Reply With QuoteYou’re right, however given he’s an intelligent guy he could have guessed some of the questions he was going to get, so why had he not done any prep?Originally Posted by TWGL1
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Knowing you’re going on a live Q&A, I’d like to think there’s a little bit of preparation. I’d also like to think he’d have a fair idea of what’s going to be asked (Bale, finances, Morison, plans, signings) and have some notes. He either didn’t bother or wasn’t that interested in doing the prep. His number of “don’t knows” tells me it was both.
FFS!
You’re right, however given he’s an intelligent guy he could have guessed some of the questions he was going to get, so why had he not done any prep?
That was very amateurish from the host and from Dalman - both of them were winging it - but worth watching all the same.
Some good stuff on Bale, on the club debt, on the role of the Transfer Committee, on the prospects of the club coming out the other side of Championship Austerity, on the job Morison has done, a bit on vision and strategy (and Dalman having a lower expectation for this season than Tan or the Board), and a few other issues.
There were too many 'don't knows' and some of the questions trailed on here never got asked, but overall a useful and sometimes informative session.
Nevertheless, it's strange that the chairman of a Championship football club has no idea how many season tickets have been sold on the eve of the new campaign. You'd think it's something that would have come up in conversation with the CEO and the owner.
He has a ticket office manager for that …. And the club announced a few weeks ago that the sales had passed 13,000 in a press release.
I’m sure on the back of this “interview” the ticket office will release the latest figure shortly.
Question: "Lots of former City players have said on other podcasts that the owner interferes with tactics and team selections. Is that true?"
Dalman (laughing): "Um, it's very warm here, what's the weather like there?"
Makes you wonder whether this whole new system is Tan thinking we can be continental world beaters.Question: "Lots of former City players have said on other podcasts that the owner interferes with tactics and team selections. Is that true?"
Dalman (laughing): "Um, it's very warm here, what's the weather like there?"
Be interesting to know whether he does still interfere, and if so, how much.
That's a "gotchyer" if ever there was.Question: "Lots of former City players have said on other podcasts that the owner interferes with tactics and team selections. Is that true?"
Dalman (laughing): "Um, it's very warm here, what's the weather like there?"
I also thought it was interesting that there were apparently players signed in the past who the manager didn't want (Dalman suggested that happened during the Mackay era) and there were players among the batch that have recently left that the club wanted to keep but who wouldn't take pay cuts to stay. I wonder who they were? Smithies maybe? Flint?
I'm 100% certain he has in the past, but I doubt it's happened for some time.
You’re missing the point, I don’t expect him to do the legwork, but if you’re being interviewed on the eve of the new season surely you would ask your heads of department for all the relevant figures beforehand. I wouldn’t dream about attending any meeting without knowing my numbers, whether I pulled them or got a report to put them together.
Has a phone call every morning with Ken Choo, mainly talking about financials.
Doesn't know how many season tickets we've sold.
Make it make sense.
I can't understand why people are getting so exercised about how many season tickets the club has sold.
what difference does it make to anyone whether it's 14,000 or 14,500 or whatever ?
Do people not buy one until they know they are going to be one of a group of 15,000 or what?
It's nonsense. Who cares and more importantly why? Why is it so important? If you don't like the answer there is nothing you me or the club can do about it.
No, its because the nit pickers, who have nothing better to do but criticise, can find little else to go on about currently so hang their hats on the fact that the chairman doesn't know an irrelevant number and the club hasn't released an updated figure for a couple of weeks. Its pathetic, it really is.
It's because I want our chairman to be good at his job. Crazy, I know.
It is clearly not an irrelevant number. If it was the club wouldn't bother issuing Season Ticket sales updates periodically. It is important as a measure of guaranteed income and an indicator of season attendances (granted ST holders sometimes go missing).
But the main reason most have commented is because Dalman and Choo have a daily phone discussion about mainly club financial matters. Dalman gave an example of what they covered (transfer and agent fees and wage offers). It is just surprising if ST sales progress is not part of that conversation. It is also a question Dalman should have anticipated and asked for a latest number.
It is not a big deal, but it illustrates the distance Dalman is from some of the key financial and operational detail around the club. But he was pretty informative on the overall club debt and the reduced monthly cost base and losses (although I would have liked a new number to replace the £3m pm loss - to have a better idea of how close the club is to sustainability through all the recent changes).
Was it recorded ? Can you watch it today?
It's not irrelevant though - say for example sales were down on last year surely as part of good comms he would want to be offering information on what plans they have to attract new customers in, that not only swell the coffers but create a much needed atmosphere than playing in a half empty stadium
For example I already have a season ticket but I get endless emails telling me they are available it would be good to know if that is a wider marketing campaign than just existing customers
Not sure it is too much to ask and even be incentivised to get new people in etc.
Exercise is good for you.
Plenty of fans are interested in the number of season tickets their club has sold, which is far from outrageous. And many fans would expect the chairman of the club to know approximately how many season tickets have been sold.
I’ve either interviewed or spoken at length to four previous Cardiff City chairmen while they were at the club. I can guarantee you that all of them would have known approximately how many season tickets the club had sold. Peter Ridsdale would probably have known the number to the nearest fifty, such was his hands-on approach to running the club.
The fact that Mehmet Dalman has openly admitted he has no idea how many season tickets the club have sold gives an indication of how CCFC is being run at present. The owner’s in Malaysia, the chairman’s in Monaco and the CEO spends much of his time in London. There was a definite sense during last night’s podcast that Cardiff City Football Club is a side venture for all of them.
You have to watch it to see how bizarre the response was. Nobody expects him to have an up to date exact number necessarily but to be so clear he has no idea at all was very strange.
As others have said the club issued an update not so long ago so even if he had just referred to that that would have been fine. But as he said he had "no idea, i genuinely dont know". It's just odd to have no idea at all?
Exactly. As if it doesn't even interest him!
Yes if he didnt know he didnt even take the opportunity to spin it and say about increasing match day sales or how important the current fans are or how aware the club are of the cost of living crisis or the impact of covid or even how shit the football has been. Just "no idea i really dont know"
It’s not his job to know how many season tickets are sold , but he can find out with a text as he alluded to.
The important item is the amount of debt is owed to other creditors which is fairly low in comparison to the overall £130m. That’s his concern. The outcome of the CAS case is key.
When you think about it like that, it is indeed worrying.
I'd love to hear Borley's take on how things are at present but I doubt he'd want to say too much, given his position and involvement with them all.
I find it interesting that Dalman states around £125mil debt as well, while also stating that we're running an operating loss of £36mil per annum.
Was nobody else a bit concerned by this?
I understand him saying that Tan's turning debt to equity etc, but that's still a huge annual loss that seemingly isn't being addressed much.
Let's hope some of these player's we've signed are worth a pretty penny come the end of the season!
He seemed to use ‘I don’t know’…’I genuinely don’t know’ as an answer to sort of portray ‘Look how honest I am’. Not really good enough is it. In my job I’d imagine potential customers would go elsewhere if I answered ‘I don’t know’ to many of their questions.
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