Debbie Cook Interview

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2nU4stQ1RA3DYr0Gu5kbGp?si=kXCgDXD1QAy15Lh2Zk30_Q


About 40 mins long. A lot of the usual stuff but some interesting points -

- commercial revenue up 76% in the 2 years since 1878 came in
- looking for sponsors for training ground work
- the club have produced a 3-part documentary covering the playoff run, produced by Shush Films who were behind 3 Day Millionaire

I'll give it a listen on my daily walk.

Thanks for the link.

76% is an impressive figure , taking Covid, and the ongoing cost of living issues concerning everyone in the local area into account.

Good to have quality national status business people in charge, going for a year on year progressive improvement, while keeping the books in order.

Come back in 5 years and see what they will have achieved to keep this club fiscally safe and more competitive against those squandering their finances or holding clubs to ransom.

Clubs will realise that they can loan out their better prospects to us, as we will nurture them and help their future development.

This could also encourage higher skilled players wanting to join, knowing monthly salaries are safe, and the local cost of living has advantages over big city and major town locations.

Slightly less salary goes far further around here.

Wow, really looking forward to the documentary!! I wonder if it will be on Netflix?

Let’s be honest, anything after JF was going to be an improvement.

But I don’t think in our wildest dreams we could have hoped for the new owners that we now have.
The confidence in the club is shown by the amount of season tickets sold yet again.  To beat (or come close to ) last season’s figure is amazing given the home performances last year.  
Yes, the seating is still an issue.  But I genuinely believe that under JF we would be a lot closer to Scunny than we are now.  The infrastructure is so so much better and I don’t think we still realise just how bad it was.  
So in summary.  Those ‘tyre kickers’ are doing ok.
UTM

I think the only plaudit that we can give JF is that we haven't ended up like Scunny,  but the huge frustration from the whole fanbase was because the club had so much potential just because of how loyal our fanbase is. The current ownership is taking that potential and running with it, they make you proud to talk about your football club again.

We are no joke anymore

We have serious people leading the operation and more and more people will take notice .

Highly impressed with our direction of travel and things will only get better , there will be bumps in the road but doubtful anymore disasters .

Lets all enjoy the journey

Quoted from Mappers

We are no joke anymore

We have serious people leading the operation and more and more people will take notice .

Highly impressed with our direction of travel and things will only get better , there will be bumps in the road but doubtful anymore disasters .

Lets all enjoy the journey

Yes. the turnaround is pretty remarkable. Two years ago no one would expect us to be where we are now. I thought we would still be slugging it out with the likes of Dagenham and Woking. And yes, Scunthorpe.

What a sliding doors moment that whole Alex May business was. Sends shivers down my spine thinking about it.

Debbie said we are a Real Living Wage club so every member of staff should feel they get a fair days pay for a fair days work.

Except if they are under 23.

I have just listened to the podcast, i found the interview to be extremely positive in every position, Debbie comes over really very well. If we as fans/customers want the football club to progress future revenue is going to be very important. I feel more part of the football club today than at anytime over the last 60 years.
Last week i was renewing my season ticket having never met Debbie before, she came through the back office with a big smile & asked us how all of us were, how nice did that make us feel !  and the ladies served us with a smile & friendly banter & chat, & i know that can't be easy dealing with some of the people out there. LOL.

I thought it was a good interview overall, but I don't think we pay a fair wage. Whilst the recent advert for matchday staff starting from £5.90 per hour is an improvement on £20 per match from years gone by, it's still not the Living Wage that we pride ourselves on paying everyone.

Good to hear her wanting to improve commercial income, despite being up. A large proportion of that will be increased shirt sales and I think we can all agree it needs to improve. She defended sticking by Hurst in that bad run because the data hadn't changed much; I wonder what would happen in a similar run if the data had changed?

On the surface, a very solid interview, but a little while back I devised a handy little scorecard to help more objectively monitor the progress of our new regime’s PR skills versus those of the old guard. You get a point for every “no”, and lose a point for every “yes”.  Let’s see how Debbie did…

• Did she appear to be drunk? - “no”
  
  
• Did she communicate almost exclusively using peculiar idioms with little real substance or meaning? - “no”
  
  
• Did she attempt to abuse or otherwise humiliate the interviewer? - “no”
  
  
• Was anyone’s tie “waggled”? - “no”
  
  
• Were any chairs “smashed” - “no”
  
  
• Flags deconstructed? - “no”
  
  
• Did she display a repulsive and flagrantly outdated taste in fashion? - “can’t be certain, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt”
  
  
• Did she fail to refer to our first-team manager using his correct first name? - “no”
  
  
• Did she make reference to an “enabling development”? - “no”
  
  
• Was anyone told to “shut up”? - “no”
  
  
• Did she at any point make you feel like you were listening to an Alan Partridge sketch? - “no”
  
  
• Did she make any unnecessary snide and discriminatory comments about prospective officials”? - “no”
  
  
• Did she refer to any potential investors as “tire kickers”? - “no”
  
  
• Did she attempt to steal the limelight from the players and staff on account of her own ego, whilst stood next to an orange juice soaked manager? - “no”
  
  
• Did she attempt to downplay the actions of a serially convicted fraudster, most recently famous for having caused significant distress to a particularly vulnerable, ageing demographic? - “no”
  
  
• Did she make references about the value of her car, in a not very subtle attempt to let everyone know how wealthy she is? - “no”
  
  
• Did she make any promises or set targets so blatently unrealistic that they were met with instant derision? - “no”
  
  
• Did her surroundings suggest a lack of basic decency and taste in interior design, typical of classless individuals belonging to what is known as the “Nouveau riche” - “again, there’s simply no way of knowing, so in the interest of balance I’m going to say ‘yes’”
  
  
• Did she generally display a high level of contempt for the club’s supporters? - “ no”
  
  
• Did she threaten any of the club’s supporters with legal action, or attempt to have its main online discussion board excrement down due to low-level, personal criticism?” - “no”
  

All-in-all, a very solid 18 out of a possible 20 points for Debbie - a possible overindulgence in Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen interior design documentaries being the only blemish on an otherwise perfect score.

Who’d have thought a modicum of intelligence, a touch of class and a splash of common decency would go so far?

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I thought it was a good interview overall, but I don't think we pay a fair wage. Whilst the recent advert for matchday staff starting from £5.90 per hour is an improvement on £20 per match from years gone by, it's still not the Living Wage that we pride ourselves on paying everyone.

Good to hear her wanting to improve commercial income, despite being up. A large proportion of that will be increased shirt sales and I think we can all agree it needs to improve. She defended sticking by Hurst in that bad run because the data hadn't changed much; I wonder what would happen in a similar run if the data had changed?

You make an interesting point. Have you emailed Debbie or the Trust to find out why there is this apparent anomaly?

Quoted from forza ivano

You make an interesting point. Have you emailed Debbie or the Trust to find out why there is this apparent anomaly?

I intend to.

Ask her about the calendars while you’re at it

Quoted from ska face

Ask her about the calendars while you’re at it

Ooh, err, missus!

Quoted from ska face

- commercial revenue up 76% in the 2 years since 1878 came in

All in all a great interview but the pedant in me has to pick her up on this point. In the same breath she said commercial revenue had more than doubled and in fact it had increased by 76%. Which is it?

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I thought it was a good interview overall, but I don't think we pay a fair wage. Whilst the recent advert for matchday staff starting from £5.90 per hour is an improvement on £20 per match from years gone by, it's still not the Living Wage that we pride ourselves on paying everyone.

The club do pay the living wage for over 18's. The argument for paying those under 18 less, which is fairly valid in my eyes, is that if you pay them the same as an over 18, you wouldn't employ them. If you needed to employ a bar runner at the Living Wage, you would want them to be able to hop on the bar without needing supervision of sales, you'd also want them to be able to clean with chemicals (which you can't do for under 18's).