1st test for the foundation?

[islaydarkblue]

There’s a huge variation across the US in terms of average salary or kind of industry norms.

The federal govt minimum wage is much less than the UK but individual states pay more.

In addition it becomes harder to compare when you look at medical insurance or different taxation systems.

I’ve been to more than half of all the US states and as a rough guide I’d say about half of all Americans are better off than we are and the other half in deeper poverty.

Whatever way it’s dressed up John Nelms is paid way over the odds as CEO at Dens, both in real terms and against his performance.

Thank you for your information.

[BCram]

Thought this's topic might be worth more discussion. It seems to me that perhaps running a successful youth programme might be the second task that the board should concentrate after they have got the first team arrangements in place. I really know nothing about the youth setup at Dens but I thought the loss of the coaches was a signal that the whole system was being mothballed and yet I read today that Souter is coming in as goal keeping coach.

For me, the youth setup is the strongest advertising message that our club has. You get enthusiastic youngsters coming to play football, they have families and friends and it just seems to me that selling youth football is the best way to bring in new families or retain families who have several football keen youngsters.

What efforts are made to attract potential youth players? How much does it cost to run the setup? Are there benchmarks that are available to measure the effort our board makes in this area compared to similar championship sides? You would think that Gordon Strachan would be a tremendous asset. However how can you run a youth setup without coaches? If we have volunteers, what are we doing to support them? I think the cash raised by the 1893 Foundation will be needed elsewhere but if it were available putting it into the youth programme might actually be the best use. Imagine there are 100 kids involved that might be say 75 families. If we had a creative Family Season ticket for youth academy players maybe at £200 for 2 or 3 adults plus 2 or 3 kids that's £150 k in season tickets. We are not ever selling every seat so getting some money plus bringing in potential parents and grandparents might be a worthwhile return for the club. I am sorry but I see little obvious support from the board for our youths, apologies if I have got this wrong.

[BCram]

funny, McPake is in the Courier today talking positively about the youth coaches. Great to see.