Goggles & Flippers

http://youtube.com/vdnA-ESWcPs?t=1m58s I tried to embed with on either side, can a mod advise how we embed youtube clips?

Pro's Fewer seats around Fir Park help just that wee bit to help create a little more atmosphere and buzz, nothing worse than loads of free seats around you, unless you're a hermit/social retard. We have a bench were everyone on it, you'd be like, "yeah ... could do a job", only a few months ago it was slim pickings. I think that adds to the excitement when we arrive at FP, there can be a combination of 20 staring line ups and formations and you'd get an "aye OK, makes sense that" from most of the support for every combo. In Robinson we have (what it seems anyway) a manager willing to make immediate changes to improve things. Dunne being a prime example. However I may question why Hammell or Plummer didn't start if he was nursing an illness. Key for me is the dressing room and the cohesion where everyone seems to look out for one another and you get the impression there's a real Dunkirk spirit. Hopefully the Gannon chief scout wankfest can be put to bed as if he was some sort of Arthur Daley wheeling dealing genius. Dom Thomas returning to find those who replaced him are of higher quality and despite his best efforts, the decision made to allow him to leave was justified. Hope he turns good though and gets punted as we'd get a development fee. Big Lee will always have a place in my heart for "that" interview and for all we know he may have been our Moult replacement if he went earlier in the summer. I'm so glad he stayed as while Erwin is impressive physically he still seems like a big daft laddie needing told what to do and where to go. Ryan Bowman was excellent again ... let me stress the "again" part of that. Seems like a new quality signing maybe helped by the exit of a certain diminutive Australian. We have two strikers willing to put in 110% until the final whistle, no cute antics or "conserving energy" such as Ainsworth and McDonald. I'll jump on the Campbell gushing bus. If he was a striker the equivalent of his contribution to date would be about 4 goals. However he's a midfielder who's job is to harry, cajole, win and work tirelessly. Dundee Utd-esque contract extension please as a matter of urgency. New turnstile plan seemed to work. Con's First half was insipid and dire yesterday, not helped by Killie looking for a draw ahead of a few really tough games. Distribution and passing was chronic, granted primarily from one source and semi-justifiable. But as a whole there were too many basics overlooked that would be capitalised on by anyone other than relegation fodder such as Killie. If we were more ruthless then yesterday coulda and shoulda have been a 4 or 5 nil dribbing for Killie.

Flow still has a gig

Well if that happened, then so be it, at least we gave it a significant chance rather than left organising race nights or a raffle. Worst case scenario, there's what? An extra few hundred seats at Fir Park occupied. Surely that isn't a bad thing.

@Superward, I'd fully expect anyone coming into the Chapman to take advantage would immediately be given the hard sell. To not do it would be an oversight and negligent on the part of the club and WS. As for the values being wishful thinking, I know of at least 5 lapsed season ticket holders. I'm sure every one of us reading this can cite similar numbers. Tell them they can get it for up to £180 a year then I'm sure a few would return. It was only a few years ago we had 18,000 at Hampden and average home attendances over 8,000. We can easily get these lapsed back if we a) let them know about it, b) incentivise their return and c) incentives those doing the selling it to them. For the purposes of an illustration I used 300 quid as a datum. That is the rough adult price for the East/Hunter. Of course there are concessions and kids tickets, it would all be relative to what you pay. It would work such as this, lots of media and exposure. Fans are incentivised to get their mates and those who have fallen by the wayside over the years to return. If you know a bit of arm twisting in the pub or a few chase up emails get you a £120 back on £300 you were prepared to spend anyway, you will be proactive. How many hours at your work would you need to work to make £120? Would you spare one or two chasing up you mates to save 120 when you think of it on those terms? Upon taking out a season ticket you pay your advertised price ... in this case £300. Based on the uptake the maximum you can get back is 50% - £30 admin fee for the club to administer. So £120. A concession paying £180 would get back £60 if we hit target. The club would normally issue the rebates in two tranches, one just before Christmas as a welcome boon, issued from the back of the club shop (got to give Provan a wee boost) and the second after the tight cashflow months of Feb/March. That way the club has additional funds (albeit ring fenced for the rebate) to play with in the short term. For the purposes of Les' offer I'd recommend that it would be returned in October for one year only to get max WS uptake. The beauty of the scheme is this. The club agree to plateau season ticket revenues from the previous campaign. However the £30 admin free which is taken off any rebates at source per ticket immediately benefits the club and is in itself an increase in revenue. We all remember how having a full Fir Park for Nancy or Euro games, with no free seats around you gives an added buzz and excitement. This offers a chance to both increase attendances, revenues and embrace what is the core of being fan owned .... the possibility to take innovate ideas for the benefit of the fans rather than just pumping them for cash at every turn.

To counter the criticism, the club would implement at Bradford scheme season ticket drive, simple as that. Total season ticket revenues would be maintained from the previous season but the hope is it would result in increased attendances. What people do with their rebate is up to them however there would be a strong drive and emphasis to put it towards the WS and help sustain the club, especially in the light of Les' offer. If a fan chooses to put their rebate into the club then it is neither automatic or cute, its what the WS want us to do. Using a recent transfer fee as an alternative example is a tad disingenuous. As for why I dragged it up, I believe that if you are going to be critical which I am of where we find ourselves in September, then at least make sure your voice is not 100% negative. If I play devils advocate then I should at least have tired to be the angel on the shoulder with an alternative idea in advance of sharpening my knife. Which I did.

OK, so assuming all criticism is good criticism and I only do this because I also forwarded a tangible plan for the WS to consider to help crank things up when Les' announcement was made (so no naysaying from the sidelines without offering an alternative before anyone chirps up): When Les made his announcement, that should have been a game changer. All current plans put on hold with the focus on how to fully exploit the double your money scheme over the following 8 months, set a countdown clock because this is now a major income stream for the club and for that reason the club should have aligned fully with any initiative. Jesus, if done right it could have netted £250k matched is half a million and think how much we'd all doff our caps for a player sale like that. Remember selling Arnier? Any plans that would help further things get progressed, anything nice for PR purposes or tie up too much manpower, ditch till January 2018. Sorry Jay but to cite a 7s tournament, whisky day, auctions, MFC Podcast book are one off's by dedicated and motived WS members, ancillary to the organisation. These are neither "concerted" or maximising income in a relatively small time window. Negotiating large one off donations from certain members, well now we're talking, I'll give you that one. Revamped benefits package & recruitment campaign ..... to be honest, the fact the benefits package sat in limbo for what? .... 4 months? Is an oversight and dropped ball by the WS. This should not be listed in among all the other stuff that has been done off the back of Les' offer as it is intrinsic to the WS's being. Anyway, here's what I submitted, it is a tad back of a fag packet but it fulfils the tangible and concerted opposed to picking low hanging fruit: So if the Bradford scheme was adopted in season 2017/18, with the East stand representative of the whole stadium (all figures based on 1,000 adults signing up): Currently East Stand has 1,000 Adults. Revenue is approx. £300,000 per annum from season ticket sales. Keep revenue neutral but aim to double attendance to 2,000 adults. Bradford scheme where club agrees to keep revenues neutral from previous season. The club retains £30 of every rebate for admin purposes (£60k extra on top of £300k if 1,000 sign up). The amount of the potential rebate differs with the number of people who sign up, same way a Blue Peter appeal totaliser does (beauty is club always gets £300k and ALL admin fees). That results in a £150 season ticket and a £150 rebate (if 1,000 sign up) of which the club retains £30 and fan gets back £120 rebate if max number sign up. That £120 rebate can be directed towards a WS membership (setting up a £30 per month DD for 4 months - purely to maximse revenue generated in 2017). Every £120 is matched by Les. Resulting in 1,000 new adult members of WS, £120,000 generated via subs, £120k matched by Les, shy of £250k added to the fund. Each of the 1,000 would be expected to add a further £180 over time to get to the £300 Claret threshold (£180k). Added to that, some may pay more in before Dec 21st, generating more double revenue. Existing season ticket holders may also put some of their £120 into the WS (which would be matched). Not to mention POD and Cooper stands if they follow the precedent. Above is for adults, but kids and youths could add substantially to this too. Combine with the offers for season ticket holders it can be sold as effective free football for a year. This could be a real money spinner, total revenues from £500k to £700k for club and WS combined with Les' contribution: 120k from new ST holders +120k matched gift +60k admin from all 2,000 adults +180k future WS sub revenue from new ST holders +75k existing season ticket holders contributions +75k if replicated via other stands +75k matched gift It would get a lot of press coverage, show that the fans are being listened to and reducing the cost of attending for your average fan. However for us, it could max out Les' gift and also put even more direct funds into the WS. It needs swift action and buy in from all associated with the club. A vigorous and sustained advertising campaign and knocking on doors. Flow, Murrant, Craig, WS and club board, with an acknowledgment from the players they will need to get out into the community to sell it to the lapsed fans and those who have never considered it.

Only criticism I have is Les announced this in what March? We're now in September and I've yet to see some concerted and tangible effort to capitalise on this offer. You'll appreciate Jay, I've brought this up with you directly too.

All that highlights is Sinclair definitely needs a new agent.

You don't think there is skill involved in drumming up a bidding war to get him leaving for something in Jan opposed to nothing in the summer?

Where the skill for Flow now lies is retaining or punting players on for decent wedge in the last year of their contact. I'm sure he's well aware January will be pivotal.

Chairman's statement subtext: "don't fuck with us, our balls have swollen, peace out"

Interesting to know which other players have joined the society. Your Lasley's and McFadden's aside

I don't, in the same way Weeyin's post and hypothetical quote was too. However, I suggested it wasn't overly fair to suggest the Campbell be expected to step into a position vacated in 12 months time as was conveyed.

We could be us from before, just need to avoid the us of the recent past and find the us before that.

I'd have more respect for Robinson if he said to Campbell, "here son, brought in this guy who used to be the Man U youth team captain, he's got a few years on you but that counts for nothing with endeavour and drive. I want you to be toe to toe with him for a starting place. I have every confidence you're up to it. Go and prove it to me"

Serious competition for places, now the headache is finding our best players and the system to get the most. Don't envy Robinson. Maybe some on here who have wet dreams hankering back to that batshit crazy Gannon may transfer the "got an eye for a player" moniker across.

211 viewing this thread ...... check this place out.

You keep on punting this narrative about McHugh to centre half. Why are you so sure that a) McHugh sees that as a viable option in a time other than when necessity demands it b) He may prefer centre mid. c) Robinson values his contribution in defence over central midfield? Is it purely because he played there for half a dozen games last year and didn't make an arse of it?

Twas .... my bad!

Plummer hasn't done anything because he hasn't had a chance to I fully expect him to be holding down a place ahead of Tait by the end of the season. What is certain though for the first time in quite a while we are spoiled for choice and as it's so early on we don't know what everyone is capable of.

You say that like McHugh will accept the move with grace and be happy about it. I think he sees himself (rightly) as a centre mid and accepted the move last season because we had our backs to the wall. However with a window still open, replacement targets no doubt identified, being drafted back to the defence from midfield deliberately may not go down well. Positives: Allan Campbell Big Cedric (I often think what a pairing we could have had if Dembele opted to stay) Bowman .... where the hell were you last season? Looks like he's taken on Louis work ethic Henegan, before the season when many were listing their ideal starting line up he wasn't even on the bench Jury's Out: Still to see Petravicius so it could be a revelation Plummer, not really made it past the U20's so far but encouraged by his pedigree and review of St Mirren fans. He could be the left wing back solution Sorry to say it but Louis seems a bit miffed we've possibly put a bump in the road of his career, still doing the business though Rose, Tanner - How they'll be used and where, at the moment we've yet to see Robinson's strongest line up We know that Frear has something about him, was arguably the best player from Jan to May, not regained all form but know what he's capable of Only disappointments so far have been: Bigirmana (I thought he would have been more instrumental in our plans) Fisher (Granted Bowman has came back like a new player but still looking for last seasons late form to continue) Tait's situational awareness and defensive qualities in question now Still early doors and on paper this must be the strongest side with respect to pedigree and achievements: ------------Carson--------------- ----Henegen--Kipre--Dunne---- Frear-----McHugh-----Plummer ------Cadden--Bigirmana ------ -------------Rose----------------- -------------Moult---------------- Robinson seems to favour a three centre back, wing backs sort of formation. This above allows McHugh to offer cover to the centre half in a position he's played successfully in last season, Henegen can drift across to RB if required because you don't associate Frear with defensive capabilities. Cadden to offer the drive and Bigi to win the ball and McHugh to come forward to help when not under attack. Rose offers the lynchpin and Moult goes without saying. However based on form its a different line up, you'd have a good argument for Campbell and Bowman at least. Rose, Cadden, Campbell, Kipre, Bowman and the keeper have all had decent scores in the MotM scoring. Granted some players may have been tasked in something non glamorous thus far, out of position or not even made it on the park to show what they are capable of.

Hold on ..... where do we get a cuddly, 70's gay cliche chairman to wheel out onto Sky Sports when Oxford fail to pay us at the agreed deadline (a la Swansea City)?

What I can't believe is we on course to receive the best part of a million for a big dopey fanny who only sported the C&A for 18 months.

That post is out of character .... let me rephrase: "Deficiencies ..... yes, countless. All been from the offspring of a mullet left to eat beetroot soup. While no stranger to Rosshall, the only Sagittarius in the team has not set the tattoo's alight. 53 27 Purple Spaghetti 10:42am 17 Yer Maw 11"