Garry Cook - Clueless

[leewill31]

Football is a business and we are paying customers.!!

but businesses wont survive without customers mate....people can always get by without a bit of "entertainment" and it's usually one of the first things to get the chop where families are concerned

i agree, that unlike usual businesses we cant simply go next door and get it cheaper and the club know this....but, people will always find alternative ways to see the game

or they could just wear Norwich scarfs and go and watch the game without conscience!

 

[shadygiz]

The club's CEO raises prices by a modest amount, after the prices had either been decreased or held steady for a long period previously..... in a year when nearly 200 million quid was invested in new players AND when further substantial investments are expected to be poured into the quality of the "product" over the summer and where we have the opportunity to compete at a whole new level and play the best teams in the world.... but he's "clueless" because of this decision.

Am I missing something?

whilst i agree with most of what you say...we have the "opportunity"...but we haven't won fuck all yet and cant fill the ground as it is...why dont the club concentrate on getting bums on seats first before unhinging "communities" of seated areas and dispersing them around the ground with all the unnecessary associated costs to boot

 

[nmc]

Can't say I am surprised by the price hike - it was inevitable - we has spent a lot of money and our wage bill must be frightening! Some people seem to want "cheap and cheerful" Swales prices but also want Sheik Mansoor spending - well you simply cannot reconcile the two. If we are going to be a top 4 club and consistently challenge for honours prices are going to go up - its inevitable - that said we are a club with lots of working class support and we need to find a balance - because we can never hope (or want) to charge the sorts of prices Chelsea and Spurs presently do.

As for Garry Cooke he is always the first one to get it. City will have worked out their budget for next season including transfers and I am sure Sheik Mansoor will have far bigger hole in his wallet than any of us (even if he has a few bob more to start with).

We cannot ever realistically hope to be the biggest spenders in English football and charge prices on a par with Bury or Stockport - Mansoor and co are businessmen - they are not a charity and we should remain grateful for the owners we have.

 

[chedinho]

what we could do,is put together our own survey,with relevant questions and the questions they should of asked.
this can be sent to the club and maybe acted on in the future.

 

[AustinBlue]

I'll confess to being a personal fan of Garry Cook.... but I'll defend his decision on business terms. It seems like City are trying to make comprehensive improvements, and create options for fans that will match their preferences and budgets. That seems not just reasonable, but smart. I am sympathetic to fans who are being separated from familiar faces, but this doesn't seem malicious or insensitive on the part of the club... more an unfortunate consequence. As CEO, it's impossible to make progressive decisions that don't end up drawing criticism and having an impact on some existing customers. But the rant in the original post seems manic and entirely misplaced in the criticism of Cook. I think we have a first class front office bringing increasingly higher value to the fans.

 

[pride in battle]

Now, I have been a defender of Cook over the past six months/year as, as far as I am concerned, cock ups like 'Uwe/United' and some other stuff are periphery to his real job - i.e. being a successful and inspiring CEO of M.C.F.C.

Yes, he stuff about beating United in New York was very cringe worthy but I will still defend him to the hilt over the Mancini press conference and don't think he did anything wrong at all in that scenario.

Many, City fans included, were lining up to slaughter the bloke over these incidents and more, calling him an embarrassment to the club and all sorts of other names. I remained of the opinion that, whilst some of the things they moaned about might be unfortunate, the real test of him was in his day to day job and how the club functioned with him at the helm. A criteria that not many of us are in a position to judge on.

As fans we come into direct contact with relatively few of his decisions and duties. Yes, building an indoor ticket office is nice and all very well, but the blokes main job is running the club successfully, not buttering up fans with relatively meaningless ideas like that.

At the same time that the world and his wife were sluaghtering him, there was a vocal band of City fans willing to defend him to the hilt. The gist of their argument was that many of them had met Mr Cook and , in their opinion, he was a 'top bloke' who 'really cared' and talked a great game about how important existing fans are to both the club and him personally.

Well, that changed today, with the season ticket announcements.

Before I go on, I am obviously laying the blame/credit/whatever you want to call it for the season ticket decisions at the feet of Garry Cook. As the CEO I am assuming that he has a significant, possibly final, say in decisions on this matter.

I very much doubt that it is the Sheikh who has been frantically on the phone insisting that prices are put up or that people be relocated because he wants a few extra quid in his club's bank account. Maybe, I am wrong, but I doubt he could care less whether prices go up or remain the same at City.

So, the blame must lie at Cook's feet. Maybe someone else within the club may have suggested a price increase or pushed for it, but unless that person is Khaldoon, then I doubt their voice counts for anything in relation to Cook's.

Yet, for all the talk, all the bluster regarding how much he loves the fans, the one thing that most would appreciate is exactly the thing that they don't do - ie: make some sort of gesture regarding ticket prices.

At a time when, throughout the world, the biggest issue has been, is and remains finances, City decide to put up their prices and force many loyal fans into seating that they don't want, in favour of attracting new fans.

At a time when the one attribute that City, as a club, has, without doubt, is ludicrous amounts of money, the club decides that the one group of people who are not worthy of receiving even the smallest gesture in relation to this are the fans.

At a time when the club is rolling in cash, the fans are adjudged to be paying too little for the privilege of watching a club that most of them have supported for decades.

At a time when the margins gained from price increases squeezed out of fans matters less to City than it has ever done to any club in the history of football, someone decides that they will still squeeze the ordinary man for a chunk of extra cash.

At a time when agents, scouts, new directors, off field officials, players, agents and everyone else are making obscene money from the circumstances surrounding City, with the club only too happy to go along with that, the fans are determined to be the one group of people who are not pulling their weight financially.

Let me make clear, I will almost certainly be renewing my season ticket. My circumstances allow me to. That isn't the point. I assume most people reading this will be renewing. I also imagine that there are plenty of clowns out there who, as is usual when any mention of football fan's finances are ,mentioned will take the extremely selfish attitude of 'it affects me very little, therefore it must be similar for everyone, stop moaning. To be honest, their selfish opinions matters very little to me.

And yes, I know that this isn't a ball breaking increase, when compared to maybe someone like the Glazers, but it is the principal of the thing that is a disgrace. Millions of hangers on and mercenaries making loads of filthy cash from the fortunate circumstances that the club finds itself in, yet the fans aren't even deemed worthy of their financial commitment - a commitment that is worth one hundred times that of any big money player or any agent or scout commisioned to find a star of the future for the club - staying at a level. Or even only rising in line with inflation.

Finally, for all the responses that I expect this to get, the ones that are going to wind me up the most are the "it's a business, not a charity" and "if you want to watch the best, you have to pay those sort of prices."

That is nonsensical.

The increase in prices has absolutely no effect whatsoever on any decision that this club will make regarding its finances in the foreseeable future. Their is no conceivable scenario where the club's hierarchy sit down and say "Well, chaps, we couldn't afford to buy XXX or undertake investment in YYYY but now that the season tickets have gone up, we are able to go ahead with it, get the cheque book out."

And as for paying the best to watch the best. I pay to watch Manchester City. I paid to watch them play against dross in Division Two and I've paid to watch them play against some of the best players in the world. My decison to do so wasn't based upon who the opposition was, or who happened to have the shirt on. It was because I wanted to watch Manchester City. United have played far better regular opposition and had far better players and I have chosen not to pay to watch them play some other team at all. Because I want to watch Manchester City. Not the opposition. Not a team of superstars who happen to be wearing a kit I like the colour of. Manchester City. That decision is not a function of the quality of player on the pitch or the opposition.

If you think it is then I suggest you get on the bandwagon with this phony, Cook. The man who talked the talked and was willing to grease up to as many fans as possible when attempting to paint himself as the fan's man - but who, when push came to shove on the one decision that affects every single fan in the most direct manner possible, decides to shaft them.

It isn't the size of the increase (although you should not underestimate the sacrifices that some people make to afford a season ticket, just because you or I don't have to make the same), it's the principal.

If this isn't Cook's doing then I'll take this back and lay it at the feet of whoever's it is. (But if it isn't his doing, then what exactly is he doing as CEO?) Until then, the man is a sham as far as I am concerned and this pales into insignifcane next to his publicised gaffs. Maybe I should have agreed with all those who claimed he was a PR led, full of hot air liability. Because his rhetoric, when put next to this decision, seems to be exactly that.

Oh, sorry, maybe I am forgetting the fantastic products and match day experiences that we are going to feel the benefit of in the future. Hooray, two foot long hotdogs and someone firing t-shirts into the crowd at every throw in. Fantastic. But that isn't what I pay to see, Mr Cook.

In a word FUCK OFF,sorry two words!!!

 

[dctid]

Can't say I am surprised by the price hike - it was inevitable - we has spent a lot of money and our wage bill must be frightening! Some people seem to want "cheap and cheerful" Swales prices but also want Sheik Mansoor spending - well you simply cannot reconcile the two. If we are going to be a top 4 club and consistently challenge for honours prices are going to go up - its inevitable - that said we are a club with lots of working class support and we need to find a balance - because we can never hope (or want) to charge the sorts of prices Chelsea and Spurs presently do.

As for Garry Cooke he is always the first one to get it. City will have worked out their budget for next season including transfers and I am sure Sheik Mansoor will have far bigger hole in his wallet than any of us (even if he has a few bob more to start with).

We cannot ever realistically hope to be the biggest spenders in English football and charge prices on a par with Bury or Stockport - Mansoor and co are businessmen - they are not a charity and we should remain grateful for the owners we have.

Have to agree with you fella - i seem to remember the money through the turn stiles compared to Spurs whom are a similar sized club are significantly different. We cannot expect to free load it was always coming - from my perpective the ticket prices are still cheap and 5% or whatever on cheap prices are still cheap. My lad ticket is still £95 - yes he has to move but for fook sake if City spend another £100 million this summer for fucks sake people is it too much to ask or alternatively do we want to see the like of Danny Mills etc. All this is fookin irrelevent anyway there will be more season tickets sold next season than this.

 

[JohnMaddocksAxe]

So, we have the 'it's a business' argument arising on the thread, without a single person even attempting to rationalise that with the income/expenditure scenario in place at the club that makes making a profit, running the club as a money making exercise about as likely as David Brightwell coming back for another stint at left back.

No doubt the same people mindlessly spouting that line were the same people who swallowed Abramovich's "We'll be making a profit in three years time" routine in 2004.

The argument of wanting to make money or pay for expenditure is absolutely ridiculous in light of the events and circumstances surrounding the club.

It is clear to anyone with half a brain that the very, very, very last thing on the club's mind is making a profit. All the evidence points to being in football for a profit (unless you are a Glazer/hicks/Gillet type character) as being an extremely unlikely scenario. Being in football for a profit and running a business model like the one currently in place at City is nigh on an impossibility. It defies every rational thought.

It ain't going to happen anytime soon, and what's more, the club isn't in the business of making it happen anytime soon. Unless you somehow feel that we have seen the last of signficant spending and we are about to embark on a cost cutting spree.

Bizzbo. I would like to know who, apart from the fans, is financially worse off since the takeover. Players - certainly not. Football staff - doubt it. Normal staff - surprised if they are worse off. Agents working with the club - no. Commercial partners - no. Senior club staff - almost definitely not. Fans - yes.

If you want to factor the economic climate and inflation rates into that equation then the gap between the fans' circumstance and every other group associated with the club increases further.

So, I'll ask again, why is the club happy to see money leaving it to all of these quarters, seemingly without batting an eyelid (we all know the huge deficit which it is running at), yet feels the need to fleece the fans for some more - all the while whilst disrupting many in order to fit in 'new fans'.

Running a profit making outfit is far, far away from their current agenda.

And it goes completely against everything that they have been spouting about the fans coming first (don't get wet queueing for tickets now though and a few of us might bump into the CEO and get bought a drink, so hey, great). In economic terms, the fans comes dead last in the financial decisions associated with this club over the past 24 months, after this announcement.

That is what I mean about everybody other than the fans skimming from the club.

There has not been a single defence of the above posted on this thread and I am certain there won't be one from the "fans come first" hierarchy either.

 

[badge]

So, we have the 'it's a business' argument arising on the thread, without a single person even attempting to rationalise that with the income/expenditure scenario in place at the club that makes making a profit, running the club as a money making exercise about as likely as David Brightwell coming back for another stint at left back.

No doubt the same people mindlessly spouting that line were the same people who swallowed Abramovich's "We'll be making a profit in three years time" routine in 2004.

The argument of wanting to make money or pay for expenditure is absolutely ridiculous in light of the events and circumstances surrounding the club.

It is clear to anyone with half a brain that the very, very, very last thing on the club's mind is making a profit. All the evidence points to being in football for a profit (unless you are a Glazer/hicks/Gillet type character) as being an extremely unlikely scenario. Being in football for a profit and running a business model like the one currently in place at City is nigh on an impossibility. It defies every rational thought.

It ain't going to happen anytime soon, and what's more, the club isn't in the business of making it happen anytime soon. Unless you somehow feel that we have seen the last of signficant spending and we are about to embark on a cost cutting spree.

Bizzbo. I would like to know who, apart from the fans, is financially worse off since the takeover. Players - certainly not. Football staff - doubt it. Normal staff - surprised if they are worse off. Agents working with the club - no. Commercial partners - no. Senior club staff - almost definitely not. Fans - yes.

If you want to factor the economic climate and inflation rates into that equation then the gap between the fans' circumstance and every other group associated with the club increases further.

So, I'll ask again, why is the club happy to see money leaving it to all of these quarters, seemingly without batting an eyelid (we all know the huge deficit which it is running at), yet feels the need to fleece the fans for some more - all the while whilst disrupting many in order to fit in 'new fans'.

Running a profit making outfit is far, far away from their current agenda.

And it goes completely against everything that they have been spouting about the fans coming first (don't get wet queueing for tickets now though and a few of us might bump into the CEO and get bought a drink, so hey, great). In economic terms, the fans comes dead last in the financial decisions associated with this club over the past 24 months, after this announcement.

That is what I mean about everybody other than the fans skimming from the club.

There has not been a single defence of the above posted on this thread and I am certain there won't be one from the "fans come first" hierarchy either.

we slag players off for being 'greedy bastards' and yet look at you. you almost appear to suggest we should be let in for nothing because our owners are so rich. tell me, what price do you think your season ticket should be?

 

[bluewigmcfc]

i think the 6% rise is not the problem its me sitting in north stand and having to move,to south stand? any good seats left not on front row. if not move to bell stand and pay extra , i,ve bin season ticket holder for 20 years and have a good seat now and pissed off. could end up like a rag and watch us on sky.