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Archived News from May 2016

AN EVENING WITH JOHN & CAROLYN RADFORD
13th May 2016 15:37


Notes by Darren Shaw:

from http://stagsfansunitedsociety.co.uk/

Video availble in full at http://www.player.mansfieldtown.net


John and Carolyn Radford Q&A 9th May 2016 - Summary

Thank you to John and Carolyn for an excellent evening. These evenings and fans forums are very important to help transparency at the club. John has never refused to attend any of them and has always answered every question he has been asked. They were both in good form last night and it was a very entertaining evening. Darren Shaw

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Transcribed by Darren Shaw:

Hopes for 2016-2017
We are aiming to do better next season and hopefully will achieve promotion. The budget will be improved substantially next season. The budget should be at least top half if not top six. We need to add a bit more quality to the squad. (Carolyn - we are not going on holiday next year!).


Players
Signing players is Adam Murray’s decision.

We did try and strengthen this squad this season at Christmas. We were constantly looking for players. It is hard to find the right players. Loan players do not always improve the squad and sometimes it affects the football being played by the current squad.

We are hoping to sign another striker. We are looking for an experienced striker. You have to pay big money to attract strikers. You also have to attract them to the club and show ambition. That’s why it is important to improve the stadium and develop the training facilities. The strikers we are looking to sign are in The Championship and League 1 at the moment. We have a couple of names we are working on.

I would love to keep Ryan Tafazolli next season. We get on really well with Ryan but we are not getting on with his agent at the moment. (Carolyn - that’s because John keeps calling him by the wrong name!.)

Emmanuel Dieseruvwe wants to sign for the club. We could also sign Blair Adams but it is up to Adam. Mitch Rose is probably staying.

Our best signing has probably been Matt Green but we have signed lots of other really good players such as Ryan Tafazolli, Sam Clucas and Jack Thomas. Matt Green has done really well. To find a striker who scores 15-20 goals per season is really difficult. Matt Green is here for another two seasons.

When we want to sign a player we firstly talk to the chairman and the manager of the other football club and then talk to the player concerned. We do not approach the player’s agent as they normally try and stick a big fee on top.

Assistant Manager
Adam Murray has three candidates in mind but he has not made his mind up yet. It’s up to him.

Pre-season Trip
If we finish top ten next season then we will have a trip to Malta. I did offer the players an incentive this season. I fell out with the players this season after the Accrington home game and then later offered them a silly amount of money if they got promoted. It would have hurt me a bit if they had succeeded.

Field Mill/One Call Stadium
There are around another three payments due to Keith Haslam. I bought the ground off him for around £2 million. I paid a lump sum up front with the balance payable over seven years.

Woburn Lane
It is being levelled at the moment. We have put in a planning application for a 3G pitch and to make the changing rooms much larger. Planning to fit six training pitches on there. Hoping to finish off the training ground by next season. We need our own training ground to attract good players to the club. We are also hoping to let the local primary school use the facilities.

Scoreboard
We bought the scoreboard from Wembley a few years ago. The technology might be falling behind a bit now. You can put on it whatever you want including replays. (Note: It was confirmed later by Paul Broughton that the scoreboard will not be able to show replays)

Season Tickets
I would like to see season tickets at lower prices but I don’t want the stadium taken over by season ticket holders as we cannot then sell tickets on match days. Season ticket holders are my favourite people but they cannot always come to every game. We have looked into selling part time season tickets where you could buy a season ticket at a cheap price and then let us know when you cannot come to a game so we can resell them. It’s just the capacity of the stadium that causes problems for selling too many season tickets. Our season tickets are not the cheapest but they are in the lowest 10-20%. We have not set them at a stupid price. We have tried to pitch it right so the stadium will be as full as possible.

Junior Ticket Prices
I agree it would be an excellent idea to increase free entry for juniors from U7s to U11s so it includes all primary school children. We can consider that next season. The problem is that some eleven year olds look much older which is a problem for the stewards. U17s can get in for £4 with a £15 membership card. We will also look into having a Parent and Child season ticket

Bishop Street
We are averaging 3,500 in a 10,000 seater stadium. The club would be wasting money developing the Bishop Street at the moment. The crowds do not justify it.

Youth Team
We have some really dedicated fantastic staff who are all on the same page who want success for the club. It’s great to see young players coming through like Jack Thomas. They did great to win the Youth Alliance. We have been strict with our youth system so it is completely separate from the first team and the manager is not in charge of it. The plan that I have put in place is that every season the first team manager will have to accept four youth team players into his squad on two year contracts. This means that there will always be eight youth team players in the squad. The manager will not have to play them and could send them out on loan but Jack Thomas has done well so this could encourage the manager to play them. It’s difficult for managers to play young players when their job is on the line but hopefully this plan will help bring some of our youth team players through.

New Kit
We are sticking with the plan of having a new home and away kit every two seasons. I’m not going to change this unless fans demand a new kit every season. The new away kit should be available for the Open Day. I’m also happy for fans to submit designs for a new kit. Perhaps we can have a competition to design a new kit and then have a shortlist and arrange for the fans to vote on it.

Club Badge
I’m currently happy with the club badge but I’d consider changing it if the fans really wanted to.

Notts County
A transfer embargo has been placed by the Football League on Notts County as they have not paid the Stags the £20,000 they received from selling tickets for the game at Field Mill. This means that they cannot sign any players at the moment. The club should get paid though as the money will be deducted by the Football League from the next monthly distribution payment to Notts County. Notts County are in a bit of a financial mess at the moment with Ray Trew wanting to sell the club and therefore not being prepared to finance the club any further. They have also not paid for the damage to the toilets in the North Stand. It is frustrating as we looked after their directors very well when they came to Field Mill.

Doncaster Rovers
I would be prepared to do another charity walk to Doncaster. A fellow director has agreed to sponsor their shirts for another season but that should be the last season. Doncaster Rovers probably only receive around a twentieth of what Mansfield Town receive from One Call.

Staff
Thanks to all the staff who work really hard behind the scenes. The End of Season Dinner was a great success and a great evening.

Plans for the future.

We do not want to sell the club. We have really enjoyed it for the last five-six years. We have three young children and we want them to have the chance to enjoy it as well in the future.

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... and from the night before ...


Annual Awards Dinner: Chairman's speech
mansfieldtown.net, 8th May 2016

The club's annual awards dinner took place on Sunday evening at One Call Stadium and supporters can now read chairman John Radford's speech which opened the evening.

Ladies & gentlemen, a very good to evening to you and welcome to the 1861 Suite for tonight’s annual awards dinner.

It’s a great sign of the club’s growth that we are able to hold the most prestigious night of the club’s calendar at our home, here, at One Call Stadium. And this will be the venue for our annual awards dinner for the years to come.

Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/annual-awards-dinner-chairmans-speech-3106725.aspx#i8Tt2TZ8mcVtZlTb.99

We’ve everything to be proud of at Mansfield Town Football Club this season. The first team have achieved a respectable finish in League 2 in a campaign which has left us with some brilliant memories as well as a concrete base from which to build.

I want to thank Adam, his staff and players for their endeavours this season.

You have given me and the fans some terrific moments, and of course I simply cannot leave out mentioning the two incredible victories against our local rivals.

We travelled to Nottingham in early August, backed by an amber army of almost 3,000 Stags fans and played Notts County off their own park.

And if there’s one thing I love more in this game than winning then it’s winning in style - and how we did in the reverse fixture here last month. We didn’t just beat Notts County, we put them to the sword with finesse and splendour in that 5-0 victory.

Our defence was impenetrable, our midfield inventive and our striking lethal. Never before have we beaten Notts County 7-0 over two fixtures in a season. Well done guys on two hugely memorable victories against our local rivals.

And I consider the season just passed to be Adam’s first ‘proper’ season as manager of the club.

When I gave Adam the job 18 months ago, his first job was to preserve our league status. Last season, I wanted us to make progress on the field and improve our league position, so it’s 2 out of 2 accomplished for Adam.

Now we want to make our next step in our journey and go one better and Adam has my unwavering backing to do what’s necessary to achieve this for our club.

We have some talented players amongst this group and I expect the majority to be with us next season. Our final league standing shows that we’re not far away from competing with the elite in League 2 and with some additional quality in the summer, we can surely make that next step in our journey.

Whilst we continue to make this club better year upon year, the future itself is looking even healthier. And what a future we have in terms of our young players emerging off of our production line. Huge congratulations go to our youth team this season for winning the Football League Youth Alliance. What an achievement for everyone in the youth setup. Well done to you all.

Elsewhere, my thanks are extended to the club’s sponsors and commercial partners. We deeply appreciate your backing and are proud to be associated with each and every one of you.

Thank you to our staff, whose diligent work does not go unnoticed. We have a lot of terrific people working behind the scenes at One Call Stadium and I thank every one of you for your dedication and smart work for the club this season.

To my fellow board members - thank you for assisting me in steering Mansfield Town Football Club this season. My directors have a wide array of skill sets and talents, and mixed in with the passion which we all have for our football club, it really is a pleasure to have you all on my board.

And they say behind every good man, there’s an even greater woman, and that’s a very appropriate proverb for me - so thank you Carolyn - for your guidance and love of our club.

Finally, to our supporters. I’ve always thought that the definition of a model football supporter is to encourage and be loyal, whether in good times or hard times. And we have so many fans with those qualities, it makes me proud to be the chairman of our club. Thank you for the time you have given in supporting us this season.

The crux of my message tonight is one of appreciation. Thank you to you all for the part in which you’ve played this season, however small, however big. Whether your efforts are noticed or out of the spotlight. You have my sincere thanks.

The future is bright for Mansfield Town Football Club.

Let’s continue to set high standards and few limitations.

From me and Carolyn, enjoy your night with us.

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