29 March 2010

That was disappointing.....poor Adam Collin was sorely let down by his defence as Carlisle shipped four goals against Southampton in yesterdays league Cup Final at Wembley. 3 of the 4 goals came directly from mistakes but I suppose that that's football, and I'm sure that Adam will add this experience to the many highs and lows he's experienced in his career. The downside is that now Adam has a permanent reminder of the game in the form of the goalkeeper gloves that we had specially made up.....

On the plus side, it was revealed last week that Adam has signed a new contract which will keep him at Brunton Park for another two years so every cloud and all that....

Further developments on the endorsee front is that Danny Naisbitt has signed for League One Brighton and Hove Albion until the end of the season. Nezzy has been signed to provide experienced cover for Gus Poyets men and spent his first day with the squad last Thursday, so we will naturally keep our fingers crossed that he gets his opportunity to shine on the coast!

Elsewhere, it is still a waiting game for us now as the new goalkeeper gloves are currently in production so we are busy preparing the new media, inserts, catalogues and all the other paraphernalia that inevitably accompanies any new product.... nothing's ever easy is it?!

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Thursday, 25 March 2010

You knows it!

Lifted direct from Newport residents, Goldie Looking Chain, the above comment can be directed at the squad of Newport County FC who have already been crowned as champions of the Blue Square South Football League and will be plying their trade in the top tier of "semi professional" football, the Blue Square Premier. WarbyGK are proud to have both first team goalkeepers on our books and Glyn Thompson should lift the trophy in prototype 10/11 gloves whilst Keiron Blackburn is a Legends junkie! It is an amazing feat to have been crowned champions at such an early stage of the season so we at WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves tip our hats to the whole squad and management team of this once troubled club for such a positive turnaround and we wish them well for next season.

Further monumental occasion is, fingers crossed, WarbyGK's debut at Wembley on Sunday 28th March when Adam Collin plays in the iconic stadium wearing his SMU's. We had a heart stopping moment last week when Adam contacted us to ask if we'd despatched his gloves and as we'd sent them on the Monday, mild panic kicked in as there were three pairs of his celebratory gloves on their way to him, and we were desperately hoping that some light fingered postman hadn't taken a shine to them! Luckily, all is well and Adam text me yesterday to say he has received them so I will be blagging a few favours on Sunday, as I don't have SkyTV, to watch the entire build up to the game safe in the knowledge that there's no postie riding his bike wearing our gloves!

22 March 2010

Well, spring is officially here now as my old mans birthday signals the first day of this wonderful season and to confirm the beginning of the season our office has been bathed in fantastic sunshine for a few days now. The mornings are getting lighter which means that I can see what I'm doing down the river when walking my two dogs - no more jarring my knee and tripping over for me for a few months hopefully!

Things have naturally been quiet in our office since we cleared out of stock early last week, and it is still an eerie feeling when we go into our stockroom to see empty shelves and a distinct lack of buzz in the atmosphere. Always ones to look for the silver lining, we have taken this opportunity to redesign our storage area to allow us to generate better efficiency when packing the orders, so we have dusted down the electric drills and screwdrivers to dismantle the shelving and rebuild in it's new locations. This will allow us to crack on immediately with minimal fuss when the new goalkeeper gloves are delivered fairly shortly...

Please don't forget to join our Newsletter as we will be keeping you updated throughout this wait for the new goalie gloves, and also any other news from WarbyGK and our endorsees. It's the easiest way to keep in touch and we promise not to bother you too often!

I can confirm that we have ordered an initial consignment which should be here shortly, and due to a factory supply issue there will be other gloves to follow throughout the football season that will once again ensure that WarbyGK goalkeeper gloves are a mainstay in your glove bag. Watch this space and don't forget:

"Assess. Decide. React"

Thursday, 18 March 2010

Try Me, Love Me.....Gone!

As I am confident that you will no doubt have noticed, WarbyGK have SOLD OUT of goalkeeper gloves. The Try me, Love Me promotion was such a huge success that by Tuesday morning we had sold every last pair from the Portiere Pro range. The promotion was to allow goalkeepers the chance to try WarbyGK and we'd predicted a volume of sales that would also allow us enough stock to carry on selling until the new delivery in June, however such was the response in just 4 days that we now have an empty storeroom!

One of the top online retailers for goalkeeper gloves, KeepersKit, decided to run the same promotion on their site and the sales which they generated has led to them purchasing a bulk order of our goalie gloves so may I urge you all that are after WarbyGK's to visit them please. Their service is second to none and the staff are very knowledgeable, so as soon as you've finished reading this blog click and pay them a visit.

Finally as promised, the picture of Adam Collin's Johnstones Paint Trophy Final Gloves, which will hopefully be worn at Wembley next Sunday in his game against Southampton. This game will also be televised on Sky Sports 2, so sit down enjoy the game and remember where you saw his gloves first, especially when you get the close up when he lifts the trophy at the end (hopefully!).

15 March 2010

What a difference a week makes, last Monday I was proper rough and this Monday I'm absolutely buzzing and life really couldn't get any better! Apart from the launch of the Try Me, Love Me campaign (which I'll come to later) Saturday night was spent getting amazing 3D pictures of our third daughter in Mummy's tummy. Seeing these amazing images really puts things into perspective, and watching my other two little girls faces light up when we showed them their little sister really puts a smile in your heart! Staring at me from my desk I now have pictures of my three Daddies Girls and they really help to keep you focussed when things go wrong!

A marginally smaller buzz for me was the sight of the legendary Everton and Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall wearing the WarbyGK Legend Goalkeeper Gloves! YouTube Video; It is only a brief glimpse of Big Nev at 2:27 but watch it in HD720p and you can't miss our iconic design......could we ever get a better goalkeeper wearing our gloves?! As my hero, and the goalkeeper I modelled myself on even down to the Vaselined eyebrows and flappy Sondico Shinpads with rolled down socks, I could not ask for a bigger buzz from my company right now. Or could I....

Try Me, Love Me......what a promotion! I was in the office late on Friday night to make sure there were no technical hitches with the uploading of the website, and when I turned up on Saturday morning our stock room looked like someone had raided it! We never predicted this response and it has devastated our stock levels, and with the next delivery not scheduled for another 6 to 8 weeks I urge you not to wait too long to try our gloves! I have a LWB Vauxhall Vivaro Van for my coaching, and we have just filled it up for the second time, and I don't mean slightly full, I mean literally FILLED for both trips to the Royal Mail. It has been an amazing response and I am really proud of the volume of new customers that the offer has tempted into trying our gloves that it makes all the planning more than worthwhile.

Next step, world domination.........!!! (Maybe that's a bit eager!)

Thursday, 11 March 2010

Try Me, Love Me..........

Unless you've come direct to this blog page then you'll no doubt have seen our Try Me, Love Me campaign? This was pre-launched yesterday afternoon and judging by the amount of emails, text messages and PM's on Facebook then it's safe to say that we're in for a busy fortnight!

The idea of Try Me, Love Me is along similar veins to the companies that can provide access to their services for a reduced cost, in order to allow you to see just how good they are. We brainstormed for hours over whether we could do a similar scheme without leaving ourselves open to exploitation, but also trying to make it fair to our existing goalkeepers. Try Me, Love Me allows every goalkeeper to purchase with 50% off in order to try WarbyGK goalkeeper gloves with the aim to counteract the brand snobbery that is prevalent in shopping habits as we are so proud of our gloves that we know once you've tried them, the rest is history! For between ten and fifteen pounds you can now try WarbyGK, which is a ridiculously low price for such great products, and you can see for yourself exactly what all the fuss is about surrounding our brand. Yes, we ship worldwide. Yes, the offer includes the Legends. No, we won't start this until Saturday 13 March 2010. No, you don't get discounts for bulk buys(!). No, you can't save the offer until you need some gloves(!) and yes, we are the best!

Finally it has to be said from my, ahem, unbiased view that the image used for this promotion is perhaps THE best image ever used in Goalkeeper Glove marketing?!! Pure Genius - a heart using goalkeeper gloves! Take a bow, son and don't forget the invoice!!

08 March 2010

Wow, I'm writing the WarbyGK goalkeeper gloves blog this morning feeling rougher than a pig scratching itself with sandpaper! Parenthood is fantastic but what no one warns you of is the plethora of illnesses that magically find their way into your household as soon as your children start at Nursery! Before kids you'll pick up the odd cold here and there or Flu if you're unlucky BUT as soon as your children start at Nursery or School the bugs they can bring home are phenomenal! My wife slept for 5.5 hours yesterday afternoon because she had the lurgy real bad and this morning I feel like the morning after the first pre-season session! Ouch.....

Because of this I was late in to the office, a proper struggle to get out of bed this morning and worse still I have several important phone calls to make but with a voice like a hardened smoker I may have to delay these calls so I've boiled the kettle and sat down with my trusty coffee to write this mornings blog and we'll see how the day goes!

Last week was a heated one at times, and again when I walked into the office there is still aggression in the air (metaphorically speaking) as we are deciding on what happens next with our glove range. We have the new range ready and waiting but the Portiere Pro range is still selling in it's droves so that is the debating topic, what to keep and what to ditch? Looking through the Sales Sheets indicates there is no clear "loser" from the range and as their popularity remains very strong then it is perhaps worth giving them longer before we retire them to the goalkeeper glove graveyard in the sky. It is imperative that we manage to get this decision right, much the same as when we released the Portiere Pro glove range and merged them over the Goleiro Pro range of gloves that helped to launch or brand, but now as we have a really strong fan base then this decisions correctness is imperative, especially as we continue to exceed our Business Plan (another job to do - update this again!) and as we are involved in a fickle business, any wrong decision could push our development behind schedule - now can you see why so many arguments? I'll keep you posted.........

Thursday, 04 March 2010

Suits you Sir!

I've just posted on Twitter about today being a shirt and tie day, which it is a we have a load of meetings crammed in and as with everything we do, preparation is the key and these meetings have been meticulously plotted for the last three weeks. Wearing a shirt and tie takes me back to when I was playing and this dress code was mandatory, white shirt and club tie, as I was probably the only one who carried the look off with trainers and a beanie hat!

We have a little bit of travel involved too but on the plus side is Pub Lunches and Pints of Coke, and even better if the sun comes out as it did on Tuesday then what better way to spend the day...it's just the meetings that interfere! The biggest challenge is for me to sit still, both myself and one of the lads travelling suffer from childish restlessness and I can guarantee that our legs will be shaking up and down, hidden only by the table! Quite why people do this I'm not sure, but to some people sitting still isn't a natural action, and sitting still in a meeting is even further from my comfort zone but I have to keep focussed on the bigger picture and try my hardest not to mess around!

As I've mentioned before, this recovery from my knee surgery has given me the opportunity to learn new skills and experience things that previously I would have stayed well away from (offices, meetings, computers....), so although my physical fitness has been well and truly compromised and my family life has been impacted because of the surgery then at least I'm comforted by trying to find that elusive silver lining that comes with every negative experience.

01 March 2010

Welcome to March, and we're already now a quarter of the way through this year! Scary really when you think exactly how quickly it's moving and when I look at my list of jobs to do today I'm thinking there aren't enough hours in the day! It's massive, in fact one of the longest lists that I've ever had - still no point moaning as it is only indicative of how busy things are at the minute in the WarbyGK Goalkeeper Gloves office...

I know I maybe mention these just a little too much, but the new range is developing with massive speed now and unless managed correctly will snowball out of control so much so that we have a meeting planned for later on this week to finalise issues. There is an imminent delivery due for new colours and features so that we can see them in the flesh as opposed to the Design Programme n the Computer screen, and it's pretty much taken as read that the meeting will involve an argument and at least one person will storm out the room!

With this meeting we will also be discussing which of the Portiere Pro Goalkeeper Gloves range to keep, so that'll be reams and reams of sales sheets and predictions to wade through in order to try and reach the right decision and this is generally the point where my mind wanders.....anything to do with numbers and I'm gone! Other than knowing the profit and loss my poor brain cannot cope with figures, and I'll transcend into my own merry little world whilst the numbers are well and truly crunched!

Along with the sample goalkeeper gloves we should be receiving some very special pairs for Carlisle United's Adam Collin to celebrate his trip to Wembley in 28 days time for the Johnstones Paint Trophy Final against Southampton FC. Maybe I'll post pictures, maybe I won't, who knows...........!