St Albans City F.C.

Notes of Fans' Forum held on Wednesday 5th April.

In attendance - Ian Rogers (IR), Lawrence Levy (LL), David Noble (DN), John Meakes (JM).

LL opened the forum explaining the role of the Senior Leadership Team, which was set up 3 years ago and includes IR as the supporters' representative on behalf of the Saints City Trust.

LL covered a number of non football issues, the plan to relocate the ground to a more sustainable location and not continue on a boom and bust basis, as had been the case previously.  The aim is to bring in more non match day revenue.

LL outlined the investment that had been made at the ground, the partnership with Enter Shikari to join music and football together and create a more community feel.  Commercially, that partnership has put the club on a global basis.

He mentioned the new PA system and the help that supporter Alan MacDonald had provided, the improvement to food and beverage outlets and the partnership with Mad Squirrel.

More staff have been recruited, a full medical team, on line sales team and a player recruitment team.  Whilst this has helped build the club off the pitch, overheads are going up citing the need for security staff.

On the football side, the aim is to make the whole setup more professional running from schools level through to the academy, also including a development centre for under 12s.  He went on to to speak about the use of analytics the club use and the number of coaches there in the academy set up and the team in the JPL league.

LL explained the process which saw DN as the manager.

A number of questions had been submitted in advance and these were worked through.

Q1  What is the state of the club's finances, particularly in view of last season's cup run and the improved attendances this season?

LL stated that the club's owners had not taken any money out of the F.A. Cup pot and said that the club is in a fairly healthy position but not making a profit.

Q2  Should we win promotion to the National League will we have the financial clout to compete adequately at that level?

LL – NO !

But we are doing a scenario, planning whether we are full time/part time, the step will give us more lucrative sponsorship opportunities.   LL cited the case of Wealdstone, who are part time but managing ok at a higher level. He said the club's ambition is to get promoted.

Q3  What financial compensation have we received so far, if any, for the transfers of Alex Lankshear and Riccardo Di Trolio?

LL said both fees are undisclosed, which is their clubs' wishes but we do get appearance money and a small sell on clause.

Riccardo was a different story.  LL explained the rules for under 18s, who cannot be contracted.  It is an issue for all clubs at our level and discussions are ongoing between the NL and the EFL.

Q4  Given the apparent debacle over Brewfest and the SACDC objections, what hope do the club have in being granted planning permission for a new ground?

LL said it is 2 different departments at SACDC and the club is working with SACDC to look at possible sites.  This proposal was in the last local plan and will be in the new plan.

With Brewfest, the club has a licence for 20 events per year for up to 500 people.   Somehow, someone has said that we do not have permission.  It is on hold at present but we need this type of income, especially if we get promoted.

Q5  We have heard about the clubs 'Visions and Values'.  When is it to be made public?

LL  We have had much to do, since the V&V was produced.  It was agreed it will be launched at a pre season Fans' Forum late July/early August.

Q6  Where are we with recruiting a head of football?

LL  We have had 25 applications.  We are short listing 7 and interviews are ongoing.

This is a conduit role that links all levels at the club, including the women’s team which we launch next season.

Q7  Will travel and season tickets go up next season, if we are promoted ?

IR replied on travel costs and LL said we are planning costs for next season now.

Q8  Do we understand why gates have gone up this season?

LL explained the data we now capture, the use of KPIs and said that marketing the club actively has shown results and we can now predict what crowds will be in advance.

Q9  There have been a lack of coaches at local schools which we did have last season.  Why is this?

LL said the project is run by St Albans City Youth and he would raise this with them.

Q10  Are we further away from getting a new ground than at the previous Fans' Forum?

LL  said we are on a good pathway.  He also said that he had set fans' expectations over the last 10 years and accepts where we are now.

He explained the process with SACDC and HCC and said he is more careful now not to overstate but is confident we will go to planning.

Q11 Is the new head of football to be aligned with DN's vision.

LL said his role is to tie the process together and DN said he will be involved in the recruitment.

Q12 If promoted, what about the bars in the ground not being allowed at NL level?

LL explained use of fans zone.

Q13 Why can we not stream games as we did during Covid?

LL explained the ruling on this item.

DN/JM took the floor

Q1 Why is Shaun Jeffers not in the team?  He is our leading scorer.

DN  - It is my job to put out a team that meets my philosophy and style of play and who fits into that style.  We use current data on player performance, not the past.

Q2  Why do we seemingly play backwards and sideways so much, when we are in attacking positions?

DN - I think we rush into attacks and it is not always best option.  I want the team to be more patient in our build up.

JM explained the use of stats against Cheshunt, where we had 70% possession.

DN explained that when he took over, he asked the team to play in a completely different way.

Q3 In the last few months, there has been much more player/supporter engagement.  Do you promote this?

DN said it's a bit of both, getting the fans onside early in games and showing appreciation at the end of a game.  He also said that the away support was excellent.

DN spoke about the Ryan Blackman video interview.

Q4 How do you visualise the run in to end of season?

DN - I don’t look too far ahead so the focus, now, is on Braintree game. There is not time to analyse too far ahead but said that he saw an exciting end to the season.

Q5 When you stepped up to manage, did you think it would be permanent?

DN - No.  I thought, perhaps, it would be for about 2 weeks and I did not think I would be here now.

Q6  Talking about passing during a game, is there a risk of the 50/1 shot not being taken?

DN said he did not want players to not shoot but spoke about a number of unforced errors in games, saying that we had let teams off in the past.  We want players to play forward but at the right time.

Q7 How happy are you with the players you have?

DN - I am ecstatic about them.  They have been exceptional and a good mix of youth and experience.

JM added it is a squad we inherited and not necessarily what we want .

Q8 Are you looking to keep the loan players next season or replace them?

DN said every situation is different and that the parent clubs are delighted at what we are doing here in developing their players.

The forum closed.

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