Echo News Five talking points from the Shrimpers Trust's AGM this evening

[Evening Echo]

FIVE talking points from the Shrimpers Trust AGM which was attended by Southend United head coach Kevin Maher plus his coaching staff and chief executive Tom Lawrence.

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[stewart]

Cant read it if anyone can download it would be nice

 

[dusterman]

FIVE talking points from the Shrimpers Trust AGM which was attended by Southend United head coach Kevin Maher plus his coaching staff and chief executive Tom Lawrence.



POSITIVITY

Chief executive Tom Lawrence revealed the club is ‘in the best place it’s been for a long time’.

Lawrence also reveals that income is up by £750,000 mainly driven by ticket sales and commercial sales. He also confirms cost of sales has risen inline with the increase in sales.

• READ MORE: Shrimpers boss provides positive update on striker

Work is continuing to help the squad switch full-time to the new training ground. A very substantial investment (several hundreds of thousands) is being made into the new facility.

Lawrence adds the consortium have agreed for £57,000 of gym equipment to be installed and £63,000 to be spent on grounds maintenance equipment.

Lawrence also stressed the club are under no pressure to sell players during the transfer window.

CARDWELL MISSED

Blues boss Kevin Maher stressed Harry Cardwell’s departure has hit the team hard, but not just for his goals.

Maher admitted Cardwell was huge in terms of defending set pieces and believes his departure where that is concerned has cost the Shrimpers eight points.

CLUB SHOP

Tom Lawrence says Macron have been an excellent partner to the club and have been extremely understanding during difficult times.

The club shop was not a priority when the club were fighting to survive and the demand for shirts has been huge, hence why not many are now available.

Lawrence acknowledged that there is work to do to uplift the shop and confirmed that regular meetings will now be taking place with Macron to provide regular feedback.

Lawrence is certain that the shop will have much higher stock levels and a greater range next season.

CULTURE AND SUPPORT

Kevin Maher says culture is the biggest thing at the football club.

The Blues boss stresses how the togetherness of the players, everyone at the club and the fans has been incredibly important in recent seasons.

Lawrence says the north-west corner of the ground is likely to remain open for home fans for the rest of the season despite the extra stewarding costs.

Capacity has now gone from 8, 554 seats to 10, 500 odd as things stand.

TRANSFER SUB COMMITTEE

A transfer sub committee has been formed which includes three board members alongside Kevin Maher and John Still.

When signings are made a player profile is put forward along with three scouting reports and some video clips

The sub committee plans to start using data to support their decisions.

Lawrence admits the committee are still finding their way but data and analytics will be used to help support the identification of transfer targets as the club continues to explore other avenues to enhance what has already been successful recruitment.

Lots of subsequent questions are asked around the usage of data and if it is taken decisions away from the club’s management team.

Lawrence replies: “We’re going to start using it to a greater extent, we are embarking on a journey. We want to explore any avenues that could give us a competitive edge."

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Many thanks for all of the above

 

[OldBlueLady]

Chris sat next to me last night, I saw his notes, God knows how he got that much out of them!!! You will have to wait for my summary as I was also far too tired to get mine written up!

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

So no direct questions were asked about recruit now?

 

[OldBlueLady]

So no direct questions were asked about recruit now?

Yes, there were, you'll have to wait for my summary. There were umpteen questions about recruitment, Bim, Bonne and Cardwell.

 

[Shrimper4lifeCBS]

Why does Maher keep going on about cardwell every club loose players!! Just more excuses!!

 

[BoyWonder2]

Why does Maher keep going on about cardwell every club loose players!! Just more excuses!!

Because he was asked a question about Cardwell, so he answered it as honestly as he could.

He’d be moaned at if he was asked the question and chose to ignore it…

 

[Smiffy]

With a transfer sub-committee split across many different time zones (US, HK, AUS, UK etc) and using many different layers, it is inevitably going to lead to delay and frustration. With Kev stuck in the middle and probably taking unwarranted flack from fans, when the transfer activity is so slow or non-existent.

We need to be able to move fast in the transfer market, not wait for people with 9 or 10 hours time difference to give the nod. I'm all for data being used, but it needs to be good data or the output is completely worthless.

You see how frustrated Kev is with it all. It's a nonsense at this level.

 

[bluethroughandthrough]

Anyone ask why the football is so turgid and if Maher is going to do anything about it?

Anyone ask what our club objectives and ambitions are for this year?

 

[Holy Joe]

With a transfer sub-committee split across many different time zones (US, HK, AUS, UK etc) and using many different layers, it is inevitably going to lead to delay and frustration. With Kev stuck in the middle and probably taking unwarranted flack from fans, when the transfer activity is so slow or non-existent.

We need to be able to move fast in the transfer market, not wait for people with 9 or 10 hours time difference to give the nod. I'm all for data being used, but it needs to be good data or the output is completely worthless.

You see how frustrated Kev is with it all. It's a nonsense at this level.

It all depends how it is working. For example in my job I often need approval from staff located in Asia. To get around the need to move quick (I often need approval within an hour or so) I often seek pre approval - so if something comes up I have the authority to act.

So it may be the committee could pre-approve transfers e.g., the signing of a striker with certain characteristics, e.g., wages below x, fee upto y, contract length less than z, age below etc etc.

The other thing is for the person putting the proposal together to have a good understanding of what the approvers need to see, what is going to make them say no or yes.

Do we know who the 3 board directors on the committee are? Has that been disclosed officially?

Do we actually know that the committee is slowing things down, and if so, to the extent we are missing opportunities?

If we still have the famed whiteboard then all names on there could be 'pre-approved' subject to financial limits.

As with any new/amended process it'll take a little time to get it working smoothly, you often need something to go wrong to get improvements to the process implemented.

 

[ShoeburySU]

It all depends how it is working. For example in my job I often need approval from staff located in Asia. To get around the need to move quick (I often need approval within an hour or so) I often seek pre approval - so if something comes up I have the authority to act.

So it may be the committee could pre-approve transfers e.g., the signing of a striker with certain characteristics, e.g., wages below x, fee upto y, contract length less than z, age below etc etc.

The other thing is for the person putting the proposal together to have a good understanding of what the approvers need to see, what is going to make them say no or yes.

Do we know who the 3 board directors on the committee are? Has that been disclosed officially?

Do we actually know that the committee is slowing things down, and if so, to the extent we are missing opportunities?

If we still have the famed whiteboard then all names on there could be 'pre-approved' subject to financial limits.

As with any new/amended process it'll take a little time to get it working smoothly, you often need something to go wrong to get improvements to the process implemented.

100% agree with this statement, the committee is there to identify the value of players A, B, C ... Z against positions 1,2,3, 21 that we could recruit. There job would be to keep the list up-to-date and when required its the pre-approved decision for the manager to trigger what they need and the recruitment process ensures they join the club.

I would expect there to be two lists, one being a permanent targets list (if a player is sold/bigger squad) and the other short term loan list (if there are injuries to our players).

At regularly points of the year i would expect formal reviews by all parties to take place and assessment how well the process is working.

Therefore there wouldn't be any challenges with time zone or "needing" to move quickly as we have a realistic set of targets

 

[TJC]

So we are now only looking for players that have a track record in order to provide data?
Does that mean we will ignore young talent that has yet to provide real accessible data?
Not sure that is conducive to finding more Freddy's or Stan's.
Sincerely hope it doesn't mean we end up with a 'computer says no' when someone such as John has a scout report about a youngster that looks promising but has yet to record and 'data' yet.

 

[Dubai]

So we are now only looking for players that have a track record in order to provide data?
Does that mean we will ignore young talent that has yet to provide real accessible data?
Not sure that is conducive to finding more Freddy's or Stan's.
Sincerely hope it doesn't mean we end up with a 'computer says no' when someone such as John has a scout report about a youngster that looks promising but has yet to record and 'data' yet.

I think they might use a few more stats than Wikipedia goals:games ratios.

Plenty of data on most players who have been at academies higher up (which seems to be the players we target) that have been through that higher level education and then released/loaned out

Data from younger years in academies + Scouting from their stints on loan or when they got released to Non-league/lower league and bobs ya uncle we’ve got “data led decisions”

 

[Medway Blue]

Anyone ask why the football is so turgid and if Maher is going to do anything about it?

Anyone ask what our club objectives and ambitions are for this year?

No, because that is opinion rather than fact. An opinion which didn't seem to be shared by many, if any, in attendance last night. You could always join the Trust and come along to ask the question yourself?

So we are now only looking for players that have a track record in order to provide data?
Does that mean we will ignore young talent that has yet to provide real accessible data?
Not sure that is conducive to finding more Freddy's or Stan's.
Sincerely hope it doesn't mean we end up with a 'computer says no' when someone such as John has a scout report about a youngster that looks promising but has yet to record and 'data' yet.

Obviously it's not all up and running yet, but the consistent line is that it's "data AND scouting". Not one or the other.

I think it was Tom L who said last night that they did do a little bit of data analysis on Kendall and that on data alone, he likely wouldn't have been signed, but with evidence from watching him alongside the data, they get a fuller picture.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

There are a couple of things there that immediately stood out.

Income up by £¾ million - wow. And an increase in costs of course but this gives me some real hope that the club can be more financially stable as more progress is made in coming months.

And on that subject (increased income) , capacity up to over 10,000 ............ we all know there are less attractive parts of the ground to sit but that is a good boost - just need the team to be up or around the play-offs. [smiley face]

Club shop - others say that the shop (any club shop in the lower leagues?) is not a huge profit making venture but for the supporters it is important. Buying club kit etcetera cements one's relationship and committment with the team.

And given that the shop is there (with all it's attendant fixed costs) being able to have & sell more stock will only improve the financial situation.

 

[bluethroughandthrough]

No, because that is opinion rather than fact. An opinion which didn't seem to be shared by many, if any, in attendance last night. You could always join the Trust and come along to ask the question yourself?


Obviously it's not all up and running yet, but the consistent line is that it's "data AND scouting". Not one or the other.

I think it was Tom L who said last night that they did do a little bit of data analysis on Kendall and that on data alone, he likely wouldn't have been signed, but with evidence from watching him alongside the data, they get a fuller picture.

Think we will have to agree to disagree again.

Possible descriptors of fact in "turgid football" would be negative commentary from fans (paying customers), ticket sales and performance stats (goals scored/clear goal scoring chances/goals expected).

Arguably data from these metric measurements suggest that fact backs up my customer opinion.

I can't stand the football we play (the product). I love the blues (the brand) and as a fan (paying customer) i'm well in my rights to have both an opinion based on bias and my view of the facts and demand more. I don't let nostalgia bias impact my view either

As to your point of joining the trust I no longer live in Southend which makes it impractical. However I would be happily vocal if I was. If questions like mine were not asked perhaps the trust is not setup to represent the voice of all the fans appropriately. That's an unfortunate bias.

If you're a trust member yourself, perhaps you should also be vocal and representative of all fans - customer views rather than hiding behind comments of fact versus opinion as a bias to your opinion.

 

[choggy]

Think we will have to agree to disagree again.

Possible descriptors of fact in "turgid football" would be negative commentary from fans (paying customers), ticket sales and performance stats (goals scored/clear goal scoring chances/goals expected).

Arguably data from these metric measurements suggest that fact backs up my customer opinion.

I can't stand the football we play (the product). I love the blues (the brand) and as a fan (paying customer) i'm well in my rights to have both an opinion based on bias and my view of the facts and demand more. I don't let nostalgia bias impact my view either

As to your point of joining the trust I no longer live in Southend which makes it impractical. However I would be happily vocal if I was. If questions like mine were not asked perhaps the trust is not setup to represent the voice of all the fans appropriately. That's an unfortunate bias.

If you're a trust member yourself, perhaps you should also be vocal and representative of all fans - customer views rather than hiding behind comments of fact versus opinion as a bias to your opinion.

I thought Medway Blue's post was a perfectly valid viewpoint given our circumstances. But that's just my opinion, please don't let it get in the way of your 'facts'.

 

[bazzashrimper]

Think we will have to agree to disagree again.

Possible descriptors of fact in "turgid football" would be negative commentary from fans (paying customers), ticket sales and performance stats (goals scored/clear goal scoring chances/goals expected).

Arguably data from these metric measurements suggest that fact backs up my customer opinion.

I can't stand the football we play (the product). I love the blues (the brand) and as a fan (paying customer) i'm well in my rights to have both an opinion based on bias and my view of the facts and demand more. I don't let nostalgia bias impact my view either

As to your point of joining the trust I no longer live in Southend which makes it impractical. However I would be happily vocal if I was. If questions like mine were not asked perhaps the trust is not setup to represent the voice of all the fans appropriately. That's an unfortunate bias.

If you're a trust member yourself, perhaps you should also be vocal and representative of all fans - customer views rather than hiding behind comments of fact versus opinion as a bias to your opinion.

Do you also think if the people of Clacton went to see their local MP to discuss a pro immigration agenda that said mp would ask the question in the commons? At the end of the day, people won’t use their one or two opportunities to ask someone else’s question that they don’t agree with. Add to that one that would cause offence and diminish their own personal relationship or reputation.

I’m a member of the trust but I am not able to get to events such as this. So I am grateful to the people that do go, and feedback the q&a for me - even if they are not always cover all of the questions I would ask.