Owls Steering Group 02/08/17 - Minutes

Here is a selection of some of the things mentioned at the meeting last night (not my words).

Steering Group August 2017

Firstly I apologise for this being later than planned! Life has got in the way… And most of you will have no doubt read the comments from a few folks who were at the meeting last night, so I wanted to bring a bit of a personal take from it.

Now I’ve not been at the last couple of steering group meetings, so it was nice to get back into the swing of it last night. It was always going to be a passionate affair, with the furore (some would say it’s that) about the kit or lack of. Of course player recruitment is always on the agenda at some point, and… Hot water in the women’s toilets!

This time at the meeting there was a new face to me, Richard Stanford, who is the safety officer at Wednesday now as well as our Chairman, Dejphon Chansiri, the Chief Operating Officer, Joe Palmer, Director of Communications Trevor Braithwait and Ticket office manager, Alastair Wilson.

The meeting opened with a statement from the Chairman who asked for people to speak out and ask him the questions in the forum. It’s what it’s there for, don’t go off speaking about things behind his back when we have the opportunity to ask. Fair enough.

First subject, the kit. Joe Palmer led the chat and as you’ve seen by now, what happened. The ‘moving of the goalposts’ by the first choice supplier at the last minute, to get out a kit now just 2 weeks after last seasons when things were ‘settled’ to a degree is decent going. Now, a Nike deal, unless you’re at the top table of football I would presume, takes over a year to sort. So to get something out after the deal was changed by the supposed first choice supplier in MAY is admirable at least.

The club understand it didn’t look good overall, but it really was something out of their hands. The decision to go back to market to find another manufacturer with 2 months to sort it must have been something which was a really hard decision, but fair play, it’s sorted. The plus about this is that with the deal we have now, the manufacturer is quicker to respond to demand, there’s no daft lead times and no large minimum order quantities in which Sondico seemed to have. Hence the abundance of kits still left in the club shop now. Palmer also recongised it COULD have an impact on sales and he said he takes responsibility for that, and hopes the fans understand.

The retail side of things will be changed, there are more suppliers coming on board in terms of that and there are also more international suppliers in that. There will be ranges of items from £2 up to £100 was mentioned. Yes, it was acknowledged again that things need to be improved, and WILL be. Unfortunately things haven’t gone as quick as anyone would have liked, the chairman said he wishes he could click his fingers and fix it but he cannot.

There are still plans to put in a coffee shop and make it a place where you don’t just walk in, get your ticket/shirt and walk out, but it’s about getting the right permission to do what you want and these things take time.

As mentioned already on our forum, the media side of things came into question, now… It still will be a bone of contention for some even after the explanation. It’s about not creating more problems, not raising more questions than there needs to be and therefore fuelling more speculation. Now, I dare say the more ‘considered’ amongst us could accept a reasonable explanation, but we live in a time where to some, the explanation isn’t good enough… Personally, I think it’s THOSE people who have made the club go this way. But that’s just my take on it.

The Chairman was consistent in his message, he wants positive news for the fans not bad news. He will not lie. It was revealed that Ladbrokes have come on board and are a substantial sponsor, one of the largest that have been involved who aren’t on the shirt.

Talk turned the stadium and the dreaded Safety Advisory Group. The club are constantly working with the SAG and are looking to implement things that they advise the club on, on a stand by stand basis. The South stand is now sorted, and the North, West and Kop are also being looked at, one by one with an aim of potentially getting the capacity back to what it should be. As it stands RIGHT NOW, there is no official number for the capacity as there is a meeting shortly and it will be sorted in the next week. So that couldn’t be confirmed. 38,000 is what the club want back and will work with the SAG to do whatever it takes to get it back there. Health and safety is a black and white issue and we need to deal with it, was one comment. Which I liked to be honest.

Richard Stanford also said there is a recruitment drive for new stewards, and he would like nothing more than local people coming to work for the club, and having a staff of stewards which could work at other venues too. Make it a viable career for people year round rather than it being a ‘seasonal’ job.

The ‘prestige’ friendly was something which the club seemed genuinely gutted about, again I won’t go over it too much as it was on the forum. But Barca were a real possibility… Bloody pre season USA tours…

Now.. One things that isn’t talked about that much and it’s not really the forum to do so without the manager is the playing style, staff, recruitment of players in terms of who they are. But there is an expectation of the top two, but that’s always been the case. ‘We want the best for this club, and will always try to get the best,’ was again reiterated by the Chairman, passionately. When they bring in players, they expect 100% from everyone, staff, players, everyone, it’s as simple as that.

The plan for the academy continues, get players first team ready for if they’re required, that was told to us last season so that’s not changed even though the staff have. Investment in the academy hasn’t stopped in that regard, scouts are still very proactive in looking around for players for the younger sides.

Season ticket sales, the exact number of season tickets were not announced, but it was said that there are 3,000 new season ticket holders this year. Taking the number to comfortably over 20,000. The ticketing and shop system are being separated so that people queuing for tickets online and those buying merchandise don’t end up in the same queuing system.

Money has been invested in kiosks around the ground, six new ones will be around the ground, the North/West corner of the ground will be redeveloped and the area utilized better for the supporters.

There are things that as I said won’t be mentioned, as I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. It’s not about keeping secrets or anything, the chairman is open to communication, if you have a burning question, get in touch apply to go to the steering group and you’ll get your chance to ask. It’s that simple.

The club want to foster a positive attitude across the board, the chairman wants your support FOR THE CLUB. Nothing else. He wants to build a foundation for this club to grow on for years and years to come.

One of Mr Chansiri’s comments which he said early on, and did repeat it later stuck with me last night and I’ll leave you with that….

‘I’ve been here less than 3 years, I am 100% a Wednesday fan, it’s now in my blood. I try my best to do everything you want, this club belongs to everyone.”

Hats off to the chairman he is up front and approachable .