blueheaven Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 Purely hypothetical question for fun ... but imagine you came into a pile of money and decided to buy the club. What are the things you'd want to change? Obviously a lot of people are going to suggest sacking the manager but aside from that, what are the longer term, bigger picture things you'd concentrate on? Ploughing money into youth development? Improvements to McDiarmid? Maybe a completely new stadium? One thing I'd want to do is make a really big push, maybe over a three-year period, to try to build the fanbase and improve attendances. Hire a person with some real experience in sports marketing, give them a budget, and make a commitment to backing their ideas and seeing what can be done. I get the impression the current regime are really jaded in this area as they feel like they've tried everything and it hasn't worked. But I'd love to see what some modern, fresh ideas could achieve. I'd also want to switch to a hybrid/artificial pitch that can be used every day of the week and try to get more use out of it to bring in more income. Could we offer a groundshare to any other clubs? Could it become the Scotland women's team's home stadium? What would others do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezza70 Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 I’d invest in our youth and get the reserves playing in the reserves league. Put a freeze on season ticket prices to show fans that the new ownership isn’t all about money. Invest more in community programs and get the players out into the schools and have them attend jnr club training and spread the word and try to get the locals behind the club. Pre season four to Australia to top it off haha blueheaven 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linky Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 I’d want to get some good scouting networks. Often what seems to work is clubs focusing on a particular country or area. This is common abroad, but has only really been done in Scotland with Celtic and Japan, and in the past with Hearts and Lithuania (I’m ignoring Raith and France). A marketing manager would also be key in terms of raising the profile of the club and look at how other small clubs (like Villareal, for example) have been successful. blueheaven and Havana Saint 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickardo Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 Blue seats all over stadium with safe standing at the scoreboard end of the east . Well overdue , Mcdiarmid is a dump . MySpazz and blueheaven 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havana Saint Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 (edited) Have a clear, transparent and strategic 5 year plan as to where the club will be in 2028. The past 18 months have been a complete disaster of a business model. Selling top assets at budget prices, the worst pitch in the league, shambolic signings, complete entertainment failure, incompetent management and a total ignorance in building a sustainable growth based on the cup double. Not good enough at all. Edited April 12, 2023 by Havana Saint Spelling Coltrane, MySpazz, blueheaven and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slf Posted April 12, 2023 Report Share Posted April 12, 2023 Close it down. Sell for houses. Spend the money. no more unhappy Saturdays . MySpazz, PSJ.84 and pezza70 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MySpazz Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 Sell McD, build a new ground, invest in Jeanfield as a B team. Do a share issue, selling 20% of club to fans Get rid of all the "heads of" position, and bring in some fans with expertise. Fuq knows, but we've been doing the same things for years, and it's coming unstuck..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavidson Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 18 hours ago, pezza70 said: Invest more in community programs and get the players out into the schools and have them attend jnr club training and spread the word and try to get the locals behind the club. This feels like another sign of the slump in the club. The players used to do this frequently but either they haven't done it in the last year or so or we just aren't publishing that they have done it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chips Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 Just out of curiosity, what ever happened to the lottery winner who invested in Partick Thistle ? I'm sure he promised to buy out the club then sell (the majority) back to supporters plus pledged £6m for new training facilities etc, I'm maybe wrong but sure he pulled out due to continued resistance from ppl on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rik2304 Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 2 minutes ago, chips said: Just out of curiosity, what ever happened to the lottery winner who invested in Partick Thistle ? I'm sure he promised to buy out the club then sell (the majority) back to supporters plus pledged £6m for new training facilities etc, I'm maybe wrong but sure he pulled out due to continued resistance from ppl on the board. He's deid. MySpazz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kinross Saint Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) As someone else mentioned, a proper marketing employee with a passion to maximise the experience for fans, similar to what Motherwell have had in recent years. An employee to manage stadium upkeep and improvements along with a new ground staff team. Obviously a new footballing management team and some professional directors, not a group of pals. The above would be worth far more to the club compared to the failed transfers we’ve spent money on in recent months. I volunteered with the media team when Ross was involved, he was a big loss to the club as was Paul Smith. Paul would get on at us for small things like announcing the half time draw, that’s the kind of professional care and organisation we lack. Edited April 13, 2023 by The Kinross Saint blueheaven and pezza70 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mizfit Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 Youth scouting - link in with all youth teams in Perth to watch talent regularly, also set up a B team with Jeanfield. Improved scouting network for senior pros across the UK, link up with Hercules in Spain for this also and take advantage of that connection. Reinvest in the ground, safe standing and blue seats. the grass up the top of the carpark? Turn it into a new bar for the home fans, open it up for home fans only. Statues dedicated to the cup winning captains outside the stands. Keep the away allocation to one bloody stand behind the goal. Free tickets for school kids in the ormond - advertise it in the town centre, and push it. pezza70, blueheaven and MySpazz 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slf Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 5 hours ago, chips said: Just out of curiosity, what ever happened to the lottery winner who invested in Partick Thistle ? I'm sure he promised to buy out the club then sell (the majority) back to supporters plus pledged £6m for new training facilities etc, I'm maybe wrong but sure he pulled out due to continued resistance from ppl on the board. Hes deid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSJ.84 Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 5 hours ago, chips said: Just out of curiosity, what ever happened to the lottery winner who invested in Partick Thistle ? I'm sure he promised to buy out the club then sell (the majority) back to supporters plus pledged £6m for new training facilities etc, I'm maybe wrong but sure he pulled out due to continued resistance from ppl on the board. Things have got awfully messy for them since he passed away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cagey Posted April 13, 2023 Report Share Posted April 13, 2023 3 hours ago, PSJ.84 said: Things have got awfully messy for them since he passed away Partick though another team that have changed their manager and turned their season around and may meet Saints in the playoffs if Saints can avoid automatic relegation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldPoster Posted April 14, 2023 Report Share Posted April 14, 2023 I would not touch the team or coaching staff. The club needs cleaned out and a proper business structure put in place. Sales Director - We are horrible at corporate sales (i know as i have sponsored a couple of times) and it has been the worst process ever. Semi Professional basketball teams have better processes than we do. Sports Marketing / Fan Engagement role - This is something that is very specialist and is an expensive role but something that is 100% needed for us. We are shit at Comms and taking advantage of opportunities. I think Flattery / MacPherson are doing what they need to do. Can you get people who are better at the job.. probably but are they doing anything to detriment the club i would not say so. That dynamic between the two should be that IF is focused 100% on the business and GM is the liaison between the business side of the club and the coaching / playing. I would also look to sell McD and move to a 6/7000 seater stadium that has all the training / rehab and community facilities that are needed in the modern world. This would include a setup for Pro Youth and a Women's team all being based at the stadium. If staying at McD i would also build a single 1,500 seater stand at the astro turf for youth and women's games as well as local cup finals (think the stand at the Grammer but twice the size blueheaven and MySpazz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy rhodes fancy watch Posted April 14, 2023 Report Share Posted April 14, 2023 7 hours ago, TheMarkChristie said: I think Flattery / MacPherson are doing what they need to do. Can you get people who are better at the job.. probably but are they doing anything to detriment the club i would not say so. You think Flaherty is doing an okay job? Apart from causing a boycott from home fans, not knowing the price of admission rules which got Celtic phoning the SPFL/SFA, advertising discounted pricing then just changing it without telling anyone or any explanation, phoning up fans and blatantly lying to them, generally being an all out gobshite and now just avoiding answering any emails, that Flaherty aye? Havana Saint, blueheaven, R.B.B:- Adz and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldPoster Posted April 17, 2023 Report Share Posted April 17, 2023 On 4/14/2023 at 4:13 PM, andy rhodes fancy watch said: You think Flaherty is doing an okay job? Apart from causing a boycott from home fans, not knowing the price of admission rules which got Celtic phoning the SPFL/SFA, advertising discounted pricing then just changing it without telling anyone or any explanation, phoning up fans and blatantly lying to them, generally being an all out gobshite and now just avoiding answering any emails, that Flaherty aye? He is doing a better job than what we have had before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixties saintee Posted April 17, 2023 Report Share Posted April 17, 2023 1 hour ago, TheMarkChristie said: He is doing a better job than what we have had before. Thank you Mr Flaherty PSJ.84, pezza70, Coltrane and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesaint Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 On 4/12/2023 at 9:45 PM, rickardo said: Blue seats all over stadium with safe standing at the scoreboard end of the east . Well overdue , Mcdiarmid is a dump . I agree the current colours are like toy town haha definitely blue seats, fill in the corners as the place is like a wind tunnel, scoreboard and hire someone that can market the place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintdunc Posted April 22, 2023 Report Share Posted April 22, 2023 There are, I believe, quite a number of fan owned clubs in both Scotland and England. I wonder if that’s an option considering that quite a number of these clubs have smaller fan bases than ours. Perhaps we should all buy the club, and if we end up in The Highland League then we have only ourselves to blame, or moan at! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That_Dave Posted April 24, 2023 Report Share Posted April 24, 2023 I think we do a good job of building the fan base. Our average attendance is about 1 in 10 people in Perth, or 1 in 30 people in Perth and Kinross. The issue we have in comparison to the more Central Belt sides is they have lots of people within a reasonable travel distance. Aside from Dundee, which we'll never get many fans from, our nearest large population is Stirling, which is closer to Edinburgh/Glasgow than Perth. The outlaying areas don't have massive populations to tap up. There's always things to do better, but we do a good job of getting the local population to matches. What we need are populations which don't have a local side, and where people don't already have a Scottish side they support. English and International university students at St Andrews and Stirling should be the focus. Doing something with those universities to provide coaching for their teams, and providing cheap transport for match days, presents an opportunity to get a load of people probably spending 4 years in Scotland to support Saints, and spread the word about the club far and wide after they leave. On the commercial side, I think the car park/East Stand lends itself well to an outdoor cinema. A drive-in cinema would work well in the slanted car park, with the opportunity to use the facilities in the stands to sell drinks etc. Taking that a step further, and showing Scotland games on a large screen in front of the East Stand might be a way to get money on international weeks, as well as bringing the fans (and wider community) together. There aren't good options for kids to watch live games shown in pubs, so putting something on where they can watch them from their normal seats would be beneficial. It might even get some local kids to come to the ground, and want to see a match in-person. pezza70 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueheaven Posted April 24, 2023 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2023 39 minutes ago, That_Dave said: On the commercial side, I think the car park/East Stand lends itself well to an outdoor cinema. A drive-in cinema would work well in the slanted car park, with the opportunity to use the facilities in the stands to sell drinks etc. I have it in my head that Saints tried this at one point around five or six years ago (it was possibly one of Kirsten Robertson's ideas?) but for some reason they couldn't get it off the ground. Possibly rights issues with showing films, or issues with use of the land, or some other sort of red tape? Had a Google but can't find anything on it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strawman Posted April 24, 2023 Report Share Posted April 24, 2023 I would put something on seats to show that it was a season ticket seat. I would also put a reward scheme in place for season tickets, nothing really expensive or fancy but something exclusive to show I appreciated the people who renewed year after year. 5 years - a bronze Saints badge plus a £10 voucher for club shop 10 years - Silver badge plus £25 voucher for club shop 15 year - Gold badge plus £50 voucher for club shop Any season ticket holders who have already achieved this I d give all 3 badges immediately plus the £50 voucher Next step, platinum badge at 30 years and at that you get a free season ticket the following year, plus half full adult price for life, given a lot of season ticket holders who achieve this will likely be retired anyway by time they achieve this wouldn’t need to cost a lot. blueheaven and pezza70 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSJ.84 Posted April 24, 2023 Report Share Posted April 24, 2023 Membership would be a decent moneymaker and something I’ve wondered about. The issue would be what sort of benefits do you give out for it? Teams elsewhere give members priority access for tickets etc. which would be pointless for nearly every game we play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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