Phil Hodgkinson strikes the right tone in his update but needs to now follow through on his promises 

Because of how our brains work, this article would get more clicks if the title was highly critical of Phil Hodgkinson. But his latest update it was actually a well-judged and informative statement which avoided some of his past mistakes of over promising but still offered some hope to fans. This is an improvement over Mark Devlin’s thoroughly depressing recent statements about it taking three to five years for Town to feel capable of competing at the top end of the Championship. 

Here’s a quick summary of what the statement said and some of my thoughts on it…

What was actually said in the statement? 

Of course your best bet is to read the full statement on the club’s website but here’s a bullet point summary of what was said:

• Effusive praise for people who bought season tickets this season 
• Some insight into the thinking before the season ticket announcement earlier in the week. Basically, they’re still cheap and there’s plenty of time to renew, so fans have time to see how the broader pandemic situation pans out before buying. 
• Some backslapping about snagging a shirt sponsor for the next three seasons and the promise of more partnerships to come. This is good because this season our commercial team have been about as successful at securing sponsors as I was at chatting up the ladies in Visage after a skinful of WKD Blue back in the day (ie not so good).
• Some intriguing but vague stuff about the stadium ownership and the match day experience. 
• The dreaded statement of support for the Head Coach. I’m sure he means it now but will he still feel the same way in a few weeks? 
• A promise to recruit the right players. The key part is that “We will have the squad budget to improve what Carlos has.”
• Talk about balancing debt repayments with staying competitive. Also confirmation of what Dean Hoyle has already said about allowing longer for repayment of his debt. 
• An acknowledgement that the connection between the fans and club needs some work. Then there are more vague promises of things coming soon which will help with this. 

The news on sponsors is a positive 

I found it slightly embarrassing that we couldn’t get a shirt sponsor this season. All other clubs had the same difficult market to compete in and still the vast majority secured a sponsor. We didn’t help ourselves by alienating the entire gambling industry the season before but that should have been factored into the decision to get into bed with Paddy Power.

I like the fact that our new sponsor isn’t a gambling company. Not that I’m a puritan about such things but it feels like legislation to limit gambling sponsorships is coming soon and it feels like a smart move to tie up a sponsor on a three-season deal ahead of a huge chunk of shirt sponsorship money being off limits because of this potential Government clampdown. 

What might the match day experience references mean? 

My guess is that the fiddling about with the stadium ownership and day-to-day management will give the club more options for fan zones on match days. Mark Devlin recently mentioned that existing deals make setting up a fan zone difficult because they’re tied to certain breweries and food providers. 

In the Premier League season it seemed that most clubs had good setups for their fan zones, which gave fans a place close to the ground where they could eat, drink and be mildly entertained before the match. It added something to the away games I went to and made me want to get to the stadium earlier so there was time for a drink and something to eat. 

The Canalside Fan Zone was pretty good too but those days are gone sadly and even then it was too far from the stadium to be a massive hit. The attempt to relocate it to the old car park of the driving range looked awful from the photos the club used to promote it, like the location of a dystopian sci-fi drama, which I don’t think was the aesthetic they were aiming for. 

I’m optimistic that the club can fix the logistical issues and provide a place for fans to congregate before matches and enjoy a (hopefully decent) pint. 

Backing Carlos 

I don’t disagree with the idea of giving Carlos time on the job and making excuses for his failures this season. He’s shown that his ideas can lead to lovely football when things are going his way. The challenge now is for him to make his ideals work when things aren’t going in our favour. 

While there are a growing number of Town fans calling for Carlos to go, I can’t see it happening if we avoid the drop as the club have invested too much in this plan. We’ve recruited players for his style, we’ve adapted the youth setup to play this way too with an eye on this being our long-term plan. So getting rid of Carlos would only happen if we either wanted to completely tear up the big plan we put into place when the Cowleys were sacked or if there was another coach who could come in and do what Carlos is doing but better. 

What does it mean to “improve what Carlos has” when it comes to recruitment ? 

I think this statement was the most interesting thing in the whole update from Phil. Does this mean we’re going to keep the wage budget the same? This is promising if true as some of our biggest earners are out of contract and could be replaced with players that are better or at least not suffering from long-term injury problems. Our current top earners are the likes of Schindler, Pritchard, Elphick, Stearman and Mbenza who are allegedly only upwards of £20,000 a week (though the figures bandied around online are mostly guesswork). If all of these players are moved on then we’ll need five top-end Championship-level players to fulfil this promise in my eyes. Given the quality of our recent signings this suggests an understanding that we need to improve the quality of players we sign to deliver Calros’ vision. 

I’ve often said that I believe we underinvested in the playing squad this season and have risked relegation as a result. While the proof will be in the pudding, this promise of improvement on what is currently in our squad suggests the club have some ambition even if that is within a budget that allows for debt repayments and not going mad on transfer fees and wages. 

The connection between club and fans

Obviously being back in the stadium will be the biggest step to rebuilding fan’s connection to the club but the problem runs deeper than that too. If anything, the board is lucky the fans haven’t been in the stands for our recent games and there would most likely have been ugly scenes in response to the football being served up by Town lately. 

While fans are typically acknowledged as the twelfth man, their influence can also be negative in certain circumstances. Players such as Ben Hamer and Isaac Mbenza have most likely benefited from fan-free stadia this season as they both rehabilitated themselves in the eyes of fans without having to overcome boos and taunts from their own fans, which would no doubt have come if fans were in the stands. Similarly, fans nerves during a relegation fight can transfer into the pitch and make some players freeze like a rabbit in the headlights. 

Phil acknowledging the work that needs to doing to repair the relationship with fans is a good sign. He’s got a long way to go before he’s as loved as Dean Hoyle was during his reign but at least there’s now work being done to make this better. 

Back to my original point, it goes deeper than being away from the stadium. These monthly updates help, keeping season card prices low is another good step but I think there needs to be more done too. 

Earlier in the season Phil said that actions rather than words are important and that’s true now more than ever. So after making the right noises in this statement, it’s important it’s followed up with the right, actions. We’ll know in a few months time if this statement is a turning point or a false dawn. While Phil has made it hard for fans to like him so far, I think Town fans are willing to change their minds about people and if the promises in this statement are backed by action it could see a more pleasant relationship between fans and the club develop.