A Meeting With the Chairman

On Tuesday night, Wednesday chairman Lee Strafford agreed to meet internet message board users to thrash out a few issues

OK, I thought this meeting would be a quick half hour then everyone out to the pub…I didn’t think the chairman would want us lot lingering about too long and taking up his personal time…4 hours later though and that thought had long gone…under 3 bottles of water a bag of biscuits.

Get to the important bit Beastie…what did he say?

Right, some of the stuff I cannot put on the internet, things that have happened to this club already, and are still happening, but what I can put up is about where this club is going…the future of OUR club.

Season tickets.
I asked about the pricing of the kids, especially why there were no concessions for the age bracket of 12-16 yr olds.
My point was that this is absolutely key and a great strain on the pockets of parents who have dependant children at high school.

Lee’s reply was that the kids are vital for the future of this club, absolutely vital and the key area here in his opinion is the under 8’s. At the Lane they get the kids through the gates for free and we’ve really missed the boat on this. Up to this point we have had nothing to entice them our way. In his opinion this was a major point for him to address and is in an investment in the future of the fanbase for the club.
The pay off for this, was that other age ranges had to suffer as we aren’t in a position to do everything at once, it was the 12-16’s this time, that doesn’t mean they’ll always suffer and in the future this will be addressed, as will other family friendly ticketing, like family tickets etc.

Speaking of which a new ticketing system is being sorted as the current set up is absolute garbage…as most of us know only too well.
We are moving towards electronic turnstiles and a ticketing system which should give us more scope….you won’t have to queue up for tickets or use Ticketmaster etc…. you’ll be able to print your own off at home…sales of season tickets and matchday tickets may be artificially low due to the rigmarole involved in actually purchasing them….all this will be made easier once the new system is in place.

We are looking at getting 4 or 5 players in for next season.
These will be players probably out of contract as most teams trim their squads, so we probably won’t have transfer fees to pay, or if we do they’ll be nominal…the money can then be spent on wages. Laws has a list a mile long and the same areas on the pitch have been highlighted by the manager that everyone has been banging on about….so he has been seeing the same things we have.

We need to sell 16.5k season tickets and we need 24k through the gate in order to fund this…there will only be 500 freebies per match next season…it WILL NOT be how it has been this season, so those that are not renewing season tickets in the hope of it being cheaper need to forget that and get on board…if we don’t make the target he squad budget will suffer….HOWEVER…he is confident we will hit the targets.

This season the giveaways were a one off, or three off if you like as we needed to get folk back into the club, get them used to coming down to Hillsborough, to see what they’ve been missing…all that has now finished.

Those who like the family friendly atmosphere in the Grandstand and are STILL miffed at having to move NEXT season needn’t fret. Things are in hand to give everyone the same safe family environment they have now, BUT in the North Stand.
There is an area that will be developed fully and eventually it will provide safer areas and even a crèche, so the only difference will be it’s in the North (and at those prices obviously) and not the grandstand…fans are welcome to stay in the grandstand of course but they WILL have to pay the premium price. It is THE ONLY place in the ground we as a club can maximise sales and profits.

Also, eventually the West Stand will give us more options for Wednesday fans…HOPEFULLY.
Once it has passed safety tests and been developed up to standard, which should be a nominal amount to repair the concrete defect in the wedge we will have 3 different areas we can put away supporters in….Or at the very least we can be far more flexible about what our options are depending on demand for certain games….he did have the devil in his eye when he was on about putting the pigs in that wedge…’just let em have that bit’ sort of thing

Did someone mention development?
The South stand will be developed with a view to having a hotel there in the future but initially there will be a pub created with pub opening times. So you’ll be able to get a drink before and after the game. This may be confined to South Standers as it may not be possible to open it up to everyone, as it will be accessed from inside the ground.

On the subject of drinking there will be beer available in the Kop from next season.
There’s a hope this may attract the North Stand ‘lads’ back over there and help improve the atmosphere….Lee believes part of the reason the atmosphere is shit is because the singing is so fragmented…some on the North Stand, some on the South and a few in the kop and whilst those on the North do most of it they simply cannot drive the atmosphere from there….if we can everyone back under one roof, that could change…as would doing well on the pitch.

The band was mentioned too at this point and in the meeting was John Hemmingham; Now regardless of your views on the band or him, you have to give the bloke respect and kudos for coming along and letting folk have their say about him and AT him….and people did.
He was told that folk didn’t like the band, those at the meeting anyway, that it was shit and spoilt their enjoyment…he was told it was looked on as a betrayal when he went to Leeds and threw his lot in with Ken Bates.
I was one of those that said some of those things and felt very aggrieved at the bloke…but he played a straight bat and answered everyone.

I won’t go into everything he said about the Leeds/Bates thing but part of it was down to his job at Hillsborough coming to an end, he wanted a job in football and was offered one at Leeds on double the money. With a family and mortgage to sort he took the plunge.

Whether you like that or not, whether you agree or not with him going there, and THEN coming back here…you don’t even have to believe a chuffing word of it…BUT…let’s not forget, he’s not the first to work for Sheffield Wednesday AND then go to Leeds….Mel Sterland, Lee Chapman, Nigel Worthington, Howard Wilkinson…etc.etc…the list is VERY, VERY long….not one of those has ever been vilified for making the same mistake….So THAT has to be a non starter, surely?

There are a few who have gone to work for Sheffield United from Wednesday but I can’t for the life of me think of any Blade that’s come the other way…Now that would be quite something…A Blade in our setup…Naaah.

None of the John Hemmingham stuff makes me like the band though…and that will be put to the vote.
Season ticket holders will get to vote on whether the band stay or go…Lee Strafford also pointed out that he personally didn’t like the band and neither did Brian Laws, but that Laws thought the band were a good thing for the home games, he thought they added something. (They will not be playing at away games)
I told him I’d vote for them to stay if he played some Stylistics…he thought I was joking…I wasn’t.
…’If I had money I’d go out…by you furs dress you like a queen…and in a chauffeured limousine…’…Oh aye..quality stuff…that’ll get the atmosphere back I can tell ya!

Whatever happens, whether the band are back or not, whether you agree with his reasons for going to Leeds, or if you simply don’t believe him, I hope we can move on from the hating of the bloke…he’s taken some right stick about this and some serious personal abuse…it just aint worth hanging on to this shit. If we’re ever gonna move forward then we need to let go of the dark stuff….

Pre season tour of Malta WILL happen unless the Blades stop it….and they aren ’t too happy about us muscling in on their patch…but the Maltese are all over it and are even sorting out their side to support.

We (SWFC) want this to happen…Lee wants this to happen…anyone that doubts his Wednesdayness should have heard him on about this….this isn’t just a chairman of a football club, this is one of us…this is a fan like the rest of us….
I think it was here that Tommo went into a ramble about old games, quoting scores, crowds and what have you from games from the past…Lee was loving this by the way…so was Tommo….Anyway, once both of them had calmed down….he gave assurances about the safety of fans for this and the Maltese police take no shit and anyone with a record of violence won’t get into the country anyway.

His priorities, other than beating the pigs on their sponsors patch was that this pre season was very accessible for the fans and their families.
It’s very cheap to get to Malta, with Ryan Air going from most places and he’s already put down the Wednesday beach towels on the cheapest areas over there, which is St Julians Bay…even up to 5 star accommodation it’s the cheapest available, that is in ‘OUR’ area.
There will social events where the players will mingle with fans…when they train they train, they’re at work, but when they aren’t working the fans are a priority.

This is the plan….BUT, do not be booking your tickets just yet as nothing is set in stone.

Shirt sponsorship – this is the first time we’ve had full control of the merchandising of the shirts and every single shirt sold is ours…the only people that will make money from this are Puma and Sheffield Wednesday…and our sponsors. …5 quid from each shirt will go to the children’s charity.
It used to be worth 200k for a Championship club it is now worth less than 100k, by taking these steps Strafford believes it could eventually be worth 2 Million pounds a season.
It could be key to getting some investment in the club as potential investors are very happy to be associated with Sheffield Wednesday AND a Children’s charity, but find it less attractive when it’s just Sheffield Wednesday.


There are improvements to be made all over the place….with the ground, with the staff, with the team…with absolutely everything you can think of to do with this club…but, after this meeting, I genuinely get the impression that all of this and more will be done….in time…and that IS crucial…in time…Lee Strafford has only been here a very short time, and it’s not been an easy ride….

You don’t have to like the new chairman, you don’t have to agree with everything that he’s done, or doing…but, the overwhelming impression, that I got from this meeting is that he is one of us…he is a genuine Wednesday fan and all his efforts are for the benefit of the club and it’s fans.

And it’s been a while since we’ve had someone at the top that’s given me that feeling and a bit of hope for the future

Cheers

Steve:Beastie