Ask Wolves

[GLASGOWOLF]

I get business as i run one. I also get fans as i am one. Building the brand is one thing, but if you don't look after what makes that brand then you are on a slippery road.
We are not Man Utd or Chelsea who have had years building their brand, but based on looking after what makes their brand what it is (IE success on the pitch). They also have years building a fan base that buys 10's of millions of club "product".
Pissing off the core base of fans here, who in the main are the ones who pay to watch the match, and who also shell out to buy the clubs product is a bad idea. They say they look long term? Better to bring in price rises long term, rather than 1 big increase now after everyone has had such a shit 18 months with hardship, job losses etc.
Obviously it's going to be their (Wolves) call on all of it, and the only thing fans can do is vote with their feet and wallets if they aren't happy.
From watching the video it actually doesn't look like they are bothered. Maybe they think the "million" mexican fans will replace the core fan base.

From watching the video I think they do care. They come across as saying we want to be challenging we cannot do that until we make changes.

I believe they think if they get it right and we say hit Europe next season, you would all still go and our mutual.objectives would have been met.

 

[Deano]

Depends what is meant by "cracking the top 6" - you could have a great season and do it once, the challenge comes when you want to do it consistently and that is extremely unlikely any time soon. It requires ridiculous levels of consistent investment which isnt the way Fosun want to run the club.

Maybe it can be done differently with a long term strategic plan but on the other hand maybe not. Nobody has put anything like that into place and broken the money 6 up yet apart from a few one off seasons.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You've got to remember that in the UK, wages have been largely stagnant for a decade now (probably more, and before anyone pipes up saying "I'm £20k p/a better off", I know there'll be exceptions - but these are verified national statistics).

The price of everything has gone up in the last 10 years though, including our tickets, in that case by a huge factor. Then you chuck in the last 18 months and what that's done to personal finances in a lot of cases.

You can't squeeze that orange forever, it'll mean you don't have an orange any more. It's tone deaf at very, very best. I would say it's worse than that because of the clumsy (and again, I'm being generous here, it is the Sabbath) phrasing Clark in particular has used.

They want to chase some rainbow where they somehow make money off some 15 year old playing FIFA "for" Wolves, well be my guest, it's not something that remotely interests me but evidently kids do like that these days. Don't kill the golden goose though.

 

[redvictor]

From watching the video I think they do care. They come across as saying we want to be challenging we cannot do that until we make changes.

I believe they think if they get it right and we say hit Europe next season, you would all still go and our mutual.objectives would have been met.

The latter, at the moment anyway is a guess based on what they think will happen. You can have business models that predict it, but the proof of the pudding etc... With all of the stuff that has gone on recently we'll all have to see what transpires. It could go well, or not so well. Watching the videos tell me they are very good business people. That doesn't make them good football people, and despite them telling us trust them, they haven't got a 100% track record on anything but the business decisions.
Whatever brand you are selling it's always based on that core product being very good. Brands only go upwards if it stays that way. That is how i see it anyhow.

 

[Tony Towner]

Everything that has come out of the club in the last week or so falls into the see what you want to to see or choose to see umbrella.

The only thing I'd add is those who aren't either emotionally or financially invested don't really have a valid opinion

 

[PuntsWolf]

The “order drinks from your seat” isn’t a great idea, it’s common sense.

Service in the NB is dreadful and that’s supposed to be the stand with the best service. I might actually buy a drink if I knew I could collect it at 3:46 and not have to neck it in 5 mins.

The alternative could just be to make service quicker/smoother/organised/proactive but they don’t seem to have managed that thus far.

 

[redvictor]

The “order drinks from your seat” isn’t a great idea, it’s common sense.

Service in the NB is dreadful and that’s supposed to be the stand with the best service. I might actually buy a drink if I knew I could collect it at 3:46 and not have to neck it in 5 mins.

The alternative could just be to make service quicker/smoother/organised/proactive but they don’t seem to have managed that thus far.

That's an interesting one. Say 1000 order drinks for 3.46. They'd need a staff of hundreds to make that happen. How big is the bar and how many staff are there in the NB?
I say this because if you have a drinks service from the phone way more will order them as opposed to getting out of your seat and physically getting your drink. Even collecting there would still need to be a huge bar staff.

 

[The Bear]

Yeah the ordering food and drinks from your seat will never work in a tiny concourse with dozens of people (minimum) wanting the same service at the exact same time.

 

[PuntsWolf]

That's an interesting one. Say 1000 order drinks for 3.46. They'd need a staff of hundreds to make that happen. How big is the bar and how many staff are there in the NB?
I say this because if you have a drinks service from the phone way more will order them as opposed to getting out of your seat and physically getting your drink. Even collecting there would still need to be a huge bar staff.

Wetherspoons have managed it for about a decade and it’s great (I was a student... )

Things are already paid for so stops stupid people on both sides dicking around with cash. Also means they can pre-pour without fear of wastage (hot drinks with a lid on will stay hot for literally forever, you can’t drink them for five minutes with a lid off anyway, and with beer if the logistics are right then it won’t be sitting there too long).

Queues put people off. Minimise the queue and you increase sales without increasing cost. In all honesty though, selling a pint at £4 your margins is probably about £2, £2.50 at best. Selling to an additional 10k a week (optimistic), is making you £0.5m p/a. Like ticket prices, it isn’t a difference maker.

 

[Derby Wolf]

The “order drinks from your seat” isn’t a great idea, it’s common sense.

Service in the NB is dreadful and that’s supposed to be the stand with the best service. I might actually buy a drink if I knew I could collect it at 3:46 and not have to neck it in 5 mins.

The alternative could just be to make service quicker/smoother/organised/proactive but they don’t seem to have managed that thus far.

The service is a joke and run appallingly the worst part is, it would be so easy to fix.

While a licensee I branched out seasonally as a bar manager firstly for The Civic and then for Live Nation at just about every major festival in England between 09-13 so have experience of working in bars that go quiet and then extremely busy between acts.

If they have EPOS units they can easily pull the sales reports each home game and have X amount of those items opened or pre/part poured for 3.40pm

At the civic/festivals we had handheld 'swipers' attached to our belts, you swiped a barcode of the item and a corresponding barcode for a cash amount which made it simpler to take cash payments as the display would show you what to charge, the number of items, the change etc etc

We had a line of servers/cash handlers and then one or two behind each one responsible for drinks prep.

The biggest problem is whatever agency Wolves use hire dribbling morons who don't know one end of a can of John Smiths from the other. If they want VFM then competent staff who know the job is a must.

 

[Trips]

Cash isn't an issue anymore is it, didn't the whole stadium go cashless before the lockdown? North Bank definitely did.

You're never going to be able to employ a team of people to work 19 days per year, so you have to rely on agency. Unfortunately they do one matchday, and think 'fuck that'

 

[PuntsWolf]

The service is a joke and run appallingly the worst part is, it would be so easy to fix.

While a licensee I branched out seasonally as a bar manager firstly for The Civic and then for Live Nation at just about every major festival in England between 09-13 so have experience of working in bars that go quiet and then extremely busy between acts.

If they have EPOS units they can easily pull the sales reports each home game and have X amount of those items opened or pre/part poured for 3.40pm

At the civic/festivals we had handheld 'swipers' attached to our belts, you swiped a barcode of the item and a corresponding barcode for a cash amount which made it simpler to take cash payments as the display would show you what to charge, the number of items, the change etc etc

We had a line of servers/cash handlers and then one or two behind each one responsible for drinks prep.

The biggest problem is whatever agency Wolves use hire dribbling morons who don't know one end of a can of John Smiths from the other. If they want VFM then competent staff who know the job is a must.

Yeah I remember from my younger days the civic having bar codes which was very clever (not seen it anywhere else).

The worst thing is that at away games service is largely fine (when demand is likely higher than a home game), and that is why the NB has always pissed me off. If they just had one guy pouring pints for 20 mins constantly they’d help meet demand rather than each individual doing it at snail pace.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Better to bring in price rises long term, rather than 1 big increase now after everyone has had such a shit 18 months with hardship, job losses etc.

It really isn’t better, football is already over priced. The only people who aren’t seeing the benefit of all this extra money are the supporters. Sky, BT, Amazon don’t pay for broadcast rights...their customers do. Sponsors don‘t pay for their names on shirts, stands, tat...their customers do. Supporters pay, they pay again and then they keep on paying.

Players get richer. Shareholders get richer. Supporters get fleeced.

 

[Derby Wolf]

Cash isn't an issue anymore is it, didn't the whole stadium go cashless before the lockdown? North Bank definitely did.

You're never going to be able to employ a team of people to work 19 days per year, so you have to rely on agency. Unfortunately they do one matchday, and think 'fuck that'

Im not sure, it's definitely the same girls in the lower NB. I cut them a lot of slack early doors as I'd been there but there was no improvement. I did some stewarding when I first left school and that was through an agency but they had contracts with Wolves, Albion, Stoke, Coventry and Blues with subsidised travel included. Obviously no guarantee its the same but like you say the 19 days a year is a hard sell.

 

[Tony Towner]

Im not sure, it's definitely the same girls in the lower NB. I cut them a lot of slack early doors as I'd been there but there was no improvement. I did some stewarding when I first left school and that was through an agency but they had contracts with Wolves, Albion, Stoke, Coventry and Blues with subsidised travel included. Obviously no guarantee its the same but like you say the 19 days a year is a hard sell.

It's the opposite in the NB Upper or at least it is in the kiosk on the BW side, bar a couple of people. I don't blame them for doing it once and never again, it's a hellish job and they are set to fail. The refusal to pre pour drinks makes the queues massive and the customers irritable and rude. I wouldn't let my teenage daughter do it.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If you've ever worked behind a bar, you'll never act the prick towards bar staff again.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Quite. You’ll find that being polite and building up relationships is much more beneficial. There’s a reason why I used to walk in to the Western and they would start pouring a beer for me even in the middle of serving someone else.

 

[Derby Wolf]

Quite. You’ll find that being polite and building up relationships is much more beneficial. There’s a reason why I used to walk in to the Western and they would start pouring a beer for me even in the middle of serving someone else.

Favourite part of my job was seeing a regular outside having a smoke or whatever and handing them their drink as they reached the bar.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Particularly useful in the run up to Christmas when you are locked in combat with the huge round for the office Christmas party that frequents the pub once a year. They think they are super important because they are spending a lot that night but never realise it pales into insignificance compared to what the regular who buys only a couple of pints most days of the year will spend long term.

 

[redvictor]

It really isn’t better, football is already over priced. The only people who aren’t seeing the benefit of all this extra money are the supporters. Sky, BT, Amazon don’t pay for broadcast rights...their customers do. Sponsors don‘t pay for their names on shirts, stands, tat...their customers do. Supporters pay, they pay again and then they keep on paying.

Players get richer. Shareholders get richer. Supporters get fleeced.

Maybe better was the wrong word. Seems like the club are adamant the prices are going up. It would be easier to swallow staging the rises slowly than one big hit surely?

It isn't just football that people get fleeced. It's life. You think working people ain't paying through the nose in the future for the literal billions of pounds giveaway over the past 18 months? They won't do that in one hit. It'll be staged to soften the blow. When shit goes up then it's always Joe Public that pays for it. Always.
I run a business. My costs continually go up and never stop. My labour rate is the same now as it was 10 years ago. I'm holding off the rise but eventually i will have to succumb to it, however much i don't want to. Every business has the same dilema.

Like i said no one has to pay for the ticket price rise. They can vote with their feet and wallets. I think if you do want to watch the team next year then you are going to have to pay more. It depends on the club to how much more next season.