Paul Douglas to speak to press next week.

[Derbymiller]

I don't expect a lot from it but it is good he is doing it. I suspect he isn't looking forward to it and knows he has to say the right thing or his boss won't be happy.
I think the nature of football and the emotion that it triggers in its fans, it is just common sense to communicate with them. Isolating yourself and putting up a wall with your customers isn't smart especially if you want an exit strategy. I know people will point to Mike Ashley at Newcastle but it is a lot easier to sell a huge premier league club like Newcastle than a small L1 club in a small northern town with a poor public image.

[Ericsladkilnhurst]

Perhaps if Tony Stewart had a light bulb moment, & switched on to what he has forged at the club, & now realise the gloss is eroding under his tenure.
Tony Stewart has provided the club with capital over the years, be it some capital is a loan.
He & we saw the glory years of obtaining a number of promotions in the EFL & wins at Wembley.
We had a manager in Paul Warne, who was a success for the club, but the road ahead after Warne left, was a bumpy one.
With different managers taking the club down a country lane, full of bends & twists, & now the club has hit the pot holes, which have got deeper, with no sign of repair.
Time for Tony Stewart to look at the clubs troubles, & where it stems from.
1 Perhaps start at the top, & sell the club, but no value really.
If he was going to sell, he should have sold it while Paul Warne was at the club, with the club in the championship.
2 - Perhaps think, do I need certain people at the club, one being Paul Douglas, who wags the tail for the club.
3- what is Scott doing in recruitment of players, which has been shocking, with injury prone players we have signed.
4- Does Tony Stewart release funds to the manager, to bring in players to keep the club in the EFL League 1
5 - we await the owners response to the problems at the club.

[RU66]

I've met PD he's a differe. Just put to him the club don't want us in league 2 next season do they? If not what do they intend to do to give us a chance of this not happening.

[Timbertop]

Don?t think the club have agreed a date and time yet ! Maybe they?re scared of the vitriol .

[Old_time_miller]

Start a thread, your questions. Mods keep a tally, remove any duplicates. Then post to the radio. We are all expressing much the same thing but don?t we have questions worth asking? Not just assume they will be vetted.

I think the overriding question for me is why have so many sickies (phrased correctly, we know which risky players) actively sort. Rob would not have deliberately gone out for such on his own. I guess it was costs, but if they at least came clean on cutting the cloth accordingly, that would be something.

If we as a group supply the questions and they are not fielded, then we will have some answers none the less.

What say the mods?

[Ericsladkilnhurst]

Start a thread, your questions. Mods keep a tally, remove any duplicates. Then post to the radio. We are all expressing much the same thing but don?t we have questions worth asking? Not just assume they will be vetted.

I think the overriding question for me is why have so many sickies (phrased correctly, we know which risky players) actively sort. Rob would not have deliberately gone out for such on his own. I guess it was costs, but if they at least came clean on cutting the cloth accordingly, that would be something.

If we as a group supply the questions and they are not fielded, then we will have some answers none the less.

What say the mods?

You say Rob Scott not gone out for such on his own, You guessed it was costs ?
So we could have ended up with a one legged player, [ Its ok he can hop ] to save money.

Said in Jest mate.

[Spuddy Speight]

Have any season ticket holders received an invite to submit a question for the upcoming Q and A session with PD?

[CAMiller]

Have any season ticket holders received an invite to submit a question for the upcoming Q and A session with PD?

Not that I'm aware of, it's not even mentioned on the club website. Paul Davies used to be a regular contributor on here but if I remember rightly he packed it in due to the grief he was getting from some of the posters.

[Townerslovechild]

Right now all I want to hear is we've signed a striker or two.

[Brin]

Right now all I want to hear is we've signed a striker or two.

[frogmiller]

Right now all I want to hear is we've signed a striker or two.

Really?

[UlleyMiller]

Surely they do have an obligation though? Or a least a responsibility, if they are good custodians of the club? Lets not forget, they might own the shares but without customers, the business is screwed. And yes of course, there will always be 3-4000 hardcore who will turn up irrespective of the situation but a football club cannot survive on those numbers in this day and age.

I'll give you an example. I go to the matches with between 20 - 25 season ticket holders - we have been there since 2012 at the NYS. Over the past 3 years, this has dwindled down to about 15 people. Of those remaining, at least half of them are considering the future. Myself, I will always go but I am seriously considering whether I renew or simply buy on the day. The main gripe from that group is lack of transparency from the ownership since the Warne years. This year has taken the biscuit in many peoples eyes because of the clear malais from TS and the total lack of visibility. Not may have taken to MH in that group despite him being "one of our own". I think part of that is the results but most of it is the lack of charisma and his engagement with the fans.

Paul Davis is just part of the problem. He doesnt challenge. He is fearful of the door being shut in his face. Some clubs closer to where I live had a real challenge from their local press. Ours is pathetic. I challenged PD about this last year and he just shrugged.

So, all in all we are in a poor situation. But TS is not making it any better and is only damaging the brand. If this display from PD is nothing more than a controlled press statement then, you are right, it wont help. What is needed is some good old honesty - good or bad, and then people can decide.

They have no obligations at all. People can (and often will) decide if they should, if it's correct, but they have no obligations. Customers will rationalise going/not going, spending/not spending based on results, who the manager is, who is playing regularly, what division we're in, and even (apparently) if payment methods are restricted to cash. There is no way to run any football club which leaves all fans happy, and most decisions will irk at least a good number, no matter what they do. For reasons like these, it's barely worth the effort to communicate knowing it leads to further criticism whatever is said. There is also a good amount they need to keep in-house. If we're utterly broke, that's leverage for others to buy our players cheaply, and if we broadcast that we've strengthened our finances, we're suddenly paying more for players. We'd be playing a zero sum game alone.

The brand is largely meaningless too. I don't think of TS as being part of the brand, nor anything other than the current name on the deeds. Many owners (ergo, would-be buyers) think they are the brand or at least control it, but the brand is a 148 year old club in a mid-sized northern town, supported by largely blue collar fans local to the area - aside from the age, that will remain the same irrespective of who owns it in 98% of cases.

Don't get me wrong, many of us want honesty or (maybe more likely) transparency, but it comes with risks to the club and although we may feel a little better about the flow of information, it's just more to pick fault at and there are no real benefits.

[ragingpup]

They have no obligations at all. People can (and often will) decide if they should, if it's correct, but they have no obligations. Customers will rationalise going/not going, spending/not spending based on results, who the manager is, who is playing regularly, what division we're in, and even (apparently) if payment methods are restricted to cash. There is no way to run any football club which leaves all fans happy, and most decisions will irk at least a good number, no matter what they do. For reasons like these, it's barely worth the effort to communicate knowing it leads to further criticism whatever is said. There is also a good amount they need to keep in-house. If we're utterly broke, that's leverage for others to buy our players cheaply, and if we broadcast that we've strengthened our finances, we're suddenly paying more for players. We'd be playing a zero sum game alone.

The brand is largely meaningless too. I don't think of TS as being part of the brand, nor anything other than the current name on the deeds. Many owners (ergo, would-be buyers) think they are the brand or at least control it, but the brand is a 148 year old club in a mid-sized northern town, supported by largely blue collar fans local to the area - aside from the age, that will remain the same irrespective of who owns it in 98% of cases.

Don't get me wrong, many of us want honesty or (maybe more likely) transparency, but it comes with risks to the club and although we may feel a little better about the flow of information, it's just more to pick fault at and there are no real benefits.

Great post

[Timbertop]

But if you?re an entertainment business you shouldn?t operate like a secret society.

[mellowmiller]

They have no obligations at all. People can (and often will) decide if they should, if it's correct, but they have no obligations. Customers will rationalise going/not going, spending/not spending based on results, who the manager is, who is playing regularly, what division we're in, and even (apparently) if payment methods are restricted to cash. There is no way to run any football club which leaves all fans happy, and most decisions will irk at least a good number, no matter what they do. For reasons like these, it's barely worth the effort to communicate knowing it leads to further criticism whatever is said. There is also a good amount they need to keep in-house. If we're utterly broke, that's leverage for others to buy our players cheaply, and if we broadcast that we've strengthened our finances, we're suddenly paying more for players. We'd be playing a zero sum game alone.

The brand is largely meaningless too. I don't think of TS as being part of the brand, nor anything other than the current name on the deeds. Many owners (ergo, would-be buyers) think they are the brand or at least control it, but the brand is a 148 year old club in a mid-sized northern town, supported by largely blue collar fans local to the area - aside from the age, that will remain the same irrespective of who owns it in 98% of cases.

Don't get me wrong, many of us want honesty or (maybe more likely) transparency, but it comes with risks to the club and although we may feel a little better about the flow of information, it's just more to pick fault at and there are no real benefits.

........and yet when the team is doing well you can't keep Tony Stewart out of the media.