Open letter to Mr Skipper.

[South Norfolk Old Boy 0]

Open letter to Mr Skipper (because he doesn’t answer posted letters!)

 

Dear Mr Skipper,

 

You say in your letter that you seem to have attracted more attention in the past week than in your previous ten years of service to the Norwich City Football Club Limited (the company). I wonder why!

It is a basic premise of business that you must listen to your customers. However, there is a difference between listening and delivering what your customers want. The symptoms of what your customers want is the removal of the football management team. In reality what they really want is a return to the days of attractive football at Carrow Road. Whether that is a myth or not. They have come to realise that they have been accepting an inferior product for some time and are no longer prepared to accept it. A season of avoided relegation was followed by a play off final and then a championship. This papered over the cracks as your customers accepted work ethic and negative football as the price to be paid for the ultimate prize of a place in the Premiership. That’s where things started to go wrong for your company. Your customers realised that work ethic and dull football were no match for almost any team in the top division. You, your fellow directors and your Chief Executive were budgeting for an immediate return to The Fizzy League and you made sure everyone knew how prudent you were. With the horror days of the mid 90’s fresh in your collective minds and the ultimate fate of the role models at Portman Road clear for all to see, you saw prudence as a virtue and immediate relegation as the price that had to be paid to be held up as a company with admirable leadership.

Your customers really wanted to stay in the Premiership and your workforce very nearly made it. Indeed if you had gone into the final game with eleven players on the pitch who were committed to the club and not seeing their future best served by relegation, they mighty just have made it. However, your relegation prediction came true and your company returned to The Fizzy League.

Now you are back where you stared with work ethic and dull football, a midfield packed with big athletes and small talent, a defence that can leak goals at the drop of a hat, even supported by a midfield often found playing behind them and a strike force that is an afterthought.

Is it any wonder that your customers are unhappy? You, as directors, are not supplying what your customers want. Your are disregarding their calls for a different product. You are not ignoring them, you are listening to them and then disregarding them – that’s worse. You are adding insult to injury by then attacking some sections of your customer base because they have the nerve to tell you what they want to buy from your company.

Look at Macdonalds Mr Skipper. Look at the way they have adapted and changed their product basket in a desperate attempt to meet their customers requirements. Norwich City Football Club Limited is in a much better position than Macdonalds because their customers really care about the company and are prepared to tell you what it is they want, rather than leave you to guess. You should respect that and thank them sincerely for their advice – then act on it.

You have choices – you can sit down with your existing management team and spell out very clearly what your customers expect from the people providing the product. If they are not capable or do not wish to provide what your customers want you have the option to change them. If they are prepared to offer up what your customers want to buy then they should come out and say so and outline exactly what your customers should expect from them in the coming weeks and months. If you do not believe they are capable of delivering what your customers want then, as a director, you have a responsibility to your company to make changes.

You have a Customers Charter. It goes on and on about everything to do with the club, yet makes no mention of the product your supply – entertainment! How short sighted is that?  Ultimately your customers buy entertainment on a match day. Maybe your charter should be about the sausage, not the sizzle.

Have a nice day!

[Birchington Yellow 0]

Well said, fully agree. With play off hopes gone, there''s nothing to play for in terms of results so let''s see some decent attractive football for the rest of the season.

I wouldn''t mind quite so much if at the games we''ve lost we at least played well. I''ve been to every home game bar one this season and haven''t seen a decent 90 minute performance yet.

Presumably the manager and team have performance targets, what are they ??   I think we should be told.

 

[arrdee 2]

you are the man ,where have you come from ? you say it how it is , some thing i can never aspire to.

[Old Boy 0]

I agree with your well-expressed sentiments SNOB. Unfortunately, a (probably) record season ticket take-up will rather undermine your market-forces point, but hopefully the Board will actually see the long-term good sense of what you say. IMO the Club has spent the past couple of years patting itself on the back, with some reason, instead of pushing on with a development strategy (certainly in the footballing sphere), and the complacency needs to stop now.

[carpio 0]

[quote user="South Norfolk Old Boy"]

Open letter to Mr Skipper (because he doesn’t answer posted letters!)

 

Dear Mr Skipper,

 

You say in your letter that you seem to have attracted more attention in the past week than in your previous ten years of service to the Norwich City Football Club Limited (the company). I wonder why!

It is a basic premise of business that you must listen to your customers. However, there is a difference between listening and delivering what your customers want. The symptoms of what your customers want is the removal of the football management team. In reality what they really want is a return to the days of attractive football at Carrow Road. Whether that is a myth or not. They have come to realise that they have been accepting an inferior product for some time and are no longer prepared to accept it. A season of avoided relegation was followed by a play off final and then a championship. This papered over the cracks as your customers accepted work ethic and negative football as the price to be paid for the ultimate prize of a place in the Premiership. That’s where things started to go wrong for your company. Your customers realised that work ethic and dull football were no match for almost any team in the top division. You, your fellow directors and your Chief Executive were budgeting for an immediate return to The Fizzy League and you made sure everyone knew how prudent you were. With the horror days of the mid 90’s fresh in your collective minds and the ultimate fate of the role models at Portman Road clear for all to see, you saw prudence as a virtue and immediate relegation as the price that had to be paid to be held up as a company with admirable leadership.

Your customers really wanted to stay in the Premiership and your workforce very nearly made it. Indeed if you had gone into the final game with eleven players on the pitch who were committed to the club and not seeing their future best served by relegation, they mighty just have made it. However, your relegation prediction came true and your company returned to The Fizzy League.

Now you are back where you stared with work ethic and dull football, a midfield packed with big athletes and small talent, a defence that can leak goals at the drop of a hat, even supported by a midfield often found playing behind them and a strike force that is an afterthought.

Is it any wonder that your customers are unhappy? You, as directors, are not supplying what your customers want. Your are disregarding their calls for a different product. You are not ignoring them, you are listening to them and then disregarding them – that’s worse. You are adding insult to injury by then attacking some sections of your customer base because they have the nerve to tell you what they want to buy from your company.

Look at Macdonalds Mr Skipper. Look at the way they have adapted and changed their product basket in a desperate attempt to meet their customers requirements. Norwich City Football Club Limited is in a much better position than Macdonalds because their customers really care about the company and are prepared to tell you what it is they want, rather than leave you to guess. You should respect that and thank them sincerely for their advice – then act on it.

You have choices – you can sit down with your existing management team and spell out very clearly what your customers expect from the people providing the product. If they are not capable or do not wish to provide what your customers want you have the option to change them. If they are prepared to offer up what your customers want to buy then they should come out and say so and outline exactly what your customers should expect from them in the coming weeks and months. If you do not believe they are capable of delivering what your customers want then, as a director, you have a responsibility to your company to make changes.

You have a Customers Charter. It goes on and on about everything to do with the club, yet makes no mention of the product your supply – entertainment! How short sighted is that?  Ultimately your customers buy entertainment on a match day. Maybe your charter should be about the sausage, not the sizzle.

Have a nice day!

[/quote]  Well put and clear!  I do have one question? What makes you believe that The board have not had discussions with the management team ?(As Mr Mumby is qoted today as saying they have) please see the article on the home page

[South Norfolk Old Boy 0]

I take your point. But at the time of writing had no knowledge of any discussions taking place.

One cannot help but wonder just how sharp and pointed those discussions were. Not being party to them I wouldn''t want to suggest that they were anything less than Mr Munby (in his inimitable style) laying it on the line........but I have my doubts, don''t you?

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Well SNOB, I am no fan of Mr. Skipper and now thanks to you I have something in common with him...neither of us have read your letter.