BLOG: Talking Clan Towers 5 – with Gareth Chalmers
Hi everyone,
It’s been a very busy past couple of weeks and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to write a blog since the EIHL board and fixtures meeting in Nottingham. Notable points from the board meeting were that as everyone will have seen that the Challenge Cup Final is moving from Nottingham to Cardiff. We had the opportunity to bid to bring it to Braehead but decided against it for the 2016/17 season, however it’s something we are certainly considering for future seasons. I am also pleased to confirm we will have goal line technology in place at Braehead Arena for the 2016/17 season, it’s something that the EIHL as a whole has decided to invest in to assist the officials. The fixtures meeting went as well as it could. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s a very difficult meeting where each team is vying to get the best possible dates for themselves. One of the issues we have as a league now is there are seven teams that want home ice on Saturday night, so there is a lot of negotiation and flexibility that have to take place. In respect to everyone, this years meeting went very smoothly I think every team walked away from the day satisfied with the outcome – dare I say well done to Simmsey who chaired the meeting! I am also pleased to confirm that we have finalised our pre-season games today and will be making an announcement this Wednesday along with the opposition. We will play on the road on Saturday 27thAugust with a return game at Braehead on Sunday 28th August (6:00pm face-off). A bank holiday bonanza!
As may have also seen we received our blue verified mark on Twitter late last week. I’d like to thank Neil Russell in Manchester and Elliott Shaw in Dundee for helping with that process. Along with attendances, the growth of our social media reach has been fantastic. We take social media very seriously here and understand it’s worth as a very key marketing tool in today’s day to day growth of the club. The plan and policy we have is working, the growth on Twitter from the visits to our website hits continues to exceed expectations. We are renowned throughout the world of hockey of having a very good online brand and we’re continually looking to improve and build on that – staying ahead of the competition! I’d like to put on record my thanks to Chris Ward who has come up with our new signing animated GIF’s, one of the first to do this in the EIHL and something I believe looks very professional.
Recruitment is going very well, I believe Ryan has pulled together a very balanced team so far and we’re closing in on a number of targets at the moment. I think it’s safe to say we’re now complete with re-signings from last season. There are a number of players that we have decided not to bring back or they have took the decision to pursue other opportunities, that’s hockey and we move on always looking to get better. You may have seen that both Jamie Fritsch and Nathan McIver have decided to retire, it’s disappointing not to be able to entice them back, but we’d like to wish Jamie and Nathan all the best for the future. Both model professionals and we’ll certainly miss them on and off the ice. I do believe we have and will upgrade in a number of key areas. While a team can look good on paper, as we all know it’s about doing it on the ice and so far we’re happy with the work we’ve put in. Ryan and I have a policy of waiting until June / July for the majority of our import signings and again this summer it’s starting to yield the positive outcome we expected. We’ve really started to see some impressive resumes come across our desks in recent weeks. However the focus as ever is to get the right ‘team’, and Ryan is very happy and excited with how we’re progressing. Also to put some rumours to bed straight away, a lot of people seem to think we sit on signings throughout the summer. I can assure you we don’t! As I type this blog we have one more signing to announce, which is being announced on Tuesday, thereafter we are waiting for contracts and answers. It’s about getting the right players for the jigsaw and we’ll wait however long that takes. It’s a cliché but a season is a marathon and not a sprint. We’re not going to sign a player now just to ensure he’s in for the start of the season, if he doesn’t fit what we want!
Thanks for your continued support!
Gareth Chalmers
Hockey & Operations Director
