Post by furrow on May 18, 2014 12:00:26 GMT
Very disappointed to read the following :
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Weston Mercury Friday, May 16, 2014 :
ALTHOUGH Weston finished their Skrill South campaign in a comfortable 11th spot, the season ended with the shock news of the resignation of the manager Craig Laird and both the coaches, Marc McGregor and Bob Boyd.
It is understood the club held a board meeting recently and details of the playing budget for next season were announced to the manager.
Unfortunately, there was a cut in the amount available to finance the team which resulted in the resignations, as they felt unable to keep up the standard of play they set.
It is down to the lack of support given to the club. They need an average attendance of approximately 1,000 at every home league game to maintain a squad capable to challenging for promotion, not an impossible figure given the size of the population, but unfortunately they can attract only less than 300, despite the quality of football being served up.
The board has tried hard to attract new investment without significant success and add to that the cost of travel, with the club having one of the largest travel bills in the league.
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So that's it then – the lack of support is the cause of the loss of the management team and what may turn out to be most of the first team players !
And there was me thinking that it was because of the club :
1) Not promoting itself outside of it's immediate area !
2) Not seeking investment from possible shareholders despite the club being worth £1,133,000 !
3) Not maintaining the official club website to provide interesting and UP TO DATE information !
4) Not attempting to build a fan base by way of forming a supporters club !
At the risk of repeating myself for the umpteenth time :
10 miles south of Weston is Burnham and Highbridge, population over 23,000. No advertising is done here despite the area being served only with park football ! It is generally recognised that by advertising you can attract 2% of the target, just 1%, which seems more realistic in terms of the current economic climate could potentially attract a further 200+ to home games – surely worth a try !
A share issue would raise funds to increase the profile of the team and enable a realistic attempt at reaching promotion !
Taking a look at club websites of a similar, and even less, stature to ourselves highlights the things that can be done to attract potential supporters, one example, downloadable matchday posters ! On many occasions help has been offered to improve the website, none of this has been taken up !
Instead of alienating a proportion of the supporters with the farcical under and over 24 price structuring, the formation of a supporters club could offer a discounted entry to members of all ages whilst maintaining a database of members to target with other incentives which could be used to benefit the club and reward the member !
I really fear for this coming season, the only news of players is of those leaving, the ticket price structuring did nothing to increase attendances last season and will have no impact again this season ! The lack of investment in the team will put increasing pressure on the youth players who come in, their lack of experience could be telling and again may result in decreasing attendances !
If the club maintain the course it is on I believe we should forget the Conference South and start again in the Calor League Premier where our attendances are average for that league and there would be less travelling expenses – or is that the plan ?
---------------------
Weston Mercury Friday, May 16, 2014 :
ALTHOUGH Weston finished their Skrill South campaign in a comfortable 11th spot, the season ended with the shock news of the resignation of the manager Craig Laird and both the coaches, Marc McGregor and Bob Boyd.
It is understood the club held a board meeting recently and details of the playing budget for next season were announced to the manager.
Unfortunately, there was a cut in the amount available to finance the team which resulted in the resignations, as they felt unable to keep up the standard of play they set.
It is down to the lack of support given to the club. They need an average attendance of approximately 1,000 at every home league game to maintain a squad capable to challenging for promotion, not an impossible figure given the size of the population, but unfortunately they can attract only less than 300, despite the quality of football being served up.
The board has tried hard to attract new investment without significant success and add to that the cost of travel, with the club having one of the largest travel bills in the league.
----------------------
So that's it then – the lack of support is the cause of the loss of the management team and what may turn out to be most of the first team players !
And there was me thinking that it was because of the club :
1) Not promoting itself outside of it's immediate area !
2) Not seeking investment from possible shareholders despite the club being worth £1,133,000 !
3) Not maintaining the official club website to provide interesting and UP TO DATE information !
4) Not attempting to build a fan base by way of forming a supporters club !
At the risk of repeating myself for the umpteenth time :
10 miles south of Weston is Burnham and Highbridge, population over 23,000. No advertising is done here despite the area being served only with park football ! It is generally recognised that by advertising you can attract 2% of the target, just 1%, which seems more realistic in terms of the current economic climate could potentially attract a further 200+ to home games – surely worth a try !
A share issue would raise funds to increase the profile of the team and enable a realistic attempt at reaching promotion !
Taking a look at club websites of a similar, and even less, stature to ourselves highlights the things that can be done to attract potential supporters, one example, downloadable matchday posters ! On many occasions help has been offered to improve the website, none of this has been taken up !
Instead of alienating a proportion of the supporters with the farcical under and over 24 price structuring, the formation of a supporters club could offer a discounted entry to members of all ages whilst maintaining a database of members to target with other incentives which could be used to benefit the club and reward the member !
I really fear for this coming season, the only news of players is of those leaving, the ticket price structuring did nothing to increase attendances last season and will have no impact again this season ! The lack of investment in the team will put increasing pressure on the youth players who come in, their lack of experience could be telling and again may result in decreasing attendances !
If the club maintain the course it is on I believe we should forget the Conference South and start again in the Calor League Premier where our attendances are average for that league and there would be less travelling expenses – or is that the plan ?
