficial forum for fans to discuss freely any matters Welling United and to ensure this there has to be and there is no direct relationship with the Club.Indeed when I attempted to get a mention of the website made in the match day programme some 18 months or so ago it was made very clear to me that hell would freeze over first which makes the Clubs take on the forum very clear.
The existing situation of suggestions being made on the forum is picked up on from time to time and though it would prove difficult to confirm that it was as a direct result of a forum posting some have seen the light of day.Those with ideas have also been advised to submit them directly to the Club.
My immediate thoughts on the matter are that a commercial corner would be much better accommodated on the official site or the revamped WSU site which I understand is due to come online in the very near future.
It would be interesting to know the views of the current forum users and I invite all to post their views on the matter.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
1 The WSU in any name you care to mention isnt supported and has failed and is self elected. 2 The Clubs other commercial Depatment is unpaid and unskilled and not good enough.
Both of these need to change drastically. You can post as many good ideas as you like... A bit like Wenger managing a pub team...
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
WSU will not have a forum, two reasons its sanctioned by the club the club have TOLD James no forums and James runs the WSU site now... PLUS If the fans turned big stylie on the club that would unite the fans again since the club split them on purpose over the WSU
Gary ideas have been put up here(Use the search facilty) it would be like fixing a huge hole in a ships bow with tissue paper and throwing good money after bad. Admin wise we suck and the WSU lost a grand on one event.
The crux is the club needs professessional or skilled at least people in the commercial department. We have no foundation off the park. f we start getting some then maybe things can be built on.
I personally must have posted ooh 100 ideas?? Any that have been used are purely coincidental. The WSU is not supported, self elected, unnaccountable to fans and the minutes/fund raising is not documented or broadcast to the fans and the commercial dept is poo. Sort those and you may be getting somewhere. But the WSU will never be "United" as its self elected and just a bucket the club hold out for people to throw money in.
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
I wouldn't see the WSU having a forum as such but an open suggestion box for fundraising ideas, something which the official site could also do.
As far as WSU itself goes as I currently understand it, WSU is not a supporters association but a group of Welling United fans who have got together with the express purpose of fundraising for the betterment of Welling United and its fans. If my understanding is correct I would suggest that WSU is a misnomer and by definition self election is not an issue and accountability to fans is no more or less an issue than that to those who contribute to any fundraising efforts , Welling United related or not though I believe it should have accountability internally for its own protection should something go amiss. I can't come up with a catchy name off the top of my head but even Welling United Fundraisers would, again in my opinion, be a more appropriate title and would have the advantage of clarity of its status and aims.
I would add that as I have said in an earlier posting I attended the last meeting and I can confirm that its meetings are minuted and from my experience those attending are sent a copy of the draft minutes soon after and also that fund raising is documented. I'm not sure what the revamped website will contain but since it is probably a major element in their PR I would hope that it carries not the minutes themselves but a regular update on its activities, how much it has raised and what the money raised has been used for.
-- Edited by bruno at 15:18, 2007-08-30
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
I've got no problem with the WSU. Anyone who gives up their free time to help the club and better PVR is ok with me.
Anyway this thread wasn't about the workings of WSU but ideas the club can take onboard with or without the help of WSU.
I think the club should be looking at someone to fill a marketing/pr role at the club that could liase with the clubs commercial activities/wsu. This role would need to be full time (or near enough) and could perhaps be on a commission basis. Even look at Bexley College, local universities?
The reason that other message boards came and went was due to abuse and threats
As Bruno now knows the WSU is alive and kicking and moving forward
New ideas are being discussed and implemented
JGFC - at risk of causing an uproar - you have come up with several ideas of which one or two are interesting - Why don't you start them up and raise the money required
I think the club should be looking at someone to fill a marketing/pr role at the club that could liase with the clubs commercial activities/wsu. This role would need to be full time (or near enough) and could perhaps be on a commission basis. Even look at Bexley College, local universities?
Just to clarify is the suggestion that the Club employ a PRO in addition to the commercial manager or that they employ a proven commercial manager who whose responsibilities would include PR?
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
I'd like to see an additional role created at the club for a marketing/pr person.
This person could work with the commercial manager, club shop, wsu and more importantly outside with the local council, press & media, schools, junior clubs and so on. In time it could be wages well spent.
We already have Commnunity Officer Jim Dean whose role I believe covers those areas identified as more important with the exception of the press and media aspect for the first team. I know that this role attracts some grant funding which is ongoing so although we don't necessarily read a lot about it must be achieving its role in the community. His salary is also I would imagine met in part from the soccer schools that are run.
I agree that the Club desperately needs to address the PR angle and this has been the case for many years though 1st team local press coverage has increased over the last 2 or 3 years with all 3 local freebies now covering matches in more depth than had been the case of late, regularly carrying input from the manager and to a lesser extent from Barrie. There is however very little what I would term 'in your face ' PR raising the profile of the club.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
