We can't compete. Simple.
Get kids in free/cheap, get them hooked, get them to love the club and be happy to therefore pay £15 every week as they grow older.
There is no quick, fast way to get an extra 200/300/500 people through the gate on a permanent basis.
We can compete , stop the talk and the meetings and start acting
The beauty of the carnet idea is that someone might use a number of tickets at the same game by bringing friends. Money in advance, plus the chance for new supporters...why does this fall on deaf ears?
I have spoken to Paul a few times about this and other matters yes.
I didn't realise the success or failure of the whole operation was resting on my shoulders.
We can compete, and do better, if we take action. We cannot unless the "powers that be" do something. That involves all parties - club, Paul and WUSA working together. My first impression from afar is that everyone seems to be waiting for each other, and/or people disagree on who should be responsible for sorting it. Paul has stated before he doesn't have the time to do it, and I don't think it should fall on his shoulders anyway.
To quote you "did I have a plan of action to reach the 1000 target". No, I don't, but if I did who would I take that plan to given the comments above? Who would administer it? No-one it seems (as evidenced over nine months).
Besides, even if I had a plan of action, given we have first hand experience and knowledge of Maidstone, Charlton and other local schemes doing similar, via Paul, and a Dulwich fan has been on recently who have done similar, why ask me, why not ask them? and then do it!
Happy to help any of you formulate ideas. Mr Commercial knows how to get hold of me. There's no magic wand but read articles in Independent Magazine & When Saturday Comes published within last 2 weeks about Dulwich Hamlet and you'll get the idea.
I am sure that there have been some wonderful suggestions, but I do not quite understand why supporters should be driving these initiatives. Ok, sometimes I do a passable impression of stupidity, but I believe the club should be driving any schemes and initiatives. Sure, it is fine to ask supporters to bring a friend to a match and spread the word, but anything more than that should be driven by the club if it wants more paying customers. By all means consult WUSA and appeal for its help, but it is down to the club to help generate interest and to entice more customers.
I am sure that there have been some wonderful suggestions, but I do not quite understand why supporters should be driving these initiatives. Ok, sometimes I do a passable impression of stupidity, but I believe the club should be driving any schemes and initiatives. Sure, it is fine to ask supporters to bring a friend to a match and spread the word, but anything more than that should be driven by the club if it wants more paying customers. By all means consult WUSA and appeal for its help, but it is down to the club to help generate interest and to entice more customers.
Shock horror! Hold the front page! Wingnut completely agrees with Bertie
I am sure that there have been some wonderful suggestions, but I do not quite understand why supporters should be driving these initiatives. Ok, sometimes I do a passable impression of stupidity, but I believe the club should be driving any schemes and initiatives. Sure, it is fine to ask supporters to bring a friend to a match and spread the word, but anything more than that should be driven by the club if it wants more paying customers. By all means consult WUSA and appeal for its help, but it is down to the club to help generate interest and to entice more customers.
Shock horror! Hold the front page! Wingnut completely agrees with Bertie
As stated several times before, WUSA met and said to the club that ultimately they had to drive project 1000. I'm happy to give up an evening every couple of weeks to meet and offer ideas/volunteer to help out. Numerous people have offered their help as well, surprisingly the same old faces who help out. It would be great if some of the people who talk a great game would give up a little bit of their time to help as well. The club who hold the ultimate say in what schemes can go ahead so they need to drive this scheme
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Welling United FC. Banging on the walls of Woking dressing rooms since 1963..
As stated several times before, WUSA met and said to the club that ultimately they had to drive project 1000. I'm happy to give up an evening every couple of weeks to meet and offer ideas/volunteer to help out. Numerous people have offered their help as well, surprisingly the same old faces who help out. It would be great if some of the people who talk a great game would give up a little bit of their time to help as well. The club who hold the ultimate say in what schemes can go ahead so they need to drive this scheme
Its disappointing these trails often result in fingering point and indirectly moaning about individuals.
WUSA and many members of it also talk a good game, but I see no action on what I consider should be the number one priority of both WUSA and the club ... growing attendances, or Target 1000 or whatever other gimmicky name you want to give it.
The members of WUSA, and its committee, are volunteers, but you did volunteer. I didn't because I do not have the time. Also because I would be pulling my hair out at what I consider a lack of attention to something so critical. There are numerous people in WUSA that are retired for example, and numerous people that have offered opinions in the past, as a member of WUSA or otherwise, only for their valid concerns and/or good ideas to go nowhere.
For me, leaving the organisation of this to the club is a mistake. The club has a handful of employees, many already overworked, versus WUSA having over 100 members. The employees include an owner who is of pensionable age, who isn't going to have the desire, knowledge or enthusiasm to fill his already busy schedule with these plans for the future. As much as Barrie is brilliant at the secretarial element of the job, and has untold experience having been at the club since foundation, I am sure he would be the first to admit that the marketing of the club to the local population is not something he is good at, or wants to do, otherwise we wouldn't even be having these discussions as he would have done it all already over the last two decades.
Paul White is doing a thankless job, and we've already been told it isn't part of his job description. If it was, I am sure he would do it very well, but he has enough on his plate already.
So the choice is thus, leave it to the club and nothing gets done, or WUSA take it on and make it work, even though they shouldn't really have to. I'd be going with the second option because then things will get done, maybe not perfectly, but at least better than the current zero.
The work WUSA already does is commendable, but it is small-fry in comparison to the possible results if the same amount of effort was put into boosting attendances. The club will die otherwise. Boost the Budget, booking coaches, etc, all needs doing, but it doesn't help grow the club, or attendances. Boost the Budget for example puts £250 a week onto Jamie's budget, that is great, but getting attendances over 1000 would put ten times that on the budget, and all the other fringe benefits that come with it ... more singing that some have pointed out, more shops sales, etc etc. Those dedicating their time to volunteering in the club shop, hours and hours and hours a week/month, to raise a few hundred quid, when attendances could bring in 1000s, and all the sponsorship improvements and opportunities as a result.
I would happily stop talking a good game and assist on this project if others were like minded, but it seems we're happy to sit and let the club do nothing. That's a shame.
And as for letting the club do it, aren't we the club anyway? We have a Director on the board. If it is the club that hold the ultimate decision on what schemes go ahead then surely we can throw some weight behind it given our Directorship? The club cannot decide what schemes go ahead if they are thinking any up and neither are we, or we do think them up, but then never put them forward to the powers that be.
Someone working at/for the club told me the best idea raised thus far was "bring a friend". This was followed by laughter and head shaking by both them and I. Hardly a ground breaking idea, or likely to achieve much is it.
As Paul rightly said at the top of the thread, stop the talk and the meetings and start acting. If we're waiting for the club to do it we'll be waiting a long time, let's get this show on the road for the good of our club, and therefore everyone reading this, even if it shouldn't be us doing it. Or we could bury our heads in the sand and plod along, and have the same discussion next year/season.
I'm game if others are. I'd suggest WUSA alter their priorities. The club will benefit, and WUSA made up of some of the main hardcore supporters will too. Isn't that why you joined WUSA and volunteered your spare time in the first place?
-- Edited by Kevin on Saturday 8th of November 2014 07:24:18 PM
As stated several times before, WUSA met and said to the club that ultimately they had to drive project 1000. I'm happy to give up an evening every couple of weeks to meet and offer ideas/volunteer to help out. Numerous people have offered their help as well, surprisingly the same old faces who help out. It would be great if some of the people who talk a great game would give up a little bit of their time to help as well. The club who hold the ultimate say in what schemes can go ahead so they need to drive this scheme
Its disappointing these trails often result in fingering point and indirectly moaning about individuals.
WUSA and many members of it also talk a good game, but I see no action on what I consider should be the number one priority of both WUSA and the club ... growing attendances, or Target 1000 or whatever other gimmicky name you want to give it.
The members of WUSA, and its committee, are volunteers, but you did volunteer. I didn't because I do not have the time. Also because I would be pulling my hair out at what I consider a lack of attention to something so critical. There are numerous people in WUSA that are retired for example, and numerous people that have offered opinions in the past, as a member of WUSA or otherwise, only for their valid concerns and/or good ideas to go nowhere.
For me, leaving the organisation of this to the club is a mistake. The club has a handful of employees, many already overworked, versus WUSA having over 100 members. The employees include an owner who is of pensionable age, who isn't going to have the desire, knowledge or enthusiasm to fill his already busy schedule with these plans for the future. As much as Barrie is brilliant at the secretarial element of the job, and has untold experience having been at the club since foundation, I am sure he would be the first to admit that the marketing of the club to the local population is not something he is good at, or wants to do, otherwise we wouldn't even be having these discussions as he would have done it all already over the last two decades.
Paul White is doing a thankless job, and we've already been told it isn't part of his job description. If it was, I am sure he would do it very well, but he has enough on his plate already.
So the choice is thus, leave it to the club and nothing gets done, or WUSA take it on and make it work, even though they shouldn't really have to. I'd be going with the second option because then things will get done, maybe not perfectly, but at least better than the current zero.
The work WUSA already does is commendable, but it is small-fry in comparison to the possible results if the same amount of effort was put into boosting attendances. The club will die otherwise. Boost the Budget, booking coaches, etc, all needs doing, but it doesn't help grow the club, or attendances. Boost the Budget for example puts £250 a week onto Jamie's budget, that is great, but getting attendances over 1000 would put ten times that on the budget, and all the other fringe benefits that come with it ... more singing that some have pointed out, more shops sales, etc etc. Those dedicating their time to volunteering in the club shop, hours and hours and hours a week/month, to raise a few hundred quid, when attendances could bring in 1000s, and all the sponsorship improvements and opportunities as a result.
I would happily stop talking a good game and assist on this project if others were like minded, but it seems we're happy to sit and let the club do nothing. That's a shame.
And as for letting the club do it, aren't we the club anyway? We have a Director on the board. If it is the club that hold the ultimate decision on what schemes go ahead then surely we can throw some weight behind it given our Directorship? The club cannot decide what schemes go ahead if they are thinking any up and neither are we, or we do think them up, but then never put them forward to the powers that be.
Someone working at/for the club told me the best idea raised thus far was "bring a friend". This was followed by laughter and head shaking by both them and I. Hardly a ground breaking idea, or likely to achieve much is it.
As Paul rightly said at the top of the thread, stop the talk and the meetings and start acting. If we're waiting for the club to do it we'll be waiting a long time, let's get this show on the road for the good of our club, and therefore everyone reading this, even if it shouldn't be us doing it. Or we could bury our heads in the sand and plod along, and have the same discussion next year/season.
I'm game if others are. I'd suggest WUSA alter their priorities. The club will benefit, and WUSA made up of some of the main hardcore supporters will too. Isn't that why you joined WUSA and volunteered your spare time in the first place?
-- Edited by Kevin on Saturday 8th of November 2014 07:24:18
Phew. So WUSA has to have some ideas, agree them with the club's owners/board and implement them? On that basis, perhaps WUSA should run the club? More to the point, perhaps there should be more people on the board to help the beleagured owners - people who may be able to help with fresh ideas and money (or maybe not) who knows. If there are supporters willing to help, let them (as some of us painted crush barriers this season). But, there some supporters who just want to watch a match and not get involved in running things and doing things and we, WUSA, the club/owners should respect that.
We all support this club and I would love to see 1000+ attendances e every week. Bertie is right, many fans just want to see the game, there are also many fans who are members and non-members for WUSA who do a lot. Patsy, Sy and also Bruno who has given his views on what WUSA could do better but has put in countless hours to help set up the upcoming beer festival. There were many people who helped with painting at the club in the summer or building the club shop the summer before last, the 50th anniversary dinner, leaflet drops etc. The list goes on and on. Many give there time to help but for someone to say the Club/WUSA should do A, B, C but refuse to lift a finger themselves, I'm afraid I can't take that person seriously. I look back to the days of Andy Ford when there was a meeting at PVR to look at the then WSU contributing £300 a week to BTB. 50 people turned up and agreed WSU should do this. When we arranged the follow up meeting 4 weeks later for everyone to discuss fund raising schemes, 6 people turned up. Again showing that many want A, B, C to happen but expect others to do it.
There's at least 5/6 people who are willing to sit on a committee for Project 1000 of which I'm one. I do honestly believe it needs to be someone from the club who is the project manager if you like, as anyone can come up with a number of ideas or schemes but it's ultimately the club who have to give the green light to proceed with this. Thanks to all who have sent me suggestions which I'm collating (some of them are cracking ideas) and feel free to send me more. One of them involves giving tickets to schools for matchday, but can anyone just walk into a school and give tickets out?? No it needs to be someone from the club or the community scheme set up.
You are right, we are volunteers and we do what we can but we don't have an endless amount of free time to do everything, which is why we ask for anyone who thinks they can help to come join us. If anyone thinks they can drive project 1000 and be the project manager of it then put yourself forward. You will get plenty of support from those who have already said they will help.
Apologies for the rant, i don't like getting into disputes with people, maybe all energy should be channelled into supporting and promoting Welling United. Awooga
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Welling United FC. Banging on the walls of Woking dressing rooms since 1963..
In my view for what it is worth is that the project 1000 should be a combined effort between the club and the WUCT trust scheme with additional support from WUSA. For me the starting point and the key is The Community trust, as it has access to the schools in the area via the various programme, and have the opportunity to issue prizes etc as rewards to the children for attend their courses etc.
Yes issue certificates medals etc but also offer an opportunity to watch a match. for example hand out a form that has to be returned by the end of the course giving away 1 adult and child ticket for a match, option, however offers like this have to be santioned and endorsed by the club and that is why in my view it has to be club lead, so the WUCT know what it can and not offer to the community.
WUSA can also play the part by running a Boast the Crowd initiative run on the similar lines of Boast the Budget, and purchase tickets and give them away to local Charities, Old people homes, unemployment centres etc, and provide the opportunity to "expose the experience of match day football to those over wise would not be able to or if te club does not choose to issue tickets for the courses etc, then use the BIC money to purchase tickets and give them to the WUST to distribute.
Thanks to all who have sent me suggestions which I'm collating (some of them are cracking ideas) and feel free to send me more. One of them involves giving tickets to schools for matchday, but can anyone just walk into a school and give tickets out?? No it needs to be someone from the club or the community scheme set up.
You are right, we are volunteers and we do what we can but we don't have an endless amount of free time to do everything, which is why we ask for anyone who thinks they can help to come join us. If anyone thinks they can drive project 1000 and be the project manager of it then put yourself forward. You will get plenty of support from those who have already said they will help.
Rather than sending someone from the club into the school like a door-to-door salesman couldn't we send a headed letter or info pack explaining the initiative first, providing contact details for the club if they are interested. Then do follow up visits to schools that state an interest. If the club can agree on the wording of an introductory headed letter template then I'm sure volunteers, including myself, would be happy to produce individually addressed introductory letters for each Bexley school and posting them. Just a suggestion.
More to the point, perhaps there should be more people on the board to help the beleagured owners - people who may be able to help with fresh ideas and money (or maybe not) who knows. If there are supporters willing to help, let them (as some of us painted crush barriers this season). But, there some supporters who just want to watch a match and not get involved in running things and doing things and we, WUSA, the club/owners should respect that.
