For those interested.....I won!!

That's right, I won the race to the Legends! Admittedly it took a bit of doing but the end result is what matters....the courier dropped them off, I took the call from reception, "I'm gonna go and put the kettle on!"...job done! Childish me? Of course, but winning matters!

The response from our Facebook group members has been nothing short of fantastic and ol' Postman Pats back will be aching this morning after the last couple of collections! The Legends will go on general sale in a few weeks, but for the time being will remain exclusive to our Facebook members - there's still time to join the groups as we will continue to message all members periodically so you haven't missed out on getting them before your mates!!

I have scheduled later on today a MASSIVE phone call, not just for WarbyGK but also for me personally........I'll keep you posted as soon as I contractually can, though it relates to the "Legend in the Legends" idea a few weeks back. I'm so excited it's ridiculous, but that's what being involved in goalkeeper gloves does to you, the people that you network with is mind blowing at times!

Finally I've been a busy little bee this morning and have added several files to the media section of our group on The Glove Bag.....enjoy!! (http://theglovebag.com/groups/warby_gk/default.aspx)

26 October 2009

Morning all, and welcome to potentially one of the most exciting weeks ever in the WarbyGK office.....I'll try not to give too much away just incase things don't work out the way they were leading before the weekend. Firstly and potentially the most exciting (as I can't let slip the other news just yet) is that the Legends are officially in the UK!! I took a call on Saturday afternoon from our handling agent to say that the consignment is ready to be loaded onto our courier's van and will be making it's merry way to our office imminently...............and I swear that everyone's moved their desks closer to the door for when the delivery comes in - these extra seconds closer means they may get to the gloves first!! (though please don't tell them that I've asked reception to specifically call my extension first - I hate losing!!). As promised, as soon as we have the gloves and everything is OK with them, then we will message all Facebook group and fan page members to give them a chance to buy first, before the official release!

Second exciting issue is the progression of a "Legend in the Legends", but this is still a long, long way off and I promise to update as soon as we have it all confirmed. I have confided in a few trusted lads indirectly involved with WarbyGK, but just incase talks break down I'll keep it a secret for the time being I'm afraid!

Just as a final shameless plug, WarbyGK also have a YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/WarbyGK?gl=AU&hl=en-GB) which has videos of not just WarbyGK goalkeeper gloves but also some coaching bloopers from a few seasons ago.....they still make me laugh now so hence the shameless plug! Finally I've uploaded a picture of Joe Welch in training for England last month into our media section on the Glove Bag forum: http://theglovebag.com/groups/warby_gk/media/default.aspx

Cough, Cough, Expert Author?

I have been awarded "Expert Author" status via EzineArticles.com, granted they maybe award this status to everyone who submits an article, but I don't care as it sounds bloody good! Here's a link to my first article and there are more on the way: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Birth-of-a-Goalkeeper-Coach&id=3076983 . I have always been passionate about goalkeeping and the articles to follow this one will hopefully explain my ways of working and developing goalkeepers. I acknowledge that these articles aren't overly relevant to WarbyGK, but they are relevant to the man behind the gloves so it all kinda links up in my little world!

Back to the office of WarbyGK, we are simply waiting on the delivery now of the Legends and stock replenishment to arrive. This is akin to the eye of the storm whereby once the courier wheels the boxes into our reception, all hell will break loose with us all fighting over which boxes contain the Legends and which ones have the top up stock! In the meantime we have received yet more samples of the 2010 designs (with more to come also) and we have tried something completely different this time around, though whether we will run with it is a different matter - all depends on the feedback you see! You honestly wouldn't believe the choice in Latex we have to wade through, we literally have drawers full of sample sheets etc but the only real way to test it's properties is by wearing them, and that's where our network of goalkeepers come into the equation. Alongside our professional channels we also utilise the experience of grass roots goalkeepers, and this time around we are going to use our Facebook Fan page to select a few goalkeepers to provide feedback when we finally agree to which ones to despatch! We are also intending to offer limited time pre-launch sales of the WarbyGK Portiere Pro Legend through Facebook too, so make sure that you, your missus, mum, kids and dog join the group to increase your chances! Join now: http://www.facebook.com/pages/WarbyGK-Goalkeeper-Gloves/121104875958

19 October 2009

"Hello Bob,
We'll despatch your total gloves on Monday direct to your address by courier service"

You know what that means don't you? That's right....more cardboard boxes to recycle!! No, obviously it means that our Legend Goalkeeper Gloves are coming and we've been hyper in the WarbyGK office since we received that email last week, but as nothing is ever straight forward then predicting an actual date of arrival is complex...........our first ever batch of gloves (the Goleiro Pro-T) were sat at customs incurring horrendous storage charges before they were released, the Goleiro Pro Legend Rolls were desptached to our business partners address but he was away for two weeks, our Goleiro Pro Escuros arrived safely as promised but Customs had opened the box and "inspected" the contents (with a knife!!) - so as you can see, we take nothing for granted until we can get our hands on the gloves, but rest assured we'll be shouting their arrival from the rooftops via this blog and also http://www.warbygk.com/

On a seperate note, I would like to use this blog to say a massive thank you to Darlington FC goalkeeper and WarbyGK endorsee Nick Liversedge for attending a training session held by PGC coach, Lee Barrass. Lee is the goalkeeper coach for Swalwell Juniors and holds weekly sessions for the club and I asked Nick if he'd like to attend on behalf of WarbyGK. There are further photos from the day at http://www.pilgrimgoalkeepercoaching.co.uk/leebarasscoaching.htm and the feedback from both Nick and Lee has been tremendous, and I am really grateful for the pair of them for their support of both WarbyGK and also Pilgrim Goalkeeper Coaching.

Peter Shilton?!

Honest! We took a phone call on Tuesday from a firm called Champions Agency, who represent the great goalkeeping legend Peter Shilton. They were asking whether we would like to use Mr Shilton and they expressed an interest in advertising WarbyGK by using one of my boyhood heroes! I was bowled over and we are in discussions, however as with everything the price will inevitably be the deciding factor as we always have to monitor the ROI (return on investment) whenever we venture into this form of media. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though but can you imagine the buzz in our office after the phone call - Englands inspirational goalkeeper for two decades wearing WarbyGK? Wow!

As we await the imminent delivery of the new Legend goalkeeper glove, it seems our customers are buying the current Portiere Pro gloves in their droves. We are temporarily sold out of many sizes for which we can only apologise. It is incredibly hard to predict sales, and especially with the support that has been generated has lead to the sales of WarbyGK far exceeding our predictions for this stage in our business and please rest assured that we are in constant contact with our factory to get the stock here as soon as humanly possible! Please check http://www.warbygk.com/shop.htm to see what we have left for you to buy!

Tweet Tweet!

Just to let you know that we are now on Twitter. Please click on the Link to follow us......

http://twitter.com/WarbyGK_com

12 October 2009

We've just had a very interesting week in our office, lot's of discussions and certainly plenty of emails regarding both the past and also the future for WarbyGK and it got us thinking of all the competition currently within the goalkeeper gloves market. When I joined TGB the only other brand in the community was Nico's D-Flekt, but now there seems to be one cropping up every week and we at WarbyGK welcome all the competition as the people who will benefit from this are the most important people - all of you in the goalkeepers union!

"When you soar like an eagle, you attract the hunters" Milton S. Gould

As stated in previous blogs, there is definately enough room for every brand and we will generate followers of all diversities as we can all offer different products. As with the conception of many of sports major brands, we see it as our duty to constantly develop and improve to maintain the momentum that we have generated over the past three years and there are exciting times ahead for WarbyGK (as I'm sure there are for all the "new boys"). We have gained supporters, we have inevitably lost supporters and we also have a huge untapped market of people that haven't heard of WarbyGK but rest assured, with the help of the blueprint that we have developed this last week we are working on this, starting with the Legend........ http://www.facebook.com/pages/WarbyGK-Goalkeeper-Gloves/121104875958

We have a busy week planned with meetings coming out of our ears and lots and lots of mileage to cover. These are an evil necessity and although inconvenient at times, we really need them to assist our growth. We don't just hold meetings "in-house" we also have a network of people with an interest in http://www.warbygk.com/ who all have extensive experience in either business, professional football or both and these meetings offer us fresh perspectives on the samples and the new designs and ideas that we've been playing with recently. Anyways the kettles just boiled and that's my cue.........

We've done it again!!

Following on from our post on September 07 2009 "How to REALLY" save Penalties...!" http://warbygk.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-really-save-penalties.html We can proudly announce that we have only gone and done it yet again!

Ian Dunbavin from Accrington Stanley FC wore our Portiere Pro Annata Adesivo for the first time on Saturday against Chesterfield FC and promptly lived upto the our tradition of saving a penalty on their WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves debut. Admittedly Bavs was the one that caused the Penalty in the 85th minute, but maybe he'd already read the Blog and knew that he'd be safe and fancied grabbing the headlines! Sadly Chesterfield scored in the 91st minute to ruin his day, but watching his reaction to the save both on The Football League Show on BBC1 and also on the BBC iPlayer shows just how much it meant to him, and I embarrassingly admit to jumping up and down (well more hopping - bad knee and all that!) with him in my living room.

More of our goalkeepers were on show on Tuesday night in the Johnstones Paint Trophy. Adam Collin came out victorious in Carlisle United's 4-2 win over Macclesfield to maintain his good run in the JPT, and Darlington's Nick Liversedge put in a great performance in their 2-1 defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road, although he received a debateable Red Card in the 94th minute to prematurely end his debut leaving midfielder Jeff Smith to wear then wear WarbyGK - two debuts in one game! Luckily for Leeds though the contact was outside the box as obviously Jeff Smith would have inevitably saved the penalty anyway!

05 October 2009

Welcome to the start of yet another week - they're flying by at the minute and we've all got enough work on to last us for another year! Life is great at WarbyGK currently, we're fast running out of stock though and can't wait for the delivery to reach us, we've not many of the Portiere Pro Protezione (fingersave goalkeeper gloves) left so I'd suggest that you buy now as we'll be out until late November and we'd hate to disappoint you! Get your order in now via http://www.warbygk.com/ as all gloves are despatched the same day and there's not many places that sells goalkeeper gloves can boast the service we aim to provide to all goalies.

I spent Saturday at Alton Towers with my beautiful family (though some of the kiddies rides absolutely crippled my knee - they just don't build them for fully grown men, and boy, am I suffering today!), and I called into the office once we'd put the girls to bed - much to my wife's annoyance! She says that I'm always in the office, and she has a point but I believe that the boss should set the example, even though the office is closed at the weekend you'll always generally find me there at some point during the day (or night, or early morning!). Anyway, long story short (ish!) much to my delight I discovered that our gloves were being worn by a goalkeeper in the Football League who we'd yet to sign! Complementary or what? I duly went home and watched MOTD and the following Football League Show and nearly woke the house up shouting "There's our gloves!". Yesterday was spent holding discussions with the as yet un-named keeper and we have agreed on a glove deal and are now waiting for the ink to dry on the contract before we'll officially announce him (though he has chosen to wear the Portiere Pro Annata Adesivo which are instantly recognisable on the telly!). There are still outstanding discussions with other goalkeepers though, but we are in a competitive market and you just never know......!

Buzzing!

As the title suggests, this is our office this morning! We have received artwork of some proposed designs for 10/11 through this morning, and as I'm in the office at half six every day then I have been flying for the past 3 hours! I can't wait now for the delivery of both the stock and the Legends as we will be in receipt of these samples too.....life can't get much better. Speaking of the delivery - would you believe that we are having to top up the re-stock order as the last couple of weeks we've been spectacularly busy and are being cleared out on many sizes! Don't get me wrong it's fantastic on the one hand, but unfortunate on the other as we are struggling to fulfil our larger orders, but, hey, what a great situation to be in! For your chance to buy our fantastic goalkeeper gloves please visit http://www.warbygk.com/

Also, much thanks to Bitts at Salisbury City FC for sorting this, but we have signed his number Two, Grant Porter, to wear our gloves. Again Grant is a young goalkeeper with great potential and we are delighted that he has chosen us over the other companies he's been talking to. There are further discussions with Football League goalkeepers so watch this space, though things are never straight forward - generally the second that agents get involved, but we have a very strong business plan that has the structure in place to allow WarbyGK to organically grow as opposed to too fast too soon. My partners are very experienced in business and manage to keep me under reins - just! They know the markets extremely well and are aware that the retail market for any products is rife with preconceived prejudice but each manufacturer has conquered their own slice of sales and we at WarbyGK goalkeeper gloves feel that we are developing amazing support by offering fantastic products and service at great prices, and although we will inevitably attract critics, we will keep working hard to maintain the support and sales we are generating and with our new designs that we've had a preview of this morning know that the hard work is really worth it!