Our 10-Point plan for the Future ...
By Steven Wright
Richmond CEO
Fighting Tiger Bulletin
December 2004
It's certainly been a busy time since I started work at Richmond in mid-August.
Obviously, it's been a difficult year at Tigerland, both on and off the field, but we've conducted a thorough review into how we performed in all areas throughout 2004, and subsequently developed a long-term strategy for the Club.
We've been able to formulate a 10-point plan, which we're confident will make us a stable, strong club for the future.
In a nutshell, the 10-point plan is as follows. . .
1. Football: Terry Wallace's appointment as the Club's senior coach for the next five years has provided the football department with necessary stability. Terry's subsequently put together a top group of support coaches in Brian Royal, David Wheadon, David King, Steve Alessio and Coburg Tigers coach David Flood. From a list management perspective, we've taken a clear development path that, hopefully, will lead to sustained success for the Tigers in the long term. Five picks in the top 20 at the National Draft basically meant we had access to a quarter of the best team of untried young football talent available in Australia. In addition to that. we're focusing on plugging a few holes in our playing list with some experienced players from other clubs, as part of the plan to achieve some short-term success, too. There's no point talking to the likes of Wayne Campbell about success in five years' time because his stellar career at Richmond will be over by then. So, it's important to provide them with the impetus in the short term to be able to really enjoy their footy and to maximise their contribution to the Club. Under Terry Wallace's coaching, you can expect the Tigers to play a more attacking, entertaining brand of football, which will be an important factor in boosting the next part of our plan, listed below. . .
2. Membership: Richmond has a solid membership base of approximately 30,000. The public number of 27,000 does not, in fact, represent all our members, as a number of them don't buy ticketed memberships and therefore aren't included in the official numbers. Clearly, we hope to grow the membership which is something Terry Wallace is very aware of, and why he wants our supporters to enjoy coming to the footy to watch the Tigers play. We're also planning to introduce some different activities on game-day, which will make the event more enjoyable for the Yellow
and Black faithful. A key part of that is interaction between our fans and players. The strongest Victorian and interstate clubs have memberships of 40,000-plus - and I'm confident with the changes put in place in the football and operational sides of the Club that we can be right up there with them in the not-too-distant future. I certainly encourage all Tiger fans to jump on board as members because, without their support, we won't have the wherewithal to be able to develop to our full potential.
3. Financial stability: It's been well documented that the Club will make a significant financipl loss in 2004. Such losses cannot continue' because, if they do, the Richmond Football Club may cease to exist. That's why tough d8cisions have been made at Tigerland in recent months. We've restructured the budgeting process for next year and had a team of highly-competent, experienced consultants work with us to develop a business plan that's looking at a major turnaround in performance next year. Although we have been prudent and tightened our belts, we still have the necessary financial capacity to be extrernely cornpetitive. It's crucial, though,'that we set achievable revenue targets. Injbepast, the Club probably was a'little too optimistic in its revenue forecCjsts.4This year, however, we've set a conservative budget with achievable revenue targets and costs.
4. Promotions: Coming from an organization such as the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, I am well aware of the importance of prornoting your brand to the community. .. For many years Richmond was a very strong club, but what happened was that we let the brand lapse amidst poor on-field performance and a lack of promotion. We should be proud of our Tiger emblem, colors, song, history, tradition and of the fact we are all part of the Richmond Football Club. And, we must work with all our partners on positioning Richmond back as a vibrant. marketing-driven club. Ifs also a priority for us to work actively in the community to promote the Club and let people know what we stand for.
5. Community: In terms of local community, the Richmond Football Club is a key part of the City of Melbourne, City of Yarra and the suburb of Richmond. But the Club goes beyond that, into other areas such as our strong supporter base out in the Glen Waverley region. However, our impact in these areas has diminished over time. Locally, we need to get a Tiger presence back in the shop windows of Punt Road, Swan Street. Bridge Road, etc. and we want everyone in the Richmond area to be proud of the Club. There are a number of things in the pipeline that will foster this relationship with the local community. The Club already does a fair amount of charity work (which may not be well known) with organisations such as Very Special Kids. Over the next few months, we'll be rolling out a comprehensive plan to take Richmond to the people - and also to bring the people to Richmond. Another key factor here is that with so many players at the Club under the age of 20, it's important for their overall development as people to be able to learn from the community, so that they become good, well-rounded citizens.
6. Media: Over the past couple of years, Richmond, due to poor on-field performance, has been reluctant to get involved with the media. The Club's still managed to attract a lot of media attention in that time, but a large part of it has been negative. With our new coach, Terry Wallace, being so media savvy, and Director of Football, Greg Miller, a seasoned media performer, we're developing a strategy to make Richmond one of the most mediaaccessible clubs in the competition. We also plan to provide the media with plenty of positive Richmond-related stories. And, ifs not just the back pages of the paper that we're looking at for coverage. We're keen, where possible, to get the Tigers featured up the front of the paper, to show the community, at large, what we're all about. . .
7. Governance: This is a word that means different things to different people. In simplistic terms, it means running a business with appropriate business structures. Richmond is a club with a budget of more than $20 million. It's no longer an amateur football club. A number of internal operating systems need to be improved. With the support of the AFL. and in conjunction with several other league clubs, we're looking to develop improved systems and processes within the organisation to ensure we're at the forefront of risk management. internal audits, and other factors necessary to enable our Club to flourish.
8. Partnerships: Ifs been particularly pleasing that we've been able to re-negotiate an extension to the contracts of our two major partners, the TAC and Motorola. The "Drink, drive, bloody idiot" message has been synonymous with Richmond for several years now, and the Club is proud to support safe driving, as well as the responsible serving of alcohol through our connections with CUB. We're also close to an announcement on the re-signing of the majority of our other partners from this year, as well as finalising some new partnerships that will give us the financial capacity to participate at the top level of the AFL. While football is so much about the grass-roots support, without the corporate support, too, clubs would not be able to succeed. With this in mind, we're also bringing back our corporate hospitality in-house, following its outsourcing this year. This will give us total control over our destiny with regards to corporate revenue.
9. Tradition: As a lifelong Tiger supporter, I'm well aware of the tradition of the Richmond Football Club. I grew up with the No. 4 of Royce Hart on the back of my Richmond jumper. I still vividly and proudly recall the glory days of the Tommy Hafey era. However, 2005 is not 1967 and, as a club, we need to move forward by recognising and embracing our past, but not letting it become a noose around our neck. You often hear older Richmond fans talking about how great it would be to return to the glory days of the 60s and 70s. Well. what we need to do is create new glory days. We have to build the Club in a strong, efficient manner, appropriate to the 21 st century, while still learning, understanding and carrying on the key Tiger traditions. We have a number of pleasing announcements to make in the coming weeks which will help us not only celebrate this tradition, but also set us up for the future. I We will also continue to proudly recognise our tradition through the Tommy Hafey Club, which provides a wonderful forum to reminisce about Richmond's past successes, our fabulous ligerland museum, our strong father-son playing links, our resurgent Former Players and Officials' Association, and the soon-to-belaunched Walkway of Honor at Punt Road, where every player in the Club's league football history will be formally recognised. In summary, Richmond's proud history and tradition will continue to be embraced, but as a club we need to learn the lessons of the past and move forward, rather than sitting here with rose-colored glasses, dreaming of the past. . .
10. Professionalism: AFL football is a professional business. Richmond, in the past, however, has not operated at the level of professionalism that's needed to be one of the competition's elite clubs. With everything we all do within the organisation - from every letter we send, every document we prepare, every phone call we make, to every footballer who pulls on the boots for the Tigers - we simply must be professional. We need to lift the bar in this regard. That doesn't mean we ignore our members or supporters - quite the contrary. It makes us embrace them even more because, with our professional outlook, we know how important they are. Everything we do must revolve around achieving sustained success in our field of endeavor. But we can only do it by having an extremely professional approach from training, to business, to finances, etc. Basically, we have to perform at a much higher level than what we have been. This philosophy has been embraced by all the staff and we've also been able to restructure the business in a way that will enable us to approach everything in a more professional manner.
With the implementation of the strategies listed above, I'm sure you'll agree that the future is really bright at Tigerland.
