WST Meeting with WFC Officials

Board members from the Watford Supporters Trust (WST) met with WFC Chairman - Jimmy Russo, CEO - Julian Winter, and Head of Customer Sales - Michael Jones, on Monday 6th July. The topics discussed were many and varied and the responses received are detailed below. We thank Jimmy, Julian and Michael for their time.

Saracens
Talks are ongoing regarding the future relationship with Saracens. A proposal has been put to the Saracens board for a long-term partnership which will result in greater collaboration between the two organisations. Saracens would remain as tenants at Vicarage Road, but included in the annual value of the lease, WFC would deliver more services in areas such as ticketing and retail in which the Saracens organisation lacks expertise. There have also been discussions about Saracens contributing to financing of the building of the new East Stand. WFC is currently awaiting a decision from the Saracens board regarding this proposal. Under the new agreement, there would be no change in the ownership of the Vicarage Road stadium, Saracens would remain as tenants. Under the terms of the current contract, WFC can cancel the tenancy in 2010 and Saracens would have to find a new home for 2011.

Red Lion
The current plan is to develop the property as a Sports bar, possibly with offices upstairs, although no timeframe for this development was given.

Vicarage Road Stadium
The development of the ground will be staged. The turnstiles that were affected by the building of the flats will all be in use for the start of the season. The first stage of the development will be the changing rooms which will be fitted out in the lower tier of the South-west corner. This should be finished by October/November. The dugouts will be moved to the middle of the Lower Rous and the media will be moved to the area behind the dugouts. Once these movements out of the East Stand happen, and there is money available, work can start there. The East Stand construction will take an estimated 18 months. The current plan is for a simple stand with 5000 seats and a single concourse. The redesign has reduced the cost of the redevelopment from £13M to £7-8M.

Regarding the state of the pitch, an extra £25-30K has been spent on the refurbishment this season in order to ensure that the pitch lasts for another couple of seasons before it needs to be replaced. The proposal for the relationship with Saracens includes provision for improvements to the pitch.

Playing Side
The current 5 year plan is designed to take the wage bill for the football club to a sustainable level. The success or failure will be greatly influenced by player trading, but a model for the wage structure has been created. The plan is to reduce the wage bill to the required level over the next three transfer windows. John Stephenson’s (head of player recruitment) role in this is key. He is now in charge of both recruitment and the Academy in order to keep continuity between the two areas. The recruitment strategy now in place is designed to minimize risk with a focus on finding players that are right for Watford, for the right money and with a suitable length of contract. There is a 7 stage process from identification to integration. The manager will only get involved at stage 4 when players have been identified who are suitable and affordable.

The policy regarding loan players was raised. Malky has a different approach to loans from Brendan. He only wants ‘impact’ loans and will favour players who have already played in the championship.

The Board
Jimmy and Vince have taken a very hands-on role in running the club. Vince has addressed cost-cutting including the plans for Harefield and the stadium and operational concerns, Jimmy is in charge of everything else. As part of his role, GT will help support Harefield and will be available if Malky needs advice, but will not take on the role of mentor. Vince Russo is in regular contact with Elton. There are definite plans for a concert next year. Two dates are being discussed, but nothing firm as yet. Discussions are also ongoing between the board and a representative of Lord Ashcroft regarding his future plans in relation to the football club.

New management
Prior to Malky’s appointment the succession planning had identified him as the preferred replacement. Following the interview, GT said, “We won’t do better than that.” He has been mentioned as a ‘cheap option’, however the wage that was offered to Malky was non-negotiable so that, had it been decided that any other applicants would be interviewed, they would have been pre-notified of the salary on offer and that it was not open for discussion. They were very pleased to have Martyn Pert back on the staff. As well as being a well-respected fitness coach, he holds an ‘A’ coaching licence, so brings a broad expertise to the team.

Season ticket sales and Kit Sponsorship
The final tally at the end of the early bird period was just over 10K of which 500 were new applicants. Last season’s number was 10853 compared with 11600 the previous season, so the retention has been good.

The kit sponsorship deal with Evolution is for 2 years, which the club were pleased to get as the interest in sponsoring Championship clubs has considerably lessened. The remuneration is not of the order of the previous deal with Beko, but there are many Championship clubs currently without sponsors.

Harefield
A review of the costs for the Harefield project has been undertaken. One major expense was the transport bill, as children were provided with transport from their homes to the school on a daily basis. This was costing the club £240K per year. When this was initially implemented, the thought was that it would be sponsorship, but no sponsorship has ever been forthcoming, neither have there been any parental contributions. The principal of the transport provision must stay in place as that commitment was made to the parents. However, the costs had to be reduced and Vince Russo has worked on finding alternative provisions in order to reduce costs. They are looking at alternatives such as the use of minibuses and revisiting the possibility of raising money through sponsorship. The current plan has reduced the cost to £120K. The club board remain committed to the Harefield project, but will ensure that the business is run in the most cost-effective way possible.

Fan Events
This year’s Open Day for the children is planned for Westfield on 2nd August. A Fans’ Forum is planned for September, the date and location to be confirmed.