30 November 2009

Fresh back from walking the dogs down the river (it doesn't half hurt my knee still but that's another story!), here we go with another weekly update on the WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves blog. Last week saw the delivery of more samples from our 2010 gloves range, infact the delivery driver was the parent of a lad I used to coach for Boston United FC, and I am absolutely bowled over by the quality and strength of design of these beauties! I spent last night in the office packaging some up for our contracted goalkeepers to trial, and hopefully we will gather sufficient feedback to make any alterations necessary to exceed the current Portiere Pro range. I'm sure that some pictures will start to pop up fairly soon........

Saturday night was spent watching Adam Collin's Carlisle United destroy Norwich City in the FA Cup at a fog bound Brunton Park, and although he had very little to do the cameras on the live streaming at FATV really showed the gloves off well. It is such a buzz to see the gloves in action, especially on the close up shots etc, and an even greater buzz when my little girls shout out "Daddys Gloves!" in unison every time Adam was on the screen! It just makes me realise just how strong a design the Portiere Pro actually is and focus our attentions on creating stronger designs for the future. We did actually try to sponsor Northwich Victoria's Curtis Aspden in time for his televised clash with Lincoln City, but we wouldn't even try to compete with the amount of free goalkeeping gloves and clothing offered by the winning brand as the ROI was too minimal, win some lose some and all that eh?!

Finally a massive thanks to all members who have joined our FaceBook group (currently stands at 578 members), it's really re-assuring to have generated that volume of public support and maybe we'll be able to find a way to reward our members? Any suggestions please feel free to let us know what you would like (discount, competition etc).

Never Give Up....

As much as this blog should be about WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves, I'm too vain to not write a little about me!! As you may be aware I had an operation back in June for repairs to my torn ACL, PCL and cartilidges in my knee sustained in a car accident nearly 4 years ago now. I visited the Physio as usual last week who told me that I'll "never play again", and as much as I was expecting it I still didn't want to hear it! Sadly the operation wasn't quite as successful as indicated pre-op and I'm still in a lot of ridiculous pain with simple every day activities however...... I hate losing. Full Stop. And so on Saturday I went down to the local park on my own and started pinging some footballs into the net. I regretted this on Sunday as my knee blew up like a balloon and I could only hobble everywhere again, but that feeling of striking a ball for the first time in 5 months was FANTASTIC! I even popped one in the top corner from 20 yards (tried to repeat and had to fetch the ball out of the car park!) however I am now thinking the Physio was right as since the operation I can't jog for longer than 5 minutes before my knee say "no that's enough", I can't get in my car without falling in and more importantly I can't even kneel down to fasten my kids shoes up! Persta et Obdura (latin for Never Give Up, don't you know!!), and I won't but why does it have to hurt so much?!

Speaking of Never Giving Up (see, I don't just throw this blog together!), WarbyGK endorsee Adam Collin finally made his Football League debut on Tuesday night away at MK Dons. Adam was released by Newcastle United as a youngster and subsequentially spent time playing semi pro whilst working as a landscape gardner before Carlisle United offered him a deal this summer. His story epitomises the attitude to Never Give Up and that is one of the reasons why we were attracted to offering him a deal in the first place, now all I've got to do is send him some more goalie gloves!

23 November 2009

I have just posted on Twitter that we are expecting some more samples of our 2010 range to be delivered this week, and I have to give my unbiased opinion that we are taking a massive step forward design wise. This range will compliment the existing Portiere Pro range to allow us to create a more comprehensive range of goalkeeper gloves, and we are also trialling new latex foams that we have sourced from our business trips overseas which will be great to actually see how they perform (the suppliers always give great claims about the performance but the proof will be during game wear). I have spoken to a couple of our Professional Goalkeepers to let them know to expect a parcel or two and to give us any feedback or changes that they would like to see, from there we can either go back to the drawing board or move into full production.

Speaking of production, our receptionist took a phone call on Wednesday evening from someone's Mum to say that our factory had provided our details as their reference and that her Son had ordered 50 pairs of gloves so can they be trusted? I wish that I'd taken the call as I would have probed a little deeper to find out who they were and how long they'd expect 50 pairs to last! I think this is indicative of the current market place with a new brand popping up nearly every week, and having spoken to Glen about it know that we are actually flattered to have spearheaded this entrepreneurialism, but wish sincerely that people realise the amount of time and money that we have spent to get to the stage that we are now. It's a hell of a lot more than just draw a picture and get it made, there's unseen elements like non disclosure contracts, patent licencing, insurance etc that all need to be factored for, perhaps this Mum and Son partnership will become the next Reusch or Uhlsport, though starting with 50 pairs doesn't shout confidence to me........

Finally I have a HUGE decision to make, both on a personal and professional level. So, what do you suggest - Yes or No?

Pig Courier?

Hmm, just what is this picture.....?

Straight up, no messing, this is one of the longtail terms used by the google search engine to bring up http://www.warbygk.com/ - "Pig Couriers Darlington!". I didn't even know such a thing existed until I was checking to see the search terms used to find our website, even scarier as I didn't even know that Pigs could drive let alone deliver parcels!!

I have had another article published online, http://ezinearticles.com/?Introduction-to-Goalkeeper-Coaching&id=3123399 , this is actually the first chapter from my book which I'm hoping to publish in the very near future. There are points which may be agreeable and others not so, but they are my opinions about coaching the position of which I am deeply passionate about and I'm hoping to find a few minutes to add some more articles on goalkeeper coaching, gloves and the position in general. In addition it is also my intention to overhaul http://www.pilgrimgoalkeepercoaching.co.uk/ to create a free online facility for goalkeeper coaches but time is the factor that is currently against me! I will be looking for guest writers also so get your thinking hats on now..........

I have also had one of my students upload a brief video of our first session earlier this year. This video was just 2 weeks before my knee operation and I'm a long way off striking a ball like that again........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6TIoXWC4o (I'm the good looking one in Red, and also ingnore his Selsport gloves, this was our first meeting remember!).

16 November 2009

I'm back fresh from spending a few days in Disney land with my beautiful wife and kids, and apologise for the absence of the Thursday blog but I was otherwise occupied taking my girls to see Stitch Live for the 132nd time!! I popped into the office on Sunday just to make sure everything's ok only to find a collage of Post It notes all over my desk, and scribbled messages for me to wade through and prioritise, I then turn on the computer and respond to a few of the emails before deciding to leave the rest for today and a huge caffeine boost!

It is great however to see the Legend goalkeeper gloves popping up all over the place, several of our endorsees have now selected to wear them and we are preparing for another delivery of 2010 samples which will be despatched for their feedback, so just a soon as we launch one style of glove there may well be others popping up! I went to watch some park football the other week and 3 out of the 4 goalkeepers were wearing the Legends! Yes, I know it's a bit anoraky to study what gloves the goalies are wearing but I love doing it and have tried out several brands just by introducing myself to the wearer. It's a great way to get unbiased feedback from what goalkeepers want and to also find out where sells goalkeeeper gloves.

I started my trek back to fitness this morning with a gentle jog with the dogs before calling into the office, even though it hurt like hell I'm hopeful to be able to be knocking a few balls around soon, though I am at the Physio's shortly and she may well stop me! I'm a long way of where I want to be and the pain is ridiculous at times but I keep being re-assured that it will be worth it so we'll see! I have to admit that I am desperately missing that addictive sound of the ball smacking the gloves in a perfect catch, I even sit in the office with the gloves on just handling a football, throwing it against the wall irritating the people in the adjacent room (that's also because I don't like them much!). Yes, don't worry...I will get help for my addiction one day, just not yet!

I cannot write this weeks blog without paying tribute to Robert Enke, and sending our condolences to his family. I was in the hotel room in Disney Land when I flicked over to BBC News 24 just as they announced the tragedy in their headlines, he will truly be a great loss to our unique community.

Welcome to the start of another week, and that means it's even closer to Christmas and there's just over 6 weeks left for all us blokes to still NOT do any shopping - that's what Chritsmas Eve's for right?!!

Fistly I want to say a huge congratulations to our endorsee Paul Farman of Gateshead FC as he has won the Blue Square Premier Player of the Month for October, a thoroughly well deserved accolade for one of our young goalkeepers.

FA Cup weekend always brings back happy memories fro me as it's always a huge buzz to have played in the competition (I was even a named substitute last year when the club I was coaching for had a goalkeeper shortage! Our keeper got floored in the 85th and I thought that I was going to make my final bow in the historic competition, but he only went and got up! How selfish was that?!). This years competition saw a few of our endorsees debut the Portiere Pro range in the cup - even the Legends made an appearance on ITV's highlights on Saturday night, being worn by Nick Liversedge in Darlington's defeat against Barnet FC at Underhill. The sight that made me chuckle was Gatesheads's goalkeeper Paul Farman sprinting to celebrate with his team mates after they scored the equaliser late on against Brentford - he rugby tackled the scorer on the half way line, floored him then left him there! The other tie featured WarbyGK gloves at both ends as Ian Dunbavin's Accrington Stanley beat James Bittners Salisbury City 2-1 leaving the Lancashire club in the hat for the next round.

Finally I am away now for a few days, and am spending today tidying up a few things before taking my girls to Disney Land. I have my fingers crossed for an announcement imminently on an issue we've mentioned several times recently but the matter is now in the hands of Agents and Solicitors so we may hit a stumbling block or indeed brick wall which could kill it stone dead! If it happens today, rest assured that I'll be shouting about it!

.........and relax!

After what has felt like the most hectic week ever in the WarbyGK office it is time to relax things a little bit, and re-focus on the ambitions before the launch of the Legend goalie gloves. I am hopeful that most of you have now viewed the Legend pages on the WarbyGK site, and I have to say that I have lost hours so far just spinning and zooming.......it can't be just me that finds them ridiculously addictive, surely?!

As a business in an ever growing competitive market we are always looking for wys to be unique, though not for the sake of it, but to evolve - both as a brand but also as individuals. A lot of our growth and progression happens away from the public eye, as we create new ideas or systems within the office which are all designed to facilitate our organic growth, and organically is the key to our business plan. There is little point in growing too fast, too soon and seeing it all crumble around us, so we are extremely conscious of our development and this has meant that at times we've all had to learn new things to acomodate the expansion and in all honest, it's great! I've gone from a life of getting muddy on the training pitch to understanding terms like ROI, SEO, Due Diligence amongst others in a matter of months, and I personally feel better for it! I smiled when I heard about Kenny applying to BBC's Dragons Den business programme as we toyed with the idea for the last series before deciding that I may be too "head strong" for the inquisitive Dragons! It could have made a great programme though as my mouth often kicks in LONG before my brain, and I regularly receive "that look" from the wife when we're in public situations so perhaps it's best that we decided not to!

We can again now focus on the boxes of samples we've received, and head towards making a decision for 10/11's range. So as not to give too much away I'm happy to upload just ONE picture of a design (blank, uncoloured, undeveloped sample) just so that you can see the early workings of glove creation. There is every chance at this stage that we'll not be using this design but for all you goalkeeper glove freaks there's a small preview at the top of this article......

02 November 2009

Wow, how many emails can you get in one weekend?! In amongst the regulation Spam (no, I don't want any Viagra thank you!) are some real gems, and often these gems are printed out and left on desks for the following morning. Everyone loves a compliment, and it is a great motivational tool when someone says "Thank you", we honestly care about our customers and we really care about our products so when we get an email thanking us for the service, the answers to their questions, the delivery speed and above all, how our gloves helped them on Saturday afternoon it means a LOT to us in the office, it's very much a proverbial pat on the back and as much as we concentrate on the Professional Football game, we are heavily involved at Grass Roots so these "Thank You's" are the biggest compliment that we could receive.

There has been some strange goings on recently, and not just because it was Halloween! For instance last night our Twitter account was suspended, and I'm still waiting for an explanation, yet this morning it was back up and running again! The single most strangest thing though is that my personal Facebook friends list now has 82 mutual friends with a new Glove Brand's owner! I've no problem with this per say, but some of these "mutual friends" have never played football in their life and most aren't even goalkeepers!! "Do not piggy back off the success of others" as my Dad would say!

Speaking of Facebook we now have over 800 members in our Fan and Group pages and that is phenomenal! We will still message the URL of the Legend Goalkeeper Gloves every couple of days until they are officially released, so all new members can still get the chance to buy pre-release. We have despatched the Legends to our endorsees that had outstanding gloves owed so fingers crossed many will be in appearance soon across the country! If you spot any feel free to email them to us, we do love seeing our gloves in action!