Brilliant night, and I'd like to say a big thanks to
@fmttmadmin for organising it. Have to say, the free bar was very much appreciated.
Gibson was in good form and happy to chat to fans after the event and stand for selfies (I got mine).
So below is pretty much what I can remember.
- Said he's hoping that Carrick is going to be here long-term and wants him to sign a new deal
- Wants Howson to sign a new deal
- The club have 4 or 5 main targets and Gibson feels if we can get them we'll have a real good chance next season
- On managers, he said that his main issue with McClaren was in relation to his agent. Said he has a much better relationship with him now.
- Spoke highly of Pulis, describing him as a "good man", but hated his football.
- Spoke of feeling let down by Monk and described him as a "bag of sh*te". Used the example of signing Fletcher on a five year deal, and said that Fletcher was hopeless.
- Spoke highly of Wilder but again mentioned an agent being involved and said that the Burnley fiasco was the beginning of the end for him.
- Spoke very highly of Strachan, saying that fans didn't realise how much it hurt him when he was struggling here. Said he used to lock himself in his house for days and close the curtains. Said that Strachan asked for his contract to be ripped up and wanted Gibson to keep it private.
- Said that work is being done to upgrade training facilities due to the amount of injuries we've had, and I think he said a new medical team are being brought in.
- On pricing, he said lowering junior prices means increasing adult prices, and he went into great detail outlining the running costs of the club. He said a fan had written a letter to him telling him that Preston charge £14 for an adult walk-up, and Gibson had phoned the Preston chairman and asked him whether this was true, but I think he'd said yes but you only get to see a third of the pitch. Might have mishead or misunderstood that comment though, as it seemed a strange comment.
- Spoke about the rules not needing to change in relation to clubs who cheat, but said that there needs to be tougher sanctions on those who do, and said he hopes Leicester get smashed in the Premier League.
As I said, all in all it was an enjoyable night. My only criticism would be that I felt it should have been better organised in terms of collecting the bits of paper which had the questions on. Somebody did seem to go around a few tables collecting them whilst the q&a was ongoing but mine ended up being missed. Maybe at future events it might just be a better idea to ask people to bring their paper up to the front before the event starts and put in a bucket, then whoever's chairing can just pick them out one at a time.