"Mango's Mouth"

Good win for the lads today in what I thought was a reasonably enjoyable game on a wet and slippery surface even though just before we scored, it was beginning to look like a 0-0 draw in all honesty. Typical autumn day with a hint of winter about it as well, and now is the time when we start to face all the problems you get with winter pitches, so grinding out a result becomes more important than ever, especially as we have a very hectic spell in November and December with a total of 15 matches in that period! Still, we've now won the first 2, and kept 2 clean sheets as well, so that's a very positive start.

I thought we tried to knock the ball around a bit today & play some decent stuff, but as so often on a wet surface, one bounce of the ball and it shoots off at speed, but It could easily have been 2-2 or 3-3 at the break, as we had some good chances (Daine O'Connor had two of them) whilst at our end, young Sam Alexander made some great saves when Thatcham went close. Even so, the game needed a goal & it came on 66 minutes when Rob Smith (who greatly impressed at full back) was at the back post to knock home a corner. A second goal would have been nice, that might have killed Thatcham off, and Tom Knighton missed a sitter at that stage, but although Thatcham still went close once or twice, I'd say we just about deserved the win.

The team certainly worked hard and you can't fault the effort. Kyle Tooze looked dangerous every time he had the ball, particularly in the first half, and his backheel on the edge of the box to set up a team mate for a shot was a class move. James PIlling also looked good, but quite honestly, no one had a bad game at all. It was a strong team performance in a hard match.

Gate was 131, I believe, which clearly looks now to be the sort of average we're going to get most of the time. Thatcham brought a few fans with them, but many of the sides we still have to play here probably won't bring too many with them. Then again, even gates of 130-odd look reasonable in this division. A lot of teams don't even get that many, or even three figures and some of them are up the top end of the table!

I think we sold something like 38 programmes today, which is, shall we say, not what it used to be, even when we were in the Western League, we'd sell far more than that, but times have changed in a variety of ways. Programme buying/collecting can be intense one minute and slacken off the next, a bit like stamp collecting, but these days, it's very much in a downward trend in all aspects, which is a pity.

Anyway, well done everyone today, good win and let's have more of the same on Tuesday v Abingdon!

BCFC used to send shareholders a wad of documents each November, but this year I was sent a postcard saying that I could view the accounts online. Maybe this is the way forward. The programme for each game could be made available online and anyone who wanted a solid copy could download it. Perhaps Keith could operate a laptop near the turnstiles and anyone wanting a solid copy could pay for it to be downloaded. Otherwise he could just hand out small cards with the details of where online the programme can be found.
This is deffo the way forward and environmentally friendly.
But if the old ways are persisted with might I suggest that programmes are made available after half-time for a reduced price. There have been a few times I have attended games after half-time and found I could not obtain a programme and that if one was available, I was expected to pay full price for it when half the game was over!!!!

Downloading a programme online - like Swindon Supermarine and even Bristol Manor Farm did or still do, not having looked at their sites lately - could take up a lot of memory space. Danny would know if that would be the case.

In the old days, we used to say, if you're going to be late arriving, or can't make it to a particular game, then order a programme in advance & we'd reserve it for you. It would still be full price though, whether you picked it up at 3.05pm or even a week later.

Nowadays, it would appear that there are always programmes available at kick off time. If certain persons arrive after half time, therefore getting in by paying nothing at all, then I would still say that the programme should be full price. The club gains nothing at all from selling a programme at half price (but then you could say, well, any sale is better than no sale, which is true); the only money made is by selling it at full price, which is still only £1.50 anyway and compares well price-wise with many other clubs in the league.

So, if the club is to gain anything at all profit wise from individuals who get in for free at half time, then a full price programme is surely not unreasonable in the circumstances???

The other alternative is the route I tried to guide you down a few years back. Taking a leaf out of Everton and Liverpool's books, who in the 1920s-30s produced a joint proggie. Perhaps the Mangos, Clevedon, Yate and Paulton could produce a joint proggie with a page devoted to their own team and a page in which they ran down the other three teams, quite badly. This would cut printing costs and boost sales enormously. Each club would pay a quarter of the printing cost and then receive a quarter of the print run and keep all money they made from selling them. Advertising revenue would be split 4 ways, with the clubs getting a bigger split dependent on how close they were to the centre of Bristol.

Four clubs sharing the same programme? It would never work. If you turn up to watch MUFC v Thatcham, you're not going to want to read about Yate, Clevedon & Paulton! Same scenario whoever is at home. You wouldn't want to read about the other 3 teams either!

Then again, HOC, with 4 clubs having a share of the programme, and all wanting copies just to see what is being said about them, would there even be any left by the time you sneak in for free at ten to four each Saturday??? wink:

What next, then, shall we all ground-share as well???

I suppose there is another option, HOC. If you want to pay half price for a programme when you sneak in at ten to four, then you COULD buy half a programme - front half or back half, the choice could be yours, but one of the editorial team would have to do the ripping in half first!

Anyway, talking of getting in for free, you should get yourself down to Paulton on Saturday when they play AFC Hayes, because it's free admission to everyone (according to their website) and a free cuppa as well! This is a thank you to their fans for the cup run. A nice gesture indeed, and when we (finally) reach Round 1 next season, we might just do the same after we lose 7-0 at home to, shall we say, Southampton!

And when ITV cover that game live next season, I'll ask Andy Townsend to keep the cameras on the turnstiles at 3.50pm so the whole country can watch your late arrival live on the box.

I have attended over 150 Mango games and only turned up after half-time on two occasions, one of those to collect something. I think I am being tarred with a very large brush. I was asking on behalf of regular half-time attendees who could boost proggie sales.

"Regular half time attendees"?? Blimey, how many's that then, a whole busload of them then?? Does HOC arrive with a whole line of them behind him and say, OK chaps, follow me, let's see if we can get a programme for half price.....

Perhaps our officialdom should give us 2 gate figures in future; one at half time and the other at full time. There could be a vast difference!

I have very rarely come into the ground at half-time. But I know a few 'regulars' and they have complained about the availability of programmes and that when they have enquired they have been quoted the full cover price. They have understandably been outraged by this and I even heard one express the opinion that it is 'profiteering', some saying it's like buying a calendar for 2009 when it is November 2009 and being charged full price!!!
If the progs were available online it would cut out this nonsense and the team line-ups would be as up to date as possibly could be. It would also cut out any bad resentment these fellow Mangos could build up.
The best answer to all of this is for entertaining football to be on display, then anyone turning up at half-time would be pitied and not, as presently, envied.

HOC, this argument of yours about cheap programmes at half time or whatever, could go on for ever and I know you're only trying to make one of us bite, (probably me) but all fun aside, here's the bottom line:

The club needs to sell 70 programmes a game to break even on programme sales. It doesn't happen too often any more, although we did sell 188 copies v Forest Green, but that was an obvious exception because we had a 900+ gate. The last 3 home games saw us sell 26 copies v Merthyr Tydfil, 40 v Windsor & Eton and 38 v Thatcham. I doubt that we'll sell too many tonight either. So essentially, the club loses money on virtually every programme we produce, and yet you still want one on the cheap.

You mentioned team line-ups and/or the programme being available on line. The programme goes to the printers on a Thursday for a Saturday game and Mondays for a Tuesday game. The first thing people look at when they buy a programme (at full price) is the team line-up, but it cannot possibly be up to date on the day. Half the time, we won't even know what the exact line up is until the teams actually turn up on the day. Also, how can we include an up to date line-up in the programme on a Saturday if we (or the opposition) sign a player on the Thursday night and he makes his debut that weekend, or if someone trips over their doorstep on a Saturday morning and can't play that afternoon?

Bob & I have done the programme as a Dynamic Duo since the 1990-91 season, although we were contributors to the programme for 2 seasons before that as well, ever since we played Norwich City in a pre-season friendly in August 1988. But it won't go on forever either. We're not looking to win a Queen's Award for Long Service Honour, or anything like that, but you have to remember that nothing ever stays the same either. We're not happy about certain things regarding this season's programme anyway, but we hope that as the season progresses, the finished version will eventually come out as we intended it to.

But one day, when we decide "Enough is Enough", then the Club will have to ask someone else to do the programme. I may be wrong, but I honestly cannot think of anyone at MUFC right now who would take the task on. Care to volunteer?

Dave, I ALWAYS pay full price for my progs, I do not try to get them on the cheap, but I have heard those who complain about the fact the proggie price isn't reduced when half the game is over (the half they have for one reason or another missed). You were lamenting the fall in proggie sales and I have been giving some tips. However, you have actually FALLEN into a trap. You stated that it was a bad idea to combine progs with 3 other clubs, but then state that if you and your brother weren't writing the prog, nobody else will. Well perhaps they would if there was less editorial space per club (reduced by 75%). Plus the prog would then be more combative as the three other clubs tried to get one over on the 'partners' in their editorials. It would sell like rock cakes and newsagents might be required to cope with the demand.
I have given you my thoughts.
Another - suggested once by a member of the star chamber - give a free prog to everyone who pays to enter the ground, then sell them at half price to those who enter after 45 mins. This would also increase ad revenue.

With us 2-0 down tonight, and same old, same old etc, and with neither HOC or myself at the game anyway to discuss matters further, let me simply say in good old civil service English:

"Thanks for your comments, HOC. All duly noted."

What the hell is the star chamber when it's at home anyway? I think you mentioned this once before in the greganite thread last month and we never did get to the bottom of that.

Then again, don't worry about it. Just get ready for the final score tonight in due course.

Fair conclusion Dave, I tend to think anyway that progs sold at grounds will go the way of the Lucky Bag and be consigned to the bin we label 'nostalgia'. They will be only available online in future with up to the minute news and team sheets etc. BTW, I think it's outrageous that the club demands so much of you and your brother as you have enough to cope with with writing the thing let alone all the other practicalities such as printing and ad revenue. If the club loses you both and there is nobody to step into your shoes, then they will only have themselves to blame.
Mrs Clay once, when we were on an economy drive, questioned whether I needed to buy a prog at matches. I told her it wasn't just about footy I read but all sorts of important issues. I then read to her a piece you'd done about plastic bags that were dumped into the oceans in their millions each year and how unsuspecting turtles etc confused them for jellyfish and ate them, killing the poor turtles. Mrs Clay - a very strong lover of wildlife and animal rights etc - was reduced to tears and for a short while felt like doing herself in, so moving was the report. (Good job I didn't read her a match report as well, that would've finished her off.)