Does Walsall FC have an identity crisis?

All About Walsall
#1

The commercial operations have always been pretty poor in my opinion, they just seem completely out of touch with the fanbase. Two examples: if you call a Walsall resident a Brummie, they get offended, yet in our own stadium we have Birmingham: The Events Venue. We have a rivalry with Wolves - yet our away end is plastered with adverts for the University of Wolverhampton. Could you imagine Sunderland having the University of Newcastle advertised anywhere in their stadium?

Its uncertain times at the football club, I think we need our identity and sense of community back. Despite Bonser leaving, the operations at our Football Club still leave a lot to be desired. Small changes similar to what I mentioned about the goal music, are easily implemented.

My main point - what exactly are those 2 goons doing other than running the operations exactly the same as they were under Jeff?! They should be having weekly meetings on how to improve things at the football club and nothing is actually being done.

Leigh mate, you seem a nice bloke, but it’s either time to put a rocket up Gambles and Mole’s backside, or P45 time and get some fresh eyes and ideas in.

#2

I think that’s exactly why we need to persist with red/white/green or white/red as our home kit to build an identity around and make ourselves different.

It might sound trivial, but symbolism like this helps build (or in our case, strengthen) a community.

There’s, of course, tons more they could do, but that would be one obvious one

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#3

In fairness the venue thing was done under Bonser and I think the Wolves Uni advertising was too.
Thing is, I don’t think Mole and Gamble are Walsall fans so they won’t get it in the same way. They look solely on if it can bring more money in and Wolves Uni probably paid more than any local Walsall company would have.

The same as their reasoning behind the venue Birmingham own goal. I don’t agree with it but can see why they did it. That isn’t them being ■■■■ at their jobs, if anything it would be them being good at it maybe.

I’m sure with more of a voice from Leigh Pomlett now though they’ll also be guided through the eyes of a Walsall fan. Combine the both and I think we’ll be all good.

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#4

Businesses spend millions on encouraging their customers to engage and provide feedback - and then acting on said feedback to improve customer experience and potentially aiding growth.

Those pair have this board and other sources full of worthwhile feedback, thoughts and complaints. AND its totally free! Yet here we are having the same conversations we were 4 and 5 years ago.

At what point do we have to say that there are better people out there for this role? The project managers I have encountered are proactive, hard working and full of ideas, I just don’t see it with them. Where’s the idea and initiatives - change the goal music!? Anything, please…

#5

The ‘Venue Birmingham‘ fiasco smacks of some marketing consultancy being asked to ‘widen’ the brand without considering the geography and history of the club and fan base. Sure the initial branding was gold and black, too. Bad decision and disappointing that it was okay’d by the Board.

More forgiving of the Wolverhampton Uni sponsorship. They have a significant campus and investment in the borough and you’d hope there is some kind of effort to get students at Gorway to attend matches. You’d also hope we get some access to the Performance Hub, especially while the training ground is twenty thousand leagues under the sea.

Also worth remembering that two big existing sponsors, Banks’s and Poundland, have HQs in WV postcodes.

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#6

A huge problem is the club does not take criticism well even when constructive.

They seem closed to ideas and lack any real innovation.

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#7

Think Walsall in general is off the radar nationally and Internationally. After all the IKea is classed as Birmingham. Worked in London in the 70’s and regularly had to explain it wasn’t part of Brum.

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#8

You make a good point. Walsall is a low profile town and has been for decades.You could go back to Victorian times when the town refused to have the main north -south railway line because of the effect on the saddlery trade!!! so other places grew quicker and had higher profiles.
The only reason Walsall is known by many people is because we have a League football team and I am in favour of anything that brings in money to sustain that. I cannot get worked up about the venue stuff and am pleased we get sponsorship from the University and have good links with them. Other than Homebase and Pound land they are probably one of the largest employers in the Town.

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#9

The issue I have here, is this year has been a customer-free year, the operations side has been significantly reduced. It’s free time, a perfect chance to get around a table or on a zoom call for regular ideation sessions on how to reconnect with the fanbase or just some fresh ideas. Reach out and talk to your customers, engage.

What are they doing?

Say, for example, tomorrow they came out and said ‘Birmingham: The Events Venue is no more, we feel it was connected to a former regime and it did not resonate with our fans?’ Easy enough to implement and we would all feel pretty good about it. Some aren’t bothered about this, but it’s clear that the majority are.

Can we do that, or is old Bonzo still there in the background protecting his own interests at Walsall FC? We still have no idea how things are set up, a lot more gassing from the chairman, but I am non the wiser whose fault this all is?

Anything good at Walsall comes from the fans themselves, such as ISSA’s fundraising and work at The Railway Club. I can’t think of A SINGLE thing in the last 10-15 years that those pair have brought, in the operations side, that we all consider to be a success. There is no excuse.

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#10

In all of your years of supporting the club, can you ever think of a time that they gave something back to the fans?

#11

The only thing I want from the Club is a good team playing attractive football and we haven’t had much of that over the last 15 years but I live in hope that things will change soon. Having said that the game has changed so much with more and more money being given to the top teams our task has got harder. I think the best I will see in my lifetime is a decent 3rd tier team. I would settle for that with a cup run or two thrown in!!!

#12

Absolutely and maybe what you highlight here really is the core issue, we simply give the fans nothing to shout about?

#13

I agree on the football front we have not done much for years.I go to matches to meet friends ,old and new for some banter and chat.Indeed some matches last year the banter took over as the matches were simply boring!

#14

I think its a valid point, am I starting this thread if we are running away with the league - probably not. Point is, we are a miles off even looking like promotion contenders.

We have suffered some horrendous ■■■■ on and off the pitch over the last 15 years, but 2 characters that have been pivotal in our catastrophic slide are still involved.

I also worry that we are not attracting enough new blood and I really don’t think we have a clue how to go about this. Bottom line; we need fresh impetus at Walsall FC, we can’t just keep doing what we have for the last 15 years, which is happening atm…

#15

I get what you’re saying Funky but you have to balance that aim alongside commercial realities.

I notice the venue is now branded as WFC The Venue, but from a marketing perspective I get why they used Birmingham - as promoters and events organisers looking for business conferencing and hiring entertainments space in the vicinity are more likely to search around Brum than specify Walsall, which would limit search options. Same thinking as branding Stansted and Luton airports as London Stansted and London Luton airports. Its proximity to Brum and the motorway network is a big plus point from a marketing perspective.

Re: Wolvo Uni, as the only uni presence in the town is the Wolverhampton Uni Walsall Campus, then I don’t have a problem - you may bulk at seeing the name Wolverhampton staring at you from the away end, but it is serving mostly Walsall residents and it’s hopefully an opportunity for the club to build links with the local student populous.

We should remember that the home stand and shirts are sponsored by Home Serve which is a Walsall business (albeit now owned by Yanks I think) but still based here.

Beyond branding and sponsorship and hard nosed commercial links, I do agree that anything the Club can do to weave in any associations with the town and its assets, then so much the better. #WeAreWalsall

As @WalsallOne says probably the most identifiable thing about the town may be the football club, in terms of what people from outside the region associate with the town. I believe we have a very distinctive and really good nickname. Well known amongst the football fraternity, and it would be good to use the Saddlers name somewhere on the shirts and outside the stadium but to what end?

I think you need to think about what is the purpose and what is the target audience for your overall ambition to build a more distinct identity?

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#16

WFC The Venue - fair play if they have done this, but again, I had no idea! So communications possibly need to be addressed?

Is Walsall Football Club really going to pull corporations and business events away from the plethora of venues in Birmingham City Centre simply by branding their clearly less attractive facilities ‘Birmingham’? I very much doubt it tbh, on Colmore Row alone there are 7 or 8 better, more modern facilities for business events. I can’t see that move as anything other than ridiculous tbh.

I used the Wolverhampton example as I recall there was unrest surrounding it, it doesn’t really bother me too much tbh. But, I used a good example in my original post. Would Sunderland fans accept Newcaslte being plastered across their ground? Would they even attempt it? The answer of course, is no - there would be a violent backlash. Walsall take the ■■■■ a little with us, and imo its because they know they can virtually do as they please with little kickback - we are a small, loyal fanbase. They don’t consult us in a lot of this because they don’t fear any consequences.

#17

Nor did I til you prompted me to look it up on t’internet. :grinning: www.wfcthevenue.co.uk

What I was trying to get at was that those looking to put on a conference or event in the West Mids are likely to be looking at an audience that will comprise some locals but also others who would drive (say up to 30-45 mins) depending on the event.

I don’t pay too much attention to what goes on there but the Stadium Suite accommodates up to 700 people so promoters looking for a venue of that size, are probably looking at a catchment area of fair few miles rather than a purely localised audience. Although I am sure there are some events that are quite “Walsall specific”.

I agree on your wider point and without being party to the discussions that go on, any fresh thinking and reaching out to the fans can only be a good thing, but needs some focus on what you are trying to achieve.

Maybe you should drop them a line? No harm in offering your own thoughts up to them to get the ball rolling.

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#18

You really are left tearing your hair out with Walsall FC sometimes. They have changed the name of ‘Birmingham: The Events Venue’, completed the hardest part, but haven’t told anyone :rofl: again, that’s a fault in itself, we should all be buzzing about that.

If I felt they would listen or I knew the internal processes I might just take the plunge. I might be doing Mole & Gamble a massive disservice (I doubt it), but how the hell are we ever meant to know!? No offence to the support liaison chap but I’m not even bothering with that.

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#19

Christ i would not bother there hes more precious than the club are mate lol.

#20

Think its harsh laying blame to pomlett, since he took over he had the downfall of a relegation and then the pandemic to deal with.

Improvements have been made and are clear too see its just going to take time but we are definitely heading in the right direction.

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