Views from the Sieve

For those unable to get to Victoria Road tonight, the club is live streaming tonight’s fans forum.

Updated link
https://www.youtube.com/live/78vn6Cx2zW ... AZ2NOe9cld

That’s not working

Try this
https://www.youtube.com/live/78vn6Cx2zW ... AZ2NOe9cld

Or go to the Daggers You Tube page and find it there.

Be great if somebody could summarise this for those of us that were unable to be there or tune in.

Probably the most positive fans forum for YEARS.

Scott Doe introduced the first ‘panel’ - John and Anwar.
Anwar wants to bring the club back to where it was and hopefully over time, the fans who no longer come.
Everything at the club is being looked at but this will take time.
But he wants to make everyone feel welcome including former players.

John Grabowski said that he wants to get the club facilities being used every day - so expect more events and evenings like the world cup matches.

West and co remain our principal sponsor - for the 20th year.
There will be club sponsors and global sponsors and they will be looking as to how to improve the hospitality, for example if you sit in the sponsors seats you currently can’t get a drink.

The SD Samuels will be primarily for home fans unless it is a big game, then they may segregate and home fans won’t have access to the bar but new pop up bar facilities will be near the burger bar.
The drum will be at the front of the SD Samuels and they want more noise in the ground.

Julies burgers are still doing the food. However the response to Brick Lane Bagels has been exceptional and they are looking to see if they can be incorporated to match days.

Tony Fernandes is on the executive committee of the club but it is up to him when this is announced formally.

Bury Road End this will be redeveloped to build a fanzone and put a bar there. No mention so far of it having a roof.

Let me have a think about the football discussion unless anyone else wants to write it…

Thanks for the update, sounds promising!

Then we switched to Andy Carroll and Lee Allinson.

This was the best football discussion ever - better than John Still said ‘what have they done to my club’!

Lee has built a squad that are young, hungry and want to play for the Daggers. The squad is more or less complete as they have to stick to budget. Most of the players are 25 or under.

The club wants to get back to discovering hidden gems.

We met the rest of the management team.
Everyone is focused and everyone is part of the team.

The supporters are part of that team too
Anwar is keen to bring back the spirit the club had when he was here.
.
John Grabowski previously mentioned setting up a fans board to ensure the club was talking to all the supporters.

It was really positive and I felt like Daggers of old. The only thing that made me snigger was they kept calling us a big club. But then again… I guess we are to some.

Sorry my memory is not great. Happy for others to add their own recollections (which may vary)

PS Best organised and delivered fans forum that I can remember. it was extremely professional

Excellent, thanks for the summary. Sounds incredibly positive, both on and off the field - let's hope it stays that way and that everybody is afforded the time needed to make a success of this (especially regarding the off the field stuff which will naturally take longer). Really encouraging to read though, its certainly the most I've looked forward to a season for a long time.

Do have a wry smile though at the fact that almost all of the off-the-field stuff mentioned was dismissed out of hand as impossible by our previous MD. Just think how different things could have been if only we had this level of ambition previously!

Agree totally that we have everything in place on and off of the field to do well this season however, this time last year with the signing of Andy Carroll there again was so much positivity around the club but once the season started after ten games had only won two of those and accrued just ten points.
Things changed so quickly from then on and any positivity we had then completely evaporated.
I say this because it was mentioned last night how important it is to make a good start in the league because at the end of the day it is all about winning games and getting out of this division.
Only time will tell but at the moment very confident we can do well.

len wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 11:36 am Agree totally that we have everything in place on and off of the field to do well this season however, this time last year with the signing of Andy Carroll there again was so much positivity around the club but once the season started after ten games had only won two of those and accrued just ten points.
Things changed so quickly from then on and any positivity we had then completely evaporated.
I say this because it was mentioned last night how important it is to make a good start in the league because at the end of the day it is all about winning games and getting out of this division.
Only time will tell but at the moment very confident we can do well.

I can understand the slight cynicism but the difference in attitude between Lee Bradbury to Lee Allinson is tremendous - like chalk and cheese. I get the feeling Allinson is not someone to sit back and take losing well. Bradbury acted like he was doing us a favour.