Biggest game for years and the Club CHOOSE 1pm kick off and hinder their own fans getting to the games but fear not they can make a few quid on the coaches... oops only 1 has been filled. We have the WPC, sorry rising like a pheonix from the flames we have WSU and they have webspace thats just sat there for months nothing on it, WOW thats a big use. IF this WSU is better than the worse than useless WPC, why arent they at the ground of an evening selling coach tickets??
The organisation is bad from club to their own little band of supporters. NOTE Many have said 1pm kick off is wrong, NONE have said it is right and more importantly NONE of the WSU have criticised the club for choosing 1pm kick off (Dont wanna rock the boat eh lads?)
Why do you think only one coach is filled?? PEOPLE WORK! Is it too much savvy to open the bar for one or two evenings in the run up to sell coach tickets and sell pints, with some of the WSU (Surely WSO - Wings Special Ones) selling the tickets??
I have always said Welling's marketing and PR is worse than useless and it gives me no pleasure to be proved correct yet again. Even the Website responds to people saying this is crap so is that it needs this and that and miraculously appears days later.
Remedy- Get people involved that know what they are doing, have a bit of vision and PR and Marketing skills.
One f**cking coach?? WHY?? I can see the WSU going the same way as the WPC. because they have the same special ones heavily involved again. Bodies do not make a successful organisation, knowledge and skill do. Now sort it out ffs! its not hard to see why the WPC went so spectacularly tits up is it.
Solutions... Constructive critiscm
1 Open the Bar on Sunday lunch to sell tickets for the coach(s) (sic) plus Tuesday and Wednesday evening between 730 and 930. ADVERTISE THE FACT. it seems like oh we will be open office hours come and get one if you want. THATS NOT SERVICE!
2 If the WSU have purchased webspace USE IT to raise money and spread the word of the WSU and their policies and goals, at the moment to everyone its just a rename of the WPC.
3 Get rid of those that are useless in the WSU as it serves no use to have hangers on. The whole organisation should be UNITED and CAPABLE of improving things, clearly it isnt at the moment. ALL they do is add their name to functions that have been run by the club for years. How about a bit or originality and acumen?
Shake a leg for christ sake gang!
-- Edited by JgFc at 10:59, 2005-10-28
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
Official website says we are now on our 3rd coach, in bold type. I'm fairly sure we took 2 coaches to the local fixture at Leyton Orient and can't recall how many we took to Swansea - I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who will tell me though.
The club did face a real problem insofaras there were no Home fixtures between the two Cup ties when one would expect to sell tickets and coach seats. Being realistic they have had information included in local free papers, can't say about bought papers cos I don't partake and to be fair the Club is open from 12 - 2 on Sunday for the sale of tickets and coach seats. I have seen no details about purchasing either match or coach seats beyond this Sunday though I'm sure the brothers would be more than happy to sell you a ticket for the match up until next Friday and a place on a coach until the final seat is taken.
It has been said before that the websites are visited by a minority of supporters and based on the admittedly small number of supporters I regularly have contact with this is borne out. It's may well be difficult to appreciate this fact if you are one of the hard core behind the goal gang where I suspect the majority do use the sites - yes I'm sure they do visit this site albeit anonymously and not as contributors. Website information is therefore reaching reaching the regulars but only the odd floating supporter.
It's a bit late but I too would have expected the Club/WSU to have been more active in promoting the match and travel arrangements by things like:
the club sending a letter giving details to all season ticket holders. (They have sent details of the Crayford Dogs Night and Chinese Meal night which I understood were WSU events - Data Protection Act complied with this time!!)
opening the clubhouse on at least 2 evenings a week for ticket/travel tickets:
taking out a box advert in the local press - apologies if they did and I missed as I do not buy them;
anchoring a box advert the top of the home page on the official website;
putting posters in local shops with details of ticket sales and travel arrangements - haven't seen any if they did;
making travel arrangements available until at least this coming Wednesday. I'm sure a local coach company would have taken a provisional booking of say 6 coaches on the understanding that a firm number had to be confirmed by Thursday.
The arranging of Away travel is a time consuming and largely thankless task as I'm sure Jim Clench would confirm but it could have been eased if the Club/WSU had sought volunteers to for example man a sales desk in the evenings - a day 1 or day 2 task via the website.
It is very easy to be critical of the WSU who seem to have been largely invisible in the promotion of this match. Some of this may well be fuelled by their attitude to JGFC which immediately identifies them as a clique of supporters and NOT Welling Supporters UNITED. It doesn't, however, take much soul searching to answer the question did I volunteer my services to help out. Yes we all have commitments and the WSU are no different but if they were truly a UNITED organisation and had had the b**ls to have at least taken hold of the olive branch offerred by JGFC (who had the guts to admit to having gone too far) who knows, things might have been different.
One thing I would not be surprised to discover that WSU had done is to subsidise the cost of coach travel as they did for the Dorchester match. If they did they should not be shy of saying so and I'm sure have the gratitude of those travelling this way, not to mention 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
Bruno i didnt want to draw attention to it but have moved it to main forum now.
Fair play if they put themselves out and had some great initiatives then fantastic and more power to them. I just see them as "the special ones" as the are under the reins of the Club.
I just get so frustrated that the Club doesnt maximise itself, Without bigging myself, i emailed Gary HP 18 months ago or more and suggested initiatives which have since been implemented.The Commercial and PR arms of the club SUCK!
Huge match V Huddersfield i just feel the Club and WSU are just sitting back and letting people go to them. THAT IS NOT THE WAY!
You mention some excellent ideas Bruno, it is a crying shame someone like you isnt consulted. BUT as you say it is a clique. I hope my critiscm is seen as constructive as i have suggested ideas to them. Its like a back slapping club "Oh i'm an important fan and i'm part of the WSU!" Well how great BUT its far from Wings Supporters United is it? and its acheiving, changing and uniting sweet FA like the WPC. Somebody said to me IF it is a United Supporters base why the hell feel the need to put UNITED in the title. Fact is its a clique who renamed the WPC as that failed and this is going the same way. UNLESS they get their arses in gear. Sort the commercial stuff first then TRY to unite the fans but we've seen on BOTH counts they are failing.
Just a controlled handful of supporters controlled by the club. In a clique i'm afraid that acheive little.
-- Edited by JgFc at 14:28, 2005-10-28
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
Bruno we took 1062 to Orient and i believe about 6 coaches to Swansea plus those that travelled. Would be very surprised if we couldnt get 6 coaches for huddersfield plus another 100 plus travelling under own steam. Lets see if they push the coach sales. They could contact Radio Kent to advertise that tickets are on sale, also Time FM but the posters in the shops is a belter of an idea by you. Bexley Heath Sidcup and Welling and Eltham could be hit in an afternoon just plonk a poster on the counters and move on two people can do this easy? Barry Wallis and a member of the WSU? Needs to be done Monday and state Club open Wednesday Evening to sell tickets plus office hours upto Friday. Im SURE this get more involved in the CLUB and for the Huddersfield game. Cannot believe it wasnt thought of when the draw came out it would have given over a week in the shop windows. Online payment for tickets should have been accepted easy to set up by paypal or NoChecks or Bid Pay or Fast Pay or take Credit Cards and plonk an advert on the Official and Unofficial sites plus Dover/Gravesend/Tonbridge/Fisher and other forums to catch neutrals. Not Rocket Science.
If we had a PROPER/PAID commercial manager and a Supporters Association respected and capable this could easily have been done. Initiatives and Ideas and Motivation sadly lacking.
On and Off the pitch the club have been amateur recently, CONGRATULATIONS to them are deserved for turning it around on the pitch without doubt, Off the pitch now needs to improve then the supporters as one then the PREMIERSHIP ... ooops ! carried away but the potential at Welling is astounding i dont subscribe to the Charlton and West Ham being local hurts us, The Fans are out there. Stuff seeing whos won the 3.00pm at Kelso get out and about and spread the word. You only get out what you put in.
-- Edited by JgFc at 15:18, 2005-10-28
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
I think only 2 coaches to the Orient, the rest made their own way.
Figure of 6 coaches I used in example came from what I thought we took to Swansea but it was 14 years ago (couldn't believe it when I looked out how long ago it was!)
I hope your predicted 400 supporters or so is bettered or at least met because the lads have, for the most part, been doing the business on the pitch and deserve as much support as we can muster.
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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
Hope you have a good trip up next week but don't be surprised if your sat in an empty stadium, Wellings ridiculous insistance on playing at 1.00pm at £15 looks like seriously backfiring. Hardly anyone I spoke to at yesterdays match is going. It's a real shame a lot of Town fans were quite looking (with trepidation) to the tie.
