Clyde FC; Season 2022-23

[JBJ]

42 minutes ago, BrigtonClyde said:

What's certainly true is when we moved there, Clyde knew it was on a rental basis, there was never an inference they would ultimately own the ground but must have still felt we could flourish there.  Maybe it was because we haven't owned our own ground since 1936 and anything we've done of note happened after that, but the t&c's haven't changed, it's the same deal.

This is where you can throw up all sorts of examples.  Annan own their own ground, rent our their pitch, social club etc, never been out L2.  For decades Juventus were very successful domestically & in Europe while not owning their own ground.  Then there's examples the other way round, point being it's a case by case basis, specific circumstances, it's not it's either definitely better to own or to rent, it depends on the situation.

The architect of the proposed move to Crownpoint went into more detail recently on the OS.  There he said as part of the deal, Glasgow City Council insisted the Club would have to proactively engage with the community in advance and while there.  The fact a club would need to be told that is telling in itself, but if they don't have that resource now, how are they magically going to produce it on relocating ?  You're just moving what has been the fundamental problem from one place to another.

I heard the new Chairman give an interview recently.  He's a decent lad, I've time for him, but he specifically said on the potential of earning income at our current location "a series of commercial managers can't be wrong".  I'm afraid they can be, because they've been relying on well meaning volunteers to carry out what's a specialist task dealt with on a far bigger scale by professionals.   It's been mentioned before, the club should engage with a professional marketing and commerical sales company (there's loads), and at the initial meeting set out the Club's aims and targets for revenue.  The agreement would be based mainly on commission perhaps with a modest retainer. 

At that point, the company would do an initial feasibility study and assessment outlining whether it's possible.  If they say it isn't, and cite the non ownership of the stadium as the primary issue, I'm much more likely to take their opinion on board.  However it's also entirely possible they would feel it is achievable  because it's unlikely all that activity would be centred around the stadium.  Point being, the basis on which we're being told that a relocation with stadium ownership is the only answer hasn't been fully tested.

But the policy of "make the most of it while here" has already been blown out the water.  It is impossible to engage with the local community and businesses while it's quite clear the aim is to get out of dodge as soon as possible.  But that kind of thinking comes from people who have no experience in handling this specific area.  

It's up to each individual whether they prefer to stay or relocate, but at least think about the background to all this and the future implications.  At no point, at any proposed future location, has there ever been a study carried out to assess even whether there would be a local demand for the club, ie whether they would likely be able to generate a new support.  If they can't but still move, it's the equivalent of driving with a car battery when the alternator's shot, just a question of time. 

What you said...

[BrigtonClyde]

1 hour ago, Bullyweeno1 said:

Agree with all the comments above.

There was an enthusiasm for the local community when we moved but it just wasn't harnessed to the maximum benefit.  That and the fact that the product on the pitch was crap as think it was about 6 games in before we even scored (Alan MacKenzie rocket from 3 yards if memory serves me correct)

Remember we had a cold midweek game against Morton in the first season at Broadwood and we had something like 2, 000 - 2,500 at the game so the interest was there at the start.

Though we have had at least 4 good teams since we have moved but never really been able to get interest from the Cumbernauld locals above about 1k average attendance.

1. Juniors team with Ronnie and Maitland in charge

2. Season we nearly got promoted to the premier league and the couple of years round about it when finished 2nd and 3rd in the now championship.

3. Graham Roberts turn up and get a game season where we nearly beat Rangers at Ibrox and beat Celtic at home

4. Promotion season from 3 seasons ago.

These focus groups are just a waste of time and nothing will come from them IMO.

As was said above I would be engaging a marketing company, or at least going out and speaking to some, rather than an individual commercial manager, and carry out a review with them with the view of them coming on board and getting a sizeable % of any new income/fans that are generated.  Something like a 50/50 split or even more in the marketing company's favour so it is worth them taking it on.

 

What you're saying here, this is exactly the thing

1994, adopt a "build it and they will come policy".  That might have worked in 1954, but in a modern era, a club can't take that approach or even rely on some decent results.  Especially as is often the case now, grounds are being built away from town centres etc.  You have to get serious about engaging with the community.

4 years later Ronnie McDonald comes in, primarily for the football side.  It's no coincidence with his business background he decides to get the sleeves rolled up and takes it upon himself to go round all the schools, drum up interest & support - remember all the kids that started turning up with the hats etc.  In a relatively short period of time the crowds are growing steadily and were decent by the time we were up for the first season.  But that's a work in progress, early days, still more opportunity to build the club in the community, but then of course he leaves.

We've never replaced that role he played.  What it shows is that it's possible, there is a potential support there, but we don't live in an age where you can just expect people to turn up, you need to graft hard taking it to them....and obviously if you make it very public you're desperate to leave, well that's disastrous.  It also shows that at least an element of what was required had to be sourced outwith the club, albeit it came about more by chance than design.  

If you're in charge of things but don't have the ability or resource to do what's needed, very easy to take the default position "nah, it's not possible", when clearly from our own history there's enough there to suggest that it is.    As for focus groups, whatever, give it a try by all means but seems to me the underlying inference was that ultimately this was a way for the Club to see if they could get more volunteers at the end of it.  Fine if you get people who are experts in the required fields, but if we had that they'd likely have been operating for some time by now.   

[Jack Burton]

Agree with all the comments above.
There was an enthusiasm for the local community when we moved but it just wasn't harnessed to the maximum benefit.  That and the fact that the product on the pitch was crap as think it was about 6 games in before we even scored (Alan MacKenzie rocket from 3 yards if memory serves me correct)
Remember we had a cold midweek game against Morton in the first season at Broadwood and we had something like 2, 000 - 2,500 at the game so the interest was there at the start.
Though we have had at least 4 good teams since we have moved but never really been able to get interest from the Cumbernauld locals above about 1k average attendance.
1. Juniors team with Ronnie and Maitland in charge
2. Season we nearly got promoted to the premier league and the couple of years round about it when finished 2nd and 3rd in the now championship.
3. Graham Roberts turn up and get a game season where we nearly beat Rangers at Ibrox and beat Celtic at home
4. Promotion season from 3 seasons ago.
These focus groups are just a waste of time and nothing will come from them IMO.
As was said above I would be engaging a marketing company, or at least going out and speaking to some, rather than an individual commercial manager, and carry out a review with them with the view of them coming on board and getting a sizeable % of any new income/fans that are generated.  Something like a 50/50 split or even more in the marketing company's favour so it is worth them taking it on.
 

There was a big advertising campaign when Clyde initially moved to Broadwood. The Here the Dream Begins posters were everywhere and Clyde constantly took up pages in the Cumbernauld News.

I remember the Morton 0-0 game. It was absolutely freezing and we still had a crowd of 2,500.

The initial season or two there was a lot of open/family days at the stadium and I used to go train at the 5 a side pitches every Saturday morning which was run by Clyde. You also had the Shoot TV show that was filmed at Broadwood and featured a young Brian Carrigan. You could also buy Clyde shirts and scarves from every sport shop up the Town Centre.

The club did feel part of the community back then but a combination of a poor team, poor location of Broadwood, it was miles from anything back then, and not keeping the momentum going meant crowds started tailing off.

I've stayed in Cumbernauld for most of my life and you would barely know Clyde still play in Cumbernauld now. Doesn't help that every few years there is some big news announcement about the club looking elsewhere again..

[Blydoit Bully Wee]

I think the club could improve on merchandise especially for the winter, at the moment there is one hat and one scarf option, Cove Rangers for example have 6 beanie options, 2 baseball caps and three different scarfs. 

https://shop.clydefc.co.uk/merchandise/243-scarf.html

Edited November 5, 2021 by Blydoit Bully Wee

[BrigtonClyde]

23 minutes ago, Jack Burton said:

There was a big advertising campaign when Clyde initially moved to Broadwood. The Here the Dream Begins posters were everywhere and Clyde constantly took up pages in the Cumbernauld News.

I remember the Morton 0-0 game. It was absolutely freezing and we still had a crowd of 2,500.

The initial season or two there was a lot of open/family days at the stadium and I used to go train at the 5 a side pitches every Saturday morning which was run by Clyde. You also had the Shoot TV show that was filmed at Broadwood and featured a young Brian Carrigan. You could also buy Clyde shirts and scarves from every sport shop up the Town Centre.

The club did feel part of the community back then but a combination of a poor team, poor location of Broadwood, it was miles from anything back then, and not keeping the momentum going meant crowds started tailing off.

I've stayed in Cumbernauld for most of my life and you would barely know Clyde still play in Cumbernauld now. Doesn't help that every few years there is some big news announcement about the club looking elsewhere again..

That's right, & what you've described there is absolutely fine if part & parcel of wider and ongoing activity.  The problem in 94 was it seemed to be treated as a short term PR campaign that didn't include much in the way of direct in person engagement, personal representations from the club around schools, local businesses, community centres etc, the idea apparently being get to the first game or two when I think tickets were given out for free (again a perfectly decent idea), but then treated as job done.  It was a million miles from done, that's just the introductory stage.

Certainly a poor team in a lower league the first few season(s) didn't help, but again the reason to go there halfway through a season was crazy.  They should have held off to the summer, assessed the fact we were then in the league below and put together a plan to recruit well aimed at winning the league in our first season there.  IE a winning team at that level would have been easier to build some momentum than the introduction being a struggling team ultimately relegated.  That combined with no particular further ongoing local engagement would absolutely see interest diminish.

It's obviously past now, the point is lessons can be learned from that and also the work done 4 years later which began to reverse the damage done.  All of that said, I doubt anything written here today's going to make a blind bit of difference, the Board appear to be speaking with one voice now that relocation is the main target.  Having listened to everything they've said about it, at least so far, I have absolutely no idea how they think they can make it a success.

 

[haufdaft]

We're shite.

Fans singing Danny Lennon's Gypsy army?

Not me.

The emperor has no clothes.

[Autistisches Nilpferd]

4 hours ago, haufdaft said:

We're shite.

Fans singing Danny Lennon's Gypsy army?

Not me.

The emperor has no clothes.

How about supporting boys low on confidence? At the end them all clapping the fans and Danny saying how great we were. Great point today in dreadful conditions after conceding so late. I know this season has been rubbish but felt like a team and support for the first time in weeks today

Edited November 6, 2021 by RosspCfc

[JBJ]

1 hour ago, haufdaft said:

We're shite.

Fans singing Danny Lennon's Gypsy army?

Not me.

The emperor has no clothes.

Ye can't make a judgement in conditions like those..........they showed fight today an page was immense. Let's see how it goes next week and probably mare revelant is East Fiffy at home. 

[Mamtora]

1 hour ago, haufdaft said:

We're shite.

Fans singing Danny Lennon's Gypsy army?

Not me.

The emperor has no clothes.

"We're shite", you say. Interesting.

[haufdaft]

How about supporting boys low on confidence and at the end had them clapping the fans and Danny saying how great we were. Great point today in dreadful conditions after conceding so late. I know this season has been rubbish but felt like a team and support for the first time in weeks today

I wish I could.

The problem is that today wasn't any improvement on recent performances. We were woeful today. The late equaliser can't hide the dreadful previous 90 minutes.

First half we hardly got near the opposition box with a hurricane at our backs.

Second half our only possession was Parry's goal kicks (out of play or returned via a Dumbarton head).

That was a horrible performance. No one can convince me otherwise.

I'm pretty sick of the "Danny's a good guy" and Danny's platitudes to the fans. He may be a great man. He may be genuine in his praise of the Clyde support.

However the simple fact is that he in in charge of a poor poor team. He signed the players. He picks the team. He chooses the tactics.

Hence my comment about the emperor's clothes.

Where is the substance to his "I'll get is out of this"comment?

He's living on the promotion season. It's been downhill ever since.

Chapman got hunted. Maybe he should have been more PR orientated and he'd still be in charge.

[JBJ]

11 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

 

 

I wish I could.

The problem is that today wasn't any improvement on recent performances. We were woeful today. The late equaliser can't hide the dreadful previous 90 minutes.

First half we hardly got near the opposition box with a hurricane at our backs.

Second half our only possession was Parry's goal kicks (out of play or returned via a Dumbarton head).

That was a horrible performance. No one can convince me otherwise.

I'm pretty sick of the "Danny's a good guy" and Danny's platitudes to the fans. He may be a great man. He may be genuine in his praise of the Clyde support.

However the simple fact is that he in in charge of a poor poor team. He signed the players. He picks the team. He chooses the tactics.

Hence my comment about the emperor's clothes.

Where is the substance to his "I'll get is out of this"comment?

He's living on the promotion season. It's been downhill ever since.

Chapman got hunted. Maybe he should have been more PR orientated and he'd still be in charge.


 

 

Maybe it's no Danny livin on the promotion season......shite squad in your opinion? Shite budget maist likely......why did Grant no come back? Why did Howie go tae Alloa? Why did players no want to come tae us? Endin up waty ony 9 signed  a few weeks before matches started says to me people kept saying naw.

Somethin no right here. 

 

and chapman? PR orientated? does that mean not fighting with supporters? never mind how shite a manager he was. He wid not have taken us up

Edited November 6, 2021 by JBJ

[haufdaft]

Ye can't make a judgement in conditions like those..........they showed fight today an page was immense. Let's see how it goes next week and probably mare revelant is East Fiffy at home. 

I'm not making a judgement purely on today's match. The past couple of seasons have been bad. This season in particular.

Today's performance was rotten because of the wind? Only partially.

Tactics were poor. For example in the second half, goal kicks to Jones's head. Half went directly out of play. He never won one knock on. We continued trying it even though we instantaneously lost possession.

Only two shots from distance in the first half with that wind behind us.

Midfield continuously goes missing in matches and I'm not even mentioning Robert Jones selection.

I thought Dumbarton performed much better in the conditions. They missed a few sitters. We were lucky to not be further behind in the game.

A late goal has hidden a lot of cracks... again

[JBJ]

2 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

I'm not making a judgement purely on today's match. The past couple of seasons have been bad. This season in particular.

Today's performance was rotten because of the wind? Only partially.

Tactics were poor. For example in the second half, goal kicks to Jones's head. Half went directly out of play. He never won one knock on. We continued trying it even though we instantaneously lost possession.

Only two shots from distance in the first half with that wind behind us.

Midfield continuously goes missing in matches and I'm not even mentioning Robert Jones selection.

I thought Dumbarton performed much better in the conditions. They missed a few sitters. We were lucky to not be further behind in the game.

A late goal has hidden a lot of cracks... again

Yer mind is made up. 

 

on Jones ah huv tae agree way you.

 

[haufdaft]

Yer mind is made up. 
 
on Jones ah huv tae agree way you.
 

To be honest my mind isn't made up. I'd still give Danny another transfer window to get us out of this. Last chance Saloon and all that.

Although I feel fans make excuses for Danny because of his personal style that they didn't make for others.

Only the results and performances matter to me. Anything else is in reality, "chaff"

[JBJ]

Just now, haufdaft said:

To be honest my mind isn't made up. I'd still give Danny another transfer window to get us out of this. Last chance Saloon and all that.

Although I feel fans make excuses for Danny because of his personal style that they didn't make for others.

Only the results and performances matter to me. Anything else is in reality, "chaff"

Needs tae be a summer window...January windaes are nae use normally

[Bullyweeno1]

5 minutes ago, JBJ said:

Needs tae be a summer window...January windaes are nae use normally

Yeah can’t see the changes needed being made in January

We need to get about 20 of the squad out and 14 in and that isn’t going to happen in January

[Clyde85]

9 minutes ago, JBJ said:

Needs tae be a summer window...January windaes are nae use normally

I wouldn’t trust him to rebuild a looking likely league 2 squad.

[BrigtonClyde]

15 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

To be honest my mind isn't made up. I'd still give Danny another transfer window to get us out of this. Last chance Saloon and all that.

Although I feel fans make excuses for Danny because of his personal style that they didn't make for others.

Only the results and performances matter to me. Anything else is in reality, "chaff"

For some time you've made your stance clear.  You place the responsibility for the team performance - players signed, tactics, results - solely at the door of the manager.

By the same token, do you accept how an oranization is run has a direct affect on its ability to operate and in turn determines the success of achieving its primary aims, and is the sole responsibility of those who run it ?

[haufdaft]

For some time you've made your stance clear.  You place the responsibility for the team performance - players signed, tactics, results - solely at the door of the manager.
By the same token, do you accept how an oranization is run has a direct affect on its ability to operate and in turn determines the success of achieving its primary aims, and is the sole responsibility of those who run it ?

Of course it does.

Every person involved in any capacity with the club have a responsibility to do their job to the best of their ability.

The board should maximise income and should provide the best they can afford to the manager.

My issue is I don't think Danny is maximising the use of the resources given to him. Just look at recruitment and the team selections. Danny admitted making mistakes. He also said, unprompted, that he was happy with the backing the directors gave him.

I don't feel able to comment on the performance of the board as I have no knowledge of corporate matters. I'm not even a member/owner.

What I would say is there's plenty of potentially excellent football managers that would desire the job as Clyde manager.

I doubt there's many excellent businessmen that want to be on the Clyde board. If there were I'm sure the current members would be happy to have them involved.

To throw the question back . If it was Chapman or Stuart Millar in charge would you be laying the blame on the board and excusing the manager? We were in a more difficult financial situation then but we rightfully judged them on results.

[JBJ]

36 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

 

 

Of course it does.

Every person involved in any capacity with the club have a responsibility to do their job to the best of their ability.

The board should maximise income and should provide the best they can afford to the manager.

My issue is I don't think Danny is maximising the use of the resources given to him. Just look at recruitment and the team selections. Danny admitted making mistakes. He also said, unprompted, that he was happy with the backing the directors gave him.

I don't feel able to comment on the performance of the board as I have no knowledge of corporate matters. I'm not even a member/owner.

What I would say is there's plenty of potentially excellent football managers that would desire the job as Clyde manager.

I doubt there's many excellent businessmen that want to be on the Clyde board. If there were I'm sure the current members would be happy to have them involved.

To throw the question back . If it was Chapman or Stuart Millar in charge would you be laying the blame on the board and excusing the manager? We were in a more difficult financial situation then but we rightfully judged them on results.

 

It seems that Danny is the only wan admitting he's made mistakes which is hoest at least

Youre a fan..you dont need tae be an owner to accept that the board have overall respnosability.