As we are to get a new CEO - What would be your top 10 wishlist for things that he/she/Rccc should do under his new regime.

• Scrap Kinross NCA project and negotiate with Sportscotland to divert funds and NCA responsibilities to new and existing local facilities
• Form a new Grand Match committee with a selection of talented and can-do people - not a hotch potch of ASC reps. Also all minutes and discussions of committee to be published
• Scrap the Olympic Selection process and hold a proper trials event prior to the Olympics for teams who have come through some sort of ranking process over the 3 years previous to the olympic year
• Base funding of teams through performance rather than selection - i.e top teams in Scottish and possibly top teams in a new ranking process involving a number of events in Scotland - The scottish curling tour
• Formation of a Scottish Curling Tour with a choice of events throughout the country - Aim eventually for one major event in each ice rink - to increase participation and competition in domestic competitive curling
• Continue the good local development work currently being led by Judith McFarlane
• Restore the Lees painting and loan to a Scottish Museum / gallery
• Start the museum project but at a suitably touristy spot where it can be commercially viable and large enough to be worth visiting - suggest Perth - possibly a site like old caithness glass factory on A9
• RCCC to participate in the SCF by appointing a media officer who can post factual information and reply to queries / answer questions
• RCCC to help HLW to attract independent funding through funds / charities to continue his good work on Skip Cottage whilst remaining an independant voice
• Complete rethink on format of Scottish mens and ladies to increase majorly the number of teams that participate - restore them as the highlight of the curling season.

Considering that DA already has eleven on his wishlist of ten, make it twelve and add the Circle. Build this prototype as a local facility that can provide excellence and the way forward.

It is a good time for wishlists, if the problems are not identified and seriously addressed, curling has no future.

see that - I wont get the CEO job anyway as i cant count to ten!

There can be debates about academy venues, playdown formats etc but the real wishlist should come down to two basic things.1. Open and fair competition but even more importantly  2. Cheaper curling!

It astonishes me that more do not list this as a "wish".  I will not critiscise any ASC or board member because every single person i have met on curling committees is a curling fan and wants curling to do well but sometimes the structures get in the individuals way. You can run all the curlings cool progs you like, have the very best development and coaching available (i think scotland does) BUT unless and until a CEO makes achieving more cost efficient and sustainable facilities the number one goal curling will not prosper. OR is there too much interest in maintaining curlings elite status?

John,
I think I an beginning to understand the size of the chip you bare and perhaps you can justify it.
However, perhaps you could tell me where at present there is a stand alone four sheet curling rink, providing ice at an economical game rate.

If your view of business economics is the circle could be built and ran at a profit then why have you not been able to get venture capital to build it. 

I doubt if even Fred the Shred would have given you support.
Even a members built facility would have to generate enough income to justify it long term.

I think i will have to defend John M (not that he cant defend himself!) in that a 4 sheeter can run profitably, as can a 6 sheeter. Where a 6 sheet rink can fill its supply of ice - it is more cost effective (both in capital cost & operating) - HOWEVER - that will only apply if you can fill the place. If you cannot fill it then all the sums go out of the window. That also goes for available capital to build the place - better to have plans for a 4 sheeter that you can afford to build rather than try and build a 6 sheeter that costs substantially more and will never be built - no point in trying to buy a merc if you cant afford one, a mini will do the job just the same and is considerably better than the bus you would be catching if you couldnt buy the merc!

So the argument is really a false argument as each situation will be different - for example a new 6 sheeter in Edinburgh will run at a profit and be efficient, but a 6 sheeter in smaller town / less populated area will struggle - therefore Johns theory of smaller 4 sheet  local rinks come to the fore. A busy 4 sheet rink will be more cost effective than a 3/4 full 6 sheeter.

There is a multitude of reasons why individuals dont build rinks, but the main one being capital cost but also the ongoing rates costs for private organisations - they would have to sub let to members clubs to avoid the rates and get any kind of return.

There is no doubting rinks are expensive to build and the capital cost is the main reason new rinks are not being built. There has to be a way to do it cheaper - more radical even than the CIRCLE. Maybe thats where some of the Sportscotland funding should be going - not at a series of 1/2 hearted funding towards rink projects or even the NCA - but at serious research on how to build and produce ice cheaply or easy ways to convert existing buildings - If investors can make a return - there would be no shortage of rinks getting built in local areas.

Local curling is the future of the sport.

Think Macdonalds Franchise - get the business model correct and reproduce it throughout the country.

Hi fermerfaefife,
I only hope you are a supporter of the Cupar team, it appears that unlike some of poster on this site they have got up of their ------- and have had the bottle to try to do something themselves.

There is no way anything can happen with any project until someone puts together a proposal.

See the reaction my proposal to try to stop the sale of the Lees painting got from the posters, someone else should do it with somebody else's money.

Same with circle somebody else should build it, give to us and we can then play on it.
I don't see a mad rush of posters saying John Great idea lets all get together and prepare a proposal, then see if we can get it of the ground.

With the negativity poster generate on this site no wonder the RCCC Board just ignore us.
   

fairly scathing - but unfortunately true mostly except for the last point. Human nature has it that we as a society very rarely praise when things go right in any walk of life. Usually if you are getting few complaints then you must be doing something right. The forum tends to work that way - If the RCCC or whoever are doing something right it tends not to be a point of discussion . But as there seems to be quite  a few areas where improvement is required that tends to get most of the airtime and hence the negative comment.

One thing is sure - people dont post on here because they hate the game - they post because they CARE - somebody has to do it on behalf of all those thousands you mention that dont really give a toss. I could imagine the furore if they stuck a quid on the RCCCC sub in order to restore the painting. Whats a quid to save the games heritage?

So it is up to us that give enough of a toss to try and steer the HHY's and others in the "correct " direction. IF you actually went into depth in some of the threads you will actually find ythem not negative and actually very pro-active with many good ideas - that is positive thinking. It is only the fact that nobody seems to listen or care that creates the negative comment.