Smurthwaite's Interview

[Lady_Vale]

The gate issue is a concern given how well we did last season and this and still it's relatively average and less than forecast.

 

To seriously expect him to put in yet more money is unfair when he is covering so much on a monthly basis. Where he needs to focus and it's clear he is doing so is with the commercial aspects hence John Booth etc. With Stoke in the PL and football being so cheap via Sky I doubt we will see the big increases in gates we need despite our general form (the odd performance including today aside) so these other avenues must be the key focus, time to deliver commercial team as people have long been saying.

 

Unfair? He made his bed when he bought the club and now needs to lie in it. He should continue to fill the short fall - it's HIS business and until HE can get HIS club operating at a profit that's his responsibility. All new businesses have to do the same so I don't know why we have to put up with the threat that he won't do it again.

 

We won't be challenging for the Championship in 2-3 years unless he gets this money pit functioning like a successful business.

[waynes62]

Sooner smurf go than MA

 

Team Micky or Team Smurf

 

Team micky

[Beza]

Listened to it on my way to the game today.

 

Well done Norman, put to rest a bit of nonsence including bashing the daft rumours on forums a couple of times.

 

'We are very lucky to have Micky Adams' (who is his CEO) and the club is 'debt free'.

 

Lets hope his honesty puts daft rumours to bed and we can get more people into the ground as supporters to reduce the amount he needs to put in monthly. Its time to back him to show we want Championship football and the club to progress.

dunna think any club will be "debt free" so its a case of "Liar liar Pants on fire" Mr Smurf.

[For Us All]

He said that he doesn't want us to do a Yeovil,get promoted and come straight back down,he would rather we spent another few seasons in this league,become sustainable and then push on.Wasn't aware that Yeovil had got relegated yet Smurf and I'm sure that their fans wouldn't swop their play-off win at Wembley for anything.

Football fans do not want to hear that their club has no intention of getting promoted,whether it be this season,next season or any season.

The only thing we cling to is hope.

[philpvfc]

I'd rather us get promoted then relegated than stay mid table in this division for a few years to see what happens.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Sooner smurf go than MA

 

Team Micky or Team Smurf

 

Cue the rubbish Smurthwaite was talking about! ;)

[Birches Head Fred]

Smurf has come a long way in a short time. In my opinion most clubs like ours are on a rollercoaster ride, with ups and downs and not too much on the level. After years of decline we are finally on an upturn - I firmly believe that Norman wants us to continue on the upward trend but I think he wants us to do it slowly and under the right financial constraints to avoid the pitfalls that may surely still blight our future.

 

He (naively in my opinion) and Paul were seduced by our promotion push last season, and the huge crowds that came with it. Unfortunately they were not football 'savvy' enough to foresee that the supporters coming through the turnstiles near the end of the season would not stick with us in the next year. Neither did anyone it seems put them right - either that or they were simply blind!

 

He has ploughed probably more than he wished into the club and quite rightly wishes to slow down for probably two reasons :

Firstly he wants the club to be more self financing

Secondly, I assume if he does at some point want to walk away, he wants to do so without too much debt owing to him.

 

Obviously he wants us to push on, but maybe his blueprint for the next 5 years is somewhat different to the managers, from my point of view, as long as the 'club' is moving forward off the field and maintaining at least league one status whilst the financial side catches up with our on-field success then I think we are doing ok. I think it's fair to say that we are, at present NOT good enough for automatic promotion, however a dalliance with the play-offs may yet be within our grasp but there's a long way to go yet.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Unfair? He made his bed when he bought the club and now needs to lie in it. He should continue to fill the short fall - it's HIS business and until HE can get HIS club operating at a profit that's his responsibility. All new businesses have to do the same so I don't know why we have to put up with the threat that he won't do it again.

 

We won't be challenging for the Championship in 2-3 years unless he gets this money pit functioning like a successful business.

 

He has said he will fill the current shortfall but stretching ourselves even further is a bad thing without the relative guarantee of success last season offered. If we were 2nd or 3rd the vision would be different but we need to think where we have come from (virtual oblivion) in such a short space of time.

 

I don't want us to be in a worse situation in 2 or 3 years and end up like Pompey chasing a dream and almost dying.

 

We have to be sustainable first, that's the key steady progress taking progress or gifts as they come. If we can't boost the fan base which seems at it's maximum of around 5k core presently then we need to protect the long term progress of the club gradually.

 

Commercial department focus is vital, initiatives and new idea such as bring a friend incentives, business functions, sportsmen's evening, conferences (GMB hold delegate conferences regularly) etc need to be the priority before increasing playing budgets.

[Little_Al]

Excellent summary BHF. I understood from the bit that I heard before it was cut off that smurf is not prepared to gamble the future of the club on achieving promotion this year. This seems very sensible to me. He did say however that if promotion was given to us , he would not refuse it. So no big money (fee or wages) signings in order to achieve instant success, but if the present mob achieve promotion, he will take it even if it's straight back down.

[Yukon]

I'd rather us get promoted then relegated than stay mid table in this division for a few years to see what happens.

 

That's not what he meant. He said he didn't want to go up, spend a fortune on wages, players etc only for us to go down with huge overheads. He wants us to consolidate this year and build on what we have for a sustainable future in the championship.

 

Why wouldn't the idiots twist his words though? It wouldn't surprise me if he was just playing with the WUM's

[The Wonder of You]

In all seriousness does anyone have any idea how much Adams is costing us? Is his wage sustainable?

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

Excellent summary BHF. I understood from the bit that I heard before it was cut off that smurf is not prepared to gamble the future of the club on achieving promotion this year. This seems very sensible to me. He did say however that if promotion was given to us , he would not refuse it. So no big money (fee or wages) signings in order to achieve instant success, but if the present mob achieve promotion, he will take it even if it's straight back down.

 

Spot on Little Al and BHF. Sensible if steady approach.

[fraggle]

Boring - move on!

[Lady_Vale]

He has said he will fill the current shortfall but stretching ourselves even further is a bad thing without the relative guarantee of success last season offered. If we were 2nd or 3rd the vision would be different but we need to think where we have come from (virtual oblivion) in such a short space of time.

 

I don't want us to be in a worse situation in 2 or 3 years and end up like Pompey chasing a dream and almost dying.

 

We have to be sustainable first, that's the key steady progress taking progress or gifts as they come. If we can't boost the fan base which seems at it's maximum of around 5k core presently then we need to protect the long term progress of the club gradually.

 

Commercial department focus is vital, initiatives and new idea such as bring a friend incentives, business functions, sportsmen's evening, conferences (GMB hold delegate conferences regularly) etc need to be the priority before increasing playing budgets.

 

Commercial activities can be the only way to bring in the finance required because gates will not be higher in League 1 than they are now - we've surpassed how many I thought we'd attract in some games.

 

This woe is me attitude when it comes to putting money into the business that HE brought really ****** me off though and until the Commercial side of the business is right and other schemes can be introduced (if there are plans in the pipeline) he should continue to put his own money into club in the hope that this is reduced year on year due to good business practice. We are all grateful that he was there in our hour of need but we didn't ask him to buy something he cannot afford.

 

If he doesn't continue to bankroll us in the short term, we'll be less successful on the pitch if we are unable to strengthen sufficiently (but sensibly) and can slide down that table in no time.

 

I always get the impression he feels the club can never be sustainable or generate the sort of returns he maybe thought....his thinking that we could get 7,500 regularly on a match day makes me feel he has always been a little out of touch.

 

All in all, New Year, same Norman with his threats, dancing around the managers contract situation and shock at our 'poor' support when it's been better than we've known for many a year.

 

Just concentrate on improving the club, provide us with a couple of desperately needed signings (not asking for anything unrealistic and spectacular) and hope our apparently over-ambitious manager can work his magic.

[sandyford_valiant]

Commercial activities can be the only way to bring in the finance required because gates will not be higher in League 1 than they are now - we've surpassed how many I thought we'd attract in some games.

 

This woe is me attitude when it comes to putting money into the business that HE brought really ****** me off though and until the Commercial side of the business is right and other schemes can be introduced (if there are plans in the pipeline) he should continue to put his own money into club in the hope that this is reduced year on year due to good business practice. We are all grateful that he was there in our hour of need but we didn't ask him to buy something he cannot afford.

 

If he doesn't continue to bankroll us in the short term, we'll be less successful on the pitch if we are unable to strengthen sufficiently (but sensibly) and can slide down that table in no time.

 

I always get the impression he feels the club can never be sustainable or generate the sort of returns he maybe thought....his thinking that we could get 7,500 regularly on a match day makes me feel he has always been a little out of touch.

 

All in all, New Year, same Norman with his threats, dancing around the managers contract situation and shock at our 'poor' support when it's been better than we've known for many a year.

 

Just concentrate on improving the club, provide us with a couple of desperately needed signings (not asking for anything unrealistic and spectacular) and hope our apparently over-ambitious manager can work his magic.

 

Spot on