From the boardroom
David Taylor
12:00am, Fri 7th Aug 2009
WFC from the Boardroom – 2009/10
One
The aim of this weekly update is to keep fans at the club up to date with what is going on in the usually closed world of a football club boardroom. As Chairman, Shahid Azeem advocates as much openness, communication and transparency as possible.
With my returning to the role of Communications Director, my aim continues to be the communications link with the board.
This season is an exciting new beginning for the club - taking us back to our roots and community, running as a “business” off the pitch (i.e. only spending what we bring in) while competing on it. Key to this is communication, a word that means different things to different people, and we hope to cover as many of those definitions as possible!
Open communication means breaking down barriers and boundaries to make the boardroom and dressing room more accessible to you, the fans. We want you to feel closer to the club, and to achieve that it helps to know a bit more about what actually happens, and what people do behind the scenes.
John Moore and David Holmes became our press officers in February, and are doing a great job. With the amount of time they spend talking to each other and stuff they do during the working day I am worried about their phone bills and careers! They commissioned the new website which was developed by two fans, Michael Phillips and Nick Shaw, to become the official voice of the club. If you read it on the site it is accurate, and we won’t post something unless it is. This is very useful in a world where rumours spread like wildfire! So, we will never be first with rumours, we will usually be first with facts.
For example, there are many rumours as to why we have changed our kit after only one season, and only one fact – our previous kit supplier went out of business.
When we communicate, we want to reach as many fans as possible, even if that does mean that you hear something more than once. Brian Caffarey continues his excellent work previewing games and interviewing Graham and Jimmy – taking you closer to what is happening on the pitch. Players are also starting to appear in the bar after home games along with Graham, Jimmy and Steve Snelling. I am sure we would all want to thank Graham for being so amenable, flexible and open in his interviews and in his attitude.
Steve will also be posting articles that explain what different football injuries are and the treatment players are receiving. Look out for a very detailed article about Jon Boardman's injury very soon.
Moving forward, we will develop and make greater use of the commercial opportunities now afforded by our new website and online shop, and soon start an email newsletter. We will show video highlights of matches (filmed and edited from the gantry by Michael Phillips, again at no expense to the club) – check out his postings on YouTube from the past - and expand interviews to include players.
During matches, Nick Shaw will provide team news, goals and booking updates etc. – i.e. the facts on the home page, as they happen (well, just after they have happened!), while a twitter team will comment on play. Although our twitter site is “official,” twitter itself thrives on the immediacy of information, and opinion, and with our active encouragement of followers to join in with their own commentary, twitter may not always be “official,” but it will always be fun. Twitter updates reach our site every ten minutes. www.twitter.com/wokingfc to register, and remember you don’t need to tweet anything yourself to get updates, simply register.
So, our overall aim is to keep you up to date with what is happening at the club.
Although the people already mentioned have achieved a great deal, there is no room for complacency, and we welcome feedback, both good and bad.
Thanks for reading
David
David Taylor
Communications Director