Meeting with wee Ron

[GORDONSMITH7]

Well we met Wee Ron!

As mentioned in our last update 3 St Pats committee members along with the HSA and other Branch officials were invited to attend a ‘get to know you’ session at ER hosted by Ron Gordon and Leann Dempster, 10th July. We were also pleased to be accompanied by Branch Member and Board Member Kieran Power

As a lot of members have rightly shown interest in this item and we thought it best to update the full Branch as quickly as possible.

Remembering the man has only been in the club a week or so, I guess this session was more about pressing the flesh and ticking the box in meeting the fan representation; sorry that sounds a bit negative and it was far from it, See Brian Duffy’s bullet points from the session below.

RG is looking to grow the club organisationally / infrastructure wise as much as he is looking to build on pitch growth

He believes we should be consistently challenging at top end of league , similar to Aberdeen
He feels that we already have a competitive and healthy transfer budget and need to operate creatively.

RG appears to want to focus on development from grassroots / academy up and is committed to building an indoor training facility alongside existing EM facilities. He suggested this might cost 3 - 4 million

RG is looking to the fans to "pony up" and contribute financially to this project

The original HSL objective of achieving 51% club ownership is dead and buried, RG owns 67% of shares , HSL and others 33%. There are no additional shares available for sale. RG doesn't view majority fan ownership as a desirable thing for various reasons.

RG talked a lot about community and giving back to the community which was good to hear and very much in tune with our branch ethos

Dougie asked what RG wants from us and he said our continued support.

Theres been internet speculation about stadium naming rights. I asked RG and he said there are no plans for this, it would take "big money " for us to go down that route he would want Easter Road to remain in any new stadium name.

We invited RG to a Branch meeting and he responded very positively asking us to arrange it via Leeann Dempster.
When we introduced ourselves it was good to know that he was already aware of the roots of the club.

We also caught up with LD, she too was very positive and as always took interest in our Branches view. She agreed to speak at a further full branch meeting in the future
Our observation is he sees himself as a servant to the club and wider community and he does not see his involvement as a means to make money.

Overall impression was that he is both enthusiastic and excited.

Dougie McLeod

St Patrick's Branch Chair

GGTTH

[Keith_M]

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He feels that we already have a competitive and healthy transfer budget and need to operate creatively.

RG appears to want to focus on development from grassroots / academy up and is committed to building an indoor training facility alongside existing EM facilities. He suggested this might cost 3 - 4 million
RG is looking to the fans to "pony up" and contribute financially to this project

The original HSL objective of achieving 51% club ownership is dead and buried, RG owns 67% of shares , HSL and others 33%. There are no additional shares available for sale. RG doesn't view majority fan ownership as a desirable thing for various reasons.

Discuss!

[Man Down Under]

Sounds pretty positive. Glad he wants to build from the youth, it's good for Scottish football as a whole.

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[Hibs90]

Surely he isn't expecting the fans to cough up 3-4million for the indoor pitch facility

Please tell me im taking that the wrong way.

[Iain G]

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Surely he isn't expecting the fans to cough up 3-4million for the indoor pitch facility

Please tell me im taking that the wrong way.

I took it to mean that we keep attending the games in numbers to help fund this?

[Since452]

Good information thanks. Excited about the expansion of East Mains. The more i hear about his ideas the more comfortable i feel about him being the custodian of our club.

[The 90+2]

The phrase for the fans to pony up is coming up far too much for my liking, as if we haven’t given enough.

[AgentDaleCooper]

Does that mean HSL can't acquire enough shares to get a seat on the board? Bad news if do.

[Hibee Mac]

Think you need to clarify the pony up statement, doesn't come across too well?...

[lord bunberry]

The only way we’re going to consistently challenge at the top of the league is by having the best or one of the best academies in Scotland. I would hope that the work that’s already gone into the academy has us up there already. The extra push will hopefully see us become the best. There’s still far too many youngsters heading west from Edinburgh.

[Pretty Boy]

Is too much being made of the 'pony up' comment by some?

In the limited context it's hard to tell whether it was said as a throwaway line implying the fans should continue to buy tickets etc or whether it was a 'get your hands in your pockets' type comment. I'm sure he will have been made well aware of what Hibs fans have done for the club over the years so I'd lean towards the former whilst again acknowledging that's based on nothing more than a couple of reports from the meeting with little wider context.

Maybe there's a cultural clash at play here as well. It's not uncommon for Americans to be a bit less reserved than we are used to when it comes to talking about money.

Either way nothing from the above post sets any alarm bells ringing, quite the opposite actually.

[Hibernia&Alba]

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Discuss!

Wee Ron oot!

Seriously though, we can only wait to see the details as they emerge. It's very early days. No doubt some things we'll like, other moves might not be so popular, but we need to hang fire until full plans are put forward.

Cheers G for the update.

[The 90+2]

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Is too much being made of the 'pony up' comment by some?

In the limited context it's hard to tell whether it was said as a throwaway line implying the fans should continue to buy tickets etc or whether it was a 'get your hands in your pockets' type comment. I'm sure he will have been made well aware of what Hibs fans have done for the club over the years so I'd lean towards the former whilst again acknowledging that's based on nothing more than a couple of reports from the meeting with little wider context.

Maybe there's a cultural clash at play here as well. It's not uncommon for Americans to be a bit less reserved than we are used to when it comes to talking about money.

Either way nothing from the above post sets any alarm bells ringing, quite the opposite actually.

If it was a one off comment then probably. This “pony up” the fans have to do seems to be a big message coming out of all these different meetings.

[neil7908]

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Think you need to clarify the pony up statement, doesn't come across too well?...

That's important. Whatever the meaning the guy has cleared £3m debt and put more into the club. I'm not expecting him to shove millions more in every year to fund players and infrastructure but I'm uncomfortable with any plea for fans to do more when we're already putting lots in.

I'm not sure I share his desire for an indoor training centre, although I appreciate better facilities are unlikely to be a bad thing.

I'm jumping to conclusions and it's natural he'll need time to get up to speed with the club, fans structures etc but I do think it's important for someone to clarify this soon.

Aberdeen are not the 3rd force in Scotland due to better infrastructure. They pay more than us, simple as that. That's the key gap for us to close.

[Mikey]

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The phrase for the fans to pony up is coming up far too much for my liking, as if we haven’t given enough.

RG probably only said it once, it's just being repeated.

[Mikey]

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If it was a one off comment then probably. This “pony up” the fans have to do seems to be a big message coming out of all these different meetings.

Hasn't there just been one meeting?

[The 90+2]

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Hasn't there just been one meeting?

One with the supporters club and one with hsl? I thought this meeting was a new meeting because it was a separate thread, it perhaps was one meeting and in that case the message from RG isn’t as thorough, sorry 👍

[The 90+2]

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RG probably only said it once, it's just being repeated.

Starting to realise that now....doh.

[ancient hibee]

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If it was a one off comment then probably. This “pony up” the fans have to do seems to be a big message coming out of all these different meetings.

What different meetings was this said at?

[ancient hibee]

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What different meetings was this said at?

Forget it.

[AgentDaleCooper]

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The phrase for the fans to pony up is coming up far too much for my liking, as if we haven’t given enough.

Yeah, if it's not via ticket sales or in exchange for shares then i don't know what that means

[Steve20]

He might think we have a competitive budget. But if the story of this Ojo is true, we are obviously still not competing with them wages wise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not too fussed about this guy in particular but let’s not claim to compete with Aberdeen if players still choose to sign for them over us.

[neil7908]

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That's important. Whatever the meaning the guy has cleared £3m debt and put more into the club. I'm not expecting him to shove millions more in every year to fund players and infrastructure but I'm uncomfortable with any plea for fans to do more when we're already putting lots in.

I'm not sure I share his desire for an indoor training centre, although I appreciate better facilities are unlikely to be a bad thing.

I'm jumping to conclusions and it's natural he'll need time to get up to speed with the club, fans structures etc but I do think it's important for someone to clarify this soon.

Aberdeen are not the 3rd force in Scotland due to better infrastructure. They pay more than us, simple as that. That's the key gap for us to close.

Looking like Ojo signing with Aberdeen. Case in point really. The manager, allure of Edinburgh, better facilities etc make very little difference if a player can get more money somewhere else.

[The Captain....]

Sick to death of infrastructure projects tbh..we desperately need some quality on the park as a prioirty, lets hope the budget is as competitive as we're being told.

[Hibernia&Alba]

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Sick to death of infrastructure projects tbh..we desperately need some quality on the park as a prioirty, lets hope the budget is as competitive as we're being told.

I'm hopeful we will; and I fully agree with you, that what fans want most of all is a good side to watch, with, hopefully, a bit of success. That'sthe key to keeping a committed fanbase.

[we are hibs]

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Sick to death of infrastructure projects tbh..we desperately need some quality on the park as a prioirty, lets hope the budget is as competitive as we're being told.

Not as competitive as Aberdeen, clearly.

[Golden Bear]

If I want to "pony up" towards the indoor pitch then I will, other fans will think differently which is their entitlement .

Personal choice is important.

[dalkeith stu]

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The phrase for the fans to pony up is coming up far too much for my liking, as if we haven’t given enough.

I dont think we have tbh!! You just need to look at FoH and AberDNA to see how they are doing more than us unfortunately!!

[Keith_M]

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Wee Ron oot!

Seriously though, we can only wait to see the details as they emerge. It's very early days. No doubt some things we'll like, other moves might not be so popular, but we need to hang fire until full plans are put forward.

Cheers G for the update.

So no pitchforks yet then?

Dissapointing

[Power]

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Well we met Wee Ron!

As mentioned in our last update 3 St Pats committee members along with the HSA and other Branch officials were invited to attend a ‘get to know you’ session at ER hosted by Ron Gordon and Leann Dempster, 10th July. We were also pleased to be accompanied by Branch Member and Board Member Kieran Power

As a lot of members have rightly shown interest in this item and we thought it best to update the full Branch as quickly as possible.

Remembering the man has only been in the club a week or so, I guess this session was more about pressing the flesh and ticking the box in meeting the fan representation; sorry that sounds a bit negative and it was far from it, See Brian Duffy’s bullet points from the session below.

RG is looking to grow the club organisationally / infrastructure wise as much as he is looking to build on pitch growth

He believes we should be consistently challenging at top end of league , similar to Aberdeen
He feels that we already have a competitive and healthy transfer budget and need to operate creatively.

RG appears to want to focus on development from grassroots / academy up and is committed to building an indoor training facility alongside existing EM facilities. He suggested this might cost 3 - 4 million

RG is looking to the fans to "pony up" and contribute financially to this project

The original HSL objective of achieving 51% club ownership is dead and buried, RG owns 67% of shares , HSL and others 33%. There are no additional shares available for sale. RG doesn't view majority fan ownership as a desirable thing for various reasons.

RG talked a lot about community and giving back to the community which was good to hear and very much in tune with our branch ethos

Dougie asked what RG wants from us and he said our continued support.

Theres been internet speculation about stadium naming rights. I asked RG and he said there are no plans for this, it would take "big money " for us to go down that route he would want Easter Road to remain in any new stadium name.

We invited RG to a Branch meeting and he responded very positively asking us to arrange it via Leeann Dempster.
When we introduced ourselves it was good to know that he was already aware of the roots of the club.

We also caught up with LD, she too was very positive and as always took interest in our Branches view. She agreed to speak at a further full branch meeting in the future
Our observation is he sees himself as a servant to the club and wider community and he does not see his involvement as a means to make money.

Overall impression was that he is both enthusiastic and excited.

Dougie McLeod

St Patrick's Branch Chair

GGTTH

Cheers G ✅