28 June 2010

Four years worth of build up and excitement, squandered in perhaps the most embarrassing way possible - a 4-1 thumping at the hands of our biggest arch rivals! Wow, what a disappointing way to spend a Sunday afternoon and whilst I'll let the newspaper fully dissect exactly what went wrong I will tentatively throw in my brief opinion of the tournament for England.... What disappointed me most was that Capello seemed to initially play to not lose, rather than being the aggressor. England's tactics seemed to me were that we must not lose as opposed to we must win. Not once was there a constructive change to the personnel or formation, and when it eventually came it was too little, too late.

Anyways England aside we are delighted to have received confirmation that the Portiere Pro Legend Negativo's are nearly back in stock! We also have a beautiful flat palm glove coming too, based around the iconic Legend design so we are really pleased in the office that after a month of having no gloves we will be able to once again boast a comprehensive range of goalkeeper gloves that our fantastic customers have come to expect from WarbyGK. Rolls, Negs, Flats, Internal Latex, Extended Palms, Giga Grip, Mega Grip, TotalSoft......you name it we've practically got it!

Finally I have to point you in the direction of this fantastic blog, as they are running a competition to win a pair of our gloves! All you have to do is follow the Blog to enter so please click on the link and add your name to the ever growing list of followers: http://vasoccernews.blogspot.com

(This link is not affiliated to WarbyGK Ltd. We are not responsible for the content of this external site)

Thursday, 24 June May 2010

The Negs are coming.......

There have been shed-loads of emails coming into the WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves office since the launch of the new range saying "Aren't you getting any Negative Cut Goalie Gloves?". Well, of course we are and we always were it's just that, as previously explained, this first set of goalkeeping gloves was prioritised after the Try Me, Love Me and so the designs for the Negatives wasn't 100% finalised. We pride ourselves on making absolutely sure that our gloves are what people want and so we have just placed the order for the rest of the range. This order will once again mean that we are able to offer a goalkeeper glove to suit every goalie at every level.

One of the stronger sellers from the Portiere Pro range, the Acqua Capo, has been redesigned to fit in with our amazing new Superior Pro range so that all of it's loyal followers can get their favourite palm in a higher specced glove. The Acqua has been upgraded and fits in perfectly with our branding strategy and we are really excited about unleashing the new gloves on the goalkeeper community - especially given the overwhelming reception the Superior Pro range has received so far, we've even had comparisons to the mighty Reusch brand which truly blows me away when I think how far we've come to receive those favourable comments!

Loyal followers to this blog will know how I refer to our Business Plan and the fact that we are constantly adapting and striving to move forward. Organic Growth are still the buzzwords for WarbyGK Ltd, and with the introduction of the Superior Pro range, as well as the fantastic support of both our customers and our retailers means that we are still exceeding our expectations, so once again I want to say a huge public Thank You to all those that have ever been involved with WarbyGK.

21 June 2010

That's the last time I take a day away from the WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves Office.....I spent all weekend playing catch up - I missed the World Cup Games on Saturday but more importantly missed the morning of Fathers Day, spending the morning answering emails and messages etc is not the ideal way I'd chose to spend Fathers Day! We made up for it though by watching Disneys Meet the Robinsons on DVD in the afternoon while my girls jumped all over me!

I spent Friday at a business event called "Mice can Roar" and I found it fascinating in parts, and I also got to meet a few interesting local businesses so it was a great chance to get out of the office for a change - the only downside was I didn't get chance to eat the Pasta and Meatballs laid on as I spent my dinnertime on the phone to the office sorting minor problems! No dinner for me ALL day - boo hoo! The event had guest speakers and the afternoons was Richard Richardson, Author of "Marketing Judo" and former owner of the Harry Ramsdens restaurant chain. Wow, this guy had passion for what he was talking about and that I find truly spellbinding.....you could be talking about cutting the grass for instance, but as long as you have passion in your speech I will be well and truly hooked! The manner in which the speaker discussed their topics made me evaluate and assess our business, and it made me proud in the fact that we aren't a million miles away from how these "experts" did things - though I did take a couple of pointers away from the day and we'll look to implement these within our long term Business Plan.

Aside from this WarbyGK have teamed up to support the amazing Craig Bellamy Foundation in Sierra Leone. Similar to what we did last year and the Boots for Africa cause, we are sending a sack full of brand new Warby Goalkeeper Gloves across to Craig's Academy to be able to support the budding footballers in this fantastic project. For more details please visit www.craigbellamyfoundation.org

Thursday, 17 June May 2010

Important Announcement

It is with deep regret that we have to announce that there is no longer an American arm of WarbyGK. WarbyGKUSA has been withdrawn and all purchases for Goalkeeper Gloves in America must now come through the UK office please. I will not divulge reasons why warbygkusa.com is no longer trading, but suffice to say we have been seriously upset at the chain of events which led to another brand contacting us on Saturday morning, raising their concerns. So I must stress again that all online purchases of goalkeeper gloves from the USA must come via the UK office, where we will bend over backwards to help you!

Speaking of help, we have also installed Live Help on our online shop for Goalkeeper Gloves. Our helpline staff man this online portal for the majority of the day so if you have any queries over sizing or preference etc then please do not hesitate to tap away on your keyboard and ask us...it's what we're here for!

Finally, as the pioneers for the 360 degree photography used on goalkeeper gloves, we have added the new range to this fantastic tool - these should be online later today and you will be able to see the glove fully (and spend hours on spinning it round and round....). The Portiere Pro Legends were the first goalie gloves ever to be displayed in this way, so we thought why not carry it on with our fantastic new range? Keep checking back throughout the day......

14 June 2010

Ouch! You have to feel that level of sympathy for Rob Green after his disastrous world cup debut on Saturday and gifting USA the equaliser. We've all been there at some stage in our goalkeeping careers, albeit on monumentally smaller stages for the majority of us, however that horrible feeling in the pit of our stomachs is equally disturbing whether you are playing for your country with the eyes of millions focussed on your game, or simply down the local park with just one man and his dog watching - it still hurts!

The problem with Clint Dempsey's strike was that it was too easy for Green, he had too much time to react and I'm sure that he began to panic at what the ball could do - not focus on what it did do. This is what killed Greeny - his mind! Had Dempsey managed to proper leather it I'm sure Greeny would have pulled out a worldy and we'd all be singing his praises, however a half hit shot is often harder to deal with than a proper spanked strike! I remember letting a similar strike in, from 20 yards it was just bobbling towards the corner and so I dived lethargically and began thinking just how good I'd make this save look, and what I was doing with the ball once I'd grasped it........totally missed the ball and it brushed the post and barely nestled over the line! Ooooops!

On a lighter note, we have been furiously working on the remaining gloves for the Superior Pro goalkeeper gloves range and we should be better placed to make an announcement shortly. Needless to say that we are adhering to our mantra of giving goalkeepers a great choice of goalie gloves, so again there is a glove for everyone (even the negative palm cut fans!). I will endeavour to keep you posted....

Thursday, 10 June May 2010

Arthritis? At my age?!

Well, it's official....I am no longer able to coach football - according the the Orthopaedic specialist that I have been referred to. "You will never again play football" he said, "Ok, but what about coaching?" I replied, knowing full well that goalkeeper coaching has been my passion and my very successful career over the last few years since the car accident "Not unless you can sit in a chair and coach, no" was his expert opinion.

Boom! At that exact moment I felt my heart drop through the floor, I have already missed out on one season of football for the first time in 25 years and didn't relish much more time on the sidelines but I guess that I have to reluctantly heed his advice, whether I like it or not! Apparently arthritis, an extruded cartilage and a lax cruciate ligament aren't ideal for lot's of sporting activity and as I was coaching for between 5 and 8 hours a day Monday to Friday then I think I am well and truly scuppered!!! All my coaching badges have gone to waste because of some Polish Skoda driver who clattered into the back of my stationary car on a straight road!

So may I take this opportunity to firstly apologise to anyone who's calls I haven't returned this week, as I've been in a bit of a daze since finding out - I will call you back I promise and to also publically thank all the goalkeepers that I've had the pleasure of working with over my years - it's been emotional (as they say!). Now to concentrate fully on WarbyGK.....

07 June 2010

Another busy weekend just gone as we went on tour again with the WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves "road show" - and this time NO rain nor wind! Absolutely perfect weather and right next to the BBQ - can it get any better?! It's by doing these little things that helps to generate the bigger picture to gets the Warby brand recognised, and give our warehouse even more to do! I love their faces on a Monday morning when they see the list of gloves we've sold over the weekend and the rest of their day is then spent checking and packing ready for the collection in the afternoon!

We have diversified also in our product range with the inclusion of a goalkeeper coaching book - Goalkeeping: Looking after Number One. This is a 92 page book written with the aims of the goalkeeper and goalkeeper coach in mind and contains over 50 detailed drills plus coaching progressions for each drill. I know you'd expect the hard sell from me, but this is a book that I just keep reading over and over again, put it down and then start another chapter when I come back to it! It is an easy read but full of information, ideas and methods that will really help your game - whatever level you may play.

Also I am confident that you will have noticed by now, but we are running a promotion to support the England boys in South Africa. With every purchase of the Superior Pro Patriot Adesivo until July 05 2010, you will automatically receive a free pair of goalkeeper gloves when England win the World Cup! This promotion has gone down a bomb over the weekend and there's clearly plenty of support for Capello's men if our sales figures are anything to go by!

C'mon England!!

Thursday, 03 June 2010

Sorry Nezzy!

"Erm, I'm on holiday and we're  5 hours behind...." I have to apologise to Danny Naisbitt for waking him from his slumber last week. Really, really sorry Nezzy, I didn't realise and if I did I certainly wouldn't have called at 6 in the morning to talk about next year! The things we do at WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves eh?!

Talking of endorsees we are in serious discussions now with a view to next year but as with football being football we have been hit with a few surprises here and there with some of lasts years lads. Again we do have certain "scouting" criteria that we aim to fulfil as much as possible with regards to who we bring in to represent the brand and we try to select lads that care as much about goalkeeping as we do about our gloves - it really is a very fine balancing act between keeping the endorsees happy but also acting in the best interests of WarbyGK.

Since the beginning we have received daily emails from people wanting to join the brand and each and every one of them receives the same consideration. Whether they be a Sunday morning pub footballer chancing their luck or an established professional goalkeeper looking for a glove deal, we carefully consider each application on it's merits and look at the return on investment for each application. As stated in earlier blogs, WarbyGK is about organic growth and sustainability which is alien to me - left to me WarbyGK would probably have debuted in the Premiership but subsequently immediately gone to the wall due to my "Bull in a China Shop" approach to everything! I am blessed to be involved with fantastic individuals who care about WarbyGK and have implemented a strong business plan to ensure that our goalkeeper gloves will be around for as long as there is air in the footballs!!