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Ken Coton and Martin Plumb of Ashwater Press snubbed by Fulham FC..!

Started by LBNo11, May 26, 2011, 11:02:07 PM

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LBNo11

...Ashwater Press publications need an outlet, pure and simple, all the major players in the high street want a big cut too, especially as Fulham is not as marketable compared to the usual suspects, which makes the clubs' decision even more strange as they are not helping to spread the word.

Even if Fulham FC reduced their margins and sold the publications as (relatively) lost leaders, they would draw in the fans ('Potential Sales Target Units' for those at FFC) to buy other products.

As Tony says, the thing to do is not buy their merchandise, food, programmes, drinks etc., until they see sense, but the club knows that by the time the new season starts people will have forgotten this and the punters will blindly carry on as before.

BTW, I have not bought a "Matchday Magazine" in two seasons and have not missed it or all the adverts at all, and have probably saved myself £126.00 in that time...
Twitter: @LBNo11FFC

Supermitch

Southfield White - you are quite correct to advise I should not have mentioned Sarah's name.  I did caveat it with "or whoever", but nevertheless my apologies to Sarah.

It does not however of course change the underlying change where we are now simply consumers rather than supporters, in many cases of very long standing.  I've been to over 1200 games and am a beginner compared with many I could name.

I've toyed with the stopping of getting programmes and think this is the final straw.  Shame as I have all the homes for 50 years.

epsomraver

Quote from: LBNo11 on May 27, 2011, 12:46:59 PM
...Ashwater Press publications need an outlet, pure and simple, all the major players in the high street want a big cut too, especially as Fulham is not as marketable compared to the usual suspects, which makes the clubs' decision even more strange as they are not helping to spread the word.

Even if Fulham FC reduced their margins and sold the publications as (relatively) lost leaders, they would draw in the fans ('Potential Sales Target Units' for those at FFC) to buy other products.

As Tony says, the thing to do is not buy their merchandise, food, programmes, drinks etc., until they see sense, but the club knows that by the time the new season starts people will have forgotten this and the punters will blindly carry on as before.

BTW, I have not bought a "Matchday Magazine" in two seasons and have not missed it or all the adverts at all, and have probably saved myself £126.00 in that time...

Same here Ed ,the price is very high for the content. as with super mitch we have an extensive collection but it stopped at 2009.


Scrumpy

Quote from: epsomraver on May 27, 2011, 12:59:25 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on May 27, 2011, 12:46:59 PM
...Ashwater Press publications need an outlet, pure and simple, all the major players in the high street want a big cut too, especially as Fulham is not as marketable compared to the usual suspects, which makes the clubs' decision even more strange as they are not helping to spread the word.

Even if Fulham FC reduced their margins and sold the publications as (relatively) lost leaders, they would draw in the fans ('Potential Sales Target Units' for those at FFC) to buy other products.

As Tony says, the thing to do is not buy their merchandise, food, programmes, drinks etc., until they see sense, but the club knows that by the time the new season starts people will have forgotten this and the punters will blindly carry on as before.

BTW, I have not bought a "Matchday Magazine" in two seasons and have not missed it or all the adverts at all, and have probably saved myself £126.00 in that time...

Same here Ed ,the price is very high for the content. as with super mitch we have an extensive collection but it stopped at 2009.
Yep, me too. It's just too big nowadays anyway and all the information is available on the internet. I still get one or two towards the end of the season so I have a complete record of scorers, crowds etc.
English by birth, Fulham by the grace of God.

b+w geezer

Quote from: Scrumpy on May 27, 2011, 01:07:13 PM
Yep, me too. It's just too big nowadays anyway and all the information is available on the internet. I still get one or two towards the end of the season so I have a complete record of scorers, crowds etc.
Add me to that for all those reasons. Space has run out, short of jettisoning old programmes, but could never do that as the photos were so good -- courtesy of that chap in the hat who is now persona non grata.

SG

Quote from: b+w geezer on May 27, 2011, 01:25:35 PM
Quote from: Scrumpy on May 27, 2011, 01:07:13 PM
Yep, me too. It's just too big nowadays anyway and all the information is available on the internet. I still get one or two towards the end of the season so I have a complete record of scorers, crowds etc.
Add me to that for all those reasons. Space has run out, short of jettisoning old programmes, but could never do that as the photos were so good -- courtesy of that chap in the hat who is now persona non grata.

And you can add me to that list for this season just gone. God we are a load of miserable old gits especially as the club is thriving compared to the old days. I think (actually I know) that I would rather have the current situation compared to Scunthorpe at home with 2,136 of us, knowing almost every soul there and all those running the club at that time. The world of business and football has changed and though we can moan and shout there is little we can do - I too have saved £66.50 this season through not buying a programme. I dont suppose that the club are too worried about that ! 

LB - I dont think the Ashwater Press books are aimed at people in their twenties and thirties. I would think that the target audience is much older and thus of limited interest to many of those that now comprise the average attendance at the Cottage


TonyGilroy

About 18 months ago (?) they sent out fliers asking what books we'd be interested in and whether we'd be willing to sign up in advance. I answered but can't remember what I said and haven't heard since.

I suspect that for the type of books they publish, limited editions by prior order makes sense. I'd happily sign up for further instalments of Cottage Chronicles and Tales from the Riverbank.

It leaves a nasty taste that the club won't stock their product but I can't see many casual sales and direct selling increases profit margins significantly.

LBNo11

...I'm not in possession of the full facts to counter what you say SG, so you may be right, I just think that even newer and younger fans are - or would be interested in what has gone before - IF they could purchase it easily, i.e. from the club shops.

Tony they were going to consider books on 40 years of Fulham FC in colour, 'Our Ivor', SuperMacs Marvels, The Keegan team amongst many other, including the excellent Tales From The Riverbank III & IV, and 50 years of Fulham 1960 - 2010.

Still enough there to be of interest - even to the younger / newer fans - and written by real Fulham fans, with real passion and love for their club...
Twitter: @LBNo11FFC

Whiteroom

Quote from: LBNo11 on May 26, 2011, 11:02:07 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

26th May 2011

http://www.ken.coton.btinternet.co.uk/

What do Cheryl Cole and Ashwater Press have in common?

Answer: They've both been dumped this week!

- Cheryl by a tv programme; Ashwater by Fulham FC.


"After 364 days of negotiation, after 19 years of Fulham books, after 17 books about our favourite club, and after over 100 years of supporting the club by Ken and Martin, Ashwater Press has been told by Fulham FC that they have 'failed' in their attempt to become a 'licensed partner' for supplying books, as others offered a better 'all-round package'. (Whatever that means.) So currently, no Fulham books from Ashwater, no support from Fulham, nothing".

... :035: What an absolute disgrace, Ashwater Press have published most books about Fulham, among their many authors was the recently deceased Peter Thomson and Alex Ferguson aka "The Traveller". Fulham FC have had an ongoing 'feud' with Ken Coton and Martin Plumb even over selling the famous book Johnny Haynes "The Maestro".

Fulham FC, hang your sorry heads in shame :014:, this is disgraceful treatment of loyal and talented fans who love the club...


I always smile as I walk past that book shop next to the eight bells that has 'the maestro' in the window. By all accounts the man who owns the shop is a bit of a hero.


epsomraver

getting books and mags into shops is a nightmare, I didn't know until recently that WH smith  charge up to  £ 4 k for three months to allow a publisher to put their goods on their shelves for Smiths to sell  plus  the profit Smiths get from the sales, the little man is squeezed out, this may apply to Ashworth, I am sure that the club gave them some strange stipulations regarding sales and numbers.


LBNo11

...we do in a way, I always put up info on new books - the problem is the actual distribution, packing, shipping all adds to costs, and Ken and Martin cannot sit at home all day waiting on the off chance someone will buy a book. They need outlets...
Twitter: @LBNo11FFC


alfie

To Lbno11 and all, i have not been around this club as long as a lot of you, only about 25 years, i can remember only few years back when we were that close to going out of business. I know Ken Coton and Ashwater have been great servants and have given supporters history, but there does come a time when any business has to look at the bottom line to survive, i work in the national health and it is frightening what is happening, i used to deal with a small book company who supplied us with medical journals, but their margins were so great it was just not economic sense to continue with them, we now get the same publications and to be honest a much quicker turn around time for half of what they were charging. I would like to but i cannot just blame FFC because i do not know all the facts, and in this day and age they have to look at the bigger picture and go for the deal that is best for the club.

You all feel very agrieved over this and probably have a right to, but as always someone somewhere will suffer, after i worked for 8 years at our wonderfull FFC then i got kicked out not because of work but purely economics.

I do not wish to upset or annoy anyone with these comments and if i do then i offer my sincere apologies.
Story of my life
"I was looking back to see if she was looking back to see if i was looking back at her"
Sadly she wasn't

finnster01

I think it is more a question of value and quality. I don't think in todays world people will go to the length of certain people like Ken Coton to capture "the moment" the way it is done in his books.

I believe people will actually pay a premium for quality as they perceive it as value. I know I will (within reason) People will not spend money on thrash (like matchday programmes which now a days are simply filled with utter tosh of ads). So Fulham the club (and the shop) will end up wasting shelve space on items the target group they are aiming to serve (The fan) will not buy because people will not waste a penny on crap. Hell, we just are trying to dig ourselves out of a recession in case people missed it. Hence, if the Fulham objective is to generate revenue and sell books, they will surely fail and I for one will not buy a single piece from them.

It is a case of penny wise and pound foolish, which seems to happen more and more at our club.

Loyalty should not be a one-way street
If you wake up in the morning and nothing hurts, you are most likely dead