Tennant's Lager Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 From smisa.net The news that Provan Sports are severing ties with the club for a second time was received by the Supporters Trust with much sadness and great disappointment. Prior to Provan Sports returning our club had at best a minimal offering of club merchandise. Alan and his team quickly rectified this and continued where they had left off with an excellent service given to the St Mirren supporters. We would like to thank Alan, John and all the Provan Sports staff for their service to the fans and their support of the Trust over the seasons. Based on the experience during their last absence they are going to be badly missed by the St Mirren supporters. We understand that due to the replica kit deal and the merchandising being separate contracts Provan Sports have concluded that without the kit deal the merchandise side alone is not viable and therefore, sadly they have no choice but to sever the current arrangement with the club. No news has been forthcoming from St Mirren in relation to how this service is to be supplied moving forward and we fear that losing Provan Sports will take us back to the position where there will be no professional supply of this service, which for fans of a top Scottish professional football club is unacceptable. Football clubs should never under estimate the importance of merchandise in particular the value this has to young supporters. Not everything can be measured in pounds and pence and while we appreciate that football is a business we would hope that given the deal with JD Sports is apparently such a fantastic one the upside of that contract would balance any potential deficit on the merchandising side. Many Saints supporters have in recent seasons had issues with the supply of the replica kit from JD Sports which is very disappointing given the size of their retail operation. They do however possess Paisley town centre premises that could be utilized to supply Saints merchandise alongside the replica kit if they had the will to do so. It would make sense in so many ways if the replica kit and club merchandise could be purchased at the same location. It would be even better if this could also be replicated at the stadium outlet. If this is the plan we would welcome it even given our past experience with availability of the kit as it would be a vast improvement of having no St Mirren scarves available at the start of the season or only ice scrapers in the shop in July. We call on the Directors at the club to ensure that the importance of this service is recognised and a suitable solution is sought to avoid the issues of seasons past either by JD Sports taking ownership of this or by way of appointing another professional retailer to supply this service. SMiSA – The St Mirren Supporters Trust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shull Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Give the Directors a break. They are getting it from all angles at the moment. Just get behind Danny and the Team and we'll worry about other things later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewhiteman Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Give the Directors a break. They are getting it from all angles at the moment. Just get behind Danny and the Team and we'll worry about other things later. deal with it later ? it should have been dealt with three years ago However that's not the main point the article is not about having a go at the directors. As well as acknowledgement to provans there are suggestions as to how the club and jd sports could, with a bit of thought maintain the financial benefits to both parties and provide a service to the fans. jw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pozbaird Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Well, I think the original post is measured, restrained, constructive, and accurate. A bloody good post in fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapamythighs Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Well, I think the original post is measured, restrained, constructive, and accurate. A bloody good post in fact. yes,many positives can be taken from this statement and applied to the next,,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shull Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 deal with it later ? it should have been dealt with three years ago However that's notot about having a go at the directors. As well as acknowledgement to provans there are suggestions as to how the club and jd sports could, with a bit of thought maintain the financial benefits to both parties and provide a service to the fans. jw Oh, 2 wee naughty digs there Thanks anyway for your reply jw icc or if you prefer s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted March 30, 2014 Report Share Posted March 30, 2014 The statement is all well and good but IMO it's pretty unrealistic. JD Sports isn't a "St Mirren shop", not even in Paisley. It's a retailer who's primary business is selling fashion sports wear. I presume JD Sports logic in the deal with St Mirren is threefold. First that they sell football kit produced by themselves under licence on a reasonably high margin. Second that the sale of the kit will boost footfall in their three local outlets a few days a year, specifically for kit launches. And third that any kit that is produced will move fairly quickly from launch and that minimal stock and space will be required to be devoted to St Mirren for the rest of the year. I can't see why they would hand over valuable space in the store to stock the more slow moving items like hats, scarves, mugs and key rings - never mind why they should be willing to either stock or supply staff at their own cost to run what is a tiny retail outlet at Greenhill Road for just 19 days per year. Perhaps the solution would have been for SMiSA to take over from Provan Sports and for SMiSA to use their own members funds to buy in stock and for volunteers from within the group to man the shop during match day hours if it's such an important function. And if there is profit to be made then let that be used to boost SMiSA funds. The only other solution I can see is to make the retail outlet much larger by using the void space that is adjacent to it and to let a local sports retailer have the unit rent free so that they can sell their own more general sporting goods from the unit as well as sell St Mirren merchandising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deekthebuddie Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 Was at the game against the Jags on friday, and had a wee peek at the club shop they have a Firhill, and what did they sell in there- Team shirts, as well as a good selection of other gubbins for their supporters. Puts us a bit to shame to be honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deekthebuddie Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Wonder how long 'Black and White Sportswear' will last in running the club shop? No offence to them and wish them the best of luck, but seems that the Head Honcho's at the club seem to only have concern for pleasing JD Sports, as has been shown by getting shot of Provan Sports on 2 occassions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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