: Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:52 am  

i really feel for the management at quins, they are producing a good standard of rugby which is comparable to anything (saints apart) in the heartlands. just a pity that more people don't turn up and watch them every week..............i know i would if i didn't live 200 miles away.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:57 am  

gutterfax wrote:

On the club site it says
"Paul is responsible for the day to day running of Harlequins Rugby League and his top priority is to increase attendances at matches."

On Point 1. The day to day running of the club. Top job so far with the Catalans fiasco give him a pay rise.
On Point 2. We are nearly 1,000 fans down since we left TW8 for TW2. Not his fault at all, but still, since he joined we have had the bring a mate for free campaign and NO FOLLOW UP CONTACT to those people. We have had George Sampson (not cheap I should imagine) with no chance of any of the screaming teens coming back.
So, 60 days into the job and all that has happened is we seem to have lost a Commercial Sales Manager, the head of the volunteers group and pretty much nothing else
Sorry, I know it can't be easy getting funds out of DH for marketing, but I take it that PB would have had to offer some kind of Business plan to DH when he was interviewed for the role. If I was offered a job that required increasing attendance figures, but was told there was no budget to achieve this, I doubt I would take the job on.

Yeah, you're right mate, sack him and be done with it. And anyone else who can't turn water into wine within 60 days. You've already made your mind up.

You keep on whipping your cronies into an extremist frenzy. Though I'm not quite sure what good that does?

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:00 am  

Fan50 wrote:

Thought BM was on contract for the next couple of years??

He is, extended his contract last year before the Leeds game, can't remember for how long though.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:02 am  

poorlytoe wrote:

Yeah, you're right mate, sack him and be done with it. And anyone else who can't turn water into wine within 60 days. You've already made your mind up.

I don't think any one is asking for miracles here but to carry on the crappy analogies we are looking for a little bit of smoke before the fire gets going.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:09 am  

poorlytoe wrote:

You keep on whipping your cronies into an extremist frenzy. Though I'm not quite sure what good that does?

Sorry.......extremist frenzy? my cronies?
I have no cronies and as for extremist frenzy" WTF
Put simply, I work in Sales. I have a target. I don't get 6 months to "bed in"...not even 6 weeks. I hit my target, or I get fired.
If you like, why don't we just write off this season altogether. I mean to say, it's not like it's his fault we are badly supported is it.

He was offered a job. He accepted it and now he must deliver. No if's, but's or maybe's......more fans at the stoop and sooner rather than later.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:34 am  

Fingerposts Finest wrote:

i really feel for the management at quins, they are producing a good standard of rugby which is comparable to anything (saints apart) in the heartlands. just a pity that more people don't turn up and watch them every week..............i know i would if i didn't live 200 miles away.

After all these years what we do have to accept is that this sport is not in the psyche of the [majority] of Southerners and needs to be marketed in some form or another to get it and keep it there. Obviously there is more than one strand required, but the stability issue has always been a major factor, and staying at the stoop for a minimum of a decade so that "community" [a part of the sport taken for granted in most northern towns, especially Yorkshire] is allowed to build on the work done with the youth set up's and forms one part of the growth.

The problems currently are short term growth over long term development of support. We have an exciting team [most times] and the converted know what the sport is like, the scary issue currently is in the sad decline of the "hard-core" due in part to what is percieved as stupid mistakes on the part of the club.

We cannot afford to alienate that section of the supporters who have been through all the griefs of the past.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:52 am  

Agree totally with your last sentence Homer and was shocked on Saturday at the amount of people who have been coming a long time (like myself) who were seriously naffed off. I think we lost a lot when the coverage went from the Metro. I honestly don't know what the answer is and obviously there just aren't the funds to mount a very serious marketing campaign.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:53 am  

Homer wrote:

We cannot afford to alienate that section of the supporters who have been through all the griefs of the past.

sad to say (and I do not include myself in the group who have given so much to the club BTW), they already have.

I am sure a lot of you received the email from Russ Morris and I wish him well in his attempts to get something started, but I believe that the heart of the club has been, if not ripped out, then definitely damaged over the last week or so. Believe me, I never give up without a fight and for me to wave the white flag of surrender over marketing speaks volumes about how the club have staggered and stumbled over the last 3 years.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:17 pm  

gutterfax wrote:

sad to say (and I do not include myself in the group who have given so much to the club BTW), they already have.

I am sure a lot of you received the email from Russ Morris and I wish him well in his attempts to get something started, but I believe that the heart of the club has been, if not ripped out, then definitely damaged over the last week or so. Believe me, I never give up without a fight and for me to wave the white flag of surrender over marketing speaks volumes about how the club have staggered and stumbled over the last 3 years.

The timing for Russ's initiative may be good, we did try SD when beardie pulled out, with a lot of support from supporters who were going through that process at the time, sadly like a lot of things connected to us, we ended up with a lot of rhetoric from a number of supporters but a withering display of follow up actions.

Sadly we have damaged the hard core support with numerous own goals over the past 4 years and if this is not addressed soon then we could be in real trouble. As I mentioned before, currently we are all in our business lifes having to deliver bad news on an almost daily basis, however there are ways of doing that which means your staff [read supporters] do not get disengaged in the process. The Cat's game proves that despite the rhetoric coming from the club, they do not realise or care about the importance of keeping a diminishing fan base on-side, because they in their enthusiasm for the club and the sport have probably brought more bums on seats over the years than any other one single initiative.

: Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:34 pm  

It's a 'pity' that we currently have a Chairman - come minority owner - who seemingly knows little or nowt about ' consumer marketing' and seems to be totally unwilling - or worse - unable to 'invest' funds to enable the Club to undertake anything like worthwhile programme aimed at inreasing 'bums' on seats.

I still believe that a major reason for QRL being unable to increase it's attandance is the 'location' of the stadium. A stadium badly served by public transport links might add.