Rhodes speaks

Probaly because it rivals Raqqa and Sana’a as the worlds largest shithole.

 

Further to this - I agree. Any ideas what that something is???

 

3 question marks!!!

Come on Sergio, give us all you've got.

 

The growing demographic of Bradford has no emotional attachment to the city or its sporting clubs. We can stick our head under the duvet and pretend otherwise or we can face up to it and ask why? No one has really had the balls to challenge it, shame because its a potential goldmine right on your door step.

 

Yes Bradford is a shit-hole. But so are many other towns and cities and it doesn’t stop them being attractive. Someone with vision would be able to tap into the potential fan base that to now, has shown such little interest.

 

I think the mistake a lot of fans make is they don’t look at the club for what it is.....a limited company.
The great thing about Rhodes is he understands the basic principles of business. If money in is less than money out, eventually your fecked. Unfortunately he thinks like an accountant, so he cuts his cloth to suit the clubs income rather than looking at how we increase profitable revenue streams. To grow & develop the club and brand we need a visionary who can maximise our sponsorship streams & increase profitably.
I really thought Rupp would bring this to the party, especially after the “video” record by a German TV company.
I hoped we’d attract European sponsorship on the back of Rupps contacts but it didn’t happen.
German sides charge lower ticket prices and rely on sponsorship to pay the bills. Tinkering with the season ticket prices isn’t going to make much difference in the scheme of things.
If I were in charge I’d be studying how teams across Europe attract and engage with sponsors. I’d be identifying which business sectors target Bradford residents (even if it’s payday loans, Cash for Crash and B&M bargains!!) and target them. I’d have someone on a plane for meetings with big companies in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Poland.
Locally I’d be smooshing every business owner in Yorkshire, get them to the ground for a match and push the boat out - Richmond was great at this and it worked.
I’d study the “on trend clubs” like Posnan & St Pauli, see what they do differently and bring the good bits to City.
I’d set up the website for multiple languages and promote the Brand around the world. The intention being to sell merchandise. I’d try and set up twinning with other clubs around the globe. Basically put everything into growing the “Brand Bradford” only when you’ve sold the dream, wrung every available pound into the coffers and maxed out sponsorship opportunities can you even think about new training facilities, buying back the ground or even league busting playing budgets.
Either that or hope for an Arab prince to come knocking!!

 

Hope your our new CEO.

 

Maybe because Rhodes gets involved and holds us back.

 

He is employed to run the ship, I have an opinion that differs to his but he knows more about the running of a business than I do.

 

A great post, but wringing every available pound fails at the first hurdle when fans grumble at the mere mention of £149 being too cheap. You can't expect to pay about 8 quid a game but want to dine at the Ivy. It's the biggest potential revenue raiser at the club.

 

That's called ambition. We don't want it, thank you very much.

 

Yes, he is but he is safe and scared of risks. The ship is sinking currently hence the extra money we require from the owner.

You could argue his way of running the ship gets us nowhere. Either way his time is done here and we need fresh vision now.

 

Whether it is or it isn’t, Bradford has a reputation as a shithole. Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, all got some proper rough areas but don't have that stigma Bradford has. I see it all over, where you from? Bradford. Bit of a dump there isn’t it, or where’s that are the usual questions.

 

The local paper doesn't help because it sells on negativity. The council doesn't help because it will do anything for funding.

You only need to look at how Liverpool turned itself around.

Manchester, Leeds, Bristol have some right holes but Bradford doesn't help itself.

 

I have this all the time in the north east. I’m constantly reminded what a shit hole Bradford is.

Yet there are parts of the north east that leave a lot to be desired. Parts of Newcastle (Byker, Scotswood etc) are hell holes, yet because it’s got a nice city centre and a reputation as a good place for a drink along with the fact that Geordies are passionate about their city means that it rarely gets bad press.

Go to some of the other areas, Stanley in County Durham is beyond a shit hole and don’t get me started on Ashington and Newbigging. Please don’t ever go there. Make Bradford look like paradise. You’ve been warned.

 

Liverpool all day long mate two Cathedrals v one (unfinished)

 

It's tempting with the benefit of hindsight to blame JR for the club's faults.

However at the time of all the manager appointments that he was involved with, the fans were generally pretty positive - the vast majority welcomed Gary Bowyer for example. As regards the sale of the club to Messrs Rupp and Rahic (or is that Herren?) it is conveniently forgotten that in the summer of 2017 - a good 15 months after the sale - City fans were in Germany toasting Rahic as the new Messiah. In fact when I told Stefan Rupp in February, 2018 that Edin was a complete disaster he suggested the fans were fickle because what he had seen the previous summer was a whole load of Bradfordians singing Rahic's praises. Even then the club was still on the fringes of automatic promotion. (NB SR also attached no credibility to the inflammatory comments on social media which served if anything to persuade him otherwise about Edin.)

SR acknowledges that he was taken for a ride (and he won't be the first of the last investor to make such a mistake) but it is easy to see how, from afar, there didn't seem to be a problem. Even at the time of Stuart's sacking SR felt that there was scope to turn things around on the pitch. For the record, his delay getting rid of Edin was until he had someone to hold the fort on his behalf and being able to persuade JR back to VP - Roger Owen will confirm this. (JR returned to VP in 2018 as much out of a sense of duty as anything else, it's not necessarily what he wanted to do.) My sense is that by the start of the 2018/19 SR had already come to terms with the error of Rahic and it was the last couple of months of the previous season that started to sow the seeds of doubt in his mind.

As regards the accounting and financial management in the club it is no coincidence that Edin stopped the flow of information to SR during the last five months of his involvement, citing internal issues. Rahic was a complete conman. You can blame JR for being taken in by him. You can blame SR for being duped but for a pretty lengthy period of time, so was everyone else. And if you go back to 2016 I think we were all relieved that the club was not being sold to a dodgy Italian - the fact is that there was a generally positive response to the sale and we all knew that unless the club was sold it could never progress beyond the third tier.

In 2004 and then 2018, JR and in turn SR both had the opportunity to walk away and cut their losses. We also forget that in 2004 JR was feted as a hero and likewise forget that prior to 2016 there were no credible offers or interest to buy the club. Mark Lawn was the only man prepared to inject money and before the 2012/13 cup run there was no guarantee that he would get his money back. JR's cheap season ticket initiative in 2007 was also the basis by which interest was revived in the club.

I am not suggesting that there have not been mistakes at VP or that things could not have been done better, but to judge what has happened needs a slightly more balanced assessment.

 

The cracks were already beginning to show as early as mid April 2017 between McCall and Rahic, the information coming out of the club even back then spoke of a fractured relationship that got worse by the week. During the follwing months the warning signs from yet more info spoke of a club broken behind the scenes, some of the info from varied sources was painting a picture of a club falling apart at the seams. Knowing what was going on it was clear that Rahic would eventually be found out, just a case of when. That period from April to January the club was completely bat shit crazy behind the scenes.

 

You do it by up-selling, 1st season Tickets....You keep the headline ticket price at £149, but add on a five pound admin charge which is non negotiable. You then say £154 is a base ticket which gives general admission to a nominated stand, want guaranteed seats, that’s an extra £20 quid. Fast track half time pint, program on seat when you arrive, loads of incentives which we could use.
2) sponsors - nothing, and I mean nothing is purchased by the club unless a reciprocal sponsorship deal can be achieved, from banking and credit providers down to paper clips.
The problem with City (and most clubs) is, not since the Richmond days have they aggressively chased sponsors through sales channels & targeted sectors. Sure we’ve pushed the suites, and the usual sponsor packages and I’m not trying to belittle what our sales teams have achieved, but it just seems to be an afterthought.
So many ways to increase the clubs revenue from alternate sources alongside taking more wallet share from existing fans & sponsors.