EFL Clubs meeting at Pride Park

[Animal is a Ram]

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/derby-county-hosting-meeting-of-efl-clubs-at-pride-park-to-discuss-mel-morris-plans/story-30032985-detail/story.html

Quote

 

Derby County are hosting a meeting of EFL clubs today (Thursday) to discuss some of issues recently raised by Mel Morris.

The Rams owner and chairman is unhappy with the league's current television rights deal and has called for more transparency after being denied access to the full details of the contract.

Morris is keen to explore more potential revenue opportunities that exist and will aim to demonstrate this in a mid-season friendly match against Leeds United in March.

He wrote a letter to all EFL clubs asking for their support and now representatives from the 72 sides are to meet at Pride Park.

Writing in a recent Rams match day programme, Derby chief executive Sam Rush said: "While it is usually transfer window shenanigans that occupy off-the-field activities and media 'speculation' at this time of year, the major focus in recent weeks has in fact been our work, led by chairman Mel Morris, with other Football League clubs in anticipation of all the clubs meeting here at Pride Park on 5th of January.

"We are expecting more than 100 attendees at the event and we have been struck by the strength of feeling about issues impacting the clubs throughout the three divisions of the Football League.

"Mel is passionate about ensuring that all 72 clubs together have an enhanced future and the upcoming meeting is a first important step in the right direction towards greater transparency and effectiveness."

 

Think its very impressive that we've every league club coming to Pride Park.

[DEL]

Well done Mel. ??

[ColonelBlimp]

2 minutes ago, Animal is a Ram said:

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/derby-county-hosting-meeting-of-efl-clubs-at-pride-park-to-discuss-mel-morris-plans/story-30032985-detail/story.html

Think its very impressive that we've every league club coming to Pride Park.

Doesn't say every league club is coming. It says 100 attendees

If that's 2 per club, Chairman/Chief Exec plus secretary say, then you're looking at 50 clubs. So 2/3rds I would say.

[Kennington Ram]

2 minutes ago, ColonelBlimp said:

Doesn't say every league club is coming. It says 100 attendees

If that's 2 per club, Chairman/Chief Exec plus secretary say, then you're looking at 50 clubs. So 2/3rds I would say.

Some clubs in Leagues One and Two would probably struggle to field two attendees I'd imagine...

[Animal is a Ram]

2 minutes ago, ColonelBlimp said:

Doesn't say every league club is coming. It says 100 attendees

If that's 2 per club, Chairman/Chief Exec plus secretary say, then you're looking at 50 clubs. So 2/3rds I would say.

"He wrote a letter to all EFL clubs asking for their support and now representatives from the 72 sides are to meet at Pride Park."

Would suggest all clubs are involved..

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

Who turns up from the Forest delegation? It might be another Kuwaiti bank holiday so Fawaz can't make the meeting, or sign off the sale of his club.

[mrdave85]

Good on Mel. I don't think being allowed permission to see the full details of a club you owned would sit right with most people. 

Fight the power Uncle Mel!

[LesterRam]

the disparity between the Premier League and Championship earnings is huge, come on Mel

[eddie]

15 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

Who turns up from the Forest delegation? It might be another Kuwaiti bank holiday so Fawaz can't make the meeting, or sign off the sale of his club.

Lansbury, silly. He can kill two brds with one stone.

[ossieram]

Can Fulham give Chris a lift back to Derby?

[EnigmaRam]

I wonder whether the Fulham contingent will consist of a certain wardrobe!! 

[robglosta]

What a hero

[Wolfie20]

2 hours ago, Animal is a Ram said:

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/derby-county-hosting-meeting-of-efl-clubs-at-pride-park-to-discuss-mel-morris-plans/story-30032985-detail/story.html

Think its very impressive that we've every league club coming to Pride Park.

Does that include Fulham or has their invite got lost in the post?

[Animal is a Ram]

3 minutes ago, Wolfie20 said:

Does that include Fulham or has their invite got lost in the post?

I believe Fulham's response to the invite was one of Chris Martin's toes and a ransom note made from magazine cuttings

[Tony Le Mesmer]

1 hour ago, LesterRam said:

the disparity between the Premier League and Championship earnings is huge, come on Mel

So is the one between the Championship and leagues 1 and 2.

It's all relative i guess but although I applaud Mel for taking action about something he feels strongly about, I hold a huge degree of scepticism that this is an altruistic campaign.

I don't know Mel and maybe am doing him a huge disservice but I guess I've just lost total faith in the integrity and intentions of most people nowadays. Especially in business.

IMO the best way to get increased TV revenue is to get promoted into the Premier League.

Would Mel be this persistent about such a cause if Derby WERE in the Prem and raking it in at the expense of Championship clubs scrambling to get a piece of the pie?

Again. I can't answer that as I don't know the man. In a perfect world I'd really like to think so.

I'm certainly watching with interest and at the very least you have to give Mel a massive amount of credit for rallying others and trying to get some action rather than the usual posting crap on social media channels moaning about stuff and doing bugger all about it which is seemingly what a significantly large proportion of society seem to be obsessed with doing.

Mel isn't happy and wants to do something constructive about the situation so whether it's purely for the benefit of himself / DCFC or for the benefit of others, you can't argue with that.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Forgot to say that IMO there are quite a few clubs in this country, especially in the lower leagues that operate appallingly. Their commercial activities are non existent and they basically just go through the motions relying on the core support to keep turning up, buying shirts and saying nothing.

I accept they have limited resources in terms of staffing and finance but some of them just never make the effort. They are businesses and the aim of a business is to bust your arse first of all trying to retain current customers (fans) and then simultaneously trying to attract new customers (fans). This way you maximise your income and chances of survival / success.

There are too many clubs out there, although entitled, that don't actually deserve people like Mel trying to help them because they cannot be arsed to even help themselves. Why should they benefit from money when there is absolutely zero chance that the fans of these clubs will benefit? It certainly won't be spent on improving the match day experience for ling suffering fans or cheaper / free tickets for kids and schools.

Take Torquay United. Just 4 years ago they had over 5 million pounds pumped into them by a old lady supporter who won the lottery. They were comfortable in league 2. A brand new grandstand was built at great cost which has now turned out to be a white elephant.

The board wasted the cash, they didn't need to bother with any sort of long term strategy, they didn't need to bother rewarding the fans with some of this money. Instead they pocketed some, spent the rest, somehow got the club into debt and relegated from the football league.

Then they all did a runner and pretty much left the old lady to face the media and try and make sense of the madness that millions of pounds invested into her beloved football club in the space of just two years was gone, along with TUFC as a league club and all of the energy and time she had invested in it.

The club were bought out the other day by property developers who held the club to ransom over an unpaid tiding loan obtained during further mismanagement. The same developers gave Hereford United a helping hand into oblivion a few years ago.

I could go on about York but I promised a certain poster I wouldn't.

I will though say that i used to sponsor a player and after repeated times myself having to contact the club to renew this sponsorship I just gave up and stopped. Not one call, email or anything to thank me for my sponsorship or encouraging me to renew. Sod them then.

All I'm saying is that for some of these lower league clubs they will be run appallingly and that is the reason why they are struggling on and off the pitch and maybe if they got their houses in order then perhaps they will achieve some success and then maybe get promoted and start enjoying the benefits.

Rochdale are a good example. Superb, friendly club run on monkey nuts but with a proud, passionate and proactive fanbase. They are in the pls off spots in league 1. Burton I've mentioned before. These clubs deserve extra financial support and incentives because they make the effort to get it right. They don't just sit back on there arses expecting the hardcore fans to keep shelling out regardless. They have ideas, courtesy, professionalism, pride and plans.

Yeovil Town another great example more recently after listening to fans and taking action on things that can bring them and the club together and improve things for fans and reward them.

I dare say there will be more than a handful of representatives from lower league clubs at this meeting purely there for themselves. The supporters won't benefit and won't even be given a second thought - even if the club were getting 2 million a year tv rights.

Apologies.

Rant there. Just annoys the bejesus out of me the sympathy for some of these league clubs. Many fully deserve more but many are small because they think small, act small and have smallminded chairmen. Not because they have a small fan base.

[LesterRam]

31 minutes ago, Tony Le Mesmer said:

So is the one between the Championship and leagues 1 and 2.

It's all relative i guess but although I applaud Mel for taking action about something he feels strongly about, I hold a huge degree of scepticism that this is an altruistic campaign.

I don't know Mel and maybe am doing him a huge disservice but I guess I've just lost total faith in the integrity and intentions of most people nowadays. Especially in business.

IMO the best way to get increased TV revenue is to get promoted into the Premier League.

Would Mel be this persistent about such a cause if Derby WERE in the Prem and raking it in at the expense of Championship clubs scrambling to get a piece of the pie?

Again. I can't answer that as I don't know the man. In a perfect world I'd really like to think so.

I'm certainly watching with interest and at the very least you have to give Mel a massive amount of credit for rallying others and trying to get some action rather than the usual posting crap on social media channels moaning about stuff and doing bugger all about it which is seemingly what a significantly large proportion of society seem to be obsessed with doing.

Mel isn't happy and wants to do something constructive about the situation so whether it's purely for the benefit of himself / DCFC or for the benefit of others, you can't argue with that.

yes your right, are lower league teams shown on TV though, isn't it about receiving a better slice of TV revenue or is this a different matter, too many lower league sides are suffering financially whilst we have the polar opposite of teams in the Prem who buy £40m players and they don't even manage to make the bench, we do need a better distribution of wealth, like life

[whiteroseram]

Based on the survey (pinned post) it seems Mel and others have recognised other ways of packaging up the live rights. For example it hints towards live streaming of all clubs matches, maybe on a subscription basis (similar to RamsPlayer, which is also to some extent run by the league). 

Obvious disadvantage is possible decrease in attendances but i think the logic is it would allow all 72 clubs package up and sell their own matches to their fans, so you could have 36 matches showing live on some medium or another and bringing in revenue, rather than a few. It'd also allow clubs to advertise on there to their own fans (offers, half-season tickets etc) increasing revenue in other areas too. So I can see the logic in investigating the numbers seeing as that's the way the world is going.

Obviously this is where the issue comes up that Mel and others have publicly been fighting which is they're not allowed to know what deal they've been signed up to! How can that even happen? If it's truly the best deal then wouldn't the EFL be keen to show Mel and Leeds who've acted up just how good it is? Always worrying when an organisation refuses to be transparent, it's tempting to imply that news international and the football league aren't acting with 100% integrity.........anyone know a good defence attorney? 
 

[Boycie]

I agree,

but wonder if there's any sausage in the brunch menu?

[ilkleyram]

26 minutes ago, Tony Le Mesmer said:

So is the one between the Championship and leagues 1 and 2.

It's all relative i guess but although I applaud Mel for taking action about something he feels strongly about, I hold a huge degree of scepticism that this is an altruistic campaign.

I don't know Mel and maybe am doing him a huge disservice but I guess I've just lost total faith in the integrity and intentions of most people nowadays. Especially in business.

IMO the best way to get increased TV revenue is to get promoted into the Premier League.

Would Mel be this persistent about such a cause if Derby WERE in the Prem and raking it in at the expense of Championship clubs scrambling to get a piece of the pie?

Again. I can't answer that as I don't know the man. In a perfect world I'd really like to think so.

I'm certainly watching with interest and at the very least you have to give Mel a massive amount of credit for rallying others and trying to get some action rather than the usual posting crap on social media channels moaning about stuff and doing bugger all about it which is seemingly what a significantly large proportion of society seem to be obsessed with doing.

Mel isn't happy and wants to do something constructive about the situation so whether it's purely for the benefit of himself / DCFC or for the benefit of others, you can't argue with that.

If we were in the EPL Tony I think that in fairness Mel wouldn't be able to call clubs together from the Football League. He can only do so because we are one of the 72.

As we are one of the bigger clubs in the FL Mel undoubtedly has some parochial reasons to be interested in TV money and contracts, just as the larger clubs in the EPL have used their influence to get bigger shares of the Sky money on offer there. And it's this element that probably worries me the most - will possible changes lead to the rich getting richer?

The FL, and eventually the TV people, are not going to want the details of their contract to be common knowledge. Neither will they want the elements they topslice to be reduced. But most of all they will want to maintain the principle that all the clubs are sharing the benefits, if not completely equally then certainly not from the smaller  clubs suffering at the hands of the bigger. 

There will be other elements no doubt - can Rams TV show live games on a pay per view, for example (I wonder if they will do that for the Leeds friendly to test the market) - and on those issues I would say that Mel should push his arguments hard.