JJpool
Well-known member
But if for the odd game a season we did a really cheap deal to get fans through the door, with an offer they can't refuse, then it can work over time.
We need to try things and just get people in and hope they come again.
The Official structured dialogue meeting thread
- Thread starter Phil_bfc deux
- Start date
We need to try things and just get people in and hope they come again.
LA1 Seasider
Well-known member
Can imagine there may be a slight delay with what’s happened over the last few days. Understandable really.
Fatboy
Well-known member
Yeah, you’re probably right ! And yes, it is understandable.
Phil_bfc deux
Well-known member
Apparently I missed a good one, was speaking to a club director on Monday and it appears the format changed a little
Looking forward to seeing the minutes
Looking forward to seeing the minutes
aquaduck
Well-known member
100% behind what Sadler is trying to do in terms of spending on improving infrastructure as a priority. Inadaquate ground and training facilities has generally held us back and it needs putting to bed. I'm not happy about relegation but fluctuation between 2nd and 3rd tier is realistically where we are for a club of out size.
FY16JJ
Well-known member
Structured Dialogue Meeting – Friday 3 March 2023
Supporters Group attendees:
Thanks to everyone for attending and to the SLO for organising the event and introductions of BFC staff in attendance.
Group financial statement
MM introduces presentation outlining upcoming Group financial statement and financial projections of SS funding over ten year period, starting from the purchase of the Club in 2019.
MM: This is a four-year profit and loss as we prepare to announce the June 2022 accounts. We’ve also provided a forecast for June 2023. For the year ending June 2022 we have achieved a small profit of £400,000. More significantly, to achieve that, we have required a £3.3m cash injection from our owner. Furthermore, as part of the Seaside group, we received £400,000 related to tax that we would not have got otherwise. This also outlines our player trading which shows that for every pound earned we have spent the equivalent. We have also outlined the total amount received as a Club from our owner to the end of June 2023 - that sum stands at £25.57m. Over a ten year period that SS owns this Club, over current cashflow forecasts, he will be required to inject another £25m of his own money. Under the current infrastructure development plan, we will require an additional £40.8m. This means over a ten year period of owning the Club, under current forecasts and plans, SS would be required to put in £91.5m of his own money.
Player trading
What is the process with medicals when signing players and decision making on who is deemed an acceptable risk and who isn’t, Colby Bishop as a highlighted example?
BM: We can’t talk about players medical history. However, Colby Bishop did some media work when he signed for Portsmouth and outlined he has an issue from when he was 16. We run a rigorous medical process, particularly when having to pay a significant fee for a player and offer a three-year deal. We made a decision, based on the information we had, that was right for the Club given the finances involved.
SS: It’s different when bringing in a player on a free transfer on a 12 month contract, for example, than it is to pay a fee for somebody and put them on a three-year deal – there is a significant amount of risk that comes with that. From a financial perspective they’re completely different.
SS outlines playing budget increase and costs related to player wages for 2022 and 2023
SS: Over the four years of my ownership, player trading nets out at an income of £138,000. On top of that we have a further £2m to come in related to players who have left the Club. Our administrative costs are £18.55m for 2022 and £21.7m for 2023. Nearly all of that increase is made up from player wages. When we talk about a playing budget increase, that’s where the player budget has gone up - we’ve paid more in wages.
The Strategy
In terms of the strategy, you came in and made a conscious effort to bring in young coaches and players, do you feel that strategy has been knocked off course and how do you think we can get back to the original vision?
SS: Let’s go back to the early days of my ownership. Terry McPhillips left the day after my introduction fans forum in July 2019. We didn’t have a manager, we didn’t have anything. There wasn’t really anybody here with any knowledge of how to run a League One football club, we had one coach and that was it. Simon Grayson was available, he had four promotions, and he knew Blackpool so it made perfect sense to appoint him. Then BM and others arrive and we start to think about what we want to look like and we let Grayson go, giving us chance to bring in the type of manager we felt could bring us forwards – that was Neil Critchley. That worked well for two-and-a- half years, he got us promoted and we recruited well, then he left not long after signing a four-and- a-half-year contract. One thing I regret is we didn’t have a plan for him leaving, we didn’t see it coming. Critchley leaving set us back, Michael Appleton was the best of the bunch we interviewed. If we had realised the response to him was going to be quite as visceral as it was, I don’t think we would have hired him. There were other people on our list who we couldn’t see for various reasons. We need to get things back on track. Appleton was entrusted with Premier League loanees, he is a developer of kids, we relied on loans this time because they were the best that were available to us. The year we gained promotion we moved quickly. We thought the salary cap was coming and we were taking players when no one else was taking players. Last season, our first in the Championship, there was a COVID hangover. There was less aggression from other Clubs, so we managed to pick up good players on frees or relatively small transfer fees. This year, the market was tighter, we brought in Appleton fairly late in the window so we brought in loans to take stock and then build later – it’s a lot less of a risk to bring in a loan opposed to someone on a four-year deal. The loan market is viable, however, part of our strategy is to bring in players, develop them and move them on, so we didn’t do anywhere near as well this year as we have in the previous two years.
Was Michael Appleton appointed because Ben Mansford used to be his agent?
SS: Of course he wasn’t – it didn’t make any difference. Four of us made the decision - me, BM, BG and John Stephenson. Michael was the best candidate for the job out of those we saw. I didn’t realise there would be as much of a backlash as there was, because there wasn’t that much of a backlash against Simon Grayson.
Are we in the process of identifying a new manager and is that dependent on the division we are in?
SS: Yes, that’s ongoing. To an extent it is division-dependent but not as much as you would think. Chris Badlan, our Sporting Director, is going through a list of targets. We intend to get back to where we were with Critchley.
BG: We brought in Chris with John Stephenson moving on, having admired him from afar at Coventry City. We see that as a different way of moving forwards. It will be a different approach and hopefully we succeed.
If we are relegated to League One does anything change in terms of the amount of money Simon Sadler will put into the Club?
SS: We’re looking at £5m I have to invest if we’re in League One and £2.5m in the Championship. That’s all assuming no transfer fees. It’s difficult to forecast football finances over six years, so the Group financial statement is a middle-ground. It assumes some time in League One, some time in the Championship and there’s an assumption we would be able to pay top eight League One wages and bottom four Championship wages.
What does the pathway from the Development Squad to the first-team look like?
BM: We’re a Category Three Academy and we were the worst performing academy when we inherited what was left behind. The Under 18 and Development Squads are competitive and towards the top end of the Category Three divisions which is good after nearly three years of Ciaran Donnelly being here as Academy Director. Last year we created the Development Squad. This summer we invested with a group of players and Stephen Dobbie came in. They’ve also now got their own sports scientist, physio, analyst and training base at Preston Grasshoppers. We entered the Central League to get a set fixture schedule and now it is down to individual training plans for players. Some will stay with Dobbie, some like Rob Apter can go on a loan journey and then be part of the first-team group.
Infrastructure projects
Supporters Group attendees:
- David Ragozzino - Armfield Club
- Karen McGuinness - BASIL
- Fiona Martin - BSA
- Christine Seddon - BST
- Graham Moon - Disabled Supporters
- John Rigby - Leyland & Chorley
- Ant Summers - Manchester
- Paul Grimshaw - Muckers
- Kevin Quirke - TKS
- Aston Jones – Tangerine Seasiders
- Kevin Garton - Volunteers
- Harry Wake – Yorkshire Seasiders
Independent attendees: - Kelly Anderson
- Mark Cowburn
- Michael Hague
- Daniel Hogg
- Phil Norman
- Barry Parsons
- Ryan Powell
- Paul Robinson
- Angelo Saponieri
- Steve Sharp
- Colin Smith
- Leanne Smith
- Max Smith
- Clayton Short
- Henry Stelfox
- Helen Summers
- Stephen Widdowson
- Tim Wright
In attendance from Blackpool FC: - Simon Sadler (Owner - SS)
- Ben Mansford (CEO - BM)
- Brett Gerrity (Director - BG)
- Mark McGhee (Head of Finance - MM)
- Jonty Castle (Chief Revenue Officer - JC)
BG opens the structured dialogue by welcoming everyone and explaining the format of the evening.
Thanks to everyone for attending and to the SLO for organising the event and introductions of BFC staff in attendance.
Group financial statement
MM introduces presentation outlining upcoming Group financial statement and financial projections of SS funding over ten year period, starting from the purchase of the Club in 2019.
MM: This is a four-year profit and loss as we prepare to announce the June 2022 accounts. We’ve also provided a forecast for June 2023. For the year ending June 2022 we have achieved a small profit of £400,000. More significantly, to achieve that, we have required a £3.3m cash injection from our owner. Furthermore, as part of the Seaside group, we received £400,000 related to tax that we would not have got otherwise. This also outlines our player trading which shows that for every pound earned we have spent the equivalent. We have also outlined the total amount received as a Club from our owner to the end of June 2023 - that sum stands at £25.57m. Over a ten year period that SS owns this Club, over current cashflow forecasts, he will be required to inject another £25m of his own money. Under the current infrastructure development plan, we will require an additional £40.8m. This means over a ten year period of owning the Club, under current forecasts and plans, SS would be required to put in £91.5m of his own money.
Player trading
What is the process with medicals when signing players and decision making on who is deemed an acceptable risk and who isn’t, Colby Bishop as a highlighted example?
BM: We can’t talk about players medical history. However, Colby Bishop did some media work when he signed for Portsmouth and outlined he has an issue from when he was 16. We run a rigorous medical process, particularly when having to pay a significant fee for a player and offer a three-year deal. We made a decision, based on the information we had, that was right for the Club given the finances involved.
SS: It’s different when bringing in a player on a free transfer on a 12 month contract, for example, than it is to pay a fee for somebody and put them on a three-year deal – there is a significant amount of risk that comes with that. From a financial perspective they’re completely different.
SS outlines playing budget increase and costs related to player wages for 2022 and 2023
SS: Over the four years of my ownership, player trading nets out at an income of £138,000. On top of that we have a further £2m to come in related to players who have left the Club. Our administrative costs are £18.55m for 2022 and £21.7m for 2023. Nearly all of that increase is made up from player wages. When we talk about a playing budget increase, that’s where the player budget has gone up - we’ve paid more in wages.
The Strategy
In terms of the strategy, you came in and made a conscious effort to bring in young coaches and players, do you feel that strategy has been knocked off course and how do you think we can get back to the original vision?
SS: Let’s go back to the early days of my ownership. Terry McPhillips left the day after my introduction fans forum in July 2019. We didn’t have a manager, we didn’t have anything. There wasn’t really anybody here with any knowledge of how to run a League One football club, we had one coach and that was it. Simon Grayson was available, he had four promotions, and he knew Blackpool so it made perfect sense to appoint him. Then BM and others arrive and we start to think about what we want to look like and we let Grayson go, giving us chance to bring in the type of manager we felt could bring us forwards – that was Neil Critchley. That worked well for two-and-a- half years, he got us promoted and we recruited well, then he left not long after signing a four-and- a-half-year contract. One thing I regret is we didn’t have a plan for him leaving, we didn’t see it coming. Critchley leaving set us back, Michael Appleton was the best of the bunch we interviewed. If we had realised the response to him was going to be quite as visceral as it was, I don’t think we would have hired him. There were other people on our list who we couldn’t see for various reasons. We need to get things back on track. Appleton was entrusted with Premier League loanees, he is a developer of kids, we relied on loans this time because they were the best that were available to us. The year we gained promotion we moved quickly. We thought the salary cap was coming and we were taking players when no one else was taking players. Last season, our first in the Championship, there was a COVID hangover. There was less aggression from other Clubs, so we managed to pick up good players on frees or relatively small transfer fees. This year, the market was tighter, we brought in Appleton fairly late in the window so we brought in loans to take stock and then build later – it’s a lot less of a risk to bring in a loan opposed to someone on a four-year deal. The loan market is viable, however, part of our strategy is to bring in players, develop them and move them on, so we didn’t do anywhere near as well this year as we have in the previous two years.
Was Michael Appleton appointed because Ben Mansford used to be his agent?
SS: Of course he wasn’t – it didn’t make any difference. Four of us made the decision - me, BM, BG and John Stephenson. Michael was the best candidate for the job out of those we saw. I didn’t realise there would be as much of a backlash as there was, because there wasn’t that much of a backlash against Simon Grayson.
Are we in the process of identifying a new manager and is that dependent on the division we are in?
SS: Yes, that’s ongoing. To an extent it is division-dependent but not as much as you would think. Chris Badlan, our Sporting Director, is going through a list of targets. We intend to get back to where we were with Critchley.
BG: We brought in Chris with John Stephenson moving on, having admired him from afar at Coventry City. We see that as a different way of moving forwards. It will be a different approach and hopefully we succeed.
If we are relegated to League One does anything change in terms of the amount of money Simon Sadler will put into the Club?
SS: We’re looking at £5m I have to invest if we’re in League One and £2.5m in the Championship. That’s all assuming no transfer fees. It’s difficult to forecast football finances over six years, so the Group financial statement is a middle-ground. It assumes some time in League One, some time in the Championship and there’s an assumption we would be able to pay top eight League One wages and bottom four Championship wages.
What does the pathway from the Development Squad to the first-team look like?
BM: We’re a Category Three Academy and we were the worst performing academy when we inherited what was left behind. The Under 18 and Development Squads are competitive and towards the top end of the Category Three divisions which is good after nearly three years of Ciaran Donnelly being here as Academy Director. Last year we created the Development Squad. This summer we invested with a group of players and Stephen Dobbie came in. They’ve also now got their own sports scientist, physio, analyst and training base at Preston Grasshoppers. We entered the Central League to get a set fixture schedule and now it is down to individual training plans for players. Some will stay with Dobbie, some like Rob Apter can go on a loan journey and then be part of the first-team group.
Infrastructure projects
FY16JJ
Well-known member
Does the £40.8m infrastructure cost hinge on retaining Championship status or would one project take priority over another if we go down?
SS: There are two projects - the East Stand and the training ground. When I first purchased the Club, the amount I anticipated putting in for those was a lot lower, for various reasons. We’ve upscaled our intentions and building costs have gone ballistic. My initial priority was the training ground, partly because it was the one thing we all wanted, as well as it aligning the Academy and first-team. Where we are now, £6.5 million from the £40 million Town Deal Fund from the Government has been earmarked for the Revoe development. I’m putting £18m towards that project which will include rebuilding the East Stand, as well as putting in the pitches and car parking. It’s a meaningful improvement to the community, so the priority I think has now changed. The East Stand development is more important to the town than the training ground. The training ground is now forecast to cost £22m, and we need to find a way to do it cheaper. These are long-term projects but we’ve already improved Squires Gate in the short-term with the gym, changing rooms and improved pitches to the cost of £452,000. The actual costs of running the Club have gone up a lot. Additionally, the costs of running the Club day-to-day have gone up a lot. For example, our electricity bill looks like it will more than double.
During the construction of the East Stand, where will away supporters be held and how will it impact home supporters?
BM: We’re having meetings with the architects and our Ground Safety Officer. The South East corner and some of the South looks the place for away fans - we have a duty to give 10% to away teams and I can’t see other areas. We’ll set up working groups and conversations surrounding the construction. It will need a season or so to be reconstructed and we will have to move things around. We’re always in discussions with AFL architects who we are using, they worked on Brentford’s new stadium and are considered the best in class. A new stand will always have much better facilities, we will discuss with the police, supporters, highways and we will determine who that stand will house whether it’s home or away fans. We have to work out where the away fans go and we will find a consensus with all stakeholders.
We have been approached by a local business regarding the East Stand which is in the area of construction who haven’t had any communication, why is that?
BM: The Revoe town deal funding project is ongoing. Phase one has been approved, phase two is the East Stand and that is underway. We’re told that within the next couple of weeks, the local residents and the local businesses will have further interaction from the Council. It’s a huge project with Central Government money and the speed of public projects compared to private projects tends to be longer. Local residents will be far more informed in the next couple of weeks.
Is there scope to increase initial capacity outlined for the new East Stand in the future should we wish?
SS: The rough cost is £3,000 per seat. For every thousand seats it’s an extra £3m. I’d rather have a full stadium, rather than a stadium that’s too big and you have loads of empty seats. You go to some of these away grounds and they’re half full and they don’t have anywhere near the atmosphere we have here. I’m inclined to do it smaller rather than larger, but I may look to build it in such a way that we could increase capacity in the future should we wish.
BM: What a new stand does is increase our actual capacity but also our practical capacity because of where the away fans come in. If we have a new designed stand with new exits and turnstiles, it would open up around 1,500 seats under the hotel in the South East corner that we can’t always utilise at the moment.
Ownership
There has been speculation that Simon Sadler is looking to sell the Club, is there any truth in that? SS: I’m not looking to sell the Club.
Injury record
What is the Club’s stance on injuries this season and is there an underlying problem causing them?
BM: Last year in the Championship, there were 34 incidents resulting in 1540 days missed with an average of 45.25 days injured. This year, discounting the four injuries that happened away from the Club, we’re on 21 injuries, 899 days missed and 42.81 days as the average. This year is probably going to be similar to last season. When SS arrived there was one physio, we now have four, we never scanned players or had testing infrastructure, we didn’t have spin bikes and shockwave machines – these are all £100,000’s worth of cost. We have four sports scientists now, we will continue to invest, there’s now a gym at Squires Gate. Our injury record is not uncommon in the Championship this season, Watford had 15 out, Sheffield United 11 out, this season is unique because of the World Cup break – it’s not just us.
Disciplinary record
On the face of it we look like a very dirty team with our red card record, how do the Club reflect on refereeing standards?
BM: We have internal debates on this. We don’t want to look like we lack discipline or standards, but maybe the players have got to be a bit more savvy at times. SS has had to put a significant sum into the Club for mass confrontation charges that we’ve had. Head of Referees Kevin Friend and the Head of Integrity from the FA met with the players and Club recently to discuss issues. We’ve had three mass confrontation charges in just under two years and received a £25,000 charge, yet Sheffield United had three in three months and only got a £12,500 charge. We’ve questioned the fairness on this.
Communication
Will the Club be more forthcoming with information and brief supporters to avoid a vacuum for rumours?
BM: We’ve reflected on that. We all know how important results are and we like to let it be the Head Coach’s day and the player’s day when we win. When the bullets are flying, we have got to face up and communicate better, we have talked about that as a Board. At the moment when it’s lively out there, you question whether what you say will get the right result and maybe we should’ve come out, even if it wasn’t good news or what people wanted to hear. We’ve reflected on that.
BG: Honest mistakes may be made, we’re not going to get everything right and maybe we’ll do things differently as we move forward.
SS: A lot of it comes down to social media. I go out and about and I get comments of ‘thank you and ignore what you read’, BG gets the same on his visits into the community. Then you look on social media and it makes things out to be worse than they are. There’s a few very noisy people and we’ll just ignore them.
Community Trust
BG raises a general point regarding the work the Community Trust does and sharing that with supporters.
BG: Perhaps we don’t bang our drum enough. One thing we should be proud of is the Community Trust. SS recently visited the Winter Warm Hub and the service that it provides. If the Community Trust didn’t provide this, no one would. That’s an important aspect of the football club too, helping Blackpool and the surrounding area.
SS: Another aspect is BG’s idea of Tangerine Teammates. BG goes to most of these visits to local junior football teams along with the first-team players.
BG: The connectivity local junior football teams get with our players on these visits is excellent and another important piece of work.
Women’s football
Where do Blackpool FC Ladies sit within the football Club and can we do more to promote it?
BM: We’ve tried to go on a journey with Blackpool FC Ladies and Girls to bring them closer to the Club. We’re funding a Development Officer for women’s and girls football in the community. It’s a standalone grassroots Club, people think it’s part of us but it’s not. We continue to support with kit on a two-year rotation. The committee there like an element of independence but we will support them where we can. We’ve earmarked two nights a week on the Community pitches being built in the Revoe development on Saturdays and Sundays for their game programmes. We’ve got to be careful as a touch point, we need to get to a point where they are either closer linked to the Club or they keep their independence and we go on our own journey. We already have the Emerging Talent Centre the Community Trust were successful with, and we are one of 54 Clubs in the country to have one. I hope we can all work together but that is the reality, until they’re ours it’s difficult when we have no control over things.
SS: There are two projects - the East Stand and the training ground. When I first purchased the Club, the amount I anticipated putting in for those was a lot lower, for various reasons. We’ve upscaled our intentions and building costs have gone ballistic. My initial priority was the training ground, partly because it was the one thing we all wanted, as well as it aligning the Academy and first-team. Where we are now, £6.5 million from the £40 million Town Deal Fund from the Government has been earmarked for the Revoe development. I’m putting £18m towards that project which will include rebuilding the East Stand, as well as putting in the pitches and car parking. It’s a meaningful improvement to the community, so the priority I think has now changed. The East Stand development is more important to the town than the training ground. The training ground is now forecast to cost £22m, and we need to find a way to do it cheaper. These are long-term projects but we’ve already improved Squires Gate in the short-term with the gym, changing rooms and improved pitches to the cost of £452,000. The actual costs of running the Club have gone up a lot. Additionally, the costs of running the Club day-to-day have gone up a lot. For example, our electricity bill looks like it will more than double.
During the construction of the East Stand, where will away supporters be held and how will it impact home supporters?
BM: We’re having meetings with the architects and our Ground Safety Officer. The South East corner and some of the South looks the place for away fans - we have a duty to give 10% to away teams and I can’t see other areas. We’ll set up working groups and conversations surrounding the construction. It will need a season or so to be reconstructed and we will have to move things around. We’re always in discussions with AFL architects who we are using, they worked on Brentford’s new stadium and are considered the best in class. A new stand will always have much better facilities, we will discuss with the police, supporters, highways and we will determine who that stand will house whether it’s home or away fans. We have to work out where the away fans go and we will find a consensus with all stakeholders.
We have been approached by a local business regarding the East Stand which is in the area of construction who haven’t had any communication, why is that?
BM: The Revoe town deal funding project is ongoing. Phase one has been approved, phase two is the East Stand and that is underway. We’re told that within the next couple of weeks, the local residents and the local businesses will have further interaction from the Council. It’s a huge project with Central Government money and the speed of public projects compared to private projects tends to be longer. Local residents will be far more informed in the next couple of weeks.
Is there scope to increase initial capacity outlined for the new East Stand in the future should we wish?
SS: The rough cost is £3,000 per seat. For every thousand seats it’s an extra £3m. I’d rather have a full stadium, rather than a stadium that’s too big and you have loads of empty seats. You go to some of these away grounds and they’re half full and they don’t have anywhere near the atmosphere we have here. I’m inclined to do it smaller rather than larger, but I may look to build it in such a way that we could increase capacity in the future should we wish.
BM: What a new stand does is increase our actual capacity but also our practical capacity because of where the away fans come in. If we have a new designed stand with new exits and turnstiles, it would open up around 1,500 seats under the hotel in the South East corner that we can’t always utilise at the moment.
Ownership
There has been speculation that Simon Sadler is looking to sell the Club, is there any truth in that? SS: I’m not looking to sell the Club.
Injury record
What is the Club’s stance on injuries this season and is there an underlying problem causing them?
BM: Last year in the Championship, there were 34 incidents resulting in 1540 days missed with an average of 45.25 days injured. This year, discounting the four injuries that happened away from the Club, we’re on 21 injuries, 899 days missed and 42.81 days as the average. This year is probably going to be similar to last season. When SS arrived there was one physio, we now have four, we never scanned players or had testing infrastructure, we didn’t have spin bikes and shockwave machines – these are all £100,000’s worth of cost. We have four sports scientists now, we will continue to invest, there’s now a gym at Squires Gate. Our injury record is not uncommon in the Championship this season, Watford had 15 out, Sheffield United 11 out, this season is unique because of the World Cup break – it’s not just us.
Disciplinary record
On the face of it we look like a very dirty team with our red card record, how do the Club reflect on refereeing standards?
BM: We have internal debates on this. We don’t want to look like we lack discipline or standards, but maybe the players have got to be a bit more savvy at times. SS has had to put a significant sum into the Club for mass confrontation charges that we’ve had. Head of Referees Kevin Friend and the Head of Integrity from the FA met with the players and Club recently to discuss issues. We’ve had three mass confrontation charges in just under two years and received a £25,000 charge, yet Sheffield United had three in three months and only got a £12,500 charge. We’ve questioned the fairness on this.
Communication
Will the Club be more forthcoming with information and brief supporters to avoid a vacuum for rumours?
BM: We’ve reflected on that. We all know how important results are and we like to let it be the Head Coach’s day and the player’s day when we win. When the bullets are flying, we have got to face up and communicate better, we have talked about that as a Board. At the moment when it’s lively out there, you question whether what you say will get the right result and maybe we should’ve come out, even if it wasn’t good news or what people wanted to hear. We’ve reflected on that.
BG: Honest mistakes may be made, we’re not going to get everything right and maybe we’ll do things differently as we move forward.
SS: A lot of it comes down to social media. I go out and about and I get comments of ‘thank you and ignore what you read’, BG gets the same on his visits into the community. Then you look on social media and it makes things out to be worse than they are. There’s a few very noisy people and we’ll just ignore them.
Community Trust
BG raises a general point regarding the work the Community Trust does and sharing that with supporters.
BG: Perhaps we don’t bang our drum enough. One thing we should be proud of is the Community Trust. SS recently visited the Winter Warm Hub and the service that it provides. If the Community Trust didn’t provide this, no one would. That’s an important aspect of the football club too, helping Blackpool and the surrounding area.
SS: Another aspect is BG’s idea of Tangerine Teammates. BG goes to most of these visits to local junior football teams along with the first-team players.
BG: The connectivity local junior football teams get with our players on these visits is excellent and another important piece of work.
Women’s football
Where do Blackpool FC Ladies sit within the football Club and can we do more to promote it?
BM: We’ve tried to go on a journey with Blackpool FC Ladies and Girls to bring them closer to the Club. We’re funding a Development Officer for women’s and girls football in the community. It’s a standalone grassroots Club, people think it’s part of us but it’s not. We continue to support with kit on a two-year rotation. The committee there like an element of independence but we will support them where we can. We’ve earmarked two nights a week on the Community pitches being built in the Revoe development on Saturdays and Sundays for their game programmes. We’ve got to be careful as a touch point, we need to get to a point where they are either closer linked to the Club or they keep their independence and we go on our own journey. We already have the Emerging Talent Centre the Community Trust were successful with, and we are one of 54 Clubs in the country to have one. I hope we can all work together but that is the reality, until they’re ours it’s difficult when we have no control over things.
FY16JJ
Well-known member
Disabled supporters
Can we arrange a meeting in regard to disabled supporter needs within the ground?
BG: We will have a meeting next week with Steve Rowland. We have a Disabled Liaison Officer but we will meet to discuss all aspects in a meeting in the near future.
AOB
Where are the Club up to in terms of removing the current residents from the hotel penthouse?
BM: I was given clear instructions to get through the legal process to attain vacant possession. We’re serving all the right notices at all the right times to achieve vacant possession. We will update everyone when that process is completed but we have to do it the right way.
We feel away fans getting the entire East Stand gives away teams a competitive advantage. What are the Club’s views on this?
BM: If you look at the £91m figure SS is proposing to put into the Club, that would get bigger if we didn’t utilise sales to away Clubs in the East Stand.
What are the proposed policing arrangements for the next Preston derby game?
BM: The Ground Safety Officer and I are in regular discussions with Blackpool Police and I think we have a good positive relationship with them. When you go to Preston you are in the hands of Preston operatives. We can ask the police to attend the next structured dialogue meeting.
Can the Club look at the ticket pricing policing as we feel it is impacting the price we have to pay when travelling away?
BM: We will look to review everything, including ticket prices, as we do every year. It’s difficult to say today whether we could or couldn’t give incentives to those who travel away or reflect that in future season ticket prices. In terms of accepting reciprocal offers from other Clubs for cheaper away tickets, that is something we will keep under review.
Can we look at discounting the mascot packages for next season?
JC: We’ve sold every package and have waiting lists on every package. We’ve agreed with BST that
next year they will buy one for every game that they will donate to people who can’t afford it.
SS: We think they’re very competitively priced and then thanks to the generosity of Ryan Powell and BST, they become accessible to people who might not have ordinarily been able to afford them.
Is it possible to look at a serving armed forces discount for tickets?
JC: We have a sponsor that purchases the Community Trust 40 tickets for every game and one of those games is allocated to the armed forces. Outside of that they can go to Tickets for Troops and apply through there.
Can you explain the pricing structure of tickets? Some suggest £30 a ticket is too expensive.
SS: We feel the season ticket prices in the Family Stand are competitively priced - U5’s are free and U12’s are £29. We also have club memberships that discount the prices further – if you’re a member
and want a seat in the Family Stand, it’s £20 a ticket. If someone wants to go to two games a season, then they pay the full price of £30.
JC: We also run ticket promotions several times a season on top of this, as we look to make it as affordable as possible.
Can we arrange a meeting in regard to disabled supporter needs within the ground?
BG: We will have a meeting next week with Steve Rowland. We have a Disabled Liaison Officer but we will meet to discuss all aspects in a meeting in the near future.
AOB
Where are the Club up to in terms of removing the current residents from the hotel penthouse?
BM: I was given clear instructions to get through the legal process to attain vacant possession. We’re serving all the right notices at all the right times to achieve vacant possession. We will update everyone when that process is completed but we have to do it the right way.
We feel away fans getting the entire East Stand gives away teams a competitive advantage. What are the Club’s views on this?
BM: If you look at the £91m figure SS is proposing to put into the Club, that would get bigger if we didn’t utilise sales to away Clubs in the East Stand.
What are the proposed policing arrangements for the next Preston derby game?
BM: The Ground Safety Officer and I are in regular discussions with Blackpool Police and I think we have a good positive relationship with them. When you go to Preston you are in the hands of Preston operatives. We can ask the police to attend the next structured dialogue meeting.
Can the Club look at the ticket pricing policing as we feel it is impacting the price we have to pay when travelling away?
BM: We will look to review everything, including ticket prices, as we do every year. It’s difficult to say today whether we could or couldn’t give incentives to those who travel away or reflect that in future season ticket prices. In terms of accepting reciprocal offers from other Clubs for cheaper away tickets, that is something we will keep under review.
Can we look at discounting the mascot packages for next season?
JC: We’ve sold every package and have waiting lists on every package. We’ve agreed with BST that
next year they will buy one for every game that they will donate to people who can’t afford it.
SS: We think they’re very competitively priced and then thanks to the generosity of Ryan Powell and BST, they become accessible to people who might not have ordinarily been able to afford them.
Is it possible to look at a serving armed forces discount for tickets?
JC: We have a sponsor that purchases the Community Trust 40 tickets for every game and one of those games is allocated to the armed forces. Outside of that they can go to Tickets for Troops and apply through there.
Can you explain the pricing structure of tickets? Some suggest £30 a ticket is too expensive.
SS: We feel the season ticket prices in the Family Stand are competitively priced - U5’s are free and U12’s are £29. We also have club memberships that discount the prices further – if you’re a member
and want a seat in the Family Stand, it’s £20 a ticket. If someone wants to go to two games a season, then they pay the full price of £30.
JC: We also run ticket promotions several times a season on top of this, as we look to make it as affordable as possible.
LA1 Seasider
Well-known member
A bit disappointing if I’m being honest. I sent in a fair few questions which I felt covered a lot of bases but I’m not feeling like I’ve got all the answers I would have liked… or even a reasonable amount of answers.
It does seem this SDM took a different path to those previously ran but it appears to me it was a case of the board putting information they wanted out out in the open as opposed to answering any specific questions.
I understand the minutes don’t always fully reflect the meeting though.
It does seem this SDM took a different path to those previously ran but it appears to me it was a case of the board putting information they wanted out out in the open as opposed to answering any specific questions.
I understand the minutes don’t always fully reflect the meeting though.
Towerpower99
Well-known member
There is a few very noisy people on social media who we ignore…..I wonder who they could be? 
DonCorleone
Well-known member
I was there on the night and apparently the plan to ask the prepared questions in a structured manner was canned shortly before it started.
I'm sure the SLO said though that any questions or topics that didn't get covered on the night would be asked and included later
I'm sure the SLO said though that any questions or topics that didn't get covered on the night would be asked and included later
Macseasider
Well-known member
I bet they don't!!There is a few very noisy people on social media who we ignore…..I wonder who they could be?
SLO_BFC
Well-known member
Correct - everything that didn't get asked will be followed up offline and responses provided where possible.
Terminallytangerine
Well-known member
Thanks for organising, SLO. I will enjoy reading all this. Open dialogue is a big positive.