Paul Barber took time to read the Albion losing one million a month? thread and responded to me with some points on various aspects raised. I'm posting them in a separate thread so they get the attention they deserve.
As I have a day job, the presentation is pretty raw. I've provided the grouping and headings, not Paul, so blame me for structure.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: although there are decisions made that I disagree with, and there are aspects of the matchday experience that annoy me, I have massive amounts of faith in the (off the pitch) team assembled to look after our football club and the detail below only reinforces my view on that.
Anyway, here it is...
Communication and transparency
The one theme that Albion fans consistently relate to me (wherever I go and whenever I meet them) is that the “bad years” - and even some that followed - were typified by a lack of transparency and openness from senior management of the club. I’m sure this is at the root of much of the distrust that exists (from what seems to be a small but vocal group of fans) today – and, as a football fan of 40 plus years, I sympathise hugely with what went on and the struggles that followed.
My style, supported by Tony and the Board, is to be as open and as transparent as I can possibly be; and I'd like to think I’ve demonstrated this – consistently - since the day I arrived. From time to time, I’m prepared (and I’m backed by the board to do this) to tell it how it is; for me, it’s somewhat ironic that all of a sudden, for some supporters, this openness is “spin”, “ill-advised”, “slight of hand” or “disingenuous” (someone will have to explain that to me!).
The club’s openness manifests in a variety of ways but for me is most pertinent when Tony and myself (and other senior people) do more unrehearsed, unscripted, "take on any question that comes" fans forums than this club has ever done – bad years or not.
The open approach means that I make myself totally accessible to staff, sponsors and supporters - and I personally answer every e–mail I receive and, where appropriate and wherever possible, I will tell supporters how it is even if it’s not what they want to hear. I don’t duck questions asked of me in any forum but, by the same token, I’m also prepared to defend the club when a supporter is unfair, unreasonable or plain offensive.
I take time to explain things in detail where I feel it’s necessary (but for some this is patronising), while other times I’ll be short and to the point (or, as some would have it: arrogant). Sometimes I feel I can’t win in this job!
I don’t expect medals or praise for this; it’s the way I have chosen to do the job (although some of my fellow CEOs think I’m crazy!). Regardless, for me, this is the best way to run a football club because people know where they stand, they feel more connected, and there are a minimum number of surprises.
Club finances
Like most Championship clubs, this club is losing a lot of money; we know this, the owner knows it, the board knows it, the staff know it, the media knows it – and, yes, the supporters should know it too. We don’t make a secret of it because we’ve nothing to hide; there’s no creative accounting, no tricks, it is what it is and there’s nothing for us to gain by presenting things any other way
We’re managing it, (we like to think!) we know what we’re doing, and, closely monitored by a board made up of 7 vastly experienced non executive directors (and only 3 executive directors), it’s part of a controlled strategy to get out of this division, backed by our owner (who some people seem to forget - or gloss over - has already invested over £200 million in this football club).
As I've repeatedly explained, Championship revenues – even the best of them like ours – do not produce income to support a promotion-chasing playing budget. As such, and as much as we want to be self-sufficient, we rely on Tony’s generous subsidy (other Championship-challenging clubs are similarly subsided by their owners or through parachute payments or, in some cases, both!
Fans working with the club, not against it
It’s why everyone in this club gets hugely irritated when they read supporters encouraging others to "stop buying season tickets", "stop attending matches", "don’t buy the merchandise", or "drink and eat elsewhere" when everyone at the club is trying so hard to raise revenues to support our playing budget and reduce the dependency on Tony.
Everyone is of course entitled to spend their hard earned money how and where they wish, but often those behaving in this way are the same characters demanding a bigger playing budget or criticising the club for failing to sign certain players; to us, to be totally honest, it’s a very odd mentality and it makes little sense. Thankfully, again, it’s a very small number of people .
The BBC 'Price of Football' survey
We’re not a public company, so, even though we could, we do not need to “steer” people on our annual results - or feel the need to use information at certain times to defend a BBC survey!
With the greatest respect to the poster that suggested this, we are simply responding to questions the survey raised not orchestrating some Machiavellian plot to divert attention from our own accounts or from something – season ticket pricing - that’s been in the public domain for five months or more!
Again, let’s be clear, we have never claimed to have the cheapest tickets - and the BBC have not revealed anything that wasn’t already in the public domain about our pricing or anyone else’s. They have created headlines by taking a simplistic view of ticket pricing and failing to reflect the added value that we – and some other clubs – offer to their season ticket holders. For me, this is disingenuous at best, mis-leading and unfair at worst.
More on Club finances
Given that we do have a small number of shareholders, I do however need to be respectful of their investment on our club and therefore the timing of our accounts follows our financial year and the statutory reporting period we are required to follow; again, nothing sinister in this: we have reporting deadlines to our auditors, to the Football League and to Companies House – and we follow them.
Unfortunately, without getting in to the specifics of last year’s numbers, I’m not a miracle worker so the notion of me “eliminating” losses in just over 2 years is a little ridiculous and for the poster that suggested this was my job shows a lack of understanding of how any business operates, let alone a football club’s finances.
However, as I state in this week’s programme notes, we continue to increase income and to reduce our costs; of course, this work is ongoing but most importantly it has allowed us to maintain our football budgets despite a lower central contribution from the Football League and new FFP constraints meaning Tony’s contribution must be reduced.
At the same time, we have opened and are running a hugely expanded (and therefore expensive) training ground and academy; from our work to increase income and reduce (other) operational costs, we must fund this (and all that sails in it).
We will not always be able to give supporters what they want; we will not always agree with every complaint they make; we won’t always give in to unreasonable demands. We must establish policies and procedures that reflect the size of our club and the season ticket holders we now service. Yes, this is different from the Withdean and Gillingham years, but so are the numbers involved!
Albion staff and directors
I’m incredibly proud of the hard work our staff – all of them - have put in to help us boost income and become more efficient in the past two years or so – and, indeed, since the Amex opened; this stuff doesn’t happen by accident and it takes a lot of planning, effort, and skill to deliver. This club is very lucky to employ some very talented and very hard working people at all levels. Fortunately, many fans appreciate this and regularly email the staff with messages of support and thanks – which helps!
Finally, around the board room table, we have 10 people – including one that has invested over £200 million of his own money, several others who have spent a lifetime following and supporting this football club (and have intimate knowledge of everything that’s happened before), a few that have spent the best part of half a century of their career running professional football clubs, and a few others that have built, run, and, in some cases, sold businesses far bigger and far more complex than this one; the vast majority of our board live locally and face supporters every day.
Summing up
If there is a more open, transparent, accountable, hard-working group of people than those that own, run, or are employed by this football club, then I’ve not come across them in my business career – and I’be been lucky enough to work with many great people in some fantastic organisations; I'd really like to think that the majority of supporters would take heart and confidence from the way we do things.
As I have a day job, the presentation is pretty raw. I've provided the grouping and headings, not Paul, so blame me for structure.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: although there are decisions made that I disagree with, and there are aspects of the matchday experience that annoy me, I have massive amounts of faith in the (off the pitch) team assembled to look after our football club and the detail below only reinforces my view on that.
Anyway, here it is...
Communication and transparency
The one theme that Albion fans consistently relate to me (wherever I go and whenever I meet them) is that the “bad years” - and even some that followed - were typified by a lack of transparency and openness from senior management of the club. I’m sure this is at the root of much of the distrust that exists (from what seems to be a small but vocal group of fans) today – and, as a football fan of 40 plus years, I sympathise hugely with what went on and the struggles that followed.
My style, supported by Tony and the Board, is to be as open and as transparent as I can possibly be; and I'd like to think I’ve demonstrated this – consistently - since the day I arrived. From time to time, I’m prepared (and I’m backed by the board to do this) to tell it how it is; for me, it’s somewhat ironic that all of a sudden, for some supporters, this openness is “spin”, “ill-advised”, “slight of hand” or “disingenuous” (someone will have to explain that to me!).
The club’s openness manifests in a variety of ways but for me is most pertinent when Tony and myself (and other senior people) do more unrehearsed, unscripted, "take on any question that comes" fans forums than this club has ever done – bad years or not.
The open approach means that I make myself totally accessible to staff, sponsors and supporters - and I personally answer every e–mail I receive and, where appropriate and wherever possible, I will tell supporters how it is even if it’s not what they want to hear. I don’t duck questions asked of me in any forum but, by the same token, I’m also prepared to defend the club when a supporter is unfair, unreasonable or plain offensive.
I take time to explain things in detail where I feel it’s necessary (but for some this is patronising), while other times I’ll be short and to the point (or, as some would have it: arrogant). Sometimes I feel I can’t win in this job!
I don’t expect medals or praise for this; it’s the way I have chosen to do the job (although some of my fellow CEOs think I’m crazy!). Regardless, for me, this is the best way to run a football club because people know where they stand, they feel more connected, and there are a minimum number of surprises.
Club finances
Like most Championship clubs, this club is losing a lot of money; we know this, the owner knows it, the board knows it, the staff know it, the media knows it – and, yes, the supporters should know it too. We don’t make a secret of it because we’ve nothing to hide; there’s no creative accounting, no tricks, it is what it is and there’s nothing for us to gain by presenting things any other way
We’re managing it, (we like to think!) we know what we’re doing, and, closely monitored by a board made up of 7 vastly experienced non executive directors (and only 3 executive directors), it’s part of a controlled strategy to get out of this division, backed by our owner (who some people seem to forget - or gloss over - has already invested over £200 million in this football club).
As I've repeatedly explained, Championship revenues – even the best of them like ours – do not produce income to support a promotion-chasing playing budget. As such, and as much as we want to be self-sufficient, we rely on Tony’s generous subsidy (other Championship-challenging clubs are similarly subsided by their owners or through parachute payments or, in some cases, both!
Fans working with the club, not against it
It’s why everyone in this club gets hugely irritated when they read supporters encouraging others to "stop buying season tickets", "stop attending matches", "don’t buy the merchandise", or "drink and eat elsewhere" when everyone at the club is trying so hard to raise revenues to support our playing budget and reduce the dependency on Tony.
Everyone is of course entitled to spend their hard earned money how and where they wish, but often those behaving in this way are the same characters demanding a bigger playing budget or criticising the club for failing to sign certain players; to us, to be totally honest, it’s a very odd mentality and it makes little sense. Thankfully, again, it’s a very small number of people .
The BBC 'Price of Football' survey
We’re not a public company, so, even though we could, we do not need to “steer” people on our annual results - or feel the need to use information at certain times to defend a BBC survey!
With the greatest respect to the poster that suggested this, we are simply responding to questions the survey raised not orchestrating some Machiavellian plot to divert attention from our own accounts or from something – season ticket pricing - that’s been in the public domain for five months or more!
Again, let’s be clear, we have never claimed to have the cheapest tickets - and the BBC have not revealed anything that wasn’t already in the public domain about our pricing or anyone else’s. They have created headlines by taking a simplistic view of ticket pricing and failing to reflect the added value that we – and some other clubs – offer to their season ticket holders. For me, this is disingenuous at best, mis-leading and unfair at worst.
More on Club finances
Given that we do have a small number of shareholders, I do however need to be respectful of their investment on our club and therefore the timing of our accounts follows our financial year and the statutory reporting period we are required to follow; again, nothing sinister in this: we have reporting deadlines to our auditors, to the Football League and to Companies House – and we follow them.
Unfortunately, without getting in to the specifics of last year’s numbers, I’m not a miracle worker so the notion of me “eliminating” losses in just over 2 years is a little ridiculous and for the poster that suggested this was my job shows a lack of understanding of how any business operates, let alone a football club’s finances.
However, as I state in this week’s programme notes, we continue to increase income and to reduce our costs; of course, this work is ongoing but most importantly it has allowed us to maintain our football budgets despite a lower central contribution from the Football League and new FFP constraints meaning Tony’s contribution must be reduced.
At the same time, we have opened and are running a hugely expanded (and therefore expensive) training ground and academy; from our work to increase income and reduce (other) operational costs, we must fund this (and all that sails in it).
We will not always be able to give supporters what they want; we will not always agree with every complaint they make; we won’t always give in to unreasonable demands. We must establish policies and procedures that reflect the size of our club and the season ticket holders we now service. Yes, this is different from the Withdean and Gillingham years, but so are the numbers involved!
Albion staff and directors
I’m incredibly proud of the hard work our staff – all of them - have put in to help us boost income and become more efficient in the past two years or so – and, indeed, since the Amex opened; this stuff doesn’t happen by accident and it takes a lot of planning, effort, and skill to deliver. This club is very lucky to employ some very talented and very hard working people at all levels. Fortunately, many fans appreciate this and regularly email the staff with messages of support and thanks – which helps!
Finally, around the board room table, we have 10 people – including one that has invested over £200 million of his own money, several others who have spent a lifetime following and supporting this football club (and have intimate knowledge of everything that’s happened before), a few that have spent the best part of half a century of their career running professional football clubs, and a few others that have built, run, and, in some cases, sold businesses far bigger and far more complex than this one; the vast majority of our board live locally and face supporters every day.
Summing up
If there is a more open, transparent, accountable, hard-working group of people than those that own, run, or are employed by this football club, then I’ve not come across them in my business career – and I’be been lucky enough to work with many great people in some fantastic organisations; I'd really like to think that the majority of supporters would take heart and confidence from the way we do things.
