The meeting was headed by Dan Mole and Stefan Gamble. Around 15-20 fans attended in all. The meeting lasted until around 9:20pm. I’ll be dividing this up into segments to do with a given subject as there was a lot to talk about, covering all aspects of the club on and off of the pitch.
The three transfers
Paterson had an agreement with the club in that if a higher division club came in for him, for the right price, he would be allowed to talk. Paterson’s leaving seemed to be very amicable with all parties. The fee will remain undisclosed due to bargaining position, but Gamble said that the fee could potentially rise above that of Dann.
Grigg is a wee bit more complcated... The fee will go to tribunal, it should be in September as the Football League seem to lump a few together for ease. The club are annoyed at this because Grigg’s transfer could potentially break Brentford’s wage to turnover balance. Also, the club are annoyed that while Grigg could potentially be scoring goals for Brentford, we will not have the funds to replace him.
Walsall and Brentford have been negotiating for a fee to avoid tribunal, but the clubs are “poles apart” and Brentford are upping their price by £25,000 increments. The club believe that Brentford is a “six figure amount” away from Grigg’s true worth. Brentford also labelled his international experience as “just friendlies.” The fee will become public, as with all tribunals and Brentford are seen by the club to be more nervous than Walsall. Any price set by the tribunal is set in stone. Brentford cannot back out, even if Grigg was injured seriously.
Grigg’s leaving was mailed to the club by his agent three hours before Brentford announced the signing on the Sunday night. He is also being signed as their marquee player. Grigg was offered a four year deal by the club, and he turned down any contract talks and said he wanted to move to a higher division club in the same way as Brandy. It seems as though nobody really wishes him well in the move due to his attitude and Brentford’s.
Budget
Apparently, the club can ask the Football League to assess the finances of every club in a kind of league. Our budget for last season and this sees us 23rd out of 24 clubs. Gamble also managed to get a “moneyball” league compiled by the Football League which put us second in the league on price per point. Presumably, the first place club was Yeovil.
All fees taken in by the club are split in half between the infrastructure of youth development and half goes into the footballing budget. Sensibly, the club budget for the lowest possible income from matches, including budgeting first round away exits in all cup competitions.
Trinidad and Tobago
Policing
This means that thirteen games will be policed this season, and unsurprisingly, this means the proper naughty boys from Colchester will have to be policed. Colchester will be policed. Sorry, I had to type that again as policing 150 Essex pensioners didn’t sink in the first, second or third time.
Anyone arrested will be banned but behaviour contracts have gone out to “at risk” fans. The worst thing about this whole palaver is that policed games are, in Gamble’s words, hard to de-police. So for those of you acting like knobbers, thanks a lot.
Wolves games
Ticket collection will be organised once the tickets are physically at Walsall and the maximum allocation will be 2,600. I personally asked about policing if we are in the lower stand and Mole announced that it would be heavy both in the upper and lower.
The wedding
Media
Journalists who covered the story of the noisy school game need to take a long hard look at themselves. As has been said before, the children were not asked to be quiet during a meeting, but told to can the vuvuzelas and air horns, which are banned at Bescot.
Saddlers player will not be available on IPhone or Android but is being looked at. The club are annoyed by the Football League as they are counting the official site as a success due to the hit count. Fine, but multiple hits are because the site takes ages to load due to all of the tat on it. Lots of clubs are annoyed with this attitude, it’s not just us.
The club believe that while the official site is like this, the club will use social media to announce big news, such as the McQuilkin signing.
Coventry City ground share
Many things turned Walsall off of the offer including both sets of fan’s opinions; the fact that Walsall fans would be “away;” the wear on the pitch; a rival using our facilities; a potentially bigger club using our facilities and the wear on the club’s infrastructure.
Club infrastructure
The scoreboard is being looked at and sourced, but it doesn’t seem like a high priority. To me, it’s understandable. It’d be nice to have a massive TV screen, but hey ho, it works.
There was planning permission to replicate the larger stand on top of the Kia Stand but this has expired. However, if planning permission is granted and then expires, it is looked on favourably if there is a reapplication.
Season ticket sales in all areas, in adult and child tickets are up from 1,800 to 2,300.
In every kiosk, there will be a radio so communications will be better regarding staffing and stocking. The chef who orders all of the food is in constant contact with the ticket office so orders can be as precise as possible. The club admit there can sometimes be problems, but would rather sell out than create waste.
Chips are still off. That’s me up the Wolves.
The pitch
The problem with the pitch was seen as a mixture of the Bournemouth and England games. Turning down the U21s was not an option as the money brought in by the game and prestige is needed by a club of our size.
Even when cleared, some clubs will try and avoid playing on it. Most notably Lambert and Norwich a few years ago.
To ease the pressure on the pitch, the reserves will play at Chasetown.
Club philosophy
The board did not expect the success of last year and were shocked at how well they seem to have started. Gamble and Mole also singled out the fans for praise, citing their patience and support as tremendously helpful, especially through the long streak of games without a win.
Signings are based on two things: The way the club can develop the player and how the club can add value to them. Gamble believes that this squad are the best he has worked with.
There could be two more signings, but Gamble said there will definitely be one more.
Youth teams and EPPP
Moving up to a category two level would mean investing £500,000 in the pound for pound scheme and also installing indoor pitches, such as those near to The Hawthorns for Albion.
The pitfalls of EPPP were explained, but assuaged by Gamble stating that he had only seen around half a dozen 11-16 year olds leave for other clubs in his time at Walsall.
The target for all children in the system for us, is to have 10,000 hours of contact time with the club. Also now, 14-15 year olds will have day release to come and train with the club. We are still hamstrung by the sixty minute rule, while category one clubs are not.
We have a link up with the University of Wolverhampton to use the medical and sports science departments. Every player from U8-seniors will have fitness checks every six weeks and feedback will be given to everyone after every training session.
This information will be compiled in a dossier that the club will use to decide retention or release. Strangely, some boys released are picked up by category two clubs, possibly stating the strength of our academy.
Overall, the night was a positive one. The rent and Bonser issue was neatly sidestepped by Gamble and Mole, though the attendees tend to know the response before they ask. Bonser attends all training sessions and most reserve games. Directors are well represented at all games, home and away.
In my opinion the club did well in explaining how the transfer of our front three came about and the candour used regarding Grigg. Also, the club explained the policing of games incredibly well. The sad thing about this is that we do seem, as a club, to need excessive policing.
The explanation of how the youth team works and how EPPP will affect this was also hugely insightful. It’s just a shame that there were no more than twenty people in the room.
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