Wembley......have the club learned a lesson

[68tiger]

Derby just had same this morning went into lanes nowt really to mention wembley wise just a couple of tshirts always small size left and went to xscape same as you say nothing there. Really poor last time we got to wembley had 13 day turnaround we've six weeks this time so no real excuse. What really amazes me is how these street venders seem to be more capable of producing tshirts flags etc than we are

[Lofthouse Tiger]

The thing is that the club aren’t forward thinking and good at planning for events like this. Much as happened in 2014. Too busy back slapping each other and sorting out their freebie trip to London.

The street venders are people that do and this is why they have things ready. If you want to get t shirts, flags, banners etc you will get them. There are local businesses that would snap your hands off to be given large volumes for printing polo shirts and t shirts.

I know a company that does full football/rugby kits and t shirts, polo shirts hoodies etc and they don’t need 6 weeks to do it. They don’t do it on the cheap either unless that’s what you ask for. I know because I use them quite regularly.

[Year of the Tiger]

I know someone who approached the club in 2014 (who is a Cas fan) to help purchase and sell merchandise on behalf of the club. Club weren't interested, he made an absolute killing. He had open very late to meet demand, meanwhile the club didn't put anything on sale until Thursday, 2 days before Wembley.
According to companies house accounts our staffing wages have increased substantially. What are these people doing???

[Lofthouse Tiger]

It is and always has been down to the people in charge of running the club. From RW up to the present day we see the same mistakes and failings time and time again. This will be the 3rd major final we have reached in the last 7 years yet we seem to be further away than ever when it comes to promoting the club and raising finances.

I bet you they will know where we are when it comes to donating ST money and renewing for next year?

[HuddsTigers]

Staffing doesn't always mean off field staff. It can include playing staff and coaching staff too. I'd expect it to grow if the club is expanding into Women's and also in anticipation of the Reserves that never happened.

[Lofthouse Tiger]

So who are the marketing team? Who is in charge of this department? They clearly are not/do. It do a great job going by the posts on here.

If you ever go in to one of the stores the interaction is minimal and the stock is either short or out of stock. Who’s job is it to improve/maintain this area?

[HuddsTigers]

You are crossing over 3 different areas.

The Retail side was Mark Gill but he is listed as Ticketing Manager on the club site.

Head of Media and Marketing is Tom Maguire, who did a very good job with TigersTV and is well respected in the industry. The club has also recently recruited an assistant to Tom.

But this is a recurring issue of the club over many years where they lump two roles together in one and don't have the staff to cover everything that needs doing.

For me, the club needs a Head of Media, who is responsible for providing output of news, content and stories for the website, as well as liaising with the media, press conferences, and putting together ROAR. On top of that, they should be actively seeking and engaging with journalists outside of RL print to promote the brand, expose it to new audiences, as well as increase the value and recognisability of the club and our players.

There then needs to be a Head of Marketing or even Digital Marketing Manager in this day and age, whose responsibility and KPIs should tie in with the commercial side of a) increasing brand awareness and b) increasing revenue. This role needs to sit and tie in with the first role from a media/PR point of view but also link up with commercial, retail and ticketing to execute campaigns and maximise revenue / feed into these areas to be able to demonstrate value and secure higher commercial returns. Potentially someone who knows how to do SEO/PPC/Paid Social/Email Marketing.

Underneath this then you should have your channel specific roles / supporting roles - Content/Website Administrator to keep the website up to date, research new content to add and drive more value to the website; a Social Media Executive who is responsible for managing/growing our social media audience and delivering content; and finally, a videographer/photographer, again who supports across all channels and since YouTube/streaming is an invaluable channel on its own.

Traditional marketing/media has its place but it is no longer the forefront of younger audiences. Does the club promote and use TikTok? Does the club promote and use Twitch? Could we use our brand pull to help out gaming companies and do something for like Minecraft? This is where my age is starting to put me out of touch with youth nowadays.

But we are getting older and the older generations are now tech savvy more than ever. Most people use phones, tablets, Alexa/voice search, nowadays. We have to adapt and move to younger audiences.

Billboards are great for awareness but that doesn't necessarily generate revenue. You have to put your money in what generates returns and that you can quantitatively demonstrate.

[Year of the Tiger]

Staffing doesn't always mean off field staff. It can include playing staff and coaching staff too. I'd expect it to grow if the club is expanding into Women's and also in anticipation of the Reserves that never happened.

Oh give over! You do like jumping in feet first don't you?
The increase is almost exclusively admin staff.
Most of the staff on the academy side are unwaged, either part timers, volunteers or students on work experience, or are employed by the Trust.

[HuddsTigers]

I don't know why you got all tetchy from me pointing out that it doesn't have to be off-field staff when you are referring to wages when we are spending the salary cap and also the club has made it known that they have supported DP with off-field staff, and also Reserve grade was coming back so the club was actively recruiting players and staff to play for that ahead of last year.

Anyway, to answer your point, firstly I've looked through the accounts and Companies House and there's zero mention of staffing costs from what I can see so I would be grateful if you could advise on what figures you are using. However, it does show you the number of employees, which grew from 145 from 139 - in 2019 - including Directors.

As I can't be bothered trawling through Wayback Machine, let's use this year as a baseline to qualify that figure, using the Cas website.

As a club we currently have:
- IF, MG + 3 Directors + a Company Secretary (who I won't include). So 5 there.
- 13 office/admin staff
- 9 first team coaches/staff including Jon Wells
- 7 Community Staff / Foundation Staff (not including others who double up in other roles)

That's 44 staff already.

In 2019, we had a first team squad of 31 players so now upto 75.

Academy players, let's assume a squad of 25 on part-time wages so that is 100.

Then there is Retail staff who aren't on the website (let's say 3), bar staff (2?) and club employed stewards who aren't Gough and Kelly. Let's say a modest 10. Plus turnstile operators/programme sellers? So that is now 115 people + those extra few that I don't know about.

This year the club has a total of 27 people listed associated with the academy and Scholarship. I'd imagine the vast majority are paid for their time, even if they turn up 1 day a week. Add those on and that is 142 people.

That is based on some guesswork and conservative figures from the club's own staff directory. I doubt they would list volunteers or non-paid staff.

So your view that it is almost certainly off-field office staff I'd challenge when the biggest proportion of employees is on the rugby side. Particularly when there are only 13 off field staff listed, which is 10% of our entire staff numbers!

[HuddsTigers]

I'd also add re: the Media and Marketing role that historically it has always been a graduate/early professional salary. You either have to get in there from starting out in your career or do it out of love. That may have changed in recent years but it was surprising how low the salary was for such a big job.

With many digital agencies and journalists now switching into teaching/lecturing, many are choosing alternative paths and the club cannot compete. Many people in these industries now are hiring people on 20k+ entry level for a Content writer, up to £40k/£50k for a Head of role. Club cannot compete.

[Ferrytiger87]

According to the Club website more Wembly shirts are on the way

[Lofthouse Tiger]

How do you grow from 145 to 139 Hudds?

Must admit what you have posted is how a modern up to date and professional outfit would and should operate. This kind of staffing would almost see any business or company improve its performance.

However, we are talking about Castleford Tigers.

Do you think if you compared what you have posted to what is in place at Cas that there will be any kind of similarities?

Nepotism combined with cheap or free staff and then 1 person doing 2 roles they are almost certainly aren’t qualified to do is why we get what we get.

[Lofthouse Tiger]

According to the Club website more Wembly shirts are on the way

I must have a different version of the club website than you do Ferrybridge.

[HuddsTigers]

How do you grow from 145 to 139 Hudds?

Must admit what you have posted is how a modern up to date and professional outfit would and should operate. This kind of staffing would almost see any business or company improve its performance.

However, we are talking about Castleford Tigers.

Do you think if you compared what you have posted to what is in place at Cas that there will be any kind of similarities?

Nepotism combined with cheap or free staff and then 1 person doing 2 roles they are almost certainly aren’t qualified to do is why we get what we get.

To* 145 :-$

To be honest, I think the problem doesn't just extend to Cas. The RFL, for example, seem to prioritise how big a club's following is on social media and how they grow it in relation to giving clubs funding, compared to actual proper KPIs. Social media followings are superficial. No use having 10000 followers if no one gives a toss what you post or they are all fake. This is the problem with so called influencers nowadays. People think that if you have 10k followers you are an influencer but the reality is that they probably have zero to little influence whatsoever. You also have to look at Super League recently with the whole 'change a logo to get more fans', which is quite frankly laughable.

They have tried to build out a structure but I think they will always lose staff on to better opportunities so they rely heavily on newly out of uni staff. For example, Tom came on board in the last couple of years alongside the previous media person and took on the role of Tigers TV and for a while things really started to click, especially with Webbo doing bits too. I don't think that has ever been replicated or maximised. I know I only watch TigersTV now for DP's comments. Sam who is assisting Tom now probably could lead and manage the social media and obviously we have Melanie Allatt who is the Club Photographer too.

The key difference is that the Media and Marketing role is one person. I wouldn't want to disrespect that role as it probably involves a lot but I'd be surprised if the digital marketing aspect of it goes beyond anything other than social media. It is probably too deep for this forum but to put it straight, do we feel the club does everything it can to get money off non-Cas, non-RL fans? That would be a whole separate strategy for me. Treat the retail aspect as its own business separate to CTRLFC and assume you are targeting generic people with stock you can get all year round and doesn't have an expiry date, and that they can replace easily, even if it means partnering with other retailers/manufacturers.

That is why I'd look at getting a Digital Marketing person on board. They could really rip it up. I don't know what MG did at Coca Cola before he came to Cas but I'd be surprised if it was anything in this area (and obviously Coca Cola sell through retailers not through their own site anyway). Similarly, I would be surprised if IF does given his farming background. However, I'd imagine the other BoD members with their own businesses would do this either themselves or through an agency. The club couldn't probably afford to do it through an agency (we are talking probably a decent budget of £5-10k per month) so they would need someone in-house and grow it channel by channel. Like I said, a decent experienced person would probably be £30-40k to leave an agency / internal role with all their perks.

But the Retail element of it is definitely one side of it I would look at as it is probably the quickest win and most achievable alongside improving eyeballs on the website and generating new digital sponsorship opportunities that could add commercial value.

[the machine]

According to the Club website more Wembly shirts are on the way

I must have a different version of the club website than you do Ferrybridge.

Theyll be referring to the FB page at a guess lol

[Ferrytiger87]

According to the Club website more Wembly shirts are on the way

I must have a different version of the club website than you do Ferrybridge.

Theyll be referring to the FB page at a guess lol

Sorry it was on Club Tiwtter, tbh don't really use club website, twitter or FB is uaually the best way of getting most upto date info.

[the machine]

According to the Club website more Wembly shirts are on the way

I must have a different version of the club website than you do Ferrybridge.

Theyll be referring to the FB page at a guess lol

Sorry it was on Club Tiwtter, tbh don't really use club website, twitter or FB is uaually the best way of getting most upto date info.

I completely agree

[68tiger]

Hudds could i just point out a slight mis count you put 5 and 13 and 9 and 7 that's 34 not 44

[68tiger]

Hudds we all make mistake i put george burgess instead of williams otherday

[HuddsTigers]

Hudds could i just point out a slight mis count you put 5 and 13 and 9 and 7 that's 34 not 44

My bad. Thanks for pointing that out. My phone died half way through writing so I had to rewrite it all out. Trouble with trying to rush it all out from memory after and not proofing it after.