Host: Mark Stevenson
John Radford, Carolyn Radford and Nigel Clough
Redevelopment of the Bishop St
Carolyn Radford (CR): It’s been tricky. Not yet completed.
It’s looking nice. Great to have four sides with LED boards.
John Radford (JR): It’s been fine. Dealing with Sid has been
tricky at times (laughter). It’s been a collaboration. Some of my men have been
in there. Mark Burton’s men have been in there and Sid’s men.
As Sid keeps telling us, there was no other way of doing it
other than flattening it all and building a new stand. It’s worked out for the
best for the club. It’s the right amount of money. Let’s see if we can fill it
and then we can move on to Stage 2 and 3.
CR: Thank you to everybody involved. It’s not been easy. A
shout out to people like Al Murray.
Nigel Clough: It’s good for the football team to have four
sides. Great for the atmosphere. It looks wonderful.
CR: We are going to have a free ticket trial. John was
giving golden tickets out at Stags Fest like Willy Wonka.
JR: We are going to have 360-400 free tickets in there for
the Doncaster game as a trial.
Mark Stevenson: Will Stage 2 and 3 still happen because Sid
said the redevelopment had cost a lot more than expected and the wallet may
need a rest.
JR: Everything costs more than anticipated. We definitely
want to get a TV gantry up there so the world can see our three best stands on
TV. They can then see the club at its best. (CR: We watch a lot of iFollow.)
Stage 2 and 3 will start in a season or two
Questions
Q: Are we limited to the number of players signed from
Nottingham Forest. We have not made the most of this in the past
CR: We have good relations with the owner.
JR: They have always said they would support us but we have
to be mindful of the fact we have our own academy. Sometimes we have knocked
their noses out of joint. Now Forest are in the Premier League we can explain
to them we are bringing in Premier League players and not Championship.
CR: We brought in Tyler Walker in the past.
Nigel Clough: It’s lovely to get the 3 lads in. There is a
limit with players over 21 or 23 you can only bring in 2 but if they are under
21 or 23 then you can bring in 3. There are also squad limitations. You can
have 22 outfield players and one must be a home grown player. U21’s don’t
count.
CR: We are Mansfield Town though and not Nottingham Forest
2.
Q: Can we order our drinks in advance at half time from
the marquee so they are ready for us and we have time to drink them.
JR: Mark Hawkins is the new Head of Operations. I’m sure we
can sort something out. Mark will have a look at it.
CR: What if somebody puts something in another person’s
drink?
NC: Me and Andy will have a pint of Madri each at half time
and we don’t mind if anybody puts anything in it (laughter).
Q: Is anything going to be done about the pitches at the
RH Academy to avoid injuries? (Nathan Edge)
JR: The pitches at RH Academy are relatively new.
NC: The pitches struggled a bit before and just after
Christmas. The physios said they also contributed to a couple of injuries. We
have come back and despite the heat waves the pitches are in very good nick.
JR: We didn’t have the right equipment but we are now
putting in a high performance gym. This is why some of the Forest boys from
their academy were better tuned than our boys.
NC: You will have seen from the Middlesbrough, Oxford and
Sheff Wed games that Championship players are bigger animals physically. I was
talking to Gary Rowett the other night and he said the physical difference
between the Championship and League 1 players was the first thing he noticed –
how far players run, strength etc. The Premier League is a big step up again.
With the new gym, every player from U14s upwards will
benefit and make them more competitive to get them in the first team. There are
around 100 players from U14 upwards including the first team who will benefit.
Q: Most fans were delighted with season ticket prices.
Was the increase in match day ticket prices mainly aimed at the away fans?
(Dean Foulkes SSA)
JR: We try and keep prices reasonable. We do not do massive
percentage increases. NC and the players need paying. The club does not make a
profit. The shortfall is made up by me and Carolyn. We have tried not to be
greedy.
We have looked at what we have got left. It’s a capacity
thing. Unfortunately we have just short of 10,000 capacity and around 6,000 are
season ticket holders. The rest of the tickets are split between away fans and
home fans who pay on the day.
We think we have got the pricing right. It’s not a lot of
money. It’s another £2 per ticket and an extra £8,000 for the club. Mark
Hawkins did some work on this and I think he pitched it exactly right once fans
get over the shock of the extra £2.
The main people affected will be fans paying on the day. I’m
not saying they are not loyal fans but everything has gone up – electricity,
bread etc
CR: It is very tricky. We are trying to balance everything.
We want to be more competitive. Nigel wants to go for it and we are trying to
support him.
JR: We are trying to make money out of the away fans a
little bit. Our fans get charged by the other clubs. It’s despicable what some
of them do but we have gone nowhere near what they do.
Q: Are we going to have 3 new kits every year. We used to
rotate it in the past between home and away. Can fans be involved in designing
a third kit and voting on it. (Dean Foulkes SSA)
CR: I’m not in favour of 3 new kits every year. There are
also supply issues with kit manufacturers and moving between Castore and Errea.
JR: It’s a good idea to have the fans involved. We will pass
that on to Mark Hawkins to implement.
Q: Can the scoreboard be used for ladies games? (Dean
Foulkes SSA)
Mark Stevenson: They do not always play at the
stadium but they can use the scoreboard when they do.
Q: How does Nigel see the competition. Are the teams more
level?
NC: We have lost three big hitters in Birmingham City,
Wrexham and Charlton but Luton, Cardiff and Plymouth have come down. Luton were
in the Premier League 2 seasons ago. Cardiff not so long ago. Huddersfield are
spending big, Stockport, Wycombe and Orient just missed out. Blackpool are
spending big.
We can be competitive. I don’t think two teams will run away
with it like last season. It will probably be more even but still tough.
Bradford have not come up just to make the numbers up and Doncaster neither.
Q: Is Nigel Clough planning ahead and looking at players who
could play in The Championship
NC: We have not looked that far ahead. We are looking at
players for League 1 and looking for the best value. We needed experience to
get up from League 2 and last season. We’ve now brought in some younger
players. The three young lads from Forest are exciting. There’s only Liam
Roberts who is 30 years old. Everybody else we have brought in are under 30.
Hopefully we can attract more players in their prime at 27/28 rather than
33/34.
Q: Do we have a sell on clause on for Davis Keillor Dunn.
JR: We do have a sell on clause. Nigel and I would have
liked to have kept him (CR mildly disagrees with that). We had to sell him. He
wanted to go and it was good value. He’s also not been sold yet.
Q: TV’s in concourses are not always switched on. (Chris
Ellison SSA)
Mark Hawkins: It’s being sorted.
CR: There have also been internet issues.
Q: When you (JR) took over the club you said you had a 5
Year Plan to get into The Championship. Do you still have one?
JR: I’ve been doing this 15 years. You are a bit naïve when
you first take something over. I would still like to get in The Championship
and maintain it.
CR: It’s not all about The Championship. We want to stay
competitive. It’s about enjoying the football club and atmosphere. It might be
difficult to progress further unless we strike oil.
NC: Wrexham and Birmingham have thrown millions and millions
at it. Some of the money being paid in The Championship is incredible. Let’s
just keep improving. We are also looking for sponsors for the new gym at the RH
Academy.
