Getting the priorities right

Today we issued a Press Release from Phoenix Towers to the effect that the council are on board, the developers are on board, we're ready to go and the end of the first phase is in sight. We are so close to getting the green light about a new rink that we can almost taste the ice (which is cold) and smell the locker room (which I wouldn't recommend to anyone who has a nose).

So what's the most prominent response we've received so far? "So are we having a team or not?"

AAAARGH!

Right. It's time to put it in a little equation to help clarify the situation, as it appears that despite our best efforts not many people are seeing the difference between having a team and building a rink. That's understandable - for a while I didn't see that there was a difference, but there is. The equation, therefore, goes something like this:

No rink = no team
/
[new rink = team] or [new rink =/ team]

Roughly translated, it means we have a bit of a choice. If we focus purely on getting a team up for the new season but don't have a rink to put it in, then we've got no team. This is over and above the premise that a new rink may or may not mean that the team is up for the new season. Even more roughly translated, if we get a rink there's still no guarantee that we'll have a team next season.

Getting the rink built is a priority now. When we started FOMIH, back in the mists of time, we had two stated aims - to get top flight hockey back in Manchester, and to build a community-focussed rink in the Manchester area. We realised the first part in the 2003-2004 season with Manchester Phoenix, a team that went all the way to the Play-Off Semi Finals. Now we're focussing on the second part, the creation of the rink, whilst still trying to keep the first part a viable option. However, it is looking more and more like the first part is depending entirely on the second - without a rink to play in, there's no point in bringing back the team. That's the bottom line.

Having seen the position from both sides of the fence, I can see where all the questions are coming from, but I can also see that they are the wrong questions. Understandably, the main focus of all the fans isn't on getting the rink built, it's on getting the Phoenix back on the ice for the forthcoming season. So the questions are along the lines of "Who will be the coach? Who will be the captain? Will we have the Menace back?" and stuff like that.

But it pains me to say that the time for those questions isn't now. The questions now need to be "Will we have a rink?", not "Will we have a team?" because without the rink, we've got nothing.

I talk a lot with Neil Morris, usually when he's got something for me to do but sometimes just to shoot the breeze, gauge the fans' opinions and to catch up. I got back from my holidays yesterday afternoon (God bless Charles De Gaulle Airport. Sorry did I say bless it? I meant damn it to Hades, but that's another story) and it's now about half eleven in the morning and I've spoken to Neil on the phone three times since landing. So from that you can deduce that there's a lot going on, and from that you can deduce that for whatever reasons we're not telling you everything. Simply put, we can't tell you everything, until it's ready to be told.

That's why when we make press releases, we get the same raft of questions, along with the same comments of "Well we knew that already". Maybe you all did know it already, but through press releases you're getting it confirmed officially - the grapevine may know a lot of things, but rest assured it thinks it knows more than it does, and that's the truth about the grapevine all over the world, no matter what the subject. We always say "If it isn't on the official site then it isn't official" and we stand by that - if you don't read it on the Phoenix site then it's not necessarily accurate.

So, the bottom line is that at this moment in time we don't even have a rink, let alone a team, but the decision on the rink will come soon, very soon. After that, then we'll see if we're in a position to have a team or not.