Yes, it was touted about just after they came onboard.
It was said at the time that you really don't want an IT company doing UI/Web design. Who knows how much they're outsourcing to people who actually take the time to understand how people use the web, but it's a reasonable assumption that they're likely to be doing it in-house, as the costs are structured into their "sponsorship" package with the club.
I got confirmation that I'd inadvertently been in talks about providing assistance on this; and subsequently I've just refused to work on the project (as a contractor) out of principle.
I got confirmation that I'd inadvertently been in talks about providing assistance on this; and subsequently I've just refused to work on the project (as a contractor) out of principle.
Alternatively, you could tell them you've changed your mind, get your feet under the table and then bring down the regime from the inside.
You will be carried shoulder high through the streets of Charlton and lauded as a modern day hero.
I've just had a quick browse through the original announcement thread. It makes for interesting reading nearly a year on, and I suspect it'll be even more interesting when the project goes live at the beginning of July. (As per the OS article.)
I think some of you guys have hit the nail on the head though - they're potentially not the right culture fit for this form of project. There needs to be some heavy UI/UX involvement and I fail to see where that would come in to it to be entirely honest, and if the suspicion of "free sponsorship" is true (i.e website in exchange for logos on the shirt) then I can't imagine there being budget for the kind of people you want.
Even my involvement would've been wrong - not only as I feel it would compromise both myself and ITRM - but also because I'm very much a server-side guy. I configure clusters of machines, I deal with scalability issues, I've worked on medical packages, I've even found myself working on a car tracker recently! Yeah, I'm a pretty bad-ass developer, but my artistic chops with user facing stuff is.. well.. ugly as heck.
In the interests of fairness, the two chaps at ITRM seemed friendly enough and I'm sure they're good at their respective positions. I wasn't impressed at an email I received on Friday, but other than that they asked all the right questions today IMO. It would be unprofessional of me to go any further, but I suspect they're working with quite a difficult client. Although they never said this, when you've spent the last 6 years frittering between projects you quickly get a sense for when something isn't quite right - and I had that impression before I'd even got confirmation that CAFC was involved.
Ultimately this would've been quite an easy pay day, but I wouldn't have been able to justify working on something that Mr. Rubashow naively believes is going to solve all of the clubs problems. We're losing our football club, and it's being eroded not only by mismanagement - but also by cheap gimmicks (Sofa, Pie Cam, Website..) which neglect the real issue: the fans demand more than a website, they demand their football club back.
Not to mention, I have a memorable name and I've sent a few memorable emails to the club in the past.. I'm not sure they would've been happy with ITRM's choice!
I'll be watching this with interest, and although I hope I'm wrong, I suspect I'll be thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't involved.
Now, I wonder if my landlord fancies a payment of "principles" this month..!
I've just had a quick browse through the original announcement thread. It makes for interesting reading nearly a year on, and I suspect it'll be even more interesting when the project goes live at the beginning of July. (As per the OS article.)
I think some of you guys have hit the nail on the head though - they're potentially not the right culture fit for this form of project. There needs to be some heavy UI/UX involvement and I fail to see where that would come in to it to be entirely honest, and if the suspicion of "free sponsorship" is true (i.e website in exchange for logos on the shirt) then I can't imagine there being budget for the kind of people you want.
Even my involvement would've been wrong - not only as I feel it would compromise both myself and ITRM - but also because I'm very much a server-side guy. I configure clusters of machines, I deal with scalability issues, I've worked on medical packages, I've even found myself working on a car tracker recently! Yeah, I'm a pretty bad-ass developer, but my artistic chops with user facing stuff is.. well.. ugly as heck.
In the interests of fairness, the two chaps at ITRM seemed friendly enough and I'm sure they're good at their respective positions. I wasn't impressed at an email I received on Friday, but other than that they asked all the right questions today IMO. It would be unprofessional of me to go any further, but I suspect they're working with quite a difficult client. Although they never said this, when you've spent the last 6 years frittering between projects you quickly get a sense for when something isn't quite right - and I had that impression before I'd even got confirmation that CAFC was involved.
Ultimately this would've been quite an easy pay day, but I wouldn't have been able to justify working on something that Mr. Rubashow naively believes is going to solve all of the clubs problems. We're losing our football club, and it's being eroded not only by mismanagement - but also by cheap gimmicks (Sofa, Pie Cam, Website..) which neglect the real issue: the fans demand more than a website, they demand their football club back.
Not to mention, I have a memorable name and I've sent a few memorable emails to the club in the past.. I'm not sure they would've been happy with ITRM's choice!
I'll be watching this with interest, and although I hope I'm wrong, I suspect I'll be thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't involved.
Now, I wonder if my landlord fancies a payment of "principles" this month..!
I've just had a quick browse through the original announcement thread. It makes for interesting reading nearly a year on, and I suspect it'll be even more interesting when the project goes live at the beginning of July. (As per the OS article.)
I think some of you guys have hit the nail on the head though - they're potentially not the right culture fit for this form of project. There needs to be some heavy UI/UX involvement and I fail to see where that would come in to it to be entirely honest, and if the suspicion of "free sponsorship" is true (i.e website in exchange for logos on the shirt) then I can't imagine there being budget for the kind of people you want.
Even my involvement would've been wrong - not only as I feel it would compromise both myself and ITRM - but also because I'm very much a server-side guy. I configure clusters of machines, I deal with scalability issues, I've worked on medical packages, I've even found myself working on a car tracker recently! Yeah, I'm a pretty bad-ass developer, but my artistic chops with user facing stuff is.. well.. ugly as heck.
In the interests of fairness, the two chaps at ITRM seemed friendly enough and I'm sure they're good at their respective positions. I wasn't impressed at an email I received on Friday, but other than that they asked all the right questions today IMO. It would be unprofessional of me to go any further, but I suspect they're working with quite a difficult client. Although they never said this, when you've spent the last 6 years frittering between projects you quickly get a sense for when something isn't quite right - and I had that impression before I'd even got confirmation that CAFC was involved.
Ultimately this would've been quite an easy pay day, but I wouldn't have been able to justify working on something that Mr. Rubashow naively believes is going to solve all of the clubs problems. We're losing our football club, and it's being eroded not only by mismanagement - but also by cheap gimmicks (Sofa, Pie Cam, Website..) which neglect the real issue: the fans demand more than a website, they demand their football club back.
Not to mention, I have a memorable name and I've sent a few memorable emails to the club in the past.. I'm not sure they would've been happy with ITRM's choice!
I'll be watching this with interest, and although I hope I'm wrong, I suspect I'll be thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't involved.
Now, I wonder if my landlord fancies a payment of "principles" this month..!
#RolandOut #JustSellTheClub
You'll regret that decision when Bill Gates' takeover is announced next month and you've blown you're chance to work for him.
What is the PR/Comms set up now in terms of hierarchy? I see various names like Groom and George Jones as well as this Rubashow geezer. Who does what - I'm out of the loop since Matt Wright and Gary Haines (I think that was his name) left.
What is the PR/Comms set up now in terms of hierarchy? I see various names like Groom and George Jones as well as this Rubashow geezer. Who does what - I'm out of the loop since Matt Wright and Gary Haines (I think that was his name) left.
Olly Groome is part of the media team as the "Club Journalist".
George Jones seems to have a similar role, as "Digital Media Editor".
Tom Rubashow is the Head of Comms, formerly of the PR agency that was tasked with cleaning up some of Katrien's messes - PitchPR. There's talk that he may still be employed by PitchPR I think.
What is the PR/Comms set up now in terms of hierarchy? I see various names like Groom and George Jones as well as this Rubashow geezer. Who does what - I'm out of the loop since Matt Wright and Gary Haines (I think that was his name) left.
Olly Groome is part of the media team as the "Club Journalist".
George Jones seems to have a similar role, as "Digital Media Editor".
Tom Rubashow is the Head of Comms, formerly of the PR agency that was tasked with cleaning up some of Katrien's messes - PitchPR. There's talk that he may still be employed by PitchPR I think.
What is the PR/Comms set up now in terms of hierarchy? I see various names like Groom and George Jones as well as this Rubashow geezer. Who does what - I'm out of the loop since Matt Wright and Gary Haines (I think that was his name) left.
Olly Groome is part of the media team as the "Club Journalist".
George Jones seems to have a similar role, as "Digital Media Editor".
Tom Rubashow is the Head of Comms, formerly of the PR agency that was tasked with cleaning up some of Katrien's messes - PitchPR. There's talk that he may still be employed by PitchPR I think.
On LinkedIn he's still down as Pitch.
And on Twitter he's "formerly of @pitchlondon". With concise and accurate communications like these, you can see why he's at the top of his game.
He works at charlton and goes to work at the valley every day but is still contracted to pitch. Either that or I'm mis remembering and he's on a 12 month rolling contract with the club and can walk away if he wants. I can confirm again in a couple of weeks.
Considering I know Toms family background relatively well I'm surprised to hear he would be a difficult client to a web agency. I think it may well just be the SMT who are completely incompetent at giving timely feedback.
Comments
It was said at the time that you really don't want an IT company doing UI/Web design. Who knows how much they're outsourcing to people who actually take the time to understand how people use the web, but it's a reasonable assumption that they're likely to be doing it in-house, as the costs are structured into their "sponsorship" package with the club.
At least that's my peripheral understanding.
You will be carried shoulder high through the streets of Charlton and lauded as a modern day hero.
I think some of you guys have hit the nail on the head though - they're potentially not the right culture fit for this form of project. There needs to be some heavy UI/UX involvement and I fail to see where that would come in to it to be entirely honest, and if the suspicion of "free sponsorship" is true (i.e website in exchange for logos on the shirt) then I can't imagine there being budget for the kind of people you want.
Even my involvement would've been wrong - not only as I feel it would compromise both myself and ITRM - but also because I'm very much a server-side guy. I configure clusters of machines, I deal with scalability issues, I've worked on medical packages, I've even found myself working on a car tracker recently! Yeah, I'm a pretty bad-ass developer, but my artistic chops with user facing stuff is.. well.. ugly as heck.
In the interests of fairness, the two chaps at ITRM seemed friendly enough and I'm sure they're good at their respective positions. I wasn't impressed at an email I received on Friday, but other than that they asked all the right questions today IMO. It would be unprofessional of me to go any further, but I suspect they're working with quite a difficult client. Although they never said this, when you've spent the last 6 years frittering between projects you quickly get a sense for when something isn't quite right - and I had that impression before I'd even got confirmation that CAFC was involved.
Ultimately this would've been quite an easy pay day, but I wouldn't have been able to justify working on something that Mr. Rubashow naively believes is going to solve all of the clubs problems. We're losing our football club, and it's being eroded not only by mismanagement - but also by cheap gimmicks (Sofa, Pie Cam, Website..) which neglect the real issue: the fans demand more than a website, they demand their football club back.
Not to mention, I have a memorable name and I've sent a few memorable emails to the club in the past.. I'm not sure they would've been happy with ITRM's choice!
I'll be watching this with interest, and although I hope I'm wrong, I suspect I'll be thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't involved.
Now, I wonder if my landlord fancies a payment of "principles" this month..!
#RolandOut #JustSellTheClub
George Jones seems to have a similar role, as "Digital Media Editor".
Tom Rubashow is the Head of Comms, formerly of the PR agency that was tasked with cleaning up some of Katrien's messes - PitchPR. There's talk that he may still be employed by PitchPR I think.
Considering I know Toms family background relatively well I'm surprised to hear he would be a difficult client to a web agency. I think it may well just be the SMT who are completely incompetent at giving timely feedback.