*OPEN HOUSE NOTES*
- Trevor Francis memorial concert - 2,000 tickets raised to start a cup for kids in the city. Acts are not known beforehand.
- Revenue growth 51%, aim to grow further 71% next year
- 4th highest average attendance in champ
- Better attendance than 6 prem clubs
- We have the 12th most social media impressions this year, compared to 31 last and 45 the year before - very important for sponsors and revenue
- £15m investment this year, £20m last in the training ground and stadium. Confirmed the main stand would be updated but not completely knocked down and rebuilt. Wast Hills has been purpose built for the women and academy
- Hope Powell spoke about the rise and fall of our women’s team, and how they are slowly rebuilding the foundations behind the scenes
- Amy Merricks & Hope Powell spoke really well about the womens team, and showed how far the team has come in terms of style and facilities. Show some good stats about A) What a good women’s team should focus on and B) The teams achievements so far this year. Aim for women is to be champions league ASAP, but championship table is tight and only 1 team gets promoted
- Mike Rigg academy director explained we’d be audited for Cat 1 academy status and outlined the process. Also explained the stategy of the academy to attract the best talent from the area. He was asked about the lack of minutes for academy players in the first team this year and said as the team gets better that’s normal, and the academy has to improve to keep pace with the quality of the first team. Also pointed out a lot of them are getting experience on loan.
- Tom Wagner said they are firmly committed to the sports quarter and to not worry about any media reports as they often aren’t correct (also hinted that they may strategically put certain things out there to play the game)
- Gary Cook refused to give a timeline on the quarter. 5 years is the ambition but he made it sound like that’s if we got permission for everything straight away, and some things are taking time as you don’t know the hurdles until you start.
- Nick Smith confirmed that very basic plans are underway for the new stadium and confirmed that fans will have their say and input on what comes across from the existing stadium or what certain features will look/be like.
- One question led to an interesting discussion. Someone asked about them doing more to celebrate ex-forces and mentioned the KRO before the game. Cook pointed out they do receive some complaints about the old version of KRO being played before the game, and some fans have said that’s why we start slow
think it was a fair point that they can try but ultimately impossible to please everyone on everything
- They are doing things to stop “ticket abuse” for away games especially. So certain away days will still have the scheme where you collect your ticket with ID. They said they have more returns when they do this, and for Sutton and Lincoln around 25 tickets were not collected (essentially people buying away tickets for status and not going to games). They will continue these type of things moving forward. They also have some sort of face recognition thing in the Arthur’s area to try and stop people giving their childs ticket to an adult when their kid can’t come (they would relocate you to another area though, if possible).
- Craig Gardner said there were no current plans to become a “group” of football clubs but it’s something we would like/encourage Knighthead to do in 5-10 years.
- Was confirmed that Knighthead are set to obtain 100% owenrship during 2025 but they can’t release all details for legal reasons
- There is a sleepout charity event at the ground where they’ll play the 2011 cup final and have special guests. Looking for 400 people who will committ to raising minimum wage £200 each for charity
- Trevor Francis memorial concert - 2,000 tickets raised to start a cup for kids in the city. Acts are not known beforehand.
- Revenue growth 51%, aim to grow further 71% next year
- 4th highest average attendance in champ
- Better attendance than 6 prem clubs
- We have the 12th most social media impressions this year, compared to 31 last and 45 the year before - very important for sponsors and revenue
- £15m investment this year, £20m last in the training ground and stadium. Confirmed the main stand would be updated but not completely knocked down and rebuilt. Wast Hills has been purpose built for the women and academy
- Hope Powell spoke about the rise and fall of our women’s team, and how they are slowly rebuilding the foundations behind the scenes
- Amy Merricks & Hope Powell spoke really well about the womens team, and showed how far the team has come in terms of style and facilities. Show some good stats about A) What a good women’s team should focus on and B) The teams achievements so far this year. Aim for women is to be champions league ASAP, but championship table is tight and only 1 team gets promoted
- Mike Rigg academy director explained we’d be audited for Cat 1 academy status and outlined the process. Also explained the stategy of the academy to attract the best talent from the area. He was asked about the lack of minutes for academy players in the first team this year and said as the team gets better that’s normal, and the academy has to improve to keep pace with the quality of the first team. Also pointed out a lot of them are getting experience on loan.
- Tom Wagner said they are firmly committed to the sports quarter and to not worry about any media reports as they often aren’t correct (also hinted that they may strategically put certain things out there to play the game)
- Gary Cook refused to give a timeline on the quarter. 5 years is the ambition but he made it sound like that’s if we got permission for everything straight away, and some things are taking time as you don’t know the hurdles until you start.
- Nick Smith confirmed that very basic plans are underway for the new stadium and confirmed that fans will have their say and input on what comes across from the existing stadium or what certain features will look/be like.
- One question led to an interesting discussion. Someone asked about them doing more to celebrate ex-forces and mentioned the KRO before the game. Cook pointed out they do receive some complaints about the old version of KRO being played before the game, and some fans have said that’s why we start slow
think it was a fair point that they can try but ultimately impossible to please everyone on everything- They are doing things to stop “ticket abuse” for away games especially. So certain away days will still have the scheme where you collect your ticket with ID. They said they have more returns when they do this, and for Sutton and Lincoln around 25 tickets were not collected (essentially people buying away tickets for status and not going to games). They will continue these type of things moving forward. They also have some sort of face recognition thing in the Arthur’s area to try and stop people giving their childs ticket to an adult when their kid can’t come (they would relocate you to another area though, if possible).
- Craig Gardner said there were no current plans to become a “group” of football clubs but it’s something we would like/encourage Knighthead to do in 5-10 years.
- Was confirmed that Knighthead are set to obtain 100% owenrship during 2025 but they can’t release all details for legal reasons
- There is a sleepout charity event at the ground where they’ll play the 2011 cup final and have special guests. Looking for 400 people who will committ to raising minimum wage £200 each for charity