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Get a little bit of um interference from the sound system outside as you know Arsenal playing leads here this evening and this is a Q&A that’s probably been brought forward um quite rightly there’s been a bit of noise this season and you’ve all got um questions you want to ask it’s really
Your Forum um it hasn’t got to be mashy hasn’t got to be rude whatever you want to ask if I can give you an honest answer I will um if there are things I can’t quite touch on I’ll be honest enough to say it um but as I say uh I
Think if I’m honest just the amount of people that are in the room tells me that we’ve um this is probably as busy Q&A that we’ve probably had for those of us who have been around um for a while and it as I say it’s your forum ask what you need to
Ask and uh if I can answer it I will you may not like all the answers you may like every answer but they’ll be they’ll be honest and uh and I’ll do my best to uh to give you uh an evening where you can go home and decipher what you need
To to um to work out and and we’ll take it from there all right are you happy with that okay let’s tell the story let’s have a beer let’s um and let’s get on with the evening all right thank you it’s I think it you think it be a good
Thing that’s all I’m ask it’s it’s it’s always a gooders for the players I think it’s a it would be a great thing if we wasn’t you know every year bottom of the attendance League um or close to it but I think we’ve also got to accept we’ve got
35,000 in our town you know B have 300,000 so so you’ve got to look at at those comparisons and it’s really really easy to concentrate on what you haven’t got why don’t we concentrate on what we have got because what you haven’t got is a bit
Like Christmas is it when I was a kid you know the Kid Next Door got the chopper bike or whatever um no point worrying about what they got um you know you you well I don’t know if I was happy to be fair I nicked his bike twice and got
Go yeah okay um yeah it be it would be nice but I’m it’s not something that I I I it’s something I think about too much no can somebody come up with a something that we can put a bit of paper on the seat chair we can all get
Into because the players need that don’t they they need that from the I think I think the answer to your question is quite simple it’s not a Chairman’s answer really is it’s a support answer um you go when I when I first took over here there was no North Bank
There was no West stand the East stand’s been refurbed um this bar didn’t look like this um there was no glass house or Oscars or Ricos and the supports grown from 150 to what are we around about 1100 now so so again with the chanting I I I
Feel um to make a comparison with an established Club from a championship orfl Club is it’s it’s apples and oranges really yeah but the opposition would makeing more nice we were because they’re bigger clubs than us yeah but they didn’t bring as many people no but if ever you go
Away did you go away from home with us no no you’ll find when you go away from home with us I think you’ll all agree it’s always louder I mean the people who go away U whether we’re at woken last Saturday or Knox County in the playoffs need the support to make
The chance you do you need that and and again but I don’t really feel it’s a Chairman’s question to to create a chance I think you guys have to come up with it I think the youngsters um with the drums and the the the what what’s important for me is when I
Bought the when I bought when I built the North Bank is I remember feeling a bit silly really because you it wasn’t like the Field of Dreams if you build it they will come um we built it and no one come so so but but they are they are now
Coming it’s not quite as we might all want it we might want a utopian world and but you also have to be realistic if we’ve gone from 150 supporters in you know from when I took over to 1100 you know we’ve gone from the southern Eastern Division to the Ryman
Premier to the conference app had a few relegations in between um and if we can pull it off this year obviously next year about our 10th year in the in the um the national League’s top table so I’m I’m happy that that we’re still building uh I’m happy with how we’ve
Integrated all aspects of this town into this football club you see there’s there’s different communities within it but there’s no different communities when they arrive here on a Saturday afternoon and you see that in the North Bank the West stand the East stand so yeah so the chance I leave to
To you guys just don’t seem we want under out and uh I was going to ask um talking on the program I found very interesting they normally are aren they yeah go on it’s um about your comments about the national league and agent and has it got harder to get
Quality players it’s impossible it’s impossible because if I if if I sit in front of you you know I’ve got 25 years of experience that um of being a football club chairman you know um I made movies for 20 20 25 years um you know we won Oscars for Shakespeare
In Love and and for old jacket we were nominated and Hamlet and you learned your trade you’ve got you know you want to call yourself an agent call yourself an agent there’s nothing to stop you there’s no experience there’s no intelligence there’s no you know it’s
Basically can we Nick a few Bob and if we can’t remember they don’t make money unless they’ve got to turn over players so if you read those notes I think I said I won’t open my checkbook for mediocre crap which is being thrown out there um and people are unsettling their own players
To get a move but I can’t tell you out um how poor some of the agents are intermediaries are what they need to do it’s really simple put half a million pound Bond down to be an agent and if you can’t do the job and take the exams like it used to be
Because you can’t as I say I’m I’m I’ll give you an example and we’re in negotiations with three players at this level and a member of Staff the demands that they’ve got is the equivalent of four1 for four for four people is four over 400,000 a year doesn’t include the agents
Fees it doesn’t include signing on it doesn’t include bonuses now I can I can bankrupt our football club or I can I can bankroll the football club I think we’ve got to have a balance so do I expect do I expect there to be changes next season on the playing front I probably
Do because you’ve if you’re asking for 30 40 50% pay rises in a when you you’ve put us in a relegation battle where’s the logic of that if you’re not achieving in your workplace I’m not sure you can go to the bus and ask for 30 40 50% pay rise but
They don’t it’s not like us talking St they don’t come and man to man like it used to be they send their brother and call him an agent or an intermediary or daddy or whatever it is um so it’s very different so I’m glad you read the notes are we
Talking about which I don’t have a problem with but bringing more of a kid Pace to avoid having to pay EXT no I think um it’s not it’s not aimed at one Department a new identity and and a new way of working is the Academy I think I
Also told you the cab was be there’s no saber Thomas there’s no Ben goodliff there’s no uh IL man and I um The Academy since since the pandemic obviously has been it’s been a difficult transition um you know I can go back in the last 5 to
10 years we had 27 28 England Internationals at college level um we’ve got we’ve got boys everywhere in the Pro leagues and in the semi-pro leagues at the moment it’s you know I’ve had to look and we need to rebuild it was a difficult situation for those of you who remember
Cameron moer Cameron done a fantastic job for us but when we had the pandemic we had to separate Luke and Cameron one to the one to the um to the academy and one obviously stayed with the first two and C’s been a big big Miss and so
We so the answer to your question is we rebuilding the academy because it needs rebuilding it with when you do things like that it needs patience it needs understanding and care it needs to have people out when we produced the the players that we did just three four years ago you have
To understand that that a lot of them weren’t produced by Luke Gard they were produced by Charlie anter and um camon moer we produced an under 16s team on a Sunday and they went all over London to put this slots together um and they came all the way
Through we was winning we won I think seven national titles with this group that came through from under 16s all the way through it was exciting and pardon can’t we try to that’s what we’re doing and that’s exactly when I talk about a new identity it’s not quite
As it’s not quite as simple as that a lot of the youth team that come through we have structures so so this is a very different sports education program again I said I had five children I had one who played for England play for the first
Team um and went and done the full ride in America I had another I you know I had others that that should never took their boots out of the box but yeah but but the truth the truth is football’s football’s everybody’s game so we found we could match up an
Education program with their level of football and find all the way through you’ll find as always you know I think Chris’s boy Nick came through our system um and he won a fair few titles there’s there’s um I think Steve oddson um when we first started bourma 2000 Lee went on
To play for Glasgow Rangers um he’s at eastley now um but he had a fantastic career at brenford and at Watford and you know this club’s always produced good players this town’s always produced good players I’m being asked by Grant what what price is the season ticket next year or entry
Prices only a four would be able to tell you what they are because you have to understand there’s three options and I’ll give you I’ll give you so so that you do understand how this club’s run so if you are in more than five minutes you’ll understand
It okay but but if we’re in this division I’ve got a decision to make based on where we are how we are I’ve just told you I’ve got four people asking for 400,000 to be in next year so if we’re here and let’s just say conservatively speaking we have a great
Pre season the preseason will bring in 75 grand the monies that will come in from um season tickets will be another 75 maybe a bit more but basically when you look at the the gate receipts and throw everything in and a little bit of central funding from the league you’ll
Be lucky if you cover between 450 and 500,000 the budget this year for the first team is 1.3 million and we’re over it I’ve got three options if we stay up I’ve got a decision to make on what the price might be if we go down it go
Down do I drop a million and have a go at trying to keep us back up and try and do a YoVille because for every yo there might be a scum F or a talky or do I go back to the Tuesday Thursday night um Parts sign
Program where I I you know we balance our books I save 650,000 to 800,000 a year I’m sure my kids and grandchildren will be happy and we go back to concentrating more on the on the um uh on on the academy and all the things because we’ve
Always built this club from the bottom up when I took this club over it was a shambles it was a shambles there was no word you know it was the Phil Wallace show and if he said this is what it was this is what it was and you know but again this
Didn’t exist The Glass House didn’t exist the Westown didn’t exist the North Bank didn’t exist Arsenal uh like tonight you know you can see we’re all in there there’s a game going on out there this is an amazing football club but we built it from the
Bottom map and we built it because it’s us please ask the chairman after the shambles of the last two home games does he still have the confidence in the manager he seems to have lost the dressing room and the players are all over the place our opponents have sus us
Out now and are running us ragged we are very onedimensional and the system is the same every game it’s painful to watch I think um I think on a personal note you have to break the question down was the was the last two home games of shambles um he’s obviously talking
About East Lee and Doin um it’s not something that yeah I think it was quite shambolic at times uh in both games I think the second part of the question was has he has Luke lost the dressing room for those of you traveled to woken um and and and again I think I
Would know if he lost a dressing room and it’s a times like this people don’t need to be kicked when they’re down the kids not sleeping he’s doing everything he can um has it gone his way this year no as he made mistakes huge mistakes
It’s like a he’s like my sixth son I want you to know that I’ve told you that for years and for those of you who have had Sons you know at times you want to throttle them you know they don’t listen to reason and all and all things in between
But the truth of the matter is I haven’t changed managers in 17 years I need to get to the end of this season I need to look at things with a clear head but he’s one of our own and we we will deal with that and in
The right way we’ll deal with it intelligently if it’s if it’s if it doesn’t feel right because remember people talk about it as if it’s just my decision Luke’s a big boy I didn’t bring him up to to sit on the back of the bus
I brought him up to drive the bus you know and I I’m going to I’m going to let you know something here which which isn’t well known to everybody he come to see me to days before the Watford preseason game and he um and he felt as if he couldn’t run as
You know his head of football he didn’t feel he could run the academy and the first two he thought it was too much I didn’t agree with him and to be fair we had an open conversation and and it was an emotional conversation but like anything if you’ve
Been in business and you’re you’re my age is you’re not you know the boss isn’t always right but he’s always the boss and I listened and so we restructured Luke gave up his three-year contract for a onee he wanted to do it his way in in a certain way and it
Hasn’t quite worked for him he needs my support now more than he’s ever needed it whatever is here next year is any relevance he needs my support now this club is at a Crossroads this has filled me honestly with unbelievable hope tonight to see a room
Full but we don’t throw our own under a bus even if we want to make change at some stage make change with intelligence with dignity give people the chance because he’s you see him you see him at the end against D he could hardly breathe for those of you who’ve been
With me at Ramsgate when we got relegated Maiden Ed when we got relegated it’s an Oran City trust me you can’t breathe when you get to those last few games we won’t be there because we’ve got that experience you’ve got an experienced chairman at the helm who’s been through this and
Done it watch some of these inexperienced chairman take their clubs down so the answer um to that man and he’s perfectly entitled to say it do I think the last two games were shambolic yeah at times I do but do I think Luke’s lost his dressing room um no I
Don’t and I believe for the effort and all the work that he’s done in in the past he deserves to see this season through and we can all sit down then Luke himself and decide how will best proceed and he’s a he’s a fine young
Man he said uh can you ask chair are there any updates on plan developments to the south end of the ground um if can you hear me at the back because this is to do with yeah okay so the south end of the ground they’re talking about is we’ve
Had uh we’ve had a pre-planning application in um and i’ I touched on this in my program notes for for for nearly two years we finally got they’re minded to approve a pre-planning application uh which would give us a 5,000 uh um capacity stadium with 2,000
Seats it needs to be developed more the problem that we’ve got is that we need the The Bar Council and the planners to finally agree the Brook Road car park plan um which I’ve gone and spent which I’ve gone and spent a fair few grand on the plan in myself
Um to try and give them a steer because I think it’s important when you have the entrance to the park if you’re going to spend the type of money which they have if you go into the Brook Road car park you can see it’s a shambles you see that the the changing
Rooms have been decommissioned and we’ve put Holdings around it there’s mess everywhere there’s andana M away not cleared up there’s all manner of issues down there so again um it needs the B Council really to to agree their plans I know that I know that I’ve given my experience and
Expertise to the Town Council the B Council and the planners where we go with that is is is really up to them but I can’t finalize my plans for the south end of the ground as you could imagine until the Brook Road car part has been agreed and then we can finalize our
Plans because it does need a a walkway into the ground I I I think it needs a walkway a safe walkway for the Ms and and the kids and that that walk through the park you don’t really want them walking into a 300 um car park space
Where they can get run over you need a proper walkway through so it would enable the moms and dads to be able to drop the kids off at some treasers to walk across the fair whale in a safe environment etc etc ET there the things which quietly um I’m
Lobbying um I’ve had the meetings um with with with people but it’s really then down to the planners and and and the the council Town Council and the B Council to feel that they’ve got a project that they can take to they can um take to the residents and and um and
Take that forward so the to your question yes I’ve got um the plans the pre-planned application’s been in for two years it involves a new stand at the South End of the ground that mirrors the North Bank we’ve got a little bit of work to do to to ensure we’ve got 2,000
Seats which you need if you’re going to get to the efl um and again so there’s a whole number of things and um and we’ve now got um a little bit of money which we can um we we can access from the stadium Improvement fund but we need to make sure that we’re
Spending you know government money wisely and that it benefits all of you in here questions D you mentioned earlier um about Partnerships and everything and the cover was fa now with your association with Arsenal is there nothing that can be done to get the younger players the promising players to come and play
Here yeah I think there’s it’s a great question um and the answer is yeah there’s there is the relationship uh at Luke’s level uh sporting director level and Arsenal um at that level uh needs to needs to be improved um it’s quite difficult again because we’ve also been
In the Champions League they’ll tend to keep a lot of the kids on who are uh or their better kids to play in the European Champions League games during the day and then they’re like they tend to want to keep them for the fa youth
Cup once they go out of that then then they’re tends to be um I mean there’s a game tonight and uh and again you know there’s there’s a lad at Arsenal that we’re looking at and there’s a lad at leads that we’re looking at but the
Answer to your question is is yeah we need to be more proactive we need you know we that’s anara the relationships at my level with arsenal of you could imagine they’ve been built over 20 odd years 25 years so but at the at the football level they need yeah they they
Need to be improved so yeah yeah we need to improve it regarding the squad players yeah we really got over the top when we signed someone but when players have left the club we could turn up on a Saturday I know he was on a short turn St no one knew what had
Happened to whe he was injured and then Stevens no one knew what happened to him so so the the question from Barry was um there’s a fan fair when we sign players and sometimes when they go um or something happens it’s it’s less so the two examples he brought up was
Ston and um and Dave Stevens um the first one I’ll bring up I’ll bring up Josh um so again with Josh um it’s quite simple the the the the traveling got too much and in our opinion is not better than David abbonto Homer Jamal ffield and as
These players came back he was Surplus to requirements and he didn’t want to sit on the bench having having spent three or four hours traveling it was it was nothing more than that he left he left with you know he left on very good terms in terms of David Stevens for
Those of you who don’t know um David is David has been with us since we were in the National League we signed him from Barnet the year we the year we got promoted um and David’s lost his mother and he’s lost his father and he needs the club support he doesn’t need
Anything anything more than that uh um and so that’s enough said on that other than he’s you know uh his jobs his job’s open um because he works with the academy and um again he’s another thoroughly thoroughly decent human being [Applause] and we are around
I don’t know for a fact you obviously do because you’re a businessman you know but we are one of Che right and look what we got look what some of the other clubs you go where we go by look what they’ve got what the only way we achieve what we
Achieve is with good partners to have good partners you have to you have to build a history history you have to build Partnerships and collaborations so whether it’s with the council whether it’s with Arsenal whether it’s with the supporters whether it’s with and everybody is a louder
Voice but in the end where do you feel you know I’ll give you I’m going to bring a I’ll bring a name into this because he had quite a lot to say Elliot Bloom and I like Elliot you know he wants to talk about how the football’s boring and it’s
Boring him and his boy and it’s a joke if the season ticket prices rise and if it does does and I listen and I and I think you’re more than entitled to your opinion but I hire him for our end of season do as the
DJ now I’m not going to tell you my opinion of his music but I can assure you the cost he charg we don’t get a discount he charges his top dollar but the point is it’s football and I I want you other people have said that they’re shut down if they have
An opinion I don’t want to shut anybody down but there’s two sides to a coin and on that argument is like I’ve said if we want to go if I can’t tell you young AR is laughing I’m not bad am I but the truth of the matter is what I getting your debate
Into but the but the truth is with what we’re saying is tomorrow tomorrow we’ve got Maiden head mid will bring 100 and we’ll have about 7800 and at the moment I think as we stand at the moment the ticket Sals I think of possibly the lowest they’ve been this
Season there’s no point me telling you guys that your season tickets are going up or down the first thing I’ve got to do is ensure we’re in this division because the rest is a story the rest is Grant may want as as the fans Le aison officer he might want to know what
The prices are next year but there’s so many things that I’ve got to take into consideration if we get relegated should the manager be or not if we get relegated and I don’t go to the part-time model is Luke Gard more valuable than Loretta Brown or Lisa
Hutkins or the point is when I put my head on the pillar not NE you know it there is there is a pressure because it’s called decency it’s called honesty you know respect these people have earned my respect and just because we’re going and
Have a bad if I said to your first five games how many points did we have I know we had six what about after 10 games we had 11 15 we had 15 after 20 we had 21 now suddenly at 31 we’ve we we’re at 37 we’re averaging 1.5 just over over the
Last 11 games I know every stat that that we need to know but I’ve got to be the one that tells people they going down the road I’ve got to be the one these people are my family these people have stood with me through thick and thit and some people here I understand
They want success how do do you get success when Wimbledon didn’t understand who Wimbledon were they went it was a heartbeat and they were done guys haven’t been with us long do you remember guysle you won’t remember them but remember they were in our league do
You remember North FY when they won the trophy no one remembers them anymore surely I can tell you a million times at the end of the day these people forgot who they were and and if at the end of the day I make the decision at the end of this season if we’re
Relegated I’ve got to live with it so those people who’ve who’ accused me of sleep walking into conference south or have text me and got rid of their textes with the abuse and the threats and everything else okay I think I think the one thing I’d
Like to say is the turnout tonight I’m thrilled with I’m thrilled I want I I think you miss you you you or maybe not phasing things properly and then to give you all honest appraisals of where we are I want you to challenge me I I want
It I don’t want people you know comeing here and and you know 12 of us I don’t want to appeal to the the converted the reason I put my program notes and send send it to the um to All Season Tickets because I want you to read it I want it
To appeal to a wider a wider um uh fan base but there has to be a realism book to the table and the realism is if you are if bouth who are the lowest supported in the Prem would it be bouth or Luton you’re not to assume Lut because
Of the size of okay so if Luton if Luton stay up this year then people be calling for for the lad to be made manager of the Year we’re the smallest Club we’re the smallest Club at our level nobody’s done what we’ve done and I can
I can tell you that that it it but the truth is nobody you go back to alram you go back to Maidstone in the day you go back to not one Club this is the biggest Accolade I can give this club and its supporters and my staff my staff are
Incredible you have to see how they work there’s no Club ever stayed at this level this small next next year we’ll stay up this year we’ll stay up this year because of who we are not what we are but who we are and one and next year be our 10th at this
Division but like anything you can’t keep pulling rabbits out of a hat and if we’re if we’re the lowest supported and the cheapest and I where I fail to see is is that sense of entitlement because it’s can I add I want me me me and what we’ve got
Is we have to we have to strike that balance is if we want to stay in this division we have to then go what makes us what we are us us stonch you stand on the cobbles and if it go don’t go your way you plant your
Feet and you come out swinging it’s see that’s we’re we’re a workingclass town and the best thing about having an Underdog culture is every every every time we look we’re up against it tomorrow we’re up against it I mean M Maiden head have have bigger crowds you
Know they what we have is a save the the essence of what we have is in this room and it’s the collaborations and and it’s the Partnerships and let’s be honest and chairman who puts his hand in his pocket because without it without it you know we’re going we’re
Going and compete with St Albans and we can go and compete with EML um you know and I think that’s yes the atmosphere is so flat and the reason not all the time and not in certain sections but it’s it’s flat because of numbers can you are
You able to just share and remind us you have done to get more supporters and what you intend to do yeah I think but when you told me 10 years ago out we were we were 300 strong so we’re at 1100 I think what can I tell you that you
Know our community division has grown and grown and grown um we go into the schools we do this the kids schools tournaments we do um we have the cheapest season tickets in the National League we try and you know a lot people may have a little wing up at times that that comes
With the territory um we do things within the commit whether it’s dmen club we do things whether it’s the men Captain iners um but we don’t necessarily do everything to to get a return we do it because this is our town this is our community you know we grew up here I
Went to school here you know for some of us you know who went you know just looking at that table there I played football with Steve Cook you know I went running up and down the Houston Road years ago when footballism was was a was a was a national plague with Craig wild
Um I’ve got to tell you this story about Craig wild we went to Bolton Craig sitting there went to Bolton Chelsea Bolton and um it was a it was a it a what what was back then was division 2 now it’s a championship and we go up there with
Chelsea and it’s Bolton Chelsea top and it’s we we’re top we we’re we’re I think we’re we’re second and they’re top the old burnden park and suddenly the the bricks and the missiles are coming over to us but if any of you know I mean with
Craig Craig’s as mean as you like he’s saving up to be a miser even at this day and he thought this missile coming across was a program which he tried to catch but he caught it with his head he was taken off he was taken off to have his head bandaged in the
Meantime there was trouble at the other end Bolton poured out on the pitch they ran across the pitch Chelsea ran across the pitch that way Chelsea were now in Bolton’s end Bolton were now in our end when they let him back out with his banded dead with his Chelsea shirt on he
Was in the wrong end yeah and when we got back to Houston he said to me if I open my mouth down the Houston Road it punched me all the way to some panras because we’d had such a such a fun day do you remember that yeah we pulled applebe and all so
There’s so many there’s so many memories I got with people in this room again we’ve cooked when I used to play football with cookie at Elliot star you know cookie would George you’ll be pleased to know used to go home with your mother I used to go to
Batchwood which was an old night club yeah yeah I might have met you there who just said yeah yeah and uh but but the reason I say these stories is this is our town you know and and it’s it’s important that we do recognize who we are and what we are but
All the things that you want to talk about in terms of this club it has a soul it has a soul to it you know people think we only we only existed after wemble you know which is a lot of what our problems are you know they they
Remember goodison and they remember um they remember bouth but they don’t remember south end it was amazing when we first ever got to the first round I think it was Phil tell me was it 73 Phil 73 you know they threw you out because you didn’t have AIS with you
Chris but but the truth was we’ve been making we’ve been making memories you know for for as long as I can remember you know this didn’t exist The Glass House didn’t exist the westand didn’t exist the North Bank didn’t exist Arsenal uh like tonight you know you can
See we’re all in there there’s a game going on out there this is an amazing football club but we built it from the bottom up and we built it because it’s us this club is at a Crossroads this has filled me honestly with unbelievable hope tonight to see a room
Full but we don’t throw our own under a bus even if we want to make change at some stage make change with intelligence with dignity give people the chance those of you have been with me at Ramsgate when we got relegated maidened when we got relegated s Alin
City trust me you can’t breathe when you get to those last few games we won’t be there because we’ve got that experience you’ve got an experienced chairman at the helm what the only way we achieve what we achieve is with good partners to have good
Partners you have to you have to build a history you have to build Partnerships and collaborations we’re the smallest Club at our level nobody’s done what we’ve done my staff my staff are incredible you have to see how they work there’s no Club ever stayed at this level this
Small next year we’ll stay up this year we’ll stay up this year because of who we are not what we are but who we are what makes us what we are us us stch you stand on the cobbles and if it go don’t go your way you plant your feet
And you come out swinging it’s the that’s we’re we’re a workingclass town and the best thing about having an underdog culture is every every every time we look we’re up against it but we don’t necessarily do everything to to get a return we do it because this is
Our town this is our community but do I think Luke’s lost his dressing room um no I don’t and I believe for the effort and all the work that he’s done in the past he deserves to see this season through and we can all sit down then Luke
Himself and decide how will best proceed and he’s a he’s a fine young [Applause] man