Crawley Town chair Preston Johnson and vice chair Ben Levin answered fans questions at a fans forum. The answered questions about buying the stadium, expand the club shop, expectations and much more
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00:00Awesome. First, thanks for coming out on Monday night. I appreciate it. It's great showing.
00:05Thanks to everybody else who's here today for the open training session. A little double dipping here at the Broadfield Stadium.
00:10My name is Ben Levin. I'm the new vice chairman here. I've been a part of Wagner since the early days.
00:17I was lucky enough to serve on the board for the last couple of years before the opportunity to come and join the club on a day-to-day basis arose for me.
00:27A lot of you are familiar looking to me. I've seen you around because I've been able to spend a lot of time in England over the last year.
00:34My girlfriend moved to London last March, so I was able to spend a lot of the last season around the club.
00:40I've fallen in love with the club. I've fallen in love with the vision that we have.
00:45I'm looking forward to getting to know more of you throughout this season.
00:50Continuing to push the club forward on this journey and enjoy this League One experience that we hope to make more of a continual yearly journey.
01:01I'm looking forward to responding to questions tonight throughout the season.
01:08Ben might know the exact number, and I'm actually unsure if we're even allowed to say the exact number.
01:15I just know that it's about 800,000 to 900,000 more in League One than League Two.
01:20Ben probably wants to correct me.
01:24We don't have an exact figure of what it breaks down to for us because of the way the deal is spread out across all of the clubs and all of the leagues.
01:32The jump to League One plus the TV deal is an extra 800,000 pounds.
01:38From a non-financial standpoint, it means that we're on live television 20 times at least.
01:44What that means for us actually is from now until January 1st, we're on live television seven times at home and three times on the road.
01:52It's a lot of exposure for the club. It's a lot of exposure for EFL football overall.
01:59What's really exciting for me is that my friends in the U.S. can watch it also because the EFL just signed a deal with CBS Sports.
02:07A couple of our matches will be shown in the U.S. as well.
02:11Overall, it's a huge step forward for the EFL, and we benefit. We do benefit as well.
02:16Just the exact numbers aren't really broken down by TV and other resources that come down to us.
02:23We're in the process of looking at digital ticketing system. We've evaluated four so far.
02:28We're pretty close to making a decision on one that will not only make everybody in this room's life easier in terms of buying tickets,
02:34but also Katie's life downstairs and managing the ticketing process much easier.
02:39It's an important thing to get right, and we hope to have it in place before Christmas.
02:46Potentially much before, but we'll have to see how the implementation process goes.
02:50I'll take a crack at it, and maybe Preston can correct.
02:55I think the first number one important thing for us to hit on over the next five years is to become a stable League One club
03:01that can compete on the pitch and can stay up and ultimately think about the next step.
03:07On the off-field side of things, right now our commercial operation is on par with the National League club,
03:14maybe even Horsham, as we just discussed.
03:17There's a lot of leveling up that we need to do off the field in terms of digital ticketing,
03:23in terms of social media outreach to broaden our fan base, to build up the club in a lot of ways.
03:30What that will also allow us to do is hopefully provide a foundation that we can move on a stadium in a way that will allow us to invest.
03:39Right now as a tenant, we're not necessarily incentivized to make certain improvements,
03:44but having a stadium that we can invest in and build to our specifications would be great.
03:51Having a permanent training ground would be great.
03:54You think longer term, this is a really rich catchment area between Bright and Crystal Palace.
04:00What could an academy be here?
04:02The plan is to build a foundation, starting with stable League One football,
04:07bringing up the financial side of things to be much closer to, if not actually break even,
04:13to provide a foundation to invest on top of and build a bigger club.
04:22Ben nailed it. I honestly might not have to do these anymore.
04:25I thought that was really good.
04:27On the playing front more specifically, I think I referenced this on the podcast that I did a few, I don't know, a week ago now maybe,
04:36but part of being sustainable is obviously on the pitch, and so we have to be realistic.
04:42We obviously aren't going to say we're going to be promoted to the championship in two years.
04:45That wouldn't be very realistic.
04:47I think some of the numbers, like the average wage bill for players in League One last year was $5.6 million.
04:57So that's what we're competing against, and ours isn't close to that number.
05:01So we have to do as good of a job as we did last year at a higher level to try to stay up and sustain on the pitch
05:07where everything else can come into play and combined we can do something special for the community and the town.
05:13There is something in the works that is sort of like a program.
05:18Ben, you're just so good at this.
05:26So the way the program had evolved was that it became financially unviable doing it week in, week out.
05:34We think we have a model now that we can bring back sort of a monthly fan magazine or fanzine
05:39that will provide pretty good in-depth coverage and interesting articles and features.
05:44So if it's got the fixtures and the appearances and a few photographs and stuff, will you have that yet?
05:49I think so. We've been talking about maybe having a kid's section in the back with some type of crossword type thing.
05:55So we're working on that. Our plan is to have something by the end of the month.
06:00We're going to trial a monthly magazine, a name to be determined.
06:05You'll buy on a match day, yeah?
06:07And hopefully before and we'll keep it on sale throughout because it will be monthly.
06:11It won't just be good for one week.
06:13And we're going to trial it and we'll see how it goes and hopefully we can do it all season.
06:19Okay, thank you.
06:20Yeah.
06:21When will the away and third kits be pre-ordered?
06:30Sorry, could you speak up? Didn't hear that.
06:32Yeah, it's fine. He was just asking about the away and third kits and when they can be pre-ordered specifically.
06:39Harry and Tom might have a better idea, but I know a lot of our merchandise arrives Wednesday or Thursday this week is the due date.
06:47And then from there we'll start putting stuff into the shop and then adding more to the club shop online.
06:52So I don't know if you guys have a window in your head that you guys want to throw out to give people an idea or if I should wait on that.
06:58That was fine.
06:59Okay.
07:00As soon as possible is the answer and it does arrive this week and then from there we can make some decisions.
07:05You shouldn't have to wait too long, but we'll get it there.
07:07You had a question earlier?
07:08Well, I've got two based on what you've just said as well.
07:11Sure.
07:12The first one is to build on what you told us in the podcast about the discussions with the local authority about the possibility of purchasing the stadium.
07:22And I guess, you know, in the long term, we all want to know if that is likely.
07:28And if it's likely, where does that take us in owning the stadium?
07:34I think you highlighted before about all the works that needs to be done.
07:38There's sewage problem, the drainage, everything around.
07:41There's a lot more than that too.
07:43There's a bit of land out there that is seemingly maybe not enough to actually build and increase the size of the stadium.
07:50Do you have a size of stadium in mind?
07:55I couldn't price it for you or I couldn't give you like a likelihood that we're going to get the stadium or not.
08:02We have had discussions ongoing for over a year with the council trying to get something sorted.
08:08We're a lot closer than we've ever been as far as getting, you know, valuations and trying to decide what the best next steps are.
08:17And it's just a slow process because that's how it goes with these types of things.
08:22But then to the rest of your question, from there, can we invest in the stadium, a brand new east stand, other options,
08:30just fixing up like 16 or 17 items that need fixing or like this hospitality suite is one we're considering investing in this year anyways,
08:39just because we think it could use an upgrade and it would be beneficial for everybody at the club.
08:43And obviously those that are here more frequently for events, even not on match days.
08:48So there's so much possibility and it starts, obviously, for the majority of it, getting a deal done.
08:55So I couldn't tell you if it's likely, less likely.
08:58It's something we're pushing for constantly.
09:02And I think, you know, eventually we can get something done, but I couldn't really give you a time.
09:06In your vision, like visions that you have for this club and the future, do you have a size of stadium in mind for the 10,000, 12,000?
09:16I mean, the truth is, I think you actually need a 10,000 person minimum to play a level up from here.
09:21So that seems like a good goal for a rebuild of some sort or a renovation of some sort.
09:28And from there, obviously, if we can do more for a price that makes sense, then we'd consider it.
09:33But that would probably be our first goal from where we're at now, almost 6,000 to that.
09:38So we're projecting about 4,000 fans in that game match this year.
09:43That includes 1,000 away fans.
09:46Our capacity is about 6,000.
09:48So what you were talking about before about awareness is a huge item for us to address.
09:56Because we need to have 7,000, 8,000 people who want to come before we can justify a 10,000 seat stadium.
10:03That would be the dream.
10:05But we need to expand our awareness into Town Center, into Manor Royal, into these large areas with potential fans,
10:13into communities that we haven't been in before.
10:16So that we can not only have a better atmosphere that teams don't want to come play in
10:21because they know that Crawley fans are going to be packing the stadium and it's going to be raucous,
10:25but also so that ticket sales go up and kit sales go up.
10:28And we can invest that in the squad.
10:30And we can invest that in the stadium, et cetera.
10:32So there are steps the Foundation have built in order to set the right level that we can have a 10,000 seat stadium.
10:38But pop-up shops, we were talking about that today.
10:43Where would be a great place? We're open for suggestions.
10:45Gatwick Airport.
10:46Yep.
10:47Gatwick Airport, Manal, and Crawley.
10:49It's not just Crawley.
10:51You can go to the local towns of Horsham, Dorking, anywhere that's relatively easy access via public transport.
10:59And it's not just the kit sales, but it's also can we advertise, can we have marketing signs,
11:06can we raise awareness of the club so that the dream of having a 10,000, 12,000 seat stadium isn't a dream, but it's needed.
11:14Yep.
11:15And that's the direction we need to go.
11:17Sure.
11:19I would say there's a plan to try to figure out a plan, to study it, to see what we can do.
11:25It's cost effective in a way that's going to make everybody's lives easier, but also not limit us in other ways.
11:30I would say get to Red's Bar early.
11:33Have your pint 15 minutes earlier.
11:36I think the truth is if we own the grounds, there's probably a legitimately realistic way to increase the size of the turnstiles or add another one or do that.
11:46But do we want to put a portion of our budget and funding towards that right away now relative to other things we don't own the stadium or the grounds yet?
11:55That's something we're considering in the background and trying to weigh the options.
11:58But if we did own the property, then that's something that makes a ton of sense because it makes the fan experience much better
12:05and it increases the value of the stadium itself and the grounds and the club and everything.
12:10That's the way I would look at it in the background overall.
12:14For those that aren't aware, I think to give you guys some context, the average away support was 200 and something last season in League 2
12:22and it's going to be upwards of 1,000 or even more this season in League 1, so that's quite a big jump.
12:28We even discussed today putting some food trucks or potentially a beer or something or other in the away section.
12:35The main problem would be that certain games dependent on weather and if there's some flooding or puddles or surfacing, we can't do that.
12:47But obviously if weather is good, we can try to create plans where we can at least separate some of the away supporters away from the home
12:55so that the queues are faster and everything is just more efficient in general.
12:58That is something we're discussing and it makes a ton of sense that we're going to have four times the away supporters visiting on match days.
13:04You're right, last year, and I think the last fans forum we did was in February or something around that time,
13:12and the person sitting right in front of you asked me questions about NFTs, Yusuf did, and the truth is we thought it was extremely important last year.
13:23Actually, I'll back up a little bit and try to give you some context as to why we even tried the NFT thing in the first place.
13:32The ability to potentially have multiple fans, thousands of fans, attaching themselves from anywhere in the world to a local English football club
13:43and rooting along and trying to engage and have a team that they can go watch in America every Saturday morning or whatever it may be,
13:52it's really hard for the local club to get thousands of extra fans.
13:57Wrexham did it, thanks to Ryan Reynolds and the documentary and everything they've done,
14:01and they have more money than anyone in League 2 or National League the last few years, and arguably League 1 even still this year.
14:07Part of the strategy was if we can bring more fans to a club, then we'll try to monetize that in a way that benefits the club and our spending ability,
14:15and maybe this is a club that doesn't lose money every year anymore.
14:18That was the actual hope. Like you said, it didn't work, right? It failed? Totally fair comment.
14:24Last year, based on the way year one went, we learned that we can't have international fans that want to engage unless the local fan is happy and excited and motivated
14:33to root for their team as well and support the club.
14:38So last year, our entire priority was focusing on football and staying pretty quiet
14:44and just letting our decision-making with recruitment last summer just play itself out.
14:50So that was priority one, to get the local fan back on board the best we could or the best we thought we knew how.
14:57Can we eventually find a strategy that incorporates some of the international fans or NFT holders? Of course.
15:04But it's a really delicate balance to try to not distract the local on-the-pitch stuff off the pitch and everything else with the fans here
15:16while trying to do something unique on the outside.
15:19That's the truthful answer to answer Yusuf's next question, which he probably was going to raise his hand and ask.
15:27But we met with him actually last week, and he is really committed to helping us find strategies that can benefit the club,
15:36potentially, with some of these NFT holders or fans internationally, but we're not going to rush into anything.
15:41He has some people as a subcommittee that want to give us some ideas that we can consider
15:46and then use those to assess before we make any decisions.
15:49But it will be a slower process just because I think more than anything,
15:53we want to continue to focus on what we have here and build off of that.
15:57After last season's success, I think that's pretty important.
16:01So that's kind of where we're at there with that.
16:03So the question was about potentially expanding the club shop, another item we talked about today.
16:10I have been all over the world visiting football clubs, and I go right to the club shop.
16:18Ours doesn't quite compare to some of the ones I've seen, and I know it may never in some ways,
16:23but we can also make it a great experience where folks who come in to buy a ticket for a game day want to browse,
16:30and they get to try something on in a comfortable setting, and they don't feel like they're a part of a huge queue.
16:35It's a priority for me. It's a priority for us.
16:38What that looks like remains to be seen.
16:42When we went to Wheelstone a couple weeks ago, they had a little port-a-cabin that was set up.
16:51I've inquired about the pricing on that.
16:53Will it make sense based on the potential new sales that we could generate from having that space to pay for it?
16:59I don't know yet.
17:02Are there ways to make the office space in there more accommodating for merchandise, potentially?
17:09If everyone could come in and have a great shopping experience and get to try on some of the great stuff,
17:14it's something we're definitely talking about.
17:18I love the pink top. I'm going to miss seeing the pink around. I think it was very distinctive.
17:22It was very us.
17:24We'll keep rocking it, but also come by the new stuff.
17:27I'm going to pass this to Preston in a second, but I'm going to share my perspective.
17:31I'm excited that we're in League 1. I'm excited to play these big clubs.
17:34I'm excited to go there. I'm excited to host them.
17:37I'm excited to be the underdog, and I'm excited for every point that we earn.
17:41It should be a fun season regardless of how tough it might end up being.
17:45We should enjoy it.
17:47You know what happens if we go back down?
17:49We go with win League 2 next year.
17:52We need to have that mindset that this is not doom and gloom.
17:56It's a fun experience that we get to have.
17:59If we survive, then it's great, and I expect that we do.
18:03That's my goal and my dream.
18:05Preston might have a different perspective.
18:07He's more involved on the football side.
18:10I think we need to be engaged with everybody the same way we would be if we were winning
18:14because the club business doesn't stop.
18:17The journey we're on over the long term doesn't stop.
18:20I hope we can enjoy this journey even if we have ups and downs.
18:23Sometimes the downs make the whole thing sweeter.
18:26My plan is to keep smiling through it and to be here and to engage with you all
18:30even if times are tough, but I'm hoping and planning that they're not going to be.
18:37I appreciate his positivity.
18:40I need it sometimes.
18:47There was one thing in my mind that I wanted to make sure I said tonight
18:50whether someone asked it directly or not because I've had a lot of questions about it
18:55even outside of the podcast and everything else.
18:58This will be a roundabout response, but it's from the bottom of my heart
19:03and it does answer Yousef's question more or less.
19:09A lot of people have asked why I stepped away, if you were going to come back,
19:12and what happened there.
19:14I spoke a little bit to it on the podcast, but ultimately for me and my family and others,
19:21those two and a half years were really exhausting.
19:24It was a really tough process.
19:26We had a lot of lows the first year and we had the greatest highs of all time last year.
19:34We had said we're going to get promoted in two years.
19:36That was our goal.
19:38We achieved it.
19:40I needed a break.
19:41I needed to commit to my family in some ways.
19:47I thought I could just ride off into the sunset.
19:50We said we'd get promoted in two years.
19:52Everyone said we didn't know what we were doing.
19:54Considering how bad year one was, holy crap, we did it.
19:58I'm out of here.
20:00Truthfully, selfishly, part of me wanted that mic drop moment.
20:05I really did.
20:07Then I was away for four, five, six weeks.
20:11The truth is that's a pretty crappy move at the end of the day.
20:17It's not who I am.
20:19I was sitting there back at home in California.
20:22We were seeing the transitions happening from trying to be a League Two club to League One.
20:28I'll just say League One is going to be really, really hard for a lot of reasons.
20:34I sat there thinking,
20:37I don't know if I'll be able to live with myself if I don't give my heart and full effort this season
20:43in keeping this club up and trying to up the professionalism and infrastructure here
20:49to try to be League One level at a sustainable rate both on and off the pitch.
20:54Ben stepped up and wanted to help out from the get-go.
20:57He's more local now as well.
21:01I thought it was my duty to you guys, to the club, and to our ownership group
21:06that I make sure we give this our absolute best chance this year.
21:11That's my goal.
21:13I hope that means maybe we're mid-table and we surprise some people not going down.
21:18I think the opt-out prediction was 45.5% of the time or something that came out recently.
21:23I can tell you from the bottom of my heart,
21:27I'm going to give my max effort and give us the best chance to stay up
21:30and to improve things here on the ground.
21:32That's why I came back.
21:34If I didn't do that and I saw things go a different direction,
21:38I wouldn't have been able to survive that in my head, to be completely honest.
21:42To those that kept asking, by the way, I wanted to clear this up too
21:45because it meant a lot to me.
21:48There was a lot of speculation, and it had to do with my health concerns from earlier.
21:52Anyone that asked me about that or have checked in, that means a lot.
21:56I appreciate it.
21:58There's been a few ups and downs throughout,
22:00but the last few scans and checkups I've had are all clear and clean,
22:05which is really positive, and I wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case.
22:08Thank you to everyone that's reached out about that too.
22:11I think that obviously means a lot to me.
22:15But the truth is, I think our morale then, to use this question directly,
22:19is one where we are all just going to give our best effort,
22:22and then to Ben's point, let's try to make this as positive as possible.
22:26The truth is then, from you guys, we love your feedback.
22:29If we go on a losing streak and we lose three games in a row on the bounce,
22:33what are things we can do to keep people's perspective healthy,
22:36and obviously keep things positive and keep the energy high?
22:39That's where I think the fan support plays a big role.
22:43It's something we're working on, and we want to figure out the right balance
22:47of having private events, which have a fixed revenue income stream,
22:52versus keeping it open, which may not break even,
22:56and then balancing the combination of those two with fun events,
23:00whether that's watching darts, watching European football on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,
23:04what have you.
23:06We'll try to take as much input from all of you as we can about ideas
23:09that would bring you to Reds on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night.
23:13In relation to that, obviously Reds does show up early in matches,
23:16they see appropriate functions, we understand the reason, and all of it is a frustration.
23:19But with Sky, certainly you've kicked off at half past two,
23:21we're looking at half past five.
23:23What happens on half past five kickoff on coming Saturday?
23:25Is there a wedding due in there in the evening?
23:27Are we going to be kicked out before kickoff?
23:29What's the score for those situations?
23:31What's the plan for all those situations?
23:33I don't think there's a wedding.
23:35That's an example.
23:37It's a great question.
23:40I don't know what the event schedule looks like for this weekend.
23:42We'll be planning that more closely in coordination with Corona this year
23:46so that we'll avoid any of those situations.
23:49But for now, it's a bit of let's manage with how we've been working on it
23:52and figure out how to improve as we go.
23:55But we'd love to keep the bar open longer afterwards.
23:58Just to clarify a bit, we've had conversations with borough council about the idea.
24:04We have not talked about official boundaries or what land is up for debate.
24:10Some of the surveying that's been done has been basically on this side,
24:13just around the city and not even on the turf and on the side of the K2.
24:18But those levels of discussions we're hoping to get into over the next couple of months
24:22We're getting more practical on terms, price, the lot itself.
24:28But we're not quite there yet.
24:33For some context, if you didn't listen to the podcast, I'll say what I can say.
24:40The state and perception of Crawley Town a year ago from today was remarkably lower than it is today
24:46for obvious reasons.
24:47They made it a little more difficult to approve for obvious reasons.
24:50So some of the consolations or things that we needed to agree to to get the players we wanted in
24:57were some of those clauses where if another club out there met that buyout fee,
25:02then it was an unavoidable deal that we had to let the player go play.
25:06And they were getting offered, in some cases, four to six times more money to go play somewhere else.
25:11So it was a win for the player. They earned it.
25:13Coaching staff did an amazing job developing them and integrating them into the squad.
25:18But obviously at this point, we're in a much better position of power relative to our budget and revenue model.
25:25But in theory, we're not going to be making deals like that going forward.
25:29And then on the flip side, going after protections for the other way of course.
25:33We're going to be as smart and efficient as possible with those.
25:38But we were pretty strapped last summer in convincing players we thought were good enough to come play for us.
25:44That's the ultimate truth.
25:47Do we know what size is needed, Tom? Or have we not really dug into the details of it?
25:55I think it's something we can figure out, Steve. Let's talk more directly about it.
25:59But I think there's a solution there. And Ben wanted to say something.
26:04So this club is over 125 years old.
26:07That's amazing. And it should be celebrated and cherished.
26:11And we should find a way to display it.
26:14Whether it's bits and pieces around areas like this that are more open.
26:19Or their entrances downstairs. Whether it should all be in one place.
26:24We'll work through that.
26:26But that history has got to be preserved and all your efforts should be celebrated and should be shared with generations.
26:33Because that's the fabric of this club.
26:35So we'll find a good solution for it.
26:37This is the first I've heard of it.
26:39So now we're in discussion about it.
26:45Maybe we'll ask our historian about it.
26:49Whether or not there should be others as well included or something.
26:52But no. Not that I'm aware of.
26:55It's on the basis of a visiting supporter coming into the grounds.
27:00And noticing that actually something that was missing.
27:03And he felt, or they felt, that a statue, a monument or something outside the main stand was missing.
27:12You know, you go to other football clubs.
27:14There's the top player, the top management, the name, the monument.
27:19The owners of the stadium.
27:22But in this case there was nothing.
27:24And he felt that was missing.
27:26So on the back of that, there's been internet calls for maybe what the gentleman's talking about.
27:33I have heard about this before.
27:35Ben just hadn't.
27:36A lot of people have asked about it and recommended it.
27:38From what I gather, it's basically an ownership decision.
27:43And then do we want to spend to get a statue made and put it out there or not.
27:46So if it's something that means a lot to you guys, I can obviously consider it more specifically and truthfully.
27:55But before we've kind of heard it and it's like, oh yeah, that might be cool.
27:58And we've never really planned around it or found out what it would cost or what material we're making it out of.
28:03But we could dig into that and kind of present it.
28:06Talk to the CTSA.
28:08Maybe they have some ideas too on how we can go about that.
28:11So if you want, I can investigate that further for sure.
28:15My understanding is that getting the information back from the ticket provider has been not as smooth as we would have hoped.
28:23And as soon as we get access, we will be in touch with everybody as best we can.
28:27And I think your ideas are spot on in exactly what we need to be doing.
28:31So thank you for raising it.
28:32The only way this club is going to expand to fan base is doing things like that that get people into the club.
28:43And as I say, at the moment, we've only got accommodation for 6,000.
28:49So those other 11,000 on Saturday will be unlucky.
28:53That's right.
28:55And we are at record highs for season tickets this year, which is wonderful.
29:00And I attribute some of that to folks who came to Wembley.
29:03And that's 17,000.
29:05So we have seen an uptick.
29:07And you're exactly right.
29:08We've got to go after those folks who maybe made it to Wembley but don't come down here for one reason or another.
29:14And the season tickets, do you have a final figure of how many we saw?
29:20The last I saw, we were in the mid-1700s.
29:24Up.
29:25Sam is saying up.
29:27Literally just past.
29:29I don't know, 1,900.
29:311,900.
29:32How about that?
29:33Great.
29:37Definitely.
29:38Yeah, Jeremy's been great.
29:40Obviously, we re-signed him again this summer for longer term.
29:44He's loved it here.
29:45He loves you guys.
29:49Let me think about how I want to answer this.
29:51The truth is we've been trying to recruit from over there in feasible ways.
30:01Obviously, we have to probably have some sort of connection to the UK.
30:05Are they a citizen?
30:06Maybe they were born here.
30:07Maybe they've been in America temporarily.
30:09We have to dig into those things.
30:11But there was actually a player that flew out that we thought we were signing from another club in America that fell through once he got here.
30:20That's probably about as much as I can say.
30:22But the truth is it was a striker.
30:24It was a forward.
30:25And the truth is we're exhausting those options because the way we recruit with our data and the way that Scott likes to play
30:33and his coaching staff develops these players with our budget relative to a lot of League One clubs,
30:39we need to find every possible advantage we can find, whether it's America or another country outside of the UK, not even America alone.
30:48So, yeah, can we use that to leverage our awareness?
30:50For sure.
30:51And on top of it, it gives us, I think, a better chance to have success on the pitch too.
30:57So that's not something we're just saying, oh, great, Jeremy worked out.
31:01We've really tried to dive in even deeper in some of these other countries, the possibilities.
31:08Realistically, do we need to bring more help and hands to what we're trying to accomplish long term?
31:14Of course, there's a process in us prioritizing roles and goals and achieving them.
31:21I think the – how many times did you watch back Wembley?
31:25I watched the 15-minute highlight before I came out.
31:29There you go.
31:31I've watched it more than once as well.
31:35When they alluded to five, that was actually just – that was incorrect and kind of disrespectful to the fact that there's a lot more than five people that help this club run.
31:43If it's like the five that you see sitting in the hospitality suite, like Harry and Tom,
31:49and there's like general faces that people recognize and maybe that's closer to five,
31:54or they're the five that can answer a lot of the questions a lot of the times that people have.
31:58I would just say obviously Ben and I now adding to that are here full time to help where we can and try to improve things and be additive
32:09and try to take some of the mundane, minor things off the hands of some of the other staff so that they can grow and start working on other projects or other things that we need.
32:19So do we want to add to it, of course, and build and grow, and that's part of our vision for sure.
32:25But it's more than five people that are helping the club go for sure.
32:29When they referenced that, it just wasn't very accurate.
32:32That's part of why Ben is here, but also something that I think from my perspective we want the fit to be right and we want the price to be right.
32:43And obviously now at a higher level in league one, the suitor I think that you're referencing to before didn't fall in line with what our standard would be.
32:53So that's where I'm at.
32:55Ben might have further context on some of the details or opportunities that are currently available.
33:01We've started speaking to companies to potentially sponsor.
33:05It's obviously the biggest asset we have other than front of kit.
33:08It would be great to have a naming rights partner, but it won't just be anyone at any value or any brand from any industry either.
33:14We need the right partner.
33:16And hopefully we want someone who is connected to the local community.
33:19Rent to Kill is a great partner.
33:20They're here.
33:21They're a big company, so they're recognized not just throughout the country but globally.
33:26And they want to dig in on the club's journey and support the community foundation as well.
33:31So we're looking for the right partner.
33:34And hopefully we find them soon, but I'm going to be knocking on doors and calling people.
33:38And if anyone in this room has connections to people who are working companies or know people who would be interested, that's one way to support the club is to try to connect us.
33:48So I know the foundation gives a lot of tickets out in the schools that they work in, and they're really sort of a marketing arm for us in that regard.
33:56There's also been some talk, and thanks to Sam Jordan for raising this idea, about Junior Reds.
34:02That's how I started.
34:04Right.
34:05So the man in white I talked to was actually a man that brought me here 20-something years ago for my first game.
34:13He did the whole season as ball boys as well.
34:15Yeah.
34:31We'd love to find a way to bring that back.
34:33We'd love to find the right partner and sponsor to do that.
34:37The family section in the East End is another thing that can go with that.
34:41So I'm excited to bring a program back that encourages more kids and their families to come.
34:50I think if I speak a little nerdy for a second, I think before last season, right before the first kickoff, we were in the betting markets.
34:59We were like 40% to get relegated.
35:01Right now it's close to 50-50.
35:03So it's actually an even higher chance than last year, even though last year people were very wrong.
35:10Obviously, we should have our hopes high, but also realistic.
35:15It would be insane if we somehow pulled that off, to be honest.
35:19I wouldn't even know what to say.
35:22That's what we were all thinking before last year.
35:25Exactly.
35:26Can I be honest with you guys about one thing?
35:28Like I said, League 1 is going to be very, very hard.
35:30And I think that's what drove me to be here is because I wanted to give us the best chance.
35:36In some aspect, I think that'll mean success.
35:40And sometimes it might not.
35:42But I needed to give my best shot for all of you and for our ownership group.
35:47But the truth is, last year when everyone said we were going down and the betting markets said we were going down like 40% and we were going to finish 24th out of 24,
35:57our internal projection and model had us finishing, on average, a range of 9th to 11th.
36:06We were pretty certain everyone was wrong.
36:10This summer it is different.
36:12There's a lot more uncertainty because we don't know how to directly measure and quantify when everyone else is spending over double what you are or sometimes even more.
36:19And the level jump is obviously significant on the pitch and everything else that attaches to it.
36:24So for us, I don't think we can confidently say, oh, this is where we expect to be.
36:28Last season, that 9th to 11th pocket, we even overachieved from there a little bit.
36:33And that's what's interesting about ranges is if 9th to 11th was right, on average, it means sometimes you're going to finish 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, right?
36:42And so we got 7th and then we went on a run and it was a great experience.
36:47If you were to ask me for a pocket at this very moment, I wouldn't be confidently saying 9th to 11th in League 1, obviously.
36:56I don't think I could confidently give you a range because last summer I was just looking at different contexts.
37:00So it's really been interesting, but also it's what makes it difficult.
37:03And we're just going to try to provide Scott and the staff as much talent as we possibly can to find the right answers and push the right buttons.
37:11We're now in the coaching role. Scott's going to announce a new contract.
37:19I'm not sure if Sam has a plan on the content media side.
37:22Yeah, this week.
37:23This week?
37:24There's a toss-up tweet for you on the J.
37:28Wait, should we have a vote right now?
37:31Is that going to work?
37:38Can I turn this mic off or is there any last second questions? Anybody?
37:43Well, good question, actually. Obviously, with all of the change in personnel, obviously one of the concerns of a lot of fans is would Scott be satisfied or happy with the content?
37:50Obviously, he can't say too much, but is he content where we are or is he bloody light-cursing underneath all this and outwardly projecting the right image?
37:58Do you want to call him and ask? Say, hey, you're live on YouTube?
38:01Well, I'm interested to know how he feels in terms of obviously his team's been dismantled through no fault of their own, the sales and things.
38:08Nonetheless, he's got to start again. It must be quite galling on the floor. Is his head in the right place?
38:13I can honestly say the one thing that Scott is great at is his confidence and his belief in his system, the way he coaches, the way he plays the game and his staff and what they can bring to the table to aid him.
38:26There hasn't been, and I'm being truthfully honest, any sort of outburst my way on the state of the situation or this or that.
38:35He's obviously been keen to understand why certain things happen versus others, and we've kept him a part of that process throughout the summer.
38:46Even two days ago, Saturday night, after the EVS League match, I was on the phone with him for 44 minutes and 56 seconds talking over some recruiting strategy for the next week or two before the season gets underway.
38:59Following that, he was on the phone with Tobias, who we've referenced before, helping with some of the recruiting and consulting there. They were on the phone, yeah, I think it was over an hour.
39:09He's ingrained, and he was looking at a film yesterday of a player that we've targeted that we really would like to bring in, and he gave us the okay.
39:19He says he thinks he looks good, so he's really good at staying positive and being confident, because that's just what ultimately was one of the reasons we had success last year,
39:27is everyone bought into what he preaches and his attitude and aura is just absolutely where the underdog and embraces it.