New blog!

Head on over to our new home at www.thepyre.co.uk to read my latest blog.

As of today, all new postings will be made there.

Thanks,

Robb

We've launched a forum! And a new home!

Yup.

Given that a percentage of the fanbase seem to find the official forum somewhat disagreeable, I have decided to try and launch a forum over here.

The url is: forums.thepyre.co.uk

And, if you go to this blog via the www.thepyre.co.uk address, you will find yourself at our new home.

Enjoy!

WE ONLY BLOODY WENT AND DID IT!!!!

Oh yes!

At the 4th time of asking, we finally can throw of the mantle of EPL 'nearly men' at the Finals weekend.

The Manchester Phoenix are EPL Play Off Champions!

Sadly, I wasn't there to witness this piece of Phoenix (and indeed Manchester) ice hockey history, being unable to afford the tickets etc. Which is bloody typical for me. Ah well, there is always next season.

From the reports of other folks, it sounds like we once more got under Lyles skin in the semi final (Lyyyyyyyyle!), then thouroghley dominated the final itself. I am most definatley looking forward to watching the DVD of the weekend.

So, what else? Well, Swindon have announced that Stevie Lyle will be backing them up for the next 2 seasons, which is a major coup on their behalf. It does make me wonder if Swindon are betting the farm as it were, much like the Bison did this season, but we shall see as they build the rest of their squad.

Of rather more interest to us Phoenix fans is the rumour that messers Thomas and Hewitt may be coming back across the hills to play for the Phoenix once more. I for one am ambivalent at best about this. Firstly, they would come with a hefty premium attached beinf senior GB internationals. And secondly, I'd rather young Brits be given the chance.

And thats it for now. I'm sure that after the World Champs, more rumours will come to light.

See y'all down the rink!

Well, that wasn't part of the script....

I certainly did not expect the scoreline on Sunday at the Ice Dome, that's for sure.

Not that I'm going to bitch and moan about it. We were undone by our own lapse in concentration, allowing Telford to score 3 goals in under 40 seconds. I could get pissy about the D falling asleep, and not paying attention to their game, but as far as I am concerned these things happen. And being totally honest, I'd rather they happened now instead of in the play offs.

There were some positives though. Tom Duggan looks like he has found his scoring stick once more, which is always a boon going into the final 2 weekends of competition. Foney was back between the pipes, which was nice to see, although he looked somewhat rusty as you would expect. Has he come back too early? I guess we will know this coming weekend.

And the crowd.

Well, knock me down with a feather, if it wasn't huge. Easily our best attended game all season that wasn't part of a promo deal. I would hazard a guess at their having been around 1800 fans inside the building, with an especially large and noisy block from Telford. And those Telford fans were a credit to their club. It would be damned nice to get those kind of crowds on a regular basis next season, but that will take a lot of hard work, which should be starting now!

And that's it for this time. For once, I don't have a lot to say really. Which makes a change.

See y'all in the Dome on Sunday!

That was an interesting couple of weeks...

So, I'm sat here, listening to KISS playing very fucking loudly (screw the neighbours, I wanna rock dammit!), drinking a fresh mug of coffee, ruminating on the events of the past couple of weeks.

Interesting doesn't even begin to cover it.

My 'Getting it off my chest' blog certainly stoke the fires somewhat, eliciting reactions I never expected. For sure, I thought some folks would disagree with my take on the situation, but not quite as vehemently as was the case. Having said that, I guess if you are willing (or dumb enough) to stick your head above the parapet then you have to live with the prospect of upsetting people. Certainly, I was very angry for a good few days afterwards, but common sense prevailed, and I have now filed it away as an interesting experience.

Beyond that, we managed to have 3 very exciting games at the Ice Dome over the past 2 weekends as well. Whilst I missed what was by all accounts a stunning attempt to overturn the 1st leg deficit against the Flames, I certainly managed to see 2 displays myself which certainly bode well for the Play Offs. The Bison were turned over in style, as Stevie Lyle finally cracked in the Dome. You could say we left him with ravaged and sore 5-hole....

Then the Phantoms were dispatched with an almost nonchalant ease, the scoreline underlining just how dominant the boys were.

But there was something even better about those 2 games.

The crowd.

Thanks to a timely bit of marketing through online discount specialist 'Groupon', the Phoenix managed not just 1, but 2 sell out games! Yes, I know, there were a few empty seats here and there, but both games had enough tickets sold/allocated to class as sell out crowds. And it was brilliant. Noisy, excited, and frankly different. If we could get close to those crowd numbers every week, I'd be more than happy, and we most certainly then would have the fiscal muscle to compete with Guildford. Shit, we had to lock people out on Saturday! (And I was lucky. I barely made it inside before the doors were shut, after enduring the absolute worst of Manchesters public transport system alongside a visiting group of some 40 Girl guides) So not just a sell out, but a lock out too!

Yes, there were problems, but it was a learning curve for everyone involved. I'm confident that next time such a situation arises, then the little niggles will be ironed out, and a silky smooth experience will be had by all.

Hopefully a good number of those who took advantage of the Groupon offer will return, which naturally bodes well for the club going forwards.

See you at the rink!

Ticket prices and attendances....

Given the seeming success of this weekends Groupon offer, the old chestnut of ticket prices has reared its ugly head over on the official forum.

Quite a few folks seem to believe that if we reduce the ticket prices substantially, then attendances will shoot up. If only it were so simple. Here are the figures I use in my counter argument (with a couple of additional notations):

Charging £6 per game would not automatically double attendances.

Lets take £11 as the 'average' ticket price paid at the Dome, and 1000 as the average attendance.

1000 attendees equates to £11,000 revenue per game (although a significant proportion of this is paid 'upfront' by ST holders).

If we drop tickets to an average of £6 (a reduction of 54%), then just to reach the same income level as before, the attendance needs to be 1834, an increase of 83%. Just to match the previous revenues.

And attendances would not jump this much overnight. Any increase would be gradual. Indeed, even if the club increases attendances to 1500 (a 50% rise), the club would actually be worse off financially. And I doubt any increase in sponsors revenue (which would be difficult to secure) would cover the difference.

Worse yet, if the attendance only rose by say, 10-15% then the club would find itself in a deep financial hole once more.

Of course, this is all hypothetical, as the club is highly unlikely to drop ticket prices any time soon. Its not as if the Metros, who charge £6 or do to get in are exactly turning them away at the doors either. Lower prices guarantee nothing except lower revenues in the short to mid term at minimum. The only way to increase attendance is to market the club more (hence the Groupon deal). And remember, if we get a retention rate of 5% (which is the upper limit most would expect), then thats an additional 50 bodies returning for more.

From tiny acorns.....

Getting it off my chest....

So, this is a 2 part post about Sunday.

Part 1:

We won. Good, solid performance from the team, with some nice looking plays. Coupled with the previous nights result, this will have done the lads a world of good. Augers well for the upcoming pair of home games this coming weekend.

Part 2:

This is the part that will piss some folks off.

As I am sure most of you are aware, there has been an ongoing situation within the Phoenix fanbase recently. Mostly conducted via social media and the forum, a divide has seemingly arisen between the so-called 'happy clappers', and the more vocal element of our support who are deeply angered at the recent state of the teams results.

This has become a bit nasty, to be honest, and has even resulted in a player receiving what can only be called personal abuse from a small element of the latter group.

During the past week, a club official made an ill advised comment about 'real fans' on Twitter, using their own personal account, which some took offence at. One thing to note here, I wholeheartedly agree that the comment was uncalled for and very ill advised. This amplified the tensions, and it seems a certain group of vocal fans decided to take action regarding this official during the game.

As said official was doing the announcing for 1 week only, they decided it would be acceptable to use their drums to drown out his announcements. It must also be noted that this official did ask to speak to these individuals before hand in an attempt to remedy the situation, a gesture seemingly ignored. Indeed, during the night, Neil Morris himself came and spoke to one of them in the bar during the period break, which did have some impact

Now, I am a passionate believer in the right of every fan to have and express their personal opinion. Indeed, I believe that this is essential if the club is to grow and learn from its mistakes. That being said, when this impacts upon people who have had nothing to do with any disputes, then I believe a line has been crossed.

The disregard shown to the hundreds of other fans in attendance, many of whom wish to hear the announcements such as scorers, penalties, plus those who made requests for birthdays, showed a disregard for the rights of others. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the initial spat, to show such disregard was petulant at best.

Some folks have tried to defend this group, claiming it wasn't deliberate. It was. I saw the tweets from these people after the game, gloating about how it was 'mission accomplished' and how 'normal service' would resume next week.

So fine, its done with at this point, right?

Wrong.

Another fan uses their right to express their dismay (something the group of disruptive fans mentions in their own defence frequently) on the forum. Cue one of their entourage of one of these fans attacking the complainant saying they were out of order. (I believe the actual wording was 'How dare you'). How dare they express their dismay indeed?

Now, sorry if this offends folks, but if you want to be able to express your disgust/anger/dismay in the manner of your choosing, then you have to expect that other people may well hold differing views, and will also expect to be able to express then as best they see fit. That's how it works. Or, to put it more bluntly, behave like a bully (which in effect they were doing), then expect to get called on it by others.

On a personal front, I believe that the actions of these fans were out of order, and any issues they had with the club official could, and indeed should have been dealt with in a mature, grown up manner. The official himself was willing to discuss it, as would any club official (myself included). Was it 'childish and petulant' as one forumite described it? Yes, I believe it was. And with my club official hat firmly off, and speaking very personally, I don't care if that upsets anyone, be it the fans in question, their friends, or hangers on. As I said above, you have to accept that people will express themselves freely, if you wish to express your likewise.

And if anyone has a problem with this, you all know where to find me, and what I look like. If anything I have said is out of order, please do come speak to me on Sunday. I will gladly discuss it, and if you an prove I was wrong in anything I have said, I will apologise right here, for everyone to see.

A couple of bad results.....

And the usual bitching starts up again.

Yes, we were poor against the Bees. Very poor. But the way some folks have reacted is too fucking much. Just because we didn't play well does not mean we were not trying. Sometimes shit just does not go how you want it to. Thats the nature of sport. Win some, lose some.

The simple fact is we are still in the hunt for 3 trophies. Guildford and the Bison certainly wont go from now til seasons end without losing a game or 2. And as for the Cup... 3 players (including our starting net minder) missing, and we lose by 2 goals.... which is a good result. Lets be honest, at the start of the season, if I told you we were going to Guildford with Jorge in goals, and 2 outskaters injured, a 2 goal defeat would have been considered a result..

Sadly, a sense of entitlement is becoming ever more apparent within our fanbase. Yes, we are a big club at this level, but that does not translate into winning every game comfortably. The sooner people get this into their heads the better. And the same goes for this 'I paid my money so I want to see huge effort every game'. That shit isn't going to happen. Everyone has off days. Do you always give 100% at work every single shift? I very much doubt it.

And as for some folks wanting Coach Hand to apologise for the Bees game? Are you fucking serious? You have more chance of me running bollock naked across centre ice at the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa. The only person TH is answerable to is Neil Morris, his employer.

Fuck, we are beginning to sound like whinging Steelers and Panthers fans. The only thing we are 'entitled' to is seeing a team on the ice. Nothing more, nothing less. Some folks should cast their mind back 5 or 6 seasons. We are lucky we got out alive and found a level we can prosper at. Never forget that, folks.

See you all on Sunday!

Not a bad pair of games......

So, thanks to my lovely back, I missed the pre Xmas home game, but I did see the 2 post Xmas/pre New Year games......

First up, Telford Tigers. Sweet Jesus on a bicycle I felt sorry for the poor lads. People will often refer to a team being like 'Lambs to the slaughter', and in this case, that is only too true. The Tigers started brightly enough for sure, but sadly, over the course of the 60 minutes of play, the Phoenix proved that they were simply far too good for the Tigers young squad to cope with.

Indeed, the dominance was so great I chose to descend to the bar for the 3rd period, and have an extra cheeky beer instead. All credit to the Tigers fan though. Noisy, passionate, and likeable. I wish the fans of some other clubs were similar, but sadly, there are always going to be those who are just, well, not.

We shall ignore the trip to Shuff.... We lost, shit happens, and you deal with it (a lesson some folks need to learn. How you cope with losing is equally as important as how you cope with winning).

Normal service was resumed the following night, when a very special guest witnessed out triumph over the visiting Bracknell Bees. Dwight 'Dewey' Parrish was in the house to receive a special commemorative jersey from the club as a way of thanking him for his services to Manchester ice hockey. The response to Dewey was wonderful, and entirely fitting.

As for the game, well, we certainly looked damn good, and early on it looked like we could have had another double digit scoreline on the cards. Bracknell put up more of a fight than Telford did, mostly due to the greater experience of the Bracknell squad, but still came away on the wrong end of the scoreline.

Again, I missed the 3rd period, although this was due to chatting to Dewey and his wife in the bar! Interestingly, of the 4 clubs Dewey iced for in the UK, 3 of them went bust whilst he was on the roster! (Storm, Devils, Bees). So, i give you Dwight Parrish: Kiss of Death!

See y'all on Sunday