“Bring it on!”
The message is loud and clear from our Managing Director Danny Macklin as we move closer and closer to the 2023/24 campaign – with progression on and off the pitch being the target.
Plans are in place to vastly improve our performances in every department, which is exactly why we wanted to bring you a detailed update before a ball is kicked against Grimsby Town on Saturday 5 August.
Supporters can watch the full interview with Danny and read the transcript below.
TRANSFERS AND TRAINING GROUND IMPROVEMENTS
Everyone has seen the 10 transfers that Johnnie, Craig and the team have brought in. I think that’s testament to the amount of work they were doing at the back end of last season.
The work’s not done yet – it’s really important that we bring the right personnel in. It’s not just their footballing ability, they need to have the right personality and character. The work that’s gone on at the training ground, helped by volunteers, has made things far more professional and more Wimbledon.
OFF THE PITCH
Last season does feel like only a few weeks ago, the close season seems to get shorter and shorter, however we’ve had an awful lot of plans that have been put into place.
There’s a lot that we’re trying to do to improve the matchday experience – that starts when people buy their ticket, we’ve brought in extra resource to support that department.
We’re looking to be far more proactive when we are looking to advise fans. The loyalty points system that we’re introducing will be in place to reward fans who go to away games.
Additionally fans will notice that we’ve made improvements to speed of service, not just within the Club Shop or the Ticket Office but also around the ground.
COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT CHANGES
We welcomed Andrew Stead in as our new Head of Commercial – alongside Pietro Palladino, as well as myself, we’re pleased to announce that all but one of our commercial partners has renewed in addition to us bringing a number of new partners on board.
Omnia played a massive part in our pre-season tour by funding it via their sponsorship. I really want to give massive plaudits to the PLC Board for allowing the tour to happen, it was an excellent experience that supporters enjoyed. We hope for it to become an annual thing that we can announce far more in advance.
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
I was brought up as every football fan was with that being a staple of the matchday. Unfortunately for too many people now that is not a staple. In this digital age information can be at the click of a finger. The reality is that it loses us a five-figure sum every year, plus the resource drain – however we want to keep it for as long as we can.
We have to improve the profitability, therefore we’re going to increase the visibility, improve the programme content in itself as best we can and we want to make it as readily available at as many points around the stadium as possible. From the Coventry City and Wrexham games onwards, fans will see that.
WREXHAM GAME
We’re expecting a few fixtures to be sold out this year, so what we’ll be doing this season is making sure that we’re far more proactive with our communications. We’ve given priority to Season Ticket holders, Junior Dons and our valued debenture holders for the Wrexham game.
We will then go on public sale if there are tickets left. We very much expect Wrexham to sell out their allocation. We’re expecting a full house for that fixture and many more to come at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.
SILVER LOUNGE
We’ve made an investment that fans who are able to come up to the Silver Lounge will see the impact of. We’ve invested in light, sound and a dancefloor – the finishing touches to those will be made in August and September.
We recently held an event between the players, all Club staff, members of the Dons Trust and representatives of the Foundation, DLAG and WiSH. It’s an initiative that myself, Mick Buckley and Craig Cope are fully behind. New members of staff and new players not only feel part of the Club, they can also embrace it, understand it and respect it.
THEMED MATCHDAYS
We’re finalising plans that will ensure that most matchdays have a theme around them. There’s nothing more important than the 90 minutes on the pitch but we want to create a bit of fanfare and excitement for when fans come in for the Coventry and Wrexham games.
It’ll feel a bit different to what it was before but in a good way. Things like the Oktoberfest were so popular last season – the good news is that we’ll be repeating that. Things such as football for five pounds, international day and a retro day. We want it to appeal to new fans and also be relevant to the loyal fanbase that we’ve got.
MERCHANDISE
It wasn’t our desire to leave hummel, unfortunately the supplier went into administration which meant we had a blind panic for a moment.
This year Marc Jones has really excelled and created a precedent for how good the Umbro kit designs should be moving forwards. They’re flying off the shelves, the shops feels vibrant, the online site has variety. We’ve also got the goalkeeper kits, new leisurewear – we’ve expanded our range so that our offering is really good.
Soon fans will be able to buy merchandise at other points around the stadium. I want our retail to be one of the best in the Football League and I feel like we’re more than on that journey.
CONTENT
Sadly we were losing more games than we were winning. What we wanted to do over the summer was to bring out the personality of our coaching team, football department and staff in general to life. We’ve all got individual personalities and we want to showcase that as best we can.
The feature at Johnnie’s house allowed supporters to get to know him that much better. We’ll be looking to do more features like that throughout the year. It’s content like that which bring fans closer to the action.
A MESSAGE TO OUR FANS
Bring it on! The reality is that we’ve all put a huge amount of work in. The loyalty shown by our supporters is exceptional. We’re just about to eclipse sales from last season – that’s nothing short of miraculous. What we want to do now is get the Cherry Red Records Stadium rocking.
We want to get the ground as full as we possibly can, get people in early and get people staying late. We want people to enjoy the atmosphere. We can sell this ground out more often than not. We’ve got a great club here. Let’s really enjoy winning games of football.
