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61
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The Hotel End / Other Football & Sport / Euro 2020
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on: June 10, 2021, 21:39:59 pm
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It's been a year but The Euros are finally here and Italy face Turkey in the first game tomorrow night. Who's looking forward to Euro 2020 and how far will England go? For me, it's coming home...  |
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62
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Listen to the It's All Cobblers To Me podcast
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on: June 04, 2021, 17:39:35 pm
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Just wanted to say great job by all involved in the pod, I started to listen to it for the first time this season and now it has become a weekly listen for me. Thumbs up in particular for the Bayo awards, a very funny show!
Thanks OCoole. That’s really great to hear. I hope you enjoy our offering for the Euros just as much.  |
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65
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Redevelopment Closer Than Ever?
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on: May 25, 2021, 10:06:39 am
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Thanks for the reply, IMHO the club are in real danger as things stand, would you not consider at least getting more involved with the Trust? We are all talking about the trust as some foreign entity, it exists to protect NTFC and right now it needs all the support it can get from its supporters, the fan base needs galvanising and for sure social media is the conduit for this.
I fully appreciate you don’t enjoy it but if we don’t act I think we could be without a club and are in far more danger than is visible.
I appreciate what you are saying Manny but it isn't for me I'm afraid. As well as the two reasons I gave in my first reply, I simply don't have the time. Sh1t excuse I know but I'm already stretched as it is with everything I do. For me to get involved with the Trust, firstly they would have to allow me to never attend meetings as I live too far away to get to them in person and secondly, I would have to give up some of my other responsibilities which I'm not currently prepared to do. Personally I don't share your opinion that the club is in real danger. While they may not have the financial clout to take us to the top of League One, I don't believe that they would simply walk away and stop paying the bills. If they were going to do that, they probably would have done it before they racked up half the amount shown as debt in the club accounts. Of course I may well be wrong but I haven't seen anything to suggest that it will happen. Yes, I want the East Stand debacle to be over and put the question of "why won't you finish it?" to the Chairman at every opportunity. But I also don't want the size of the debt to the owners to increase further. I can't have it both ways so I won't often get involved with the discussion. Although I guess I just have. Oops! |
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67
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Redevelopment Closer Than Ever?
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on: May 25, 2021, 07:41:38 am
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I think you’ve raised some really good points, what springs to mind for me is why don’t you help the Trust out with their social media output? If you want what’s best for NTFC then it’s a no brainier.
You could act as a consultant at the very least?
The majority of what I said last night I have said in conversations with Andy Roberts previously. I’m not taking the credit here but the Trust started posting its links in the Facebook groups after a phone call between Andy and I where we talked about going to your audience instead of expecting them to come to you. This was in relation to the message board they had setup on their own website. I personally wouldn’t manage their social media for them for a couple of reasons. Firstly because that isn’t what I do or enjoy. I understand the principles of how to do it in a way that will increase engagement and have, and will, always been happy to pass that on to them. Secondly, over the last few years I have not agreed with the Trust’s position. I am one of the people that they need to win back. I’m not in the position to therefore champion them. |
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68
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Redevelopment Closer Than Ever?
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on: May 24, 2021, 21:58:20 pm
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Thanks for your response and firstly I apologise for any offence caused, if there was any! "Factions" was perhaps not the right word to use, but I can see by the differing FB groups for example that certain names are aligned to and regular post in one but not others....I guess "fragmented" would be a better word. There are a large number of posters from this site who now no longer post on here but are active in other places.
I do see other clubs with more joined up social media fan participation than ours!
I honestly believe that people are aware of the Trust...the links I have posted above to the recent survey brought in 888 responses, now that more than the toal membership of the Trust so there must be some awareness outside of the current membership purely based on those figures.
I know we (The Trust) have a lot to do and yes, you're right, we definitely need to do more to engage with the younger generation. As I have previously said we have talked about and are hoping to offer free or at least discounted membership for under 25's next year, the Trusts 30th anniversary year and the Clubs 125th.
I will at this point I don't tweet....tried it and never got along with Twitter so have never been active on that front.....sorry, its just not for everyone! I do know though that other board members do pick up on tweets, one of them mentions them on a daily basis in our Whatsapp group. I will do my bit on here to engage, and perhaps be more active on some of the FB groups of which I am a member.
Again, apologies for my choice of wording....no offence meant.....and keep up your good work and all the good things you do in the name of NTFC.
No offence taken and perhaps you are right that the social media is more widely spread than with some other clubs. It’s good that social posts are being noticed by Trust board members but talking about them in a private WhatsApp group isn’t engaging with the conversation. Do you all have access to the Facebook and Twitter accounts? Or is it one person acting as the social media manager? I appreciate not all social channels are for all people. Twitter can be a right old tw4t at times! |
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69
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Redevelopment Closer Than Ever?
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on: May 24, 2021, 21:51:53 pm
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I'd be interested to know since you are a life member of the Trust, if you thought about providing these podcasts from under the umbrella of the Trust? I would add that I have no idea of the commercial implications of doing so.
Hi CJ, When I first started the podcast I spoke to Andy Roberts and said I’d be happy to tell our listeners about what was happening with the Trust and when it is relevant we do talk what they’re doing. It isn’t something I would consider doing, making the podcast a part of the Trust. As I said, I didn’t set it up to rival any other thing. There was a gap in the market at the time where the only Cobblers content came from the BBC, the Chron and the club itself. There wasn’t anywhere sharing the fan opinion that could say “we’re sh1t” without reprisal. If it were to become a marketing tool for an entity other than my own business (I’m a freelance podcast producer), it wouldn’t be mine anymore. Having said that, I’d be happy to have people from the Trust on as a guest whenever there is a reason to. |
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70
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Redevelopment Closer Than Ever?
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on: May 24, 2021, 21:27:00 pm
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our vocal support base is spread thinly across The Shoe Army, pro-Trust, anti-Trust, Sixfields Travel Group, the podcast group and others besides. There is no collective view as there are all these different factions who don't seem to get on with each other due to past incidents.
Can you leave us out of this please. I'm sick of seeing people say the podcast is some sort of rival to the Supporters Trust. IT IS NOT. It is simply a conduit for me and my friends to talk about the club we support. I'm not looking to galvanise a following and march on the offices at Sixfields. The only people that I see talking about these different entities as "factions" are the ones creating them. I doubt any of them were ever set up to rival the Supporters Trust but it is my opinion and belief that the Trust could learn a lot from them. I certainly didn't sit down and say I'll create the podcast to become the new representatives of the supporters to the football club. I have my views, as a life member, of the Trust and have shared those opinions on the podcast in the past as is my right. Anyone that has ever actually listened to me when I've done so, will hear me say that all I want is for the Trust to be the best it can be. GPC, I welcome you answering questions and chatting to other posters on here with your Trust Board Member hat on. It is a positive step forward in my opinion. Yes, communication is a two-way street but if no one is aware of you, what you're doing and how to communicate with you it simply won't happen. Posting a link to the latest Trust update on the different Facebook groups is good but it isn't enough. The way social media works is that you have to hang around and chat casually with the people you want to reach. This means joining in with the conversation started by other posters. People get to know you (or in this case The Trust) and start to see what you're about. Then you can say "oh by the way, here's a thing from us. If you have any questions then please do ask." People will already know that you'll respond to them because you do on posts not started by yourself. And yes, I know you're all volunteers but it doesn't take any more time to login to the Trust's twitter account and reply to a few conversations being had by other Cobblers fans. A simple tweet in reply to a club tweet would put you into the conversation. One of the things I really would love to see the Trust do is engage with the younger generations of Cobblers fans. There are plenty of them out there doing great things. The YouTube guys of Matt and Will, Luke Thoday who recently designed and had the flag made in memory of Lee Collins. These are the type of people the Trust want to be engaging with and finding out what they want from their football club. If Luke can raise over £200 in the space of a couple of hours for a flag, imagine what else he can do. As always, I'm happy to chat about this, the podcast or anything that anyone would like to talk about. All I want is for NTFC to be successful. |
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74
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Simon Tracey & Dan Watson
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on: May 10, 2021, 13:21:06 pm
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It will depend on who will have them Melly. You've got to remember that these are young boys, some of which may not have a driving licence yet. It's unlikely that they'll be willing to move too far and there is also the thing of most non-league sides are part time. Our youngsters probably remain training with the youth team on the days when their senior, loan team don't.
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76
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Simon Tracey & Dan Watson
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on: May 08, 2021, 14:59:50 pm
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Over the last couple of years we have seen a number of promising young players be offered pro terms. Some of those went on to make appearances for the first team, only for them to be released at the end of their contract.
Jay Williams is a prime example. A lot of fans felt he would go on to become a good player for us. But he then gets released.
We all know that the club aren't made of money and so the playing budget has to be used wisely. There is no room to give these youngsters enough time to prove themselves. With an under 23's or similar, we would be able to give these players more time to make the step up to the first team.
Sean McWilliams only managed to break through because the then chairman gave extra money, outside of the playing budget, to keep him at the club.
I doubt the club have the budget to create this step but without it I don't see how we will see improvements to the play pathway that will see more players breaking through to the first team and then staying in it.
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78
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The Hotel End / Cobblers Corner / Re: Simon Tracey & Dan Watson
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on: May 06, 2021, 15:02:19 pm
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Is the issue really the differences in style of play between academy and first team or that there isn’t a Under 23’s or reserve team anymore to allow a better transition from youth to first team?
Sunderland are looking at Johnstone and the other young lad for their Under 23’s NOT their first team.
Arguably the Cobblers don’t have room in the first team budget to give all our promising youngsters pro deals. While clubs like Sunderland and Cardiff, who do have that transition system set up, as well as a larger budget, are able to take more risks and give young players more time to develop.
Just a thought that there is more to it than just who is in charge of the first team and recruitment.
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