Commercial Director at BFC for 21 years

The new broom appears to be still sweeping through the club

The new board have a big job on their hands to build relationships and revenue - seem to be banking a lot on local people and businesses valuing the club more than relationships with people at the club, this is very tricky ground to negotiate in this locality

I know Anthony and this is sad news. He’s a really good bloke and had the club at his heart. The Americans better know what they are doing stripping out the experience. Time will tell but hopefully not at a detrimental effect of the club and its relationship With the local area.

I have never met or had any dealings with AF so no axe to grind and wish him well. One thing we knew they were hoping to do is be more cutting edge commercially, and it was always the most likely that they would have their target in mind even before arriving at the Turf, so clearly little reflection on his work either, really.

Interesting, if not yet exciting times...

No doubting how well he did with local firms, but the big ticket Asian sponsorships will, I think, have been brokered by an agency..who would take 10% of the fee.
Ground naming rights anyone? The Bene n Twix Dome

Has he been at the club 21 years consecutively or did he leave for a short spell and come back? Not a real shock to see the owners wanting their own people in.

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:53 pm

Has he been at the club 21 years consecutively or did he leave for a short spell and come back? Not a real shock to see the owners wanting their own people in.

IIRC he was a reporter at the Burnley Express back in the early/mid 90’s. He left there and went to Wrexham as Chief Executive or similar and then came to Burnley a few years after that.

I thought he was at Wrexham for a bit.

Anthony was excellent at his job at BFC and, in my opinion, will be missed by the club. Not sure what the Amis are up to.

"Sorry Anthony, but we are trying to attract bigger sponsors than the scaffold company with the amusing erection advertising board"

At this rate anyone with any experience at the club will be moved out. The supporters in the Bob Lord Stand are in severe danger !!

I got the impression from the commercial side that working down the Turf was jobs for the boys, they always gave me the impression that they needed a rocket up there arses

The new owners want to take the club up to a new level in terms of revenues - we now have debts to service
Season tickets frozen again ?

As I said when Hart went. They're separating the wheat from the chaff. No time for sentimentality. They want to be progressive. Some may be unpopular decisions with some fans.

BenWickes wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:24 pm

As I said when Hart went. They're separating the wheat from the chaff. No time for sentimentality. They want to be progressive. Some may be unpopular decisions with some fans.

Problem is wholesale changes like these don’t always bring about the best outcomes. Trust me I’ve recently had first hand experience of a new ownership trying to stamp their mark on a business too fast. It didn’t go too well.

The problem is that any change will be negative in some fans minds, to progress commercially we need to have individuals who will have knowledge of the markets we want to target, like any progressive business you need to keep moving forward..................

Commercially we are pretty weak

Ticketing
Online shop
Website functionality
Ability to buy our Premier league kit anywhere other than in Burnley
Sponsors

All the above are poor, no shock they want to change things!! What, commercially, are we actually good at?

Pretty sad news, but not entirely surprising, unfortunately.

I hope Anthony manages to get another similar role somewhere, if he hasn’t already done so.

Is it 10 weeks since they took over?

Probably enough time for them to have a couple of meetings with all the staff and assess if they are good enough to drive the club forward.

Awayfromburnley wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:21 pm

Commercially we are pretty weak

Ticketing
Online shop
Website functionality
Ability to buy our Premier league kit anywhere other than in Burnley
Sponsors

All the above are poor, no shock they want to change things!! What, commercially, are we actually good at?

I’m not disagreeing with the gist of your post, but where would you suggest we make the kit available to buy outside of Burnley?

Rileybobs wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:25 pm

I’m not disagreeing with the gist of your post, but where would you suggest we make the kit available to buy outside of Burnley?

Sports Direct Blackburn branch

Marney&Mee wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:01 pm

Commercial Director at BFC for 21 years

Not quite 21 years, he left and went to Wrexham but came back after a period there.

His departure was referenced on the thread about Hart going, Anthony left a while before Hart. Definitely never had any issues with him.

BenWickes wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:24 pm

As I said when Hart went. They're separating the wheat from the chaff. No time for sentimentality. They want to be progressive. Some may be unpopular decisions with some fans.

Difference between Hart and Fairclough in that one of them is a decent bloke and Burnley through and through.

TheFamilyCat wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:04 pm

"Sorry Anthony, but we are trying to attract bigger sponsors than the scaffold company with the amusing erection advertising board"

The 'Perfect Erection' has been removed from the advertising board.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:38 pm

Difference between Hart and Fairclough in that one of them is a decent bloke and Burnley through and through.

But does that really make a difference? Surely it’s getting the best person for the job that counts regardless of their football allegiance or likability. Hart might not have been a “decent bloke” or “Burnley through and through” but I don’t think anybody could argue with the job he did whilst CEO for Burnley in the Community.

Jakubs Tash wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:43 pm

But does that really make a difference? Surely it’s getting the best person for the job that counts regardless of their football allegiance or likability. Hart might not have been a “decent bloke” or “Burnley through and through” but I don’t think anybody could argue with the job he did whilst CEO for Burnley in the Community.

I'm not saying it does, I'm just saying I can have sympathy with one of them losing his job.

Not surprising really as they’ll be bringing in their own people for certain posts , though AF been a top bloke . It’s always been a bit jobs for the boys at the club but that’s not always a bad thing at a club like bfc. 99% of fans couldn’t card less who works at the club or what local ( or not ) companies we attract as sponsors .It’s about performing on the pitch and finally giving Dyche a few players he actually wants rather than picking up scraps , and leftovers .

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:45 pm

I'm not saying it does, I'm just saying I can have sympathy with one of them losing his job.

Looks like Mr Hart didn't know where the donut shop was

BurnleyFC wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:22 pm

Pretty sad news, but not entirely surprising, unfortunately.

I hope Anthony manages to get another similar role somewhere, if he hasn’t already done so.

Doing some work with Labels for Cares apparently. Local charity ?

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:39 pm

The 'Perfect Erection' has been removed from the advertising board.

Political correctness gone mad!

AlargeClaret wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:46 pm

Not surprising really as they’ll be bringing in their own people for certain posts , though AF been a top bloke . It’s always been a bit jobs for the boys at the club but that’s not always a bad thing at a club like bfc. 99% of fans couldn’t card less who works at the club or what local ( or not ) companies we attract as sponsors .It’s about performing on the pitch and finally giving Dyche a few players he actually wants rather than picking up scraps , and leftovers .

And to give Dyche the players he wants, then we need to grow the commercial side significantly.

He sounds like a decent bloke, but when businesses are chasing the club, and not the other way round, then something is not quite right somewhere.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:39 pm

The 'Perfect Erection' has been removed from the advertising board.

Apparently it was bending in the wind and was removed for safety reasons.

Does anyone know if the commercial side employees have been on Furlough over the last 12 months?

Jakubs Tash wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:43 pm

But does that really make a difference? Surely it’s getting the best person for the job that counts regardless of their football allegiance or likability. Hart might not have been a “decent bloke” or “Burnley through and through” but I don’t think anybody could argue with the job he did whilst CEO for Burnley in the Community.

And what decent job did he do exactly?

Marney&Mee wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:10 pm

Doing some work with Labels for Cares apparently. Local charity ?

He’s done a lot for Labels for Cares - it’s John B’s charity.

I think the removal of " The perfect erection " is hard on a loyal advertiser.

Top Claret wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:30 pm

Does anyone know if the commercial side employees have been on Furlough over the last 12 months?

As far as we know no one on a permanent contract at the club has been put on furlough at any time during the pandemic

Chester Perry wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:55 pm

As far as we know no one on a permanent contract at the club has been put on furlough at any time during the pandemic

That's not the case at all - a lot of staff were put on furlough. From what I was told they were warned by Hart not to make it public. One did and I believe didn't return.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:37 pm

That's not the case at all - a lot of staff were put on furlough. From what I was told they were warned by Hart not to make it public. One did and I believe didn't return.

I would have been more shocked if some support staff had not been furloughed to be honest. No idea of figures but they employ a lot of people who are simply not necessary while the club remains in lockdown. No one knows yet how big the hole is going to become, we could end up giving today and begging tomorrow as the world adjusts to new realities... they used to say a Chinese curse was may you live in interesting times...

Not surprising. Having worked in a similar US owned VC business what we will see is quick turnover in senior management, without apology, often without logic but someone always carries the can or makes way for the new solution. Best wishes to Anthony I hope he realises he has skills as good as his replacement just that he needs to take a deep breath and show them in another place. Good luck Anthony.

elwaclaret wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:51 pm

I would have been more shocked if some support staff had not been furloughed to be honest. No idea of figures but they employ a lot of people who are simply not necessary while the club remains in lockdown. No one knows yet how big the hole is going to become, we could end up giving today and begging tomorrow as the world adjusts to new realities... they used to say a Chinese curse was may you live in interesting times...

They have done well to keep it quiet:
- do we know if the club topped up the salaries to make sure everyone received full pay
- do we know when these furlough's first started
- do we know how many staff have been furloughed

As for numbers of staff the last figure I saw was 296 permanent staff on full and part time contracts (that was in a Daily Mail article in January I think) which is almost 50 more than the number in the last set of published accounts for 2018/19 and almost double the number in the 2017/18 accounts

I had reason to email him regarding something important last year.... No reply.

Sent a chaser email..... No reply....

Left message with a member of his team... No reply and gave up.

If he was responsible ultimately for the shocking online clarets store, he is no great loss if he cannot see the value in getting that sorted

Let’s hope and pray that Pace knows what he is doing
He misjudged the transfer market in January let’s hope his current judgement calls on replacing folk are better judged.

Spike wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:15 pm

Let’s hope and pray that Pace knows what he is doing
He misjudged the transfer market in January let’s hope his current judgement calls on replacing folk are better judged.

How did he misjudge the transfer market in January?

Football is a cut throat business. Anyone who works in football know they could be out of a job very quickly. Sentiment means nothing, which is exactly how it should be in business. It is about being successful not making friends. If you as a fan want the club to move forwards then don’t cry when the owners want the best people for the job. If you genuinely think the club has been a commercial success since being in the premier league you need to give your head a wobble. Being ‘Burnley through and through’ and being ‘a nice bloke’ doesn’t cut it anymore. We are in the premier league and we need to compete globally, not just in east Lancashire.

thelaughingclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:07 am

Sentiment means nothing, which is exactly how it should be in business. It is about being successful not making friends.

If that is how the club wants to be it needs to rethink the "One club for all" "heart of the community" and "favourite underdog" story lines

not denying there were/are a range of things the club could do better, or that a change was required

Rileybobs wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:25 pm

I’m not disagreeing with the gist of your post, but where would you suggest we make the kit available to buy outside of Burnley?

See literally hundreds of Americans wearing Arsenal / Chelsea / Liverpool tops with other Premier League teams, lots of La Liga and Serie A, Mexican League, Brazilian League etc etc

Why? Mass tv coverage of top leagues aaaaand....you can get them in big sports stores here and online from US websites.

2 years ago tried to buy a Burnley shirt from the club it took 3 weeks, was 15 pounds shipping and when it got here
they sent the wrong size.

There’s a big market out there. We can tap in.

Chester Perry wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:29 pm

The new broom appears to be still sweeping through the club

The new board have a big job on their hands to build relationships and revenue - seem to be banking a lot on local people and businesses valuing the club more than relationships with people at the club, this is very tricky ground to negotiate in this locality

Burnley has always been a local club for local people. Sometimes definitely for the better. Others definitely for the worse.

One things for sure. There is a huge, global market out there that we simply dont tap into enough. This is where the new American owners are absolutely making the right noises about exploiting that opportunity.

As for Anthony Fairclough. Met him a few times. Seems a decent bloke. Obviously been at the club a long time and always said to see someone leave after so long.

Chester Perry wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:55 pm

As far as we know no one on a permanent contract at the club has been put on furlough at any time during the pandemic

I dont think thats true. (Sorry not a dig, just pretty sure it isnt true).