Julio Mackemo
Winger
TBF it's maybe a good thing to have a ceo who isn't a MLF... i think emotions need to be talked out of it at times...
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Tom Burwell - Interim CEO Podcast
- Thread starter magic snood
- Start date
Maybe yes.
Still think a role should have been created for Bruce though. Either CMO or some 'fan experience/connection' remit.
thornton15
Midfield
Difficult listen at times this. Got strong Donald/Cheb Length vibes. Talks a lot about premium experiences. Season ticket holders treated as legacy supports/commodities. More and more in football ‘legacy supporters’ are seen as inconveniences by owners and suits at clubs. Want to flog off ‘premium experiences’ to the highest biddet. Not a good look with the current season ticket situation.
Global members. It'll take yonks. The club are aiming for trophies. Divant be suprised when a big name manager comes in
flusheding
Striker
I think something was said to him about the physical ticket office section as the video and audio has an abrupt cut at that point
He says "there's only 2 clubs with ticket offices" and then one of the hosts, Charlie who supports Fulham, immediately responds with "Sunderland and Fulham" as he obviously knows that Fulham have a ticket office as he'll have interacted with it. Then Burwell responds "Newcastle and Sunderland, Fulham's is only open on a match day" and then there is a clear cut and the topic changes.
Wouldn't be surprised if they cut out him being corrected or just cut out some more incorrectly spouted info
He says "there's only 2 clubs with ticket offices" and then one of the hosts, Charlie who supports Fulham, immediately responds with "Sunderland and Fulham" as he obviously knows that Fulham have a ticket office as he'll have interacted with it. Then Burwell responds "Newcastle and Sunderland, Fulham's is only open on a match day" and then there is a clear cut and the topic changes.
Wouldn't be surprised if they cut out him being corrected or just cut out some more incorrectly spouted info
Thing is we are up against 19 other clubs who are also doing the same thing, so if SAFC don't try and monetise everything they are at a disadvantage.
I paid £551 for next year's season ticket, that's less than £30 a game for an adult to watch an ambitious PL club, potentially a top half team, that's very fair. I know for a fact that it will keep going up for a while yet.
That's totally separate from the treatment of the people wanting to downgrade their tickets mind, that is indefensible.
Julio Mackemo
Winger
Agree, we knew it was coming in reality. Either we embrace it or we'll probably go back down quickly.
Wearson
Winger
Yes, you are right.
Yes there’s always seems to be an underlying feeling in Sunderland that it’s for somebody else, not us.
Lots of reasons why that has occurred over the last half century, but I’ll not get political.
Time to get rid of that attitude. There is money in Sunderland, old money and a lot of new money, so build the corporate. It will sell. Invite the wealthy away fans in to give us their money too. Build the extra seats to allow some reasonably priced tickets by all means.
Its great that if you have a SC then you are one of the lucky ones, and we are all locked in now, so I don’t see huge change for the majority of match goers as you suggest.
Let’s think positive instead of a thousand reasons why not
AstroSchwarz
Midfield
Football fans need to have advanced business knowledge now. At the end of the day we want SAFC to do well but all the money is being made to pay players - we can sell it as something else but that’s what it is.
thornton15
Midfield
He said ‘Michael Ball’ was a club legend at one point as well
Mowgli
Striker
Absolutely nowt at all like Donald
sarboas
Midfield
i found this a bit of an uncomfortable listen - partly because of the linked in vibes but also because it dawned on me that this is how it is in 2026 - this is the world we are in and we need to get on the bus if we want success
i dont think he will get the job long term, but he will be key in finding that person clearly - hopefully they get the appointment right. not easy and critical for the future
i dont think he will get the job long term, but he will be key in finding that person clearly - hopefully they get the appointment right. not easy and critical for the future
Definitely Maybe
Striker
I haven't watched but get the gist - we know if we extend the ground the driving factor will be corporate revenue rather than GA but the North East isn't as affluent as other regions. Therefore we need to attract customers (I say that through gritted teeth) from outside the region and beyond.
Think there's potentially a gap in the market - particularly if we extend the ground - to tap into the foreign tourist market more. The black market is massive, with general tourist fans looking to see a Premier League match whilst in the UK in the same way we might see a Broadway show in New York. Most other clubs are sold out and all remaining GA tickets go to the members ballot, we're in a unique position that we aren't there yet. So they spend hundreds on dodgy reseller sites for tickets that often don't exist - hence the reason for ID checks etc from the Prem, it's a terrible look for them to market itself as the global league but have tourists get scammed and turned away at the gate.
Not suggesting tourists skip the queue over locals but there's an opportunity to offer some kind of package - train ticket from London + entry level hospitality (Founders?). Very few tourists are going to choose Sunderland over the London, Manchester or Liverpool club's but we can offer something they can't - actual genuine tickets. So if we market ourselves properly and seek these people out rather than wait for them to find us there's an opportunity?
Think there's potentially a gap in the market - particularly if we extend the ground - to tap into the foreign tourist market more. The black market is massive, with general tourist fans looking to see a Premier League match whilst in the UK in the same way we might see a Broadway show in New York. Most other clubs are sold out and all remaining GA tickets go to the members ballot, we're in a unique position that we aren't there yet. So they spend hundreds on dodgy reseller sites for tickets that often don't exist - hence the reason for ID checks etc from the Prem, it's a terrible look for them to market itself as the global league but have tourists get scammed and turned away at the gate.
Not suggesting tourists skip the queue over locals but there's an opportunity to offer some kind of package - train ticket from London + entry level hospitality (Founders?). Very few tourists are going to choose Sunderland over the London, Manchester or Liverpool club's but we can offer something they can't - actual genuine tickets. So if we market ourselves properly and seek these people out rather than wait for them to find us there's an opportunity?
Lankester Merrin
Striker
The point still stands. Sunderland have a passionate fan base from the city and the surrounding areas.
If we are to become a solid top 10 premier league club or higher we need to grow our revenue
We can either ask the same people who already spend money on Sunderland to spend more, or we can find new people who don't already spend money on Sunderland and persuade them to start spending money.
There is a finite limit to how much you can squeeze more money out of the same set of supporters until it gets to the point where it is unfair. People might not like changes to accomodate new comers or corporate customers, but the alternative is that we all spend more
Which do you want?
Upwegosafc
Full Back
Go back 10/15yrs ago and further and I bet the Football CEOs then were all LinkedIn/corporate buzzword operators. It was just we did not hear from them.
As you say the world we live in now demands these podcasts/interviews with these type of people in football clubs.
RedandWhiteRebel
Midfield
I think possibly adding 10,000 to the capacity was mentioned in the podcast so taking it up to around 60,000 would allow us to do both.
On that basis it would be a East Stand extension with 3000 extra corporate and 7000 extra GA . That sounds fine to me.
I would reserve one of the upper corners and offer discounted seats to local schools and youth clubs around Sunderland, Co. Durham & South Tyneside.
Getting the younguns in is vital because you can guarantee when we got through another lean patch it will be the core support who continue to attend and not people paying hefty prices from around the world to come and watch one match.
There's a balance to be had, aslong as we keep it affordable and accessible to regular supporters i dont care so much what happens with corporate.
Luckily we have the scope to increase corporate and also keep regular tickets affordable but we need the people at the top to make the right decisions. We will see.
Julio Mackemo
Winger
Agree, I like to think the club know we need a new generation and build that in. I think City are doing that with cheaper tickets in their new stand too. 10K is the east stand, still leaves another 6-7k in the south stand.
Arfa Sleep
Striker
Well, it is a business.
