Time Cheltenham men please....At HomeV,Cheltenham at the completely Bolton Stadium Sat 4th feb 3-0'clock.

[Worthy4England]

I’m beginning to think Hart might have been a mistake.

I don't think he's liked by many fans. However I'm sure that FV approve everything that he introduces therefore they must agree with him.

You'd certainly expect this to have been discussed...

[BWFC_Insane]

I’m beginning to think Hart might have been a mistake.

I don't think he's liked by many fans. However I'm sure that FV approve everything that he introduces therefore they must agree with him.

I suspect it’s less what he does and more the way he presents it…

[knobpolisher]

As Feargal said "a good hart these days is hard to find"

[GhostoftheBok]

Hart seems to be a good CEO. What matters for people in that position is that they get, and listen to, good advice.

Hopefully he gets good advice on the transport issue.

It's very easy for me to sit here and say "this is easy to sort out." I genuinely believe it's a really simple fix, but I'm not the one who has to make it work in the real world. What wouldn't be okay is if they scrap the system having made absolutely no attempt to fix it. That's currently the situation - nothing has been done to try and make the system work, other than cutting services and raising prices.

[Bertie Wooster]

Personally I think that the role of a CEO at a football club is slightly different to the standard CEO business role, however everything Hart does appears to be cost related etc. I may be wrong but I can't think of anything Hart has introduced that is for the benefit of the BWFC supporters, many who have been life long fans & have spent a lot of money over the years.

He may have the best long term interests of the club at heart (financially), but he certainly doesn't have the best interests of the BWFC supporters in fact it appears that everything he introduces is aimed at making the matchday experience worse for the fans. I am surprised at times that FV let him get away with some of it. It's almost like he (Hart) enjoys pissing the fans off.

[Mar]

Personally I think that the role of a CEO at a football club is slightly different to the standard CEO business role, however everything Hart does appears to be cost related etc. I may be wrong but I can't think of anything Hart has introduced that is for the benefit of the BWFC supporters, many who have been life long fans & have spent a lot of money over the years.

He may have the best long term interests of the club at heart (financially), but he certainly doesn't have the best interests of the BWFC supporters in fact it appears that everything he introduces is aimed at making the matchday experience worse for the fans. I am surprised at times that FV let him get away with some of it. It's almost like he (Hart) enjoys pissing the fans off.

I think it's a bit harsh to say he's enjoying pissing the fans off. Perhaps the rollout of some of his ideas have had some teething issues (car park for example).

As for doing stuff for the benefit of the fans, was he part of the reach out to the supporters trust?

[Prufrock]

He does seem like a weirdo.

Worth pointing out though, that if the last few years have taught us anything, surely it's that "the long term term interests of the club (financial)" and the"best interests of the supporters" are fairly closely aligned.

[BWFC_Insane]

He does seem like a weirdo.

Worth pointing out though, that if the last few years have taught us anything, surely it's that "the long term term interests of the club (financial)" and the"best interests of the supporters" are fairly closely aligned.

Agreed. We want sensible business heads. We also know though that there is a community element to football and FV care about that.

Hart no doubt has a tough job but for a man from the community side of Burnley football club he’s certainly not what I was expecting. I think at the very least in that role, no matter what decisions you feel the need to take you should try and hide your contempt for your customers…given he is fresh faced and new this shouldn’t be that difficult….

[Worthy4England]

The business key performance indicators (which may have changed since last accounts) are little different than any other business, other than the badge they have...Season Ticket sales, attendance levels, revenue, staff costs, cash lost on operating activities....

[BWFC_Insane]

The business key performance indicators (which may have changed since last accounts) are little different than any other business, other than the badge they have...Season Ticket sales, attendance levels, revenue, staff costs, cash lost on operating activities....

FV have stated many times on their belief that the club should form a central community hub and play a vital community role. I will be amazed if there aren’t KPIs around this for Hart too…amazed.

[Bruce Rioja]

I don't think I've felt quite as close to the club since Rioch's days, as I do since FV came in.

However, whilst Hart undoubtedly has some fine qualities, he really does need to learn the true value of paying into the emotional account, as well as studying in-depth the overall financial impact of actions such as dropping the match buses (see Boris's post).

It's like he's given the finger to both in his haste to announce his 'plan' on this one.

[Worthy4England]

The business key performance indicators (which may have changed since last accounts) are little different than any other business, other than the badge they have...Season Ticket sales, attendance levels, revenue, staff costs, cash lost on operating activities....

FV have stated many times on their belief that the club should form a central community hub and play a vital community role. I will be amazed if there aren’t KPIs around this for Hart too…amazed.

I'm sure the KPI's from the accounts are not the only things he's targeted with. They're typically not. I'm just not convinced that the things he does as CEO will be a shedload different than any other business CEO...the way he does them might.

[dave the minion]

The narrative in the annual accounts - including the KPIs - are largely meaningless statements that have to be put in to meet the requirements of said accounts. They tend to be bland statements to achieve the bare minimum that the auditors will accept in signing the accounts.

I wouldn't pay any attention to them

(said as a career preparer of statutory accounts!!)

[Worthy4England]

The narrative in the annual accounts - including the KPIs - are largely meaningless statements that have to be put in to meet the requirements of said accounts. They tend to be bland statements to achieve the bare minimum that the auditors will accept in signing the accounts.

I wouldn't pay any attention to them

(said as a career preparer of statutory accounts!!)

Don't disagree mate. As I said, sure there are lots of things any CEO is targeted with, below what's put in there. But whatever is underpinning them generally impacts one or more of them...they're generally "improve revenue" or "decrease/control costs" and everything spins off those two. If we had for example "increase community engagement by "measure X" they might spend some budgeted cash on it, but the desired outcome is likely to be to try and improve revenue...

[GhostoftheBok]

The business key performance indicators (which may have changed since last accounts) are little different than any other business, other than the badge they have...Season Ticket sales, attendance levels, revenue, staff costs, cash lost on operating activities....

FV have stated many times on their belief that the club should form a central community hub and play a vital community role. I will be amazed if there aren’t KPIs around this for Hart too…amazed.

I'm sure the KPI's from the accounts are not the only things he's targeted with. They're typically not. I'm just not convinced that the things he does as CEO will be a shedload different than any other business CEO...the way he does them might.

FV's stated beliefs are arguably less important than the actions the club takes.

Have we seen a meaningful shift in the club's community role? They've been here a while now.

[Worthy4England]

The business key performance indicators (which may have changed since last accounts) are little different than any other business, other than the badge they have...Season Ticket sales, attendance levels, revenue, staff costs, cash lost on operating activities....

FV have stated many times on their belief that the club should form a central community hub and play a vital community role. I will be amazed if there aren’t KPIs around this for Hart too…amazed.

I'm sure the KPI's from the accounts are not the only things he's targeted with. They're typically not. I'm just not convinced that the things he does as CEO will be a shedload different than any other business CEO...the way he does them might.

FV's stated beliefs are arguably less important than the actions the club takes.

Have we seen a meaningful shift in the club's community role? They've been here a while now.

I think there are a couple of things that seem to be more visible, one being the BWITC stuff and the other being that they've listed the stadium as an asset of community value...I think the latter is quite a shift, as I believe which Anderson contested during take-over. I understand some of the pre-match has been improved, but I tend to arrive 2 mins prior to KO, so haven't yet sampled it for myself

[GhostoftheBok]

I think there are a couple of things that seem to be more visible, one being the BWITC stuff and the other being that they've listed the stadium as an asset of community value...I think the latter is quite a shift, as I believe which Anderson contested during take-over. I understand some of the pre-match has been improved, but I tend to arrive 2 mins prior to KO, so haven't yet sampled it for myself

I live out of town these days, so it's hard for me to judge their community stuff. After 3 years and change it's either there or it isn't. There's only so much talk that matters.

The asset of community value aspect is, to my eye, less meaningful than the BWITC. Unless the regs have changed recently I think the listing period covers 5 years and has a 6 month delay in terms of allowing a community bid. FV's investment timeline is longer term than Anderson's was, so an initial listing is largely meaningless. I may have missed something there, though.

The schools tickets initiative is good, but I expected it 3 years ago as it is essentially free for the club to do. If BWITC is now getting more funding and is thus more active, great. The club doesn't seem (from limited) visits to be more visible in town, which concerns me. From asking (friends, on here, on social etc) it doesn't seem that people in Bolton feel the clubs is an everyday , visible part of life.

So I do have concerns. My view hasn't really changed for 15-20 years, to be honest. The community role of the club has always looked like an afterthought. The last thing funded and the first thing cut. If that is genuinely changing under FV, great. I welcome it.

[Worthy4England]

I think there are a couple of things that seem to be more visible, one being the BWITC stuff and the other being that they've listed the stadium as an asset of community value...I think the latter is quite a shift, as I believe which Anderson contested during take-over. I understand some of the pre-match has been improved, but I tend to arrive 2 mins prior to KO, so haven't yet sampled it for myself

I live out of town these days, so it's hard for me to judge their community stuff. After 3 years and change it's either there or it isn't. There's only so much talk that matters.

The asset of community value aspect is, to my eye, less meaningful than the BWITC. Unless the regs have changed recently I think the listing period covers 5 years and has a 6 month delay in terms of allowing a community bid. FV's investment timeline is longer term than Anderson's was, so an initial listing is largely meaningless. I may have missed something there, though.

The schools tickets initiative is good, but I expected it 3 years ago as it is essentially free for the club to do. If BWITC is now getting more funding and is thus more active, great. The club doesn't seem (from limited) visits to be more visible in town, which concerns me. From asking (friends, on here, on social etc) it doesn't seem that people in Bolton feel the clubs is an everyday , visible part of life.

So I do have concerns. My view hasn't really changed for 15-20 years, to be honest. The community role of the club has always looked like an afterthought. The last thing funded and the first thing cut. If that is genuinely changing under FV, great. I welcome it.

We've had three years and change, with COVID starting early 2020 and running until early 2022. I'm fairly sure that will have had an impact on what we pay who and when for the outstanding charges against the club...The charge that Warby had on us, for example, (which was £3m+) was settled just before Christmas...I'll start to judge them, when we've paid most stuff off (or replaced it by "new debt"). I don't think we're at that point yet.

[GhostoftheBok]

We've had three years and change, with COVID starting early 2020 and running until early 2022. I'm fairly sure that will have had an impact on what we pay who and when for the outstanding charges against the club...The charge that Warby had on us, for example, (which was £3m+) was settled just before Christmas...I'll start to judge them, when we've paid most stuff off (or replaced it by "new debt"). I don't think we're at that point yet.

My view is that the community side of thing is the easiest and cheapest part of any football club to fix. The business benefits are long term, but the fixes can be worked very quickly. As shown recently by Leeds and other clubs.

I take your point about debt, but as I said before - last invested in and first cut.

Every year you ignore youth outreach, for example, you lose hundreds of fans over the course of the next 60 years.

Maybe Covid has delayed things and we will see rapid escalation from the club going forward. We'll see.

[Worthy4England]

We've had three years and change, with COVID starting early 2020 and running until early 2022. I'm fairly sure that will have had an impact on what we pay who and when for the outstanding charges against the club...The charge that Warby had on us, for example, (which was £3m+) was settled just before Christmas...I'll start to judge them, when we've paid most stuff off (or replaced it by "new debt"). I don't think we're at that point yet.

My view is that the community side of thing is the easiest and cheapest part of any football club to fix. The business benefits are long term, but the fixes can be worked very quickly. As shown recently by Leeds and other clubs.

I take your point about debt, but as I said before - last invested in and first cut.

Every year you ignore youth outreach, for example, you lose hundreds of fans over the course of the next 60 years.

Maybe Covid has delayed things and we will see rapid escalation from the club going forward. We'll see.

Do we (you ) have any numbers that validate how many long term fans youth outreach adds on?