Building backbone
Opening game of the season last Saturday, this one against Ards, and it didn't end well for the Blues. A 3-1 loss, on four shots given up, wasn't what we hoped for as a place setter, but around Mourneview Park some really exceptional things were happening that have the directors in a good mood despite the result.
The first being the reopening of our club shop, The Blue Zone, which saw incoming revenue up some 40% from the previous year. We're yet to fully restock the store since the refit, given our desire to keep it self sustaining. We'll be trying small runs on a variety of new products, and reordering those that find a strong fan response, rather than stocking for the full season and being stuck with slow inventory at the end of the year. My personal favourite: the new Jimmy Jones pin.
A small group of volunteers did the hard work of retrofitting the old space and came up with some really great design ideas along the way. The finished product isn't what we started out planning, but it's important to us that we listen to the fans, volunteers, and staff, and combine our experience with your own, to end up with a really strong combined result. And that's exactly what this is - super pro.
Along similar lines, we worked with Andy, our food vendor at the ground, to come up with a better location for his food van, to encourage more business before the game and after. Andy's a long-time respected part of the match day experience, and if he's doing well, we're doing well, so we've made some moves to reduce the amount of free food Andy has previously had to donate to the club. To that end, we've brought in a sponsorship with Skinnys Pizza to handle food for the players after games, and Park Avenue Takeaway for boardroom catering. Our new MOM sponsor is Tio Restaurant in Portadown.
A handful of directors gave up their permanent parking spaces so we could make the Brew Zone coffee van a permanent fixture when you approach the ground, and that saw a great response from fans, turning more of the parking lot into a fanzone.
We've also brought in a new sponsorship for the Glenfield Road Stand (announced soon), and Legrand for the boardroom. These great local companies are stepping up big time.
These infrastructure improvements, and more like the 3G rental pitch, have helped us make a meaningful upturn in revenue while everyone (including playing squad and coaches) is tightening their belts on spending.
On the field infrastructure doesn't stop at the players, and we realize that having the best groundsman in the league isn't a gift horse we should look in the mouth, so we asked Dave Maclure what would help him keep his sanity. He suggested a tractor of his own would not only save him time and energy, but would save us the cost of rental equipment over the long haul. Dave did a deal with Grass Machinery NI that made a board decision super easy and Dave hasn't stopped smiling since.
And finally, a couple of small but meaningful ones from the FIL boys - we financed an AI video camera so our staff can properly analyse games, covered a pre-season night out for the squad, and this banner nodding to the great Jimmy Jones, which will be a nice backdrop for post-game interviews and will also find its way on to a line of store products.
The central focus of our business model is not to toss money at a striker and hope everything works out, it's to establish the club financial underpinnings in way that makes sense, is sustainable, and elevates the match experience. From there, the balance sheet allows us to go get that striker without risk. After all, we have 135 years of history to protect.
Look, we all want to win every game and losing the home opener was rough but, when building a base, you need time for the concrete to set, and we saw enough good things on the field to say, we go again.
And, off the field? Well, let's just say you guys are bloody incredible. Best fans anywere.