Re: Continued poor running : Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:42 am  

bowlingboy wrote:

It seems the poor running of the club continues
Even though this is a supposed totally new regime..
There are only a couple of faces left from past companies that could be to blame.. .
Duffy been one, especially as he seems to have a hand in coach gate.....who keeps getting things so wrong and why?

Bowlingboy, can you please give a bit more detail of what you think is poor running of the club? It seems a strange comment a day or so after the club announce a structured managed process with a clear timetable to appoint a new coach, one that any HR manager in any organisation would recognise as good practice. What the press release does not refer to is the job and person specification, and I would expect Chalmers and Lowe had a big say in that as owners, giving the gang of three the criteria to use in selecting the shortlist. Nor does the phrase "a recommendation" limit that recommendation to one person, they may well say in early December that Chalmers needs to do final interviews on several coaches that met the criteria. Hence the time gap between making that recommendation and the appointment.

I think that getting from where they started to this point without going under shows superb management skills, forget relegation, I am simply happy there is a club to relegate. Let's see what this season brings not write it off a month before the first opportunity the new coach will have to assess where the squad is at. Which will be far ahead of where it was a year ago.

Re: Continued poor running : Sun Nov 19, 2017 2:05 pm  

josefw wrote:

Is anyone else sick to death of reading constant negativity on this forum? Maybe it's the lack of admin that's getting everyone down, god knows but I'm taking a long break from this forum for no other reason than I'm sick of the monotonous moaning our fans are currently capable of.

There's a difference between negative for the sake of negativity (which seems to have been the OP's motivation in starting this thread) and fans of the club voicing their genuine concerns of aspects of the running of the club.

My viewpoint on the club is currently one of cynicism and skepticism. Which given how this club has been run over the last decade is, IMO, a fair way of thinking.

Personally, I don't trust Chalmers and Lowe. It's not really anything personal against them, other than they don't seem to be too bothered about trying to get the fans on side - case in point the first fans forum of their reign happens when the season was all but over with AND took place during the beginning of August when a great many people are taking their summer holidays and thus you cut down the number of potential attendees.

Now I attended that fans forum and was shocked that it had not taken place back in February. The whole RFL forcing the club to start in the Championship on minus 12, plus having the bulk of it's central funding taken away AND the having to pay out additional cash to a player support charity is the perfect ammo the club could have used to get the fans onside in a "Yes, we're behind the 8-Ball and we are going to try everything to avoid it but relegation seems a certainty". Then you could use the clubs favourite saying this season "stick with us"

But communication with the fans doesn't seem to be even anything like a priority to the new owners. I don't want to know every little in and out at the club (although I know some do and seem to consider it an affront that they're not personally consulted on every decision )

As it stands, there are 3 things the club and it's new owners need to do to get me, and probably others who think as I do, back on their side.

1. The hiring of the most qualified coach who throws his hat in the ring. I'm not interested in having another "club legend" take the reigns as I'm not convinced there's been that many ex-players who've got the necessary credentials to be a head coach
2. Work to ensure that we don't simply become a feeder club for SL - at the moment, there aren't that many SL clubs who don't have at least one ex-Bulls academy graduate on their books
3. The club cannot go bust or have any other financial scare story reported about it for the next 12 months. And that doesn't mean wait until Dec 2018 and go belly up then either.

Re: Continued poor running : Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:59 am  

Poor running,
Letting half last year's squad walk that could be retained. .chistole been the most ridiculous example.
visa gate
away shirt gate
poor communication
Damaging poor press releases
not having a coach lined up when pre season has started
Not having the new coach pick their own squad as it's too late
inviting rimmed to a fans forum
Making date announcements at said forum but letting said dates pass with no news..

I'm not been overly negative here
my point been that if I were Chalow there are two senior management staff members that have been involved in catastrophic failure in the past.. why would you have them anywhere near the place?
To top it off one has just arrived back in from the crash at Salford...
I would like to see this regime be a success more than anyone trust me and I hope they are I'm just surprised some manage to keep their position unquestionably

Re: Continued poor running : Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:37 am  

Just to add...

'Buy your seat before general sale, guarantee your seat!'

The reality is, go into the office and give them your name and they haven't a clue where you sit or you who you are. They did last year but this year 'we have a new database!' I could build them one in MS Access that blows away what they have sadly.

They even offered to sell the seat of the old fella a couple of seats along from me who's been in that seat as long as I can remember, said it was a free seat when the deadline hadn't expired.

'Junior ticket for the stand is £99'

Ok so what's gate entry for juniors, they usually miss the first couple of home games as it's too cold, then there's holidays, I need to make sure it's not cheaper? They had no idea. Not a clue... They even asked Chalmers and then rang me back to confirm they didn't know.

Never mind running the team and stuff like that, if they can't get the basics right to keep fans onside it's looking bleak.

[Bullseye]

Re: Continued poor running : Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:53 am  

Scarey71 wrote:

Just to add...

'Buy your seat before general sale, guarantee your seat!'

The reality is, go into the office and give them your name and they haven't a clue where you sit or you who you are. They did last year but this year 'we have a new database!' I could build them one in MS Access that blows away what they have sadly.

They even offered to sell the seat of the old fella a couple of seats along from me who's been in that seat as long as I can remember, said it was a free seat when the deadline hadn't expired.

'Junior ticket for the stand is £99'

Ok so what's gate entry for juniors, they usually miss the first couple of home games as it's too cold, then there's holidays, I need to make sure it's not cheaper? They had no idea. Not a clue... They even asked Chalmers and then rang me back to confirm they didn't know.

Never mind running the team and stuff like that, if they can't get the basics right to keep fans onside it's looking bleak.

It's fundamental mistakes like this that make me extremely sceptical about our new owners and the people they employ to run the back office. Doesn't this come under Ross McFarlane's authority? Surely you'd think they'd know basic information like gate entry prices? How else are they able to budget if they don't know what they're charging for entry? I'm flabbergasted.

Re: Continued poor running : Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:18 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

It's fundamental mistakes like this that make me extremely sceptical about our new owners and the people they employ to run the back office. Doesn't this come under Ross McFarlane's authority? Surely you'd think they'd know basic information like gate entry prices? How else are they able to budget if they don't know what they're charging for entry? I'm flabbergasted.

Didn't they say at the fans forum that they were freezing season ticket and matchday prices? So they'll be the same as last year I assume (the one where they first mentioned freezing prices and aiming for 3,000). Which if true, would mean the season ticket is less VFM than last year, as you'll get one less game for free with it. Which is maybe why they're keeping quiet. Or they're just going to make it up at the last minute based on season ticket sales.

It does seem bizarre that you're selling season tickets but don't tell people what the saving is because you don't announce the matchday price though. Or when the "early bird" period expires. I think it's fairly clear they're winging a lot of it.

[Bulliac]

Re: Continued poor running : Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:55 pm  

Scarey71 wrote:

Just to add...

'Buy your seat before general sale, guarantee your seat!'

The reality is, go into the office and give them your name and they haven't a clue where you sit or you who you are. They did last year but this year 'we have a new database!' I could build them one in MS Access that blows away what they have sadly.

They even offered to sell the seat of the old fella a couple of seats along from me who's been in that seat as long as I can remember, said it was a free seat when the deadline hadn't expired.

'Junior ticket for the stand is £99'

Ok so what's gate entry for juniors, they usually miss the first couple of home games as it's too cold, then there's holidays, I need to make sure it's not cheaper? They had no idea. Not a clue... They even asked Chalmers and then rang me back to confirm they didn't know.

Never mind running the team and stuff like that, if they can't get the basics right to keep fans onside it's looking bleak.

They still have last year's details on file though, or at least they did when I ordered my ticket. I handed over last year's card and they printed out a receipt with the seat number on it. Surely any database would be searchable in all fields? Surely..

Re: Continued poor running : Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:34 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

They still have last year's details on file though, or at least they did when I ordered my ticket. I handed over last year's card and they printed out a receipt with the seat number on it. Surely any database would be searchable in all fields? Surely..

Same here. Simply handed over last year season ticket and had a new one very quickly and easily.

Re: Continued poor running : Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:56 pm  

Were your seat numbers not on your tickets from last year though? Mine was.

That would be how they renewed it. Not through a database which was Scarey's point? So if you had last year's, it was easy. If you didn't, they had no idea where you were sat. Or am I missing something obvious?

(That said, surely you know where you were sat without needing to look at your ticket after sitting in the same seat all year, although if they didn't actually have the info on file, you could have told them any seat and as long as someone hadn't already bought it, they'd sell you it before the deadline)

Re: Continued poor running : Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:49 am  

"Poor running"? Have we gone tits again, then? Or are we, despite being relegated, still somehow going with a (comparative) quality squad the coming season?

Yes there is a lot of adverse comment but to call it "negativity" is unfair. People are saying what they see, and that's after several years of taking it regularly up the sunshineless and STILL being here. You should be applauding them still being here rather than cribbing. Expressing concerns? Why would a fan of a club that has nosedived and gone bust about 99 years out of the last hundred have any concerns? Surely, we should all be whistling along with a skip and a jump, alls well at the bulls in the Bottom league, nothing to see here/

If ANYONE deserves to say what they see, then , of all people, it must be the Bulls remaining faithful. If that broad church includes many who have a somewhat jaundiced and suspicious and even cynical angle on the ongoing debacles, then I'd say they have every right.

Of these, we have had more taking up the RAB sponsorship than for many years. We have people buying big price season tickets, only to watch the likes of West Wales, Hemel Stags and Keighley, where not long ago it was Wigan, Saints and Leeds (I bought mine last weekend). At the same time, we know financially things can't be that great, despite the refreshing lack of public disgrace, and if people are worried and see stuff they think is wrong then they have every right to speak up. if some of that is negative, might that not be because we've been force fed a diet of boiled negatives, steamed negatives, pickled negatives and fried negatives for so long by so many owners and our good friends the RFL?