No ambitions to catch up with Tesco then?

Not good enough, but all are issues linked the to the Stadium move. A pretty exceptional event that doesn't quantify how we've been run for 30 years.
Could you offer some advice on how poorly we've handled commercial/sponsorship revenue opportunities? I've seen articles where we've boasted some big figures. Just good fortune?

I'm inclined to agree with him - a winning team should draw better crowds than posters and radio freebies. The Facebook feed from the club confirmed all the money goes into the team ahead of marketing for just that reason. Alas, even with our marketing coin in the squad budget, it's not enough.
I wasn't privy to those devious board meetings. Was he offered a massive marketing budget but couldn't be @rsed with the hassle of spending it?

At the end of the day, we tried to continue running the same operation that we ran at The Willows despite the opportunities that a new stadium presents both on and off the pitch, and within months it has been found by a strategic review that changes need to be made. Think that says it all really.

The commemorative shirt season ticket offer that was pulled after season tickets were sold, promised later in a season and never arrived. Ending the Junior Devils. Repeatedly late season tickets, and replica jerseys continually missing the Christmas market. Club website being out of date regularly for years. Being the only club on the Magic Weekend promo material wearing last year's shirt. Not selling online for years after amateur clubs have been doing it. Mysteriously only getting shirt sponsors who are linked to the chairman's companies or who are tied up with the club in land deals. Being the only English club not represented at a season launch event. Repeatedly sending duplicate letters to some season ticket holders and nothing to others. Failing to market 2012 season to the 10000 people who bought tickets for the last game of the 2011 season.



I've heard that we've always been at war with Eastasia.

So we just live in hope then and pay someone X amount of pounds? You are Mark Tarry and I claim my £5.

Of course they might want to reach Tesco's level, but realistically its not going happen. So they have the right idea in concentrating on what they're good at and what they need to do in order to keep their customers happy and make a nice living. In rugby terms we're never going to be as big as Wigan, but that doesn't excuse us from p1ss poor customer service (or does that cost money?). We need to keep our fans happy so they keep coming back, whilst trying to spread the word to attract new fans/customers. I really don't get your argument about your local shop and Tesco as it has no relevance to Salford and the way we've been run?



Finally you've agreed that something isn't good enough, I must say I'm shocked! The Stadium move was in planning for 10 years it didn't just pop up out of the ground over night, if that was the case I can understand why we didn't have these necessities in place. But as everyone knew what was coming things should have been in place. These faults didn't happen at Warrington/hull/Wigan etc when they moved so why should it happen here? The board and people at the top should have been liaising with the builders, council and Peel to make sure simple things like a telephone were in place, not just for the first game of the season, but a week or two before our friendly against Leigh.



Trish Goldsmith did a lot of good work with sponsorship she got sponsorship for the the Golden Angel scheme which was a great idea. A lot of other sponsors throughout the years have been from John's companies and John's business connections as well as friends such as Godliman and Watson. The recent sponsorship from the Trafford Centre and now Media City have a big part to do with the Salford City Council, Salford City Reds and Peel Holdings working together for the new stadium and also Peel and the Council working together to build Media city. I seriously doubt that DT clinched any of these deals.



Yeah, of course a winning team will bring people through the gates, but for him to sit there and say that he's relying on the team to do well is ludicrous as was his thinking that everyone would come flooding to watch Salford as soon as the stadium was built. Marketing does not have to cost that much money, your biggest marketing tools are already in place, the fans! If you keep them happy (which many haven't been for years), then they will bring friends, family etc along and word of mouth gets around. This thing about we're crap because we have a low budget is just an excuse. Yes money helps of course it does, but there are plenty of things that can be done on the cheap without costing the world.

I think the fact that we're even having this conversation and the fact I know of more people around the club that have my way of thinking speak volumes for the years under DT's leadership. The club has a lot of work to do to improve the trust and relationship between fans and that relationship didn't just fade overnight, but after years and years of mismanagement.

Quote ="EX.SALF.UNI"No ambitions to catch up with Tesco then?'" Why would a corner shop want to catch up with Tesco? Quote ="EX.SALF.UNI"Not good enough, but all are issues linked the to the Stadium move. A pretty exceptional event that doesn't quantify how we've been run for 30 years.'" As well as the issues raised by Chester J Lampwick, I'd like to add the following: I emailed the club shop using the advertised email address (towards the end of the 2011 season) on the online shop, retail@reds.co.uk, and never got a response. I finally managed to get in touch with someone only to be told nobody knew where that email address went to. That's not the fault of the staff in the club shop who, Amanda in particular, were very helpful once I'd made contact, but someone at the club should have been responsible for checking the advertised address was live and, if not, either removing it from/changing it on the website or setting it up on a computer somewhere at the club. I'd also like a special mention for the issue of East Stand season ticket holders turning up for the second game, after the club had issued replacement cards to everyone, to be told they had to go around to the West Stand and find somewhere to sit as the East Stand wouldn't be open. They are now sat in there every week with the season tickets still not scanning properly and, despite constant assurances from the club, no replacements have been issued. That's hardly a challenging problem to sort out.

Quote ="EX.SALF.UNI"No ambitions to catch up with Tesco then?'" Why would a corner shop want to catch up with Tesco? Quote ="EX.SALF.UNI"Not good enough, but all are issues linked the to the Stadium move. A pretty exceptional event that doesn't quantify how we've been run for 30 years.'" As well as the issues raised by Chester J Lampwick, I'd like to add the following: I emailed the club shop using the advertised email address (towards the end of the 2011 season) on the online shop, retail@reds.co.uk, and never got a response. I finally managed to get in touch with someone only to be told nobody knew where that email address went to. That's not the fault of the staff in the club shop who, Amanda in particular, were very helpful once I'd made contact, but someone at the club should have been responsible for checking the advertised address was live and, if not, either removing it from/changing it on the website or setting it up on a computer somewhere at the club. I'd also like a special mention for the issue of East Stand season ticket holders turning up for the second game, after the club had issued replacement cards to everyone, to be told they had to go around to the West Stand and find somewhere to sit as the East Stand wouldn't be open. They are now sat in there every week with the season tickets still not scanning properly and, despite constant assurances from the club, no replacements have been issued. That's hardly a challenging problem to sort out.

I had the same thought as I wrote that. Without much funding, does it require much 'managing'? Assuming no, that would support the redundancy decision but I'm still struggling to see that as a good news story. His salary going into the squad or some glossy posters is a benefit, I suppose.

No, and you'll struggle to find a post where I have suggested that to be the case.



Just because we haven't been shadowing him daily for 30 years doesn't mean we can't assess his job performance by the results he produces. Results, which as several people have ably demonstrated to you on this thread are totally unacceptable.

I'd also like to add player's not being paid on time to list of shoddy club performance. I'm sure even you would agree the playing staff getting their wages on time falls under the remit of the CEO.

Yeah, that corner shop analogy has probably run its course. I simply think the club are too small and underfunded to take on some of the initiatives I've seen and that's where they can be found wanting.
In terms of customer experience, mine has been pretty good. But maybe I'm just one of the lucky few.



I still have no idea how this redundancy is going to remedy anything but I take Chico/Lampwick's point about old/stale habits. Again, here's hoping the stand-in/s can kick us on.

Which initiatives are we too small for?

As for customer service, were you not disgruntled to be promised a free commemorative shirt/piece of turf and never receive it? Surely that is a black mark on the 'pretty good' customer service you've had from the club?

I don't think Tarry ever recovered his relationship with some supporters after trying to push through a particularly devious pledge called the Fans Charter. You may not remember it because it was very short lived, but it received publicity for a week or so in which fans and Tarry exchanged frank views. In short, any display of criticism or exuberant behaviour was deemed to be against the principles of the family game and therefore the club. And signing the Fans Charter was agreeing to this, meaning the vast majority of people who post on here could be thrown out on a whim.

This was a nadir for club/fan relations, after which we saw SRISA and the seeds for Forever Reds, which certainly improved communication.

Ire against Tarry was then probably redirected towards Simms (many more fans care about the football side of things as oppose to administrative matters), and diluted by Trish Goldsmith's involvement in the club and the plans for a new stadium. It's no surprise then after Trish left (and later Adam Jude, who hardly made a mark) and the deflation experienced on arrival of the scaled-down SCS, that attention turned once again to Tarry.

The 800lb Neil Baynes in the room is the spectre or lure of the 'Manchester' brand, to which Salford have never succumbed to under Wilkinson and Tarry. Whoever assumes Tarry's duties needs to stand up to this.

I'd guess more likely is that he has been paid a handsome sum to vacate the roll and there will be very little (if any) left of his salary. The consulting firm won't be cheap and will be charging a pretty penny to help run the club if the reports are to believed.

You can't have it both ways.
You want change so Tarry's gone. There's a cost attached to that but it's a one off this year,whatever it is.
You want fresh ideas so we have management consultants(ideas people) to run it.
This will only be short term,because that's the way it works.
Let's just be supportive and see what happens.
The odds are they will have some good ideas and some crazy ones but ,at least,we have a fresh pair of eyes looking at it.

Bonita Red is spot on for once.

Change is just around the corner......People want change. Change takes time.

With you being out in Singapore and having more knowledge than one slightly nearer will I be able to read about this change in next weeks RLE ?

Is the removal of Mr Tarry the panacea for all ills ?

Will the efforts of Steuer Gregsson bring a smile to the faces of the coaching staff ?

Will the club shop become fully stocked with 'must-have' goodies ?

Will a pleb supporter like me get information in a format which is different from trying to piece together a jigsaw with different pieces missing each time I look at it ?

Most importantly,is the change for the better ?

I remember a Monty Python sketch years ago where the world was in terrible turmoil, the government of the day did some research and found that a bloke who owned a cornershop was to blame for it all, so they took him out and hung him, then the world got better straight away.

Time will tell, but it certainly won't make things any worse!

I think getting shot of Tarry is just the beginning and I for one while not as continually downbeat as some saw the missed opportunity the move to the new ground as the final straw that the powers that be needed to act fast and for once I think Wilky is taking sage advice rather than from those with a vested interest in sweeping things under the carpet to continue feathering their own nest.

As for the club shop it isn't that bad to be fair there is just a need for small cheap trinkets for the kids that gets the clubs name and brand in their mindset at an early age. I know it happened mid season but there is a definate need for something for the kids with the new mascots image on it as for me the reaction it gets from them (hell it turned up at my workplace the other week and went down brilliantly with everyone) shows that club have got it very right.

As Ave It says it can't be any worse, I honestly think this is all work being done in preparation to make the club a better prospect for new investors or even better a new owner. What seems to have been missed is that the consultancy firm will have far wider contacts in the business world than someone like Tarry had and you can bet your bottom Dollar they will have a nice bonus waiting from Wilky if they get him someone with money to buy the club.

I've been saying this for ages, e.g. my 8 year old is bonkers about Salford but his bedroom walls are pretty bare compared to my 12 year old's bedroom wall that is festooned with A3 size posters of various City players that came free with a match programme. It irks my 8 year old no end that he can't get posters of his favourite players like his brother can and constantly asks me why Salford don't do the same.

The moral here is that I don't tend to buy a programme these days but I would if it meant that I could make my 8 year old's day! I know were not City but the additional cost of producing the poster and packaging it with the programme should be fairly minimal and it would probably generate more income (from me anyway!). Alternatively, produce some posters and sell them separatlely in the club shop for £1 each. I think it's simple stuff like this that there needs to be more of for kids rather than trying to sell adult clothing at the £30 -£70 mark every time.

Each player generally has a sponsor. Perhaps an idea is for the club to approach that sponsor with the poster idea. Get the sponsor to pay for say a 1000 glossy A3 posters in return for the sponsors logo being displayed on the poster with the player picture. It would only cost the sponsor a few hundred quid for printing in return for extra advertising for both them and the club. They could sell them in the club shop or outside the ground on matchdays and any left over could be given to school kids when they visit the stadium with the foundation team.

You've got to put that in perspective. Are we likely to sell 20,000 player posters, and how much business are the sponsors going to get from being advertised on the bedroom of an 8 year old? I doubt sponsors get player exclusivity, so maybe do something similar, with smaller numbers, but seek sponsorship from things like Chill Factor/Play Factor, that crazy golf thing near the TC, and other family type attractions.

If the cost of an extra two pages is that great, I'm sure there's aspects of the programme that could be dropped in favour of creating space for a poster. View from the Pew, for example.

It's not just about the profit you make from selling this it's more about raising the profile of the club and raising awareness of Salford Reds. It doesn't have to be just a poster for kids, adults may put up the poster in their workplace or a landlord in a pub. Perhaps it could include fixtures? A different player each month between February and September with home and away fixtures for the particular month. The club would only have to find 8 player sponsors willing to pay for it out of of say 24? Run it like a magazine where say the March edition is available for distribution in February.

On the pre season player shirt presentation evening when the player sits on the table with his sponsors get the players to ask the company if they'll sponsor the poster? I'm sure after a few drinks it would be an easy sell.

If you look in a match programme you will see that each squad player is sponsorsed by a company. I don't think its asking too much of a sponsor to pay for a few posters in return for some extra advertising.

Every season get say 500 team posters printed and get them signed to sell and I bet they'd go, do the say with Neville and say a paw/hoof print and the kids would go for that too. We don't need to look at mass numbers as with modern printers and inks it's reasonably easy to make some decent onces at a relatively low price.

As an aside maybe now with DT gone and from the looks of it someone in his place (for how long we don't know) who takes a bit more notice of the fans it might be nice if someone from the club could get feedback and suggestions on here, OK I know there are the dimble brains who'll try and derail it but surely they'll get some decent ideas.

I spoke to a player sponsor a few months back and he was doing it because he knew the player personally, as for rugby league he didn't care much for it and was a yawnian fan.