Here are notes from the Stags Fans United fans forum with John Radford, Steve Hymas, Steve Middleton and Mark Burton, held on Wednesday 6th September 2017
Notes by Darren Shaw and Pete Wright
Q - How do you think the season is
going so far?
John Radford – I’m disappointed with
the start to the season but it’s a lot better football and we’ve been a little unlucky
missing three penalties. There’s a long way to go. There are lots of big clubs through
the leagues in similar positions to us. I’m confident we have put the right team
together and we have the right manager to take us forward. I would be much
happier if we were top of the league because then we would have larger crowds
with another 1,000-2,000 fans attending.
Q – Are you disappointed with the
gates so far?
John Radford – No because I know gates
will only improve when we start winning. Success attracts more fans. Lincoln
had a gate of 9,000 the other day. I asked Lincoln’s Chairman why their gates
had improved. He said it was all down to the Cowleys who are loved by the fans
and the fact that they have been winning regularly and have had success. We
just need a bit of success. If our manager does this then our fans will love
him even though fans of other teams will hate him.
Q – How does the transfer process
work?
John Radford – Agents and players want
the best deal. It is a little bit cloak and dagger. Players are chased by a
number of clubs. If you put it out in the press that you are going for a player
then the price goes up. Players want to sign for a club that is going to be
promoted so that is a reason why we have been able to attract players. The fact
that we were one of the favourites to win the league also helped. Steve Evans
told me about Calum Butcher 6/7 weeks ago but we have only been chasing him for
the last four weeks because the Millwall manager changed and he was surplus to
requirements. Players not on your list can suddenly become available with a
change of manager at a club or because their club has signed a new player.
At the end of last season, Steve Evans
gave me a list of players he wanted to sign and it had 26 names on it. The
first thing I did was take a photo of it. We signed eight of the twenty six
targets. He has pretty much got his ideal team. There were only two players who
we talked to who we did not sign. They both went to clubs higher up the league.
The last few days of the transfer window were very frantic. George Taft was
lined up to go to another club until an hour before the deadline and then
Cambridge came in and offered more money. George Taft needed to go out on loan
because he was going to struggle to get on our bench. He needs to get regular
games. He can come back to us after Christmas.
Q- What about signing strikers? All
the fans were waiting for a marquee signing.
John Radford - We nearly had a
“Marquis” signing (laughter). There were six strikers on the list but everybody
was chasing these players. We managed to sign three of them. Our strikers have
some of the best stats around. The list did not include Dave Tarpey.
Q – Were you surprised that Matt Green
was allowed to leave?
John Radford – I didn’t want him to
leave but Steve Evans said we could get better. We had a year’s option on him
and so we could have kept him. The board wanted to keep him but the manager did
not want to keep him. Football is all about opinions.
Q- You must have been a bit annoyed by
not getting a transfer fee for Matt Green.
John Radford – Yes we turned down £200,000
from Leyton Orient and £50-£60,000 from another club during the season, but
that’s football. If I had accepted the offer I would not have been popular. We
would have been perceived as a selling club. In hindsight I would have liked to
have taken the £200,000 but he still scored a few goals for us
Q- Is it true Ollie Palmer was on
holiday with you?
John Radford – He happened to be
staying at same hotel and I was surprised to see him when he came and used the
next sun lounger to me. It turned out he had received offers from Lincoln and
Cambridge and I advised him to choose Lincoln.
Q – Will we receive any
more money for Sam Clucas?
John Radford – We are in
arguments with Chesterfield about whether we are entitled to another fee. We
had high hopes of some money from Tom Naylor’s future moves after Derby but it
never materialised.
Q – Why aren’t we
blooding more youth players in the first team?
John Radford – Steve Evans
does not want to take the risk yet. Our manager really hurts if we lose. I’m a
sore loser but he is worse than me and that causes problems between us after
defeats. He really wants to win his tenth promotion. If we get miles clear at
the top then we will give some of the young lads a chance. I want to get to
League 1 so we have a bigger gap between ourselves and the National League. This
will give us more security. Promotion to League 1 is our priority.
Steve Hymas – Our youth
team is top of the league again for the third year running. I would like to see
more youth team players getting a chance but I want to win promotion as well. We
have 11 former youth team players on contracts with the majority on loan to
gain men’s football experience. We have a great academy. It’s getting better
every season. We have ten full time coaches. It is a general problem that youth
team players do not always get the chance and time to develop. Managers tend to
sign tried and tested players rather than take a chance on youth. There are too
many foreign players in the Premier League and Football League.
John Radford – Jack
Thomas is a talented player and we are just waiting to find the right club for him
to send him out on loan.
Q – What are your views
on the Checkatrade Trophy? Should Steve Evans play his strongest team?
John Radford – We had a
nice run last season. It would be disappointing if a U23 team reached the
final. Steve Evans is confident we can still progress by beating Notts County
and Everton U23s. The clubs receive good prize money. We made over £100K last
year. The teams receive £10,000 for every group win. Steve Evans wants to win
every game.
Q – Are Monday nights “Evenings
With….” coming back?
Steve Middleton – Yes they
are. We are just waiting until Tuesday night games are not in the way.
Q – What are your views
on the goalkeeper situation?
John Radford – We have
two good keepers. It divides opinion. We are fully behind both of them. Steve Evans
picks the team. He lives and dies by results. Both keepers were on Steve Evans’
target list. They were the ones he wanted to sign because he had worked with
both of them before. Steve Evans did not want to sign Jake Kean. He was not on
the list. They want to keep clean sheets. Our goalkeeping coach will only get
paid if we keep a clean sheet! It’s early in the season but things are starting
to gel.
Q – What are your views
on the penalty taker?
John Radford – It should
be one of the strikers. All the strikers should be able to step up to the mark
and take a penalty.
Q – Are you satisfied
with the new pitch?
John Radford – We have
spent a lot of money on the pitch every year. We’ve brought people in to look
at it. Mark Burton (a new Director) who works for Ulyetts Landscapes has been
very helpful ensuring the money is well spent. He has helped sort the contracts
out and get us some good prices. The grass is cut every other day and growing
6mm a day. The pitch has new drainage (Steve Middleton showed a video of the
drainage working before the Rochdale game.) The directors walk around the
stadium after each board meeting picking up issues and challenging the stadium
management team. There are still some problems but everything is slowly getting
better.
Q – There have been a number
of complaints regarding queueing at turnstiles, no beer in Kevin Bird Suite on
match days, delays in processing card transactions etc.
John Radford – Supporters
need to provide specific details. I suggest supporters contact the fans’
representatives so they can bring the complaints to the board meetings. The
directors are not always aware of the problems. The board tend to try to fix
and solve most problems. If complaints are brought to a board meeting then it
is on the radar. We want to make the stadium and ground are a nice place to
come to. (New arrangement put in place where all fans’ complaints should go to
SSA or SFU as per the post on Stagsnet and Facebook).
I do appreciate the
financial support that supporters provide and the £10-£15,000 provided by
members of the SSA.
Q – What’s the position
with the scoreboard?
John Radford – I wish I
had never bought it. It only cost £10,000 and I thought it would be a bargain.
We’ve had problems with the software and other issues. I actually bought it from
a man in a pub (laughter). It was sold to me by Paul Dixon who owns Retford
United’s ground. I’ve still got some
more panels. I could actually make it three times the size. Paul Broughton has
assured me it will be working for the Grimsby game. It is not one of my
priorities.
Q – How is the training
ground at Woburn Road, Pleasley progressing?
Steve Hymas – The
original planning application was to remove the stone and the big hump. This
has all been cleared. It took a long time. It’s not just a case of putting in a
planning application and starting work the next day. These projects take years.
We’ve had numerous meetings. You would not believe the amount of meetings we’ve
had. There are two grass pitches up there looking very good. Two grass pitches
on different levels. Mark Burton has put a lot of work into it. Mark’s staff
have come in and seeded and cut the pitches and other grass areas. He’s going
to top dress them. Hopefully we will have good news on a start date soon. The
pavilion will take a good while to build. A road has to be built up there and
street lighting. It is not an easy process.
John and I started up a
company called Mansfield Town Developments Limited. We bought some land from
Mansfield District Council and some from Notts County Council. The planning is
through Mansfield District Council. There are lots of onerous conditions that
we have had to comply with. There was originally 3-4 metres difference in
levels. We have spent £15,000 on machinery sorting that out.
Q – What are the plans for the Bishop Street Stand?
John Radford – We
currently do not have the crowds to justify any plans at the moment. It is one
of Paul Broughton’s long term plans. We are looking to turn it into terracing
with access from both ends. The depth of the steps would have to be changed.
They could be refurbished.
Q – Was hosting an
England U19s game a success other than the result and the floodlights?
John Radford – Well at
least we found out about the problem with the floodlights. It was a moderate
success. It was a good game to watch. We tried to advertise it as best we
could. It was a set fee from the FA. We do not get paid based on the crowd. It
is geared for children. I was proud to host it.
Q- Why don’t we have embroidered
badges on the kit? Some fans complain the badge looks a bit tacky.
Steve Hymas – An
embroidered badge costs a lot of money. Most kits are sublimated where the
pattern is made part of the fabric. If you want the badge then it increases the
cost, timescales to produce it and makes it labour intensive. Sublimated shirts
can be very detailed. I like an embroidered badge but it does increase the
price.
John Radford – I like
this season’s shirt.
Q – Can the fans have a
choice of kit during the season?
John Radford – We
decided to change the home kit one season and the away kit the next to save
fans money. We can produce a new kit every season if the fans want it.
Q – Why did we not play
in amber shirts at Carlisle?
John Radford – I get
quite annoyed when we do not play in our amber shirts away from home when there
is no reason not to. It must have been the manager or the kitman’s decision.
Q – What about Mark
Burton’s views on the ground and pitches etc
Mark Burton –
Unfortunately we have chafer grubs on the top pitch. It comes in cycles every
three to four years. We are treating it at the moment. We’ll give it a second
treatment later mid to late spring. We are also laying some new turf.
The main pitch is
looking good. It should do. We’ve spent a lot on it. We cut it every other day.
It is growing very quickly – six mm per day. We’ve had a few moles up at
Woburn. I’m loving life on the board.
Q – Why has Andy Sutton
resigned as a director
John Radford – Andy has
not been well and needs to focus on sorting his health out and getting better.
Q – Why can’t we sell
away fans more tickets?
John Radford – One of
our ticketing systems had the wrong number of seats entered for the North
Stand. It was 250 seats out. I made one of my staff go and count all the seats
to check. I think the error has now been rectified. There is a difference
between “Ticket Only” and “All Ticket”. “Ticket Only” means that away fans have
to buy tickets beforehand but you can only sell 90% of the available tickets.
Perhaps the reason is that there has to be some space to put fans if more turn
up on the day. The police may prefer to let them in the ground rather than have
them roaming the town. “All Ticket” means that home and away fans have to buy
tickets beforehand but you can sell every seat. We want the stadium as full as
possible.
Q – How long are the
players’ contracts?
John Radford – Most of the players
are on two year contract with the club having an option to extend it. The
thinking behind that is that we are hoping to win promotion and so these
players will still be with us in League 1.
Q – Why are transfer
fees “undisclosed”?
John Radford – It depends
upon who is involved the contract. Sometimes players and agents insist they are
undisclosed if they are not happy with the value that has been placed on the
player. I would happy be to disclose them. I know we have paid more than our
transfer record.
Q – Have we broken our
transfer record? The previous record was £125,000 for Colin Larkin although
Keith Haslam said that we had paid £150,000 for Lee Peacock. Carlisle said we
had only paid £90,000.
John Radford - Yes but I
am not allowed to disclose who it is. I can say we have paid Peterborough at
least £300,000 this year.
Q – Where are we with
paying for the ground?
John Radford – There are
another two payments left in March 2018 and March 2019. Hopefully we will be in
The Championship when I pay my final cheque for the ground. That would be very
nice.
Q – Are there plans for
another pre-season trip abroad?
John Radford – I enjoyed the Malta
trip. We all had a good time and it worked out fine. We are looking at other
options next season. We will take the players on a packaged training camp
overseas in Austria for example so we do not have to set it up ourselves. There are
lots of companies who organise these trips.
Q – Your horses are not
making me much money.
John Radford – Your dogs
could be eating them soon (laughter). Hugo Boy is supposed to run one good race
and one bad race but I’m not sure which is which.
Q – Is Carolyn enjoying
being Chief Executive at the moment? She has been in the press a lot lately.
John Radford – She is
enjoying life at the moment and helping to attract lots of publicity for the
club. She is increasing our profile. This helps to attract players.
Q – Are we doing enough
to attract kids to support Mansfield?
John Radford – We are getting better but we could do better. We could start Little Kickers for 2-4 year olds. It’s nice to see more kids with Mansfield shirts and tops on. All kids under 7 can get into free. It has also helped with Steve Hymas setting up all the youth teams which go down into U7s.
John Radford – We are getting better but we could do better. We could start Little Kickers for 2-4 year olds. It’s nice to see more kids with Mansfield shirts and tops on. All kids under 7 can get into free. It has also helped with Steve Hymas setting up all the youth teams which go down into U7s.
Steve Hymas – All the
youth teams had shirts and training tops. The old kits have been passed to
other kids so there is around 350 kits that have been passed on and you see
kids wearing them around town. The academy is not just about producing players.
It is about producing a new generation of Stags fans.
Q – There has been a lot
of work on the ground e.g. the dug outs, astroturf around the pitch, the top
pitch, the car parks have been cleared out and tidied up etc
John Radford - We are
looking at improving the ground all the time. It does not always come down to
cost. Some things do not need improving straight away. The astroturf will go to
the end of the Ian Greaves Stand at both ends.
Q – Any details about the
hotel at the ground?
John Radford – The
project manager and architect have been instructed. It is not connected to the
Bishop Street. There are meetings in progress. There are a few hoops to jump
through. The position of the hotel has not been decided yet. It has to be
agreed with Mansfield District Council (planning) and Notts County Council
(highways). There will not be much land lost if we have to build a car park.
Any car park can be underground or on stilts. A lot of Hilton Hotels are
franchises. They take a cut of the fees for introducing clients to you.
Darren Shaw from Stags Fans United thanked
everybody for attending and particularly thanked John Radford for being very open and honest with the fans. John has attended seven or eight fans’ forums and had answered every question that had
been asked even personal questions. It all helped to increase transparency and
accountability at the club. He also thanked Steve Hymas, Steve Middleton, and Mark Burton for supporting the evening and making some good contributions. It was very much appreciated by the fans.
