I’ve sent the SLO a message with a (large) number of questions and would like to attend again if possible.
Because the SDM is bound to be critiqued my many on here who lack anything constructive to say I feel I should share my proposed questions here too. It may just help some people fortunate their own or ask things they worry may get missed by others.
For the record these are my questions. Hopefully a few get looked at.
My questions are as follows;
1) Approximately 10-12 months ago I put a question to the board regarding the approach to communication. I suggested the club was largely reactive as opposed to proactive and that they had missed opportunities to make the most out of positive aspects of the clubs existence whilst also letting rumours and hearsay worsen the impact of negative aspects. I was told by the board this was not something they agreed with but that there was a professional communications, marketing and PR team in place and that they were always looking to improve. 10-12 months later and communication is worse than ever, fan engagement at a low point under SS’s tenure and this coupled with onfield disappointment will likely result in lower attendances, reduced commercial revenue and other negative outcomes. What if anything is the club doing to improve its comms, marketing and PR.
2) How does the club plan to rebuild its relationship with the supporters. It’s clear the positivity that was so infectious 12 short months ago has largely disappeared.
3) What happened to the clubs long term plan and the vision of a specific type of ‘Blackpool FC player’ that was sold to the fans when SS and BM first became involved ? Has the project NC was such a big part of completely gone out of the window ?
4) Why wait so long to remove MA when results and performances had been so poor ? Other clubs appear much more decisive.
5) Are rumours of SS’s intentions to sell the club true ?
6) Where are we in terms of recruiting a new manager and planning for next season ?
7) When NC departed the board indicated succession planning was to be improved going forward so that managers, coaches and players could depart with minimal impact. Between MA being appointed and then removed what happened to that planning ? MM is clearly not part of a long term succession plan. His own words suggest his appointment was out of the blue.
8) Where is the club at in terms of the capital investment projects ? (TG and East)
9) If the club is to be relegated will a competitive budget be in place to give us the best possible chance of an instant return ?
10) If the club survives in this division what will be done to ensure the mistakes made this season are not repeated ?
11) The sheer number of injuries suffered by BFC players seems almost unbelievable. Are new training, recruitment methods being put in place to remedy this ? Is it the current TG ?
12) When will a new manager for next season be appointed ? The sooner the better surely ?
13) Blackpool FC women at BR was a great success - we should see more of this going forward.
14) SS - please outline your long term vision. How long you intend on being at BFC, how BFC’s reliance on your money will ultimately impact the club and what your succession plan ultimately looks like ?
Many Thanks
Ryan (LA1 Seasider)
You've pretty much covered everything.
Just expanding on point 7.
Why was Appleton appointed in the first place. It was clear to any of us that he was deeply unpopular, would be up against it for many reasons and going against fan will never seems to work and it didn't, nor would it sell tickets.
It's likely to cost us our Championship status now, thrown away unnecessarily. He was always going to need a decent rebuild to play his brand effectively too, so knowing how hard that would be for us as a club, why didn't we go for someone similar to what we had and build into a new style gradually?
Fans needed a positive to offset the shock Critchley bad news in summer. A new bloke with no baggage or even some ex player involved in some way would have done it.
Ben assured people of the candidates we would go for who fit the club and town and would just slot into place.
We then got Appleton who no-one wanted. His personality and general demeanour doesn't fit with the passionate fanbase we have, fans like to see a manager going through what they do, to build a connection.
His appointment completely killed the mood as we countered a negative with another perceived negative. This also killed the feelgood factor and with a summer of public transfer failures, it's little wonder the atmosphere was poor from the off.
It would have been pretty easy to keep it going, no Blackpool fan, bar Sadler it seems, would have chosen Appleton. It was not the appointment to excite fans, bring everyone together and counter a negative in losing the last manager.
Also why was Mick appointed and was it even considered how he'd fit with the players we have? What we really needed was a new guy playing a similar ish way that suits our players, with a bit more steel and fans onside. That was it really.
To completely change to a massively different style that we aren't effective at, after bringing in players to suit the last guys style, looks another obvious mistake.
