Post by Tangerine Sherlock on Jun 1, 2012 10:18:52 GMT 1
Karl, more than 9,100 season tickets have currently been sold for the new season, how pleasing is that?
It's pleasing, especially in this economic climate. I said the same when West Ham criticised Blackpool for not selling their entire allocation for Wembley. I thought it was a stupid comment to make, I have to say, by them and it's not difficult to work out that, as somebody succinctly pointed out, we took a fourth of the town's population down to Wembley. In this current economic climate it was a massive effort and a massive commitment and cost for a lot of people that would probably struggle to pay for that.
I think for us to get to the level of season tickets that we have is, again, testament to our support and I hope that we can give them another good season with plenty to shout about it.
There will be a lot of new facilities open for next season as work continues on the South-East corner and the hotel.
Yes, I think it will be nice for the first time to have no new building projects at the main ground in the offing. The place will be finished and operational for the start of the season, so that will be job done as far as the stadium is concerned.
That will obviously lead to the question of what's next, and at the top of the list now, by a long way, is the training ground. I shall redouble my efforts to move that forward, we've got various things in the offing. That's now officially at the top of the list and it shows how far we've come because it was so far down the list 13 years ago.
The opening of the hotel will make Bloomfield Road one of only a number of football clubs to incorporate such a facility.
It's a good blend that really helps a stadium which is, let's face it, used only 25 or 26 times a year and less in the Premier League for football. It's important that you use the stadium as much as you possibly can. We're fortunate here in Blackpool that there's high demand for decent hotel space so that's exactly what we've built.
I think we'll be operating at four star and it will have 70 rooms. Another welcome addition to the facility will be a gym which the players will use, as well as bars and cafes. All this gives us more variety of offers for supporters on matchdays and for conference users and weddings on non-football days.
I'm pleased because it's another substantial step forward and another substantial bridge between, in terms of income, the clubs that average between 40 and 50,000 supporters, which are the ones we're really competing with.
Finally, chairmen of Football League clubs are currently in Portugal for the summer conference and the substitute rule is expected to be discussed again. The manager is very keen to see seven subs restored to the bench, is that something you support him on?
It was only very recently that we voted to have five instead of seven. I know the manager's feelings and obviously I've got to take those into account. Personally I disagree but I would vote the way he thinks.
I think taking more players to sit on the bench isn't necessarily a good thing, but the way we play means that we're more likely to want seven than a lot of other clubs. We'll see what happens because it's a cost-based decision, but I'd be surprised if it went back to seven. Saying that, there's very little that should ever surprise anyone in football.
It's pleasing, especially in this economic climate. I said the same when West Ham criticised Blackpool for not selling their entire allocation for Wembley. I thought it was a stupid comment to make, I have to say, by them and it's not difficult to work out that, as somebody succinctly pointed out, we took a fourth of the town's population down to Wembley. In this current economic climate it was a massive effort and a massive commitment and cost for a lot of people that would probably struggle to pay for that.
I think for us to get to the level of season tickets that we have is, again, testament to our support and I hope that we can give them another good season with plenty to shout about it.
There will be a lot of new facilities open for next season as work continues on the South-East corner and the hotel.
Yes, I think it will be nice for the first time to have no new building projects at the main ground in the offing. The place will be finished and operational for the start of the season, so that will be job done as far as the stadium is concerned.
That will obviously lead to the question of what's next, and at the top of the list now, by a long way, is the training ground. I shall redouble my efforts to move that forward, we've got various things in the offing. That's now officially at the top of the list and it shows how far we've come because it was so far down the list 13 years ago.
The opening of the hotel will make Bloomfield Road one of only a number of football clubs to incorporate such a facility.
It's a good blend that really helps a stadium which is, let's face it, used only 25 or 26 times a year and less in the Premier League for football. It's important that you use the stadium as much as you possibly can. We're fortunate here in Blackpool that there's high demand for decent hotel space so that's exactly what we've built.
I think we'll be operating at four star and it will have 70 rooms. Another welcome addition to the facility will be a gym which the players will use, as well as bars and cafes. All this gives us more variety of offers for supporters on matchdays and for conference users and weddings on non-football days.
I'm pleased because it's another substantial step forward and another substantial bridge between, in terms of income, the clubs that average between 40 and 50,000 supporters, which are the ones we're really competing with.
Finally, chairmen of Football League clubs are currently in Portugal for the summer conference and the substitute rule is expected to be discussed again. The manager is very keen to see seven subs restored to the bench, is that something you support him on?
It was only very recently that we voted to have five instead of seven. I know the manager's feelings and obviously I've got to take those into account. Personally I disagree but I would vote the way he thinks.
I think taking more players to sit on the bench isn't necessarily a good thing, but the way we play means that we're more likely to want seven than a lot of other clubs. We'll see what happens because it's a cost-based decision, but I'd be surprised if it went back to seven. Saying that, there's very little that should ever surprise anyone in football.