Before anyone thinks that i am having a pop i am not. I think locating the shop in Kingsway is one of the best decisions the club has made. I understand it is always busy and that it is an important revenue stream for the club and a massive well done to all involved especially the volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure the club maximises profit.

Last saturday i had a rare day off as wasnt working and didnt go to carlise as the bus i travel on was cancelled as not enough booked on to make it worthwhile no subscription draw support here. I took my five year old grandson to the shop to get a shirt it was closed. I rang carl phillips who didnt believe i was there and said it was closed as everyone was in carlise he wasnt i wasnt but everyone else was.

I have given my son the money to take my grandson in tomorrow as i am going to game my mate just told me shop closed again tomorrow i thought he was winding me up until another mate sent me a pic of the notice. This is ridiculous with only six saturdays until christmas imagine the loss of income.

I will never slag off our volunteers but why cant paid staff work and open the shop. I get we are not awash with paid staff and it may not be their jobs but the shop must be a priority. I understand that Jeff is the only paid member of shop/ticket office team now i get he wants to go to the games fair enough so do a review of hours and almost employ someone else as a job share so same hours same amount of pay
Commitment but two staff with one who will work away games and could be supplemented with a volunteer or two. I am sure kingsway are made up we are closed for second saturday running.

Where is the COO in sorting this? It is a major part of our operation and i know that he has a small team but he could rota our paid staff on and give them a day off in the week to avoid situations like this. Talking to Alex the other week he said Stevenage have 75 off field staff whereas he had 7 including him here but he was always visable and i am sure he would have worked himself if it was needed

Doesn't need the COO to sort it, you've answered your own question. You would have been in Carlisle if the coach hadn't been cancelled and your not around tomorrow either - your going to the game as are a lot of supporters - so how many paying customers do you think the club shop would get when the County play away - the answer is not enough to justify opening the shop.

Talking to a director the other week I was informed that most days the shop is taking over a grand including away Saturdays! So if we can afford to turn that away i will shut up be interesting at next meeting to have an overview of shop sales compared to last year. Also what about people who want to buy christmas gifts for family who are supporters ideal opportunity when we are away is it not?

owlsabout wrote:Talking to a director the other week I was informed that most days the shop is taking over a grand including away Saturdays! So if we can afford to turn that away i will shut up be interesting at next meeting to have an overview of shop sales compared to last year. Also what about people who want to buy christmas gifts for family who are supporters ideal opportunity when we are away is it not?

Well why didnt you put that important bit of info into your opening post then? And also ask your director contact why it wasnt open.

Oh believe me i will be speaking with directors when i see them. Cant believe you actually think that this loss of revenue for a small club like ours is ok! Unbelievable Jeff!

whoareya wrote:Doesn't need the COO to sort it, you've answered your own question. You would have been in Carlisle if the coach hadn't been cancelled and your not around tomorrow either - your going to the game as are a lot of supporters - so how many paying customers do you think the club shop would get when the County play away - the answer is not enough to justify opening the shop.

This has got to be one of the dumbest post I've ever read on here, Saturday is the busiest day of the week, a closed shop not only denies the club valuable revenue but also makes us look incredibly amateurish

so how many paying customers do you think the club shop would get when the County play away -

Absolutely crazy statement. I'm sure newgroundrodney can provide the figures but what is our average attendance excluding away support....maybe circa 2500. How many of those went to Carlisle... less than 200.

By my reckoning that leaves possibly 2300 people who, with no game to watch, could have been in town.
Like everyone else, this is not a criticism of our valuable volunteers, but a criticism of the strategy that allowed this to happen.

allontheamber wrote:so how many paying customers do you think the club shop would get when the County play away -

Absolutely crazy statement. I'm sure newgroundrodney can provide the figures but what is our average attendance excluding away support....maybe circa 2500. How many of those went to Carlisle... less than 200.

By my reckoning that leaves possibly 2300 people who, with no game to watch, could have been in town.
Like everyone else, this is not a criticism of our valuable volunteers, but a criticism of the strategy that allowed this to happen.

Seems an ideal opportunity to me for presents to be purchased whilst the ‘supporter family’ are away watching a match. It also needs to be remembered that not all County supporters are going to Saturday’s game by a significant margin.

Ridiculous situation !!!
I'm sure the 57 on the Supporters Bus last week that were refunded their travel costs would've preferred that money being put towards paying someone to open the shop for Saturday trade ?

Crazy

It certainly is a crazy situation, a closed shop will turn over £0 revenue, FACT!!
How anyone can argue against this thread is beyond me, we need to employ a few staff in the shop that aren't County fans so it's always open on match days, also late night opening leading up to Christmas & Sundays as well, it's vital to our survival.

Tony Soprano wrote:It certainly is a crazy situation, a closed shop will turn over £0 revenue, FACT!!
How anyone can argue against this thread is beyond me, we need to employ a few staff in the shop that aren't County fans so it's always open on match days, also late night opening leading up to Christmas & Sundays as well, it's vital to our survival.

And just after we announce a shuttle bus from the train station for evening matches (which I think is a brilliant idea , btw ...)

So , one good idea is overshadowed by a completely ridiculous situation regarding our retail proposition !!!
Why do we shoot ourselves in the foot at every opportunity ???
Even if we had a few Academy boys with "A N Other" to man it on basic wage .
I know the Club have asked for extra volunteers in the run up to Christmas , but surely we can afford to pay a few part timers to work a Saturday and not rely solely on volunteers ?

went to shop last saturday to buy two 3rd strip white shirts at £42 each to find shop closed,was going to try this saturday as need to send them to family fans in australia,don't look they will get them now as can only make saturdays even tried on line but said sold out what ever size i put in

allontheamber wrote:so how many paying customers do you think the club shop would get when the County play away -

Absolutely crazy statement. I'm sure newgroundrodney can provide the figures but what is our average attendance excluding away support....maybe circa 2500. How many of those went to Carlisle... less than 200.

By my reckoning that leaves possibly 2300 people who, with no game to watch, could have been in town.
Like everyone else, this is not a criticism of our valuable volunteers, but a criticism of the strategy that allowed this to happen.

I'm in work currently, but strictly off the top of my head, I think the average number of County fans at home games currently stands at 3040 or something close to that within 1% margin of error..... what percentage travel away I do not know sorry.

whoareya wrote:Doesn't need the COO to sort it, you've answered your own question. You would have been in Carlisle if the coach hadn't been cancelled and your not around tomorrow either - your going to the game as are a lot of supporters - so how many paying customers do you think the club shop would get when the County play away - the answer is not enough to justify opening the shop.

What a totally negative response
This attitude will be the ruin of our club.
Owls keep letting us know when clueless decisions are made please
Legend mate

I seriously don't get how people can think closing a club shop on a Saturday in the town centre is ok .
It's embarrassing as a football league club regardless of who you are not to open on one of the best shopping days of the week .
The volunteers are remarkable that's a given but just employ somebody to run on a Saturday in the town centre . We have no shop over the ground so we have to take advantage of the city centre . If people are so short sited especially this time of year that women,families won't walk in and buy things they are deluded .

It's been mentioned before about club subscription to Carlisle blah blah blah.

The smile council and other groups of our football club do their utmost to keep this club alive .

Lest not forget without the FANS there would be no football club end of . So employ somebody on a day when we can make money . If we are taking a £1000 on average a day ,Christmas is crucial to a club like ours .

For all you people that will say and knock what mark price, stavros power , mike Jones etc say just remember these people played, raised a fortune and still love this football club as we all do . So pull together and get a grip . Supposed to be one club one county . The fans club . Remember that .