By Monkey1
June 17 2004

On 14th June, our very own Monkey1 met with Mick Hogan at Kingston Park for the first in a series of updates from the club. Thanks to both guys for taking time out for us. A poll was posted on the message board for questions to put to Mick Hogan concerning topics of interest that do not warrant a news article from the club. Mick was more than happy to spend some time for a chat, even though he was moving house that day and was supposed to be helping at home.

If this proves to be popular item we will make it a regular feature including team news during the season from Rob Andrew, Ross Nesdale, and of course Blackie.

Progress on the East Stand

The East stand will be fitted out with covered terracing, as this was one of the main requests from the supporters. The design and planning permission are all in place and the club was hoping to spring a surprise and have it completed for the beginning of next season. As always happens when a lot of outside factors are involved, there have been delays, but it is still on target for the original schedule to start work in September, and be in use early in the new year. The main structure will be pre-constructed off-site so there will be the minimum of disruption during the season. The current seating & terracing will be out of use until completion.

There is still some confusion about what is required to increase the allowed capacity of the ground above 10,000, so until this is resolved with Newcastle City Council this safety limit will remain in place.

The pricing for the new East stand terracing is expected to be the same as for the South stand, and season ticket holders will be able to apply to move to the East stand when it becomes available. New safety regulations require capacity limits for each stand, so tickets for the South stand will not admit you into the East stand during the game, or vice versa.

Family tickets

The current method of offering junior tickets is through the Flock scheme, one junior per paying adult at terrace or seated. This was introduced when the previous combined family ticket was dropped a couple of years ago due to a lack of interest. The Flock is the second biggest junior fan club in the league with over 600 members. Of these, between 1000 regularly take advantage of the reduced price tickets, a lot more than used the family deals.

Most other clubs that offer a family ticket are either all seated, or have an area that can be designated a family area. This is not really practical at Kingston Park at present, and the priority is to get the East stand terracing up & running. The next phase of expansion will be to convert the North stand to covered seating. When this is completed the club will try offering a family package again, and hopefully it will prove to be more popular when there is a properly designated family enclosure.

Pre-match entertainment

The announcer from last season who has been the source of many a complaint has gone. Mick refused to elaborate on whether he was executed or not, but he had the look of a man who has seen the corpse taken away from the dungeon.

For next season we can look forward to a female rugby playing professional radio announcer. Mick gave no name so you can all start guessing.

There will be a new p.a. system to cure the problem that some people were being deafened by loud music, but others could barely hear the announcements. There will be no Northumbrian piper, and no Falconettes.

The club does listen to comments from the supporters, and the most popular request they have heard for pre-match entertainment is for a bit of music, not too loud, while people mill about, chat to friends, and find their way to their seats. Ballroom dancing, fireworks, or juggling clowns are not really wanted.

The commentary will fire up for Flash coming on, any news and team announcements, then straight into the game. 

Kick off time

The popular vote for kick off time is for 3.00 until the clocks change, and 2.30 during the winter, and except for any start times dictated by television coverage, these times will be used. Even with a 2.30 kick off, it is still getting a bit dark by the end of the game during December and January, and the floodlights are not really up to the job, so new ones are being installed.

Backs coach

There are no plans for a specific backs coach. Rob Andrew is not a backs coach, he oversees all coaching. The role is covered by a combination of Academy coaches, experienced players, and specialist coaches who are brought in to deal with particular problems.

The team and coaches do not consider that a backs coach is either wanted or warranted in the same way as a forwards coach.

Every club develops it’s own coaching structure, and a backs coach is not viewed as a good investment by the Falcons compared to buying in more specialised coaching as required. The salary cap is also an issue as coaches are included. Some other clubs (mentioning no names) are reducing their coaching staff and using specialists as the pressures of the game dictate larger squads.

The Falcons structure is DOR - Head Coach (Ross) and Conditioning/Strength Coach (Blackie).

Ireland games

Full details of the Ireland games will be published within a few days of this article being posted. Everything is pretty much sorted out, only details of kick off times etc. to finalise. The first game will be against Connacht on 17^th August at Galway, and the second against Munster on 23^rd August at Limerick. 

On-line ticket sales

On-line ticket sales will be up and running by the beginning of next season. There is also a new CRM (customer relations management) system, all linked in with other changes to the computerised gizmos that hum away at Kingston Park. In a nutshell, this little lot should end the problems of non returned calls (the previous system relied on post-it notes) and enable all sorts of wonders. During the season there will be regular news letters by e.mail every 2 weeks for season ticket holders, and these can be directed to a friend or relative for anyone without convenient access to an e-mail facility.

The shop will have a fully functioning on-line shopping facility, with purchases either posted out or collected from the shop. The shop will be 6 times bigger to put an end to those queues on match days.

Ticket availability

Making all tickets available at the start of the season is possible but has some difficulties. Kick off times, or even dates, can change once the season is under way. The club has decided that the best way is to make tickets available as soon as they are as certain as possible that the details will not change. This will typically mean availability about 3 months before the games, and they will release blocks of 3 to 4 games at a time, so that people can sort out their tickets for a few games in one go. The ticket price is the price you pay, and there will be no handling or postage charges.

The allocation of international tickets is also to be improved. A lot of clubs use their entire allocation for the club and sponsors. Mick has included strict ticket limitations in the sponsor contracts, to free up as many as possible for the supporters. These will be allocated using a totally transparent draw.

Pitch protector

The existing pitch protector is able to keep the pitch in playable condition, even during the most extreme frost conditions. The ground staff keep a close watch on the weather all year round, and as long as they cover the pitch before a hard frost is allowed to set in it will do the job. Managing the pitch condition is something of a black art. If it is covered for too long the grass will suffer, if it is covered too late after a frost, or allowed to get too wet before a frost, it will also suffer. The protector is not the real issue here, it is how it is used that is important. Have faith in the ground staff.

Feedback on season ticket sales

I was hoping that Mick could reel of a load of statistics on what the trends were following the restructuring of tickets, but instead I got the feeling that he was hoping that I could tell him. The new software package could probably produce all of this in nice pie graphs if it had been in use last year. At this point I started thinking of Reginald Perrin and the computer statistics at Sunshine Desserts.

What is known is that season ticket sales have exceeded all expectations. Total sales for the whole of last year, including half season tickets were 2,239. This year the 2,000 barrier was passed a couple of weeks ago. Renewals are very high with a lot of people choosing to retain their positions wherever they are. The trend for those moving seats is more upgrading than downgrading, hence the quick sell out of the best centre seats. This begs the question, why did these people not move to these seats last year? It was possible to move seats part way through the season, yet some of the best seats were not taken up. We will probably never know.

The most important result of all this is that season ticket revenue is already up 160% on last season. This has enabled the immediate employment of 2 more staff directly related to supporting the supporters. We now have a dedicated person to deal with all ticket related matters, lost tickets, moving from one stand to another, making sure that new tickets are dealt with correctly and promptly. Next time you treat your season ticket to a hot wash, conditioner and spin cycle, there will be someone to sort out the mess for you.

The other new post is in marketing & communications. Combined with the other new signing, Mark Smith, the new Media Manager, the quality and quantity of information and news about the Falcons will be much better. 

New kit

Just to prove that he does read our message board, Mick then pointed out that the questions on the new kit needed answering.

There will be a new home shirt for next season as the sponsorship has been jigged around, and it will remain unchanged for at least 2 seasons. There will also be a new training shirt. The away shirt remains unchanged for next season. The new home & training shirts will be available from mid August to allow time to build up some stock.

Everyone was taken by surprise last season as the shirts were sold as quickly as they were made. The Falcons home shirt was the third biggest seller in the premiership last season, and for those of you who like statistics, the Falcons site was the second most visited. Not bad for a little club like ours.  

And finally...

I spent quite a long time talking through this little lot with Mick, so what impressions did I come away with.

Well, of the man himself, he seemed if anything a bit understated, not at all what I am used to from marketing people. He is certainly no spin meister who takes control of the conversation and turns it around, in fact he is quite the opposite. Ask him a question and you get a direct answer.

As for an impression of the club from within. A lot of Mick’s comments on the ground, sponsorship, the squad, referred to two years or even longer. All of the developments referred to in this article are happening right now, but again there were references to the longer term, and constant references to investment. This is not a club on a spending spree, this is a club investing for the future.

Most telling of all, I have never ever heard the salary cap being applied to the Falcons before except in humour. It may be a little late for Rob Andrew to go shopping for a basket load of top internationals for this season, but I came away with the distinct impression that this season is only a stepping stone, and that they are looking beyond that horizon.