Stewart Donald Interview

[loudnproud]

Well worth a listen

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0h4cg2d

[bomber]

I note with interest that Stewart himself bemoans the awful away support.

[blueandwhite]

It’s great that we have good supporters like you, just what the club needs

[sattsy]

Good interview that.
Although SD is always upbeat, positive & very enthusiastic, there is a tinge of frustration in there too regarding our support and the amount of time its taking to get back to where we once were as a growing and unified fanbase.
It takes a lot to build a bigger fanbase, but for me there are 2 things that will always enable a club at this level achieve that:-

1. The football being played on the pitch needs to be entertaining - SD has asked Hilly for that and i no longer read about boring games or one dimensional tactics anymore.

2. Accessibility to players/manager on matchdays - This helps a club generate a "bond" between players and fans etc & this is one big area where i feel the club has fallen down.
In the days before the new Executive building, Players/Manager & Fans were in the Hanger after games, all together, all chatting, congratulating, commiserating, BUT we all did it together. With the new exec building, although it is lovely, it is where the players/manager now convene after matches, mixing with corporate types, who a large majority of are there for a day out. Of course there are some genuine fans in there too, but its not "all inclusive" and available to all fans. So those in the Hanger are left to feel like the blacksheep of the football family & that harbour's resentment and ill feeling, so the "bond" is broken between fans and players and it garners a "them and us" amongst the fanbase. This is why you get conflict and petty arguements on forums etc, because there is disharmony amongst the fanbase, bought on by what i have said above.
I don't have an answer to resolve this, as the new building will always be used by players post match and the corporate revenue is obviously needed.
The Hanger is now in such poor condition that i suspect many fans just go straight home, or to a pub in town after games, so again that "bond" and togetherness just widens further still, over time. - This is what SD is facing and why i believe it will take so much more time to rebuild than it did first time around, because first time around, everyone was in the Hanger, we were all in it together and we grew together & we all felt the buzz together. Its getting that collective buzz back, that i see as SD's biggest challenge in harmonising & increasing the fanbase.

[callumefc]

Thanks for the link L&P

[bomber]

Jan 11, 2024 22:55:51 GMT blueandwhite said:

It’s great that we have good supporters like you, just what the club needs

If l can pr!ck the conscience of a few lazy buggers to support the club on their travels, maybe the added support could help the team get more points on the road.

[unknownquantity]

I think that Sattsy makes some interesting points ans I agree  with his post on another thread about ticket touting.  If when tickets first become available they become available on General Sale it should not mean that people with no previous association to the club could be potentially available to those with no previous association to the club.

Some people might remember former Barnet chairman Stan Flashman becoming famous for ticket touting and I think that the internet would make ticket touting easier than in Flashman's day.  Actually I once asked a policeman acquaintance  if he knew Flashman through footballing circles.  HE said he had not, but that he had nicked him for ticket touting

I think that one issue the club has to do is to integrate the business and volunteer sections.  It was made clear at the meeting prior to the season  that revenue from Sherwoods and the Brooks Suite.  However the club has always had a strong volunteer base with groups the Last of the Summer Wine club, with some volunteers giving as much 35 hours of voluntary service each week.  I get the impression that some of the volunteer jobs are now done by  employees of the club in newly created roles which probably increases the need to charge people £3 every timer they enter Sherwoofds.

The Hangar is still in use, but at the start of the season iit was unfurnished.  This has now had been rectified, but at the Dover F A Cup game it was decided not to open it without previous warning.  People had the option of using an unfurnished bar at the other end of the ground.  At the next match I went to I saw a couple of regular Hangar users  stopping off elsewhere to get their pre-match refreshments.

Also I have been to games where people have been asked to vacate the area hastily and not in the best possible manner without respecting the fact that amongst the group[ are those who in terms of volunteering and bar sales have contributed a lot to the club financially over the years either directly or indirectly..

The next match I intend to go to is lOldham at home next Saturday so will no doubt see a lot of regular Hangar users then.

[tenacres]

Always good to hear from SD, he has a good demeanour and is a very likeable character. I think he may have been a bit over optimistic with projections for crowd numbers this season, optimism/glass half full is great, but can sometimes lead to disappointment when the (possibly unrealistic) targets are not met.

Nothing is ever perfect, there are lots of good things to speak about, but I think so far he/EFC have made 2 significant mistakes since he came back, 1 off the pitch and 1 on it:

- not relieving Lee Bradbury of his duties in the summer. No one could say Bradbury did poorly last season but we ended it terribly & it seemed like the right time to change things.

- the "no migration policy", yes I know this was reversed a few months later, but it caused a lot of bad feeling, would have lost us considerable ST sales and was just a really bad idea, was obvious at the time. I assumed it would be canned/ignored a lot quicker than it was. One of the USPs about Eastleigh that people love is you can watch a half in seats & half on the terrace, chat to your mate for 10 minutes over there, go to the toilet/get a burger, see the last 15 mins behind the goal etc etc. As far as I am aware the main "problem" that no migration was trying to solve was people sitting in STH seats in the blue stand, surely that could have been solved with a couple of stewards monitoring it? Anyway perhaps greater fan consultation/supporters club involvement could have stopped this policy. Or maybe it had to happen as it did for it to be (sensibly) reversed.

On the pitch has a lot to do with having a happy/together fanbase as well. One of the main things is that between Jan 2013 and Summer 2015 we were smashing it every week! If we have an incredible run this season to finish 4th, win the national league next season, come 4th in L2 the season after "fan togetherness" will increase :0)

Having said all that when we won the league it was incredible in the clubhouse after, just absolute pandemonium for hours afterwards, I just hope it can be repeated one day as we go up into the FL.

Anyway hopefully our cup exploits have helped/provided a catalyst to bring a bit of feel good factor back to Eastleigh FC. Would be good if we can really push on next season and be up in the top 7 from the off & hopefully we will have some off the pitch improvements as well.