bricktop
Well-Known Member
Dear Richard
It has been nearly 3 months since you have been appointed to your role of Supporters Comminications Manager, a role that given the deafening silence coming from the boardroom at Bramall Lane was something that needed at the time, but since you have been given this role, there has been absolutely zero communication between yourself and the supporters, which from your job title i would imagine to be the key component of your role within the club.
I don't know if you are reading this, or not, but i would suggest that one of the first things you should have done, and you can still do is to become involved with this forum yourself and come on here and try and answer the concerns and the issues the fans have yourself and directly so people can have a lot more understanding of the problems the club face, and you can explain how the club intends on addressing these problems, and begin planning for a long-term and sustainable future whilst addressing the problems we have and finally begin rebuilding for the future.
Last night there was a request for questions to be put to you, via the moderators of the www.s24su.com forum, or alternatively directly e-mail the questions to you. I chose to lampoon this as it is not the role of the moderators of this forum to act in a secretarial role to you by weeding out the questions you don't want to read, and the pertinent questions that need answering can't be ignored as they are difficult to answer, but honesty, transparency and openness need to be qualities that you need to display when the supporters address their concerns.
It is pretty much common knowledge that things aren't going well at Sheffield United both financally, and also with regards to footballing matters, but the silence coming from yourself and also the club is lending itself to creating more and more dissent, distrust and acrimony between Sheffield United FC and the supporters who through the money they pay in to Sheffield United keep this club going, and without whom there would be no Sheffield United FC. I would imagine that a part of your role is to create a link between the supporters and the club, and address the concerns the fans as well as you can, but i have yet to see anything that you have done to address the widers and more pertinent concerns of the supporters, and since you have been in your role the relationship between the club and the supporters has declined markedly. I have read your twitter feed last night, and reading through it you would not think there is any problems at the lane, you would not think that Sheffield United are a club with financial problems, nor a club on the brink of an embarrasing season in the midst of it's poorest season during the last 35 years. What i have seen, heard and read since during the point where you took on the role of Supporters Communication Manager leads to think that you are content to have a job with the club, and aren't really prepared to address the gravity of the seriousness of the mess Sheffield United FC. If i'm wrong about this, but this certianly seems to be the way that it is coming across to myself and thousands of others.
There are x major points of concern that i have myself and lots of others have.
1.
Why is there a defeaning silence coming out of the club regarding the turmoil the club finds itself it. It is common knowledge that the club over-reached itself in terms of spending and showing over-ambition with several signing during the period between 2005-2008. It doesn't take a genius to work out that to maintain a well run and successful football club needs a strict wage budget to operate within, so why was this never implemented at the time, and is this going to be the case within the future. It is also widely believed amongst the supporters that Sheffield United are a club who now find themselves heavily in debt, but this has not been confirmed or denied, but the complete silence coming out the club leads itself to rumours, mistruths and people drawing their own conclusion, so why can't anybody come out and be honest about the mess the club finds itself.
It is my own belief that whilst the club is in disarray Kevin McCabe will not speak to the the supporters, as he is a businessman and any admittance of problems within the club will be seen as an admittance of weakness. I have absolutely no doubt the position of the club was not his intentions whilst investing heavily within the club, and period of his heavy investment within the club was beset by poor investment by the people employed to utilise the money to enable the club to drive forwards, and poor luck with a unfortunate relegation and the subsequent failure to achieve promotion to the top flight. The supporters will be a lot more accepting if he can come out and admit his mistakes and explain how he will address the future, be it investment from outside the club, selling up completely, or maintaining a well-run football club whilst paying our debts off. We have all made mistakes in the past, but the positives that come from making mistakes come from admittance of the making the mistakes in the first place, and learning from them so they aren't replicated in the future.
2.
Season tickets are something else that are causing a lot of anomosity between the supporters and the club. By trying to force the Season Ticket holders to buy early in order to enjoy further enhancements I've not renewed yet, although i could quite easily get the money together to purchase a season ticket before the start of the season. I would be unwilling to do this if i'm not going to access the full range of benefits of being a season ticket, and i can't envisage myself being at Bramall Lane that much is the match day prices remain high and there are no special offers. It feels like the club are holding a gun against the heads of the season ticket holders to force them to renew early or lose out in the long run.
I refuse to have the club hold a gun against my head to make me renew early, and although i'd said on many occasions that i'll not be renewing this season, there would be every chance that i'll relent before the start of the season and buy a season ticket but i would be less inclined to do so if there i'm not eligable for the full range of benefits. If i don't renew then there is every chance that i'll only end up going to one or two of the games instead of the full 23, as purchasing tickets match by match is a lot more expensive and a lot more hassle, and if i haven't got my season ticket i would be a lot more disinclined to attend home games. Over the last few months i've been and attended at other sporting events. I've been to the Snooker, Dart, Speedway and a Rugby League game and enjoyed them all, as well as having a few days at the cricket pencilled in during the summer. There could quite easily come a point where i decide that represents a better use of my money and then i would be a lost supporter, and i'm not a fly by night, johnny come lately supporter who came on board when we started doing well. I've held a season ticket for 15 out of the 25 seasons, usually miss one or two home games per season, and i've watched United on 71 different league ground, and would consider myself to be one of United's hardcore supporters, so losing someone like myself, and several others like me is a barometer of what is going wrong with the club. The True Blades advertising campaign has been another complete and unmitigated disaster as well.
3.
Finally, when we finally get relegated this season, what steps will the club be taking to arrest the slide. From your position as Supporters Communication Manager, you should be able to recognise the problems that United are going through, and should be fully engaged in two way communication between all parties concerned. What the club needs is a full root and branch examination of what is going wrong, and a clear plan needs to put in place to arrest this alarming slide. The results need to be conveyed back to the supporters as the supporters are the lifeblood of this club, and in your position you should really know that communication is everything, and acceptance of the problems that the club currently face, and an identification of ways and means to stop the slide and get the club moving forward being relayed to the supporters will not completely erase the breakdown in the relationship between the club and its supporters but it will go a long way in to the rebuilding some trust and some mutual acceptance that even if things are not perfect, we are all trying to pull in the same direction.
I have chosen to address these concerns directly to you using this medium of a message board, as i feel that i have accurately addressed a lot of the real concerns that the supporters have. I feel that as a part of your role as the Supporters Communication Manager, than if you are serious about doing the role you are employed to then you will come on here, and respond to the points i have raised. I have openly asked these questions, because they are questions that people want to ask, and the questions that people need the answers to, and i've asked the questions so i would encourage you to come on here and give us some answers, and it is not just myself who wants the answers, it is every paying supporter of Sheffield United who wants them. If you come on here and honestly give us the truthful answers to the questions that i have asked then you may gain a bit of respect and it will have a been a worthwhile exercise for all parties concerned. If you fail to respond then i'm afraid that you have failed in your role, and i would strongly believe that you are not doing the job you are being paid to do, and despite being a long Sheffield United supporters i would consider you to be yet another person drawing a wage from the club for not doing what you should be.
Happy to discuss
Brownie
It has been nearly 3 months since you have been appointed to your role of Supporters Comminications Manager, a role that given the deafening silence coming from the boardroom at Bramall Lane was something that needed at the time, but since you have been given this role, there has been absolutely zero communication between yourself and the supporters, which from your job title i would imagine to be the key component of your role within the club.
I don't know if you are reading this, or not, but i would suggest that one of the first things you should have done, and you can still do is to become involved with this forum yourself and come on here and try and answer the concerns and the issues the fans have yourself and directly so people can have a lot more understanding of the problems the club face, and you can explain how the club intends on addressing these problems, and begin planning for a long-term and sustainable future whilst addressing the problems we have and finally begin rebuilding for the future.
Last night there was a request for questions to be put to you, via the moderators of the www.s24su.com forum, or alternatively directly e-mail the questions to you. I chose to lampoon this as it is not the role of the moderators of this forum to act in a secretarial role to you by weeding out the questions you don't want to read, and the pertinent questions that need answering can't be ignored as they are difficult to answer, but honesty, transparency and openness need to be qualities that you need to display when the supporters address their concerns.
It is pretty much common knowledge that things aren't going well at Sheffield United both financally, and also with regards to footballing matters, but the silence coming from yourself and also the club is lending itself to creating more and more dissent, distrust and acrimony between Sheffield United FC and the supporters who through the money they pay in to Sheffield United keep this club going, and without whom there would be no Sheffield United FC. I would imagine that a part of your role is to create a link between the supporters and the club, and address the concerns the fans as well as you can, but i have yet to see anything that you have done to address the widers and more pertinent concerns of the supporters, and since you have been in your role the relationship between the club and the supporters has declined markedly. I have read your twitter feed last night, and reading through it you would not think there is any problems at the lane, you would not think that Sheffield United are a club with financial problems, nor a club on the brink of an embarrasing season in the midst of it's poorest season during the last 35 years. What i have seen, heard and read since during the point where you took on the role of Supporters Communication Manager leads to think that you are content to have a job with the club, and aren't really prepared to address the gravity of the seriousness of the mess Sheffield United FC. If i'm wrong about this, but this certianly seems to be the way that it is coming across to myself and thousands of others.
There are x major points of concern that i have myself and lots of others have.
1.
Why is there a defeaning silence coming out of the club regarding the turmoil the club finds itself it. It is common knowledge that the club over-reached itself in terms of spending and showing over-ambition with several signing during the period between 2005-2008. It doesn't take a genius to work out that to maintain a well run and successful football club needs a strict wage budget to operate within, so why was this never implemented at the time, and is this going to be the case within the future. It is also widely believed amongst the supporters that Sheffield United are a club who now find themselves heavily in debt, but this has not been confirmed or denied, but the complete silence coming out the club leads itself to rumours, mistruths and people drawing their own conclusion, so why can't anybody come out and be honest about the mess the club finds itself.
It is my own belief that whilst the club is in disarray Kevin McCabe will not speak to the the supporters, as he is a businessman and any admittance of problems within the club will be seen as an admittance of weakness. I have absolutely no doubt the position of the club was not his intentions whilst investing heavily within the club, and period of his heavy investment within the club was beset by poor investment by the people employed to utilise the money to enable the club to drive forwards, and poor luck with a unfortunate relegation and the subsequent failure to achieve promotion to the top flight. The supporters will be a lot more accepting if he can come out and admit his mistakes and explain how he will address the future, be it investment from outside the club, selling up completely, or maintaining a well-run football club whilst paying our debts off. We have all made mistakes in the past, but the positives that come from making mistakes come from admittance of the making the mistakes in the first place, and learning from them so they aren't replicated in the future.
2.
Season tickets are something else that are causing a lot of anomosity between the supporters and the club. By trying to force the Season Ticket holders to buy early in order to enjoy further enhancements I've not renewed yet, although i could quite easily get the money together to purchase a season ticket before the start of the season. I would be unwilling to do this if i'm not going to access the full range of benefits of being a season ticket, and i can't envisage myself being at Bramall Lane that much is the match day prices remain high and there are no special offers. It feels like the club are holding a gun against the heads of the season ticket holders to force them to renew early or lose out in the long run.
I refuse to have the club hold a gun against my head to make me renew early, and although i'd said on many occasions that i'll not be renewing this season, there would be every chance that i'll relent before the start of the season and buy a season ticket but i would be less inclined to do so if there i'm not eligable for the full range of benefits. If i don't renew then there is every chance that i'll only end up going to one or two of the games instead of the full 23, as purchasing tickets match by match is a lot more expensive and a lot more hassle, and if i haven't got my season ticket i would be a lot more disinclined to attend home games. Over the last few months i've been and attended at other sporting events. I've been to the Snooker, Dart, Speedway and a Rugby League game and enjoyed them all, as well as having a few days at the cricket pencilled in during the summer. There could quite easily come a point where i decide that represents a better use of my money and then i would be a lost supporter, and i'm not a fly by night, johnny come lately supporter who came on board when we started doing well. I've held a season ticket for 15 out of the 25 seasons, usually miss one or two home games per season, and i've watched United on 71 different league ground, and would consider myself to be one of United's hardcore supporters, so losing someone like myself, and several others like me is a barometer of what is going wrong with the club. The True Blades advertising campaign has been another complete and unmitigated disaster as well.
3.
Finally, when we finally get relegated this season, what steps will the club be taking to arrest the slide. From your position as Supporters Communication Manager, you should be able to recognise the problems that United are going through, and should be fully engaged in two way communication between all parties concerned. What the club needs is a full root and branch examination of what is going wrong, and a clear plan needs to put in place to arrest this alarming slide. The results need to be conveyed back to the supporters as the supporters are the lifeblood of this club, and in your position you should really know that communication is everything, and acceptance of the problems that the club currently face, and an identification of ways and means to stop the slide and get the club moving forward being relayed to the supporters will not completely erase the breakdown in the relationship between the club and its supporters but it will go a long way in to the rebuilding some trust and some mutual acceptance that even if things are not perfect, we are all trying to pull in the same direction.
I have chosen to address these concerns directly to you using this medium of a message board, as i feel that i have accurately addressed a lot of the real concerns that the supporters have. I feel that as a part of your role as the Supporters Communication Manager, than if you are serious about doing the role you are employed to then you will come on here, and respond to the points i have raised. I have openly asked these questions, because they are questions that people want to ask, and the questions that people need the answers to, and i've asked the questions so i would encourage you to come on here and give us some answers, and it is not just myself who wants the answers, it is every paying supporter of Sheffield United who wants them. If you come on here and honestly give us the truthful answers to the questions that i have asked then you may gain a bit of respect and it will have a been a worthwhile exercise for all parties concerned. If you fail to respond then i'm afraid that you have failed in your role, and i would strongly believe that you are not doing the job you are being paid to do, and despite being a long Sheffield United supporters i would consider you to be yet another person drawing a wage from the club for not doing what you should be.
Happy to discuss
Brownie
