The Right Direction?

At the end of my last article “Moving Forward” I asked for some type of mission statement / business plan from Stockport County – and 10 days later they released one, also entitled “Moving Forward” highlighting the issues that I raised.

I would like to thank everyone involved with making it happen and especially to Mark Lockyear for passing over my article to the relevant people.

If you haven`t read it yet or this is the first you have heard about it please have a look via the official County website.

It`s a plan to get us back into the football league within 5 years time, with the play off`s now looking out of reach next season will be our 3rd season in the Conference North and our 5th season at Non League level. 5 years of non league football is not good.

The ‘Moving Forward` document highlights Key Performance Indicators (KPI`s) set by the club, apart from getting back into the football league (and full time status by 2020) it also includes generating £1.5m in commercial revenue alone.

Now I know the commercial manager Chris Jolly is fully dedicated to the work he does and regarding getting sponsors / revenue in – he is worth his weight in gold.

Another KPI is to engage with 80,000 school and college students.

If this is managed and for arguments sake 10% (or 1 in 10) end up being County fans this means we have made 8000 new fans in 5 years.

Not bad if you think we are only getting between 2000 – 3000 attendances currently.

Some other topics it touches on are that we were loosing around £800,000 in 2012 which has been reduced to around £85,000 circa 2015 – if this carries on we may even be making a profit sometime soon !!!

Also mentioned was getting back Edgeley Park, this to me is very important and even though different clubs change stadiums and get on with it – I couldn`t imagine us playing anywhere else.

I really hope this gets achieved (if I ever won the lottery I would buy EP myself and give it back to the club).

We are also bringing back a reserve team and creating a new development squad along with a Profootball academy, when you look at some of the players like Rhys Turner who came through Myerscough College and was sold on for something believed to be near the £50,000 mark then this can only be taken as a positive.

Anyway please have a read online for yourself to have a look at the issued raised and targets that have been made.

As they say now “the proof is in the pudding”.

Back to the coop and I must say I may just have to eat my words regarding my opinion.

I have been receiving regular emails regarding shares and even had an invite to do some joint commentary which is a nice opportunity for members to partake in.

We now have 9 league games left (or 27 points to play for) with us being 5 points behind the minimum of where we need to be, it would take a small miracle for us to make the top 5 now but all we can do is try to win every game.

Such a shame as it`s our away form that has let us down this season and cost us possible promotion.

On Tuesday the 17th March we play Macclesfield away in the Cheshire Cup semi final as they beat Crewe in the quarter final.

I would have liked to have gone to watch us play Crewe with me never having been to that ground before but never the less I will watch us loose to Macclesfield instead !! Only joking.

Also we have a Fans Forum at EP this Wednesday where you get a chance to ask questions to the hierarchy and Alan Lord.

Be nice?

Until next time – keep the faith.

Animo Et Fide.
Steve Davies

[ The official Moving Forward document can be found HERE Please read it. ]