So as the Mrs was painting her nails last night flicking between Emmerdale & Eastenders It suddenly came to me that the London Trader Meet was going to be screened live on facebook… Excited to hear the agenda I raced to my bedside cabinet at 8pm to get my headphones and plugged them into my mobile phone to give it a watch…
After a few unsuccessful checks to see if the live stream had started I eventually got in around 8:15pm where I sat down in my bath robe with a lemon & ginger tea to find a couple of blokes chatting in a pub with the backdrop board to suggest that I’m in the right place.
The camera was offset, the microphones were low, the noise in the Nordic Bar where the meet was hosted was growing and the more they talked the louder it got… The host (apologies for not knowing his name) asked some bloke who worked for Opta about Neymar… “Yeah he’s a good player… Said the statistician who backed his answer without any stats”… ”If he moves to Real Madrid he’ll do even better”.. Well thanks Einstein!!!
Amidst the drowned out drivel of time wasting talking to a man that clearly has no invested interest and no idea about the dynamics of football index I began to laugh at the growing numbers comments on facebook… hitting over 500 viewers most saying “I can’t hear a bloody thing” whilst others said “If I wanted a chat about football I would have gone to the pub” one comment mentioned “I’m off to watch paint dry”… Another stated “Buy Pogba” I’m sitting their giggling to myself at the sideshow but as the Nordic bar noise increased I simply had to cut my losses.. This bloke being interviewed is not telling me anything I don’t know.
I log out and attempt to interact with the Mrs who’s now well in to Eastenders, some young lad has dumped a decent looking young bird to have an affair with Sharon (remember her) who by the way now is about 19 stone and in her fifties… What is he doing??? I log back on to the facebook feed and see Adam Cole (who I’m growing to like) in a dodgy looking shirt being ‘put on the spot’ about a share split.
Cole answers in a way that suggests he’s done some revision and more importantly states that “any decision will be done in a board meeting and not down the pub spontaneously over a pint” which got me thinking… Has he been reading this forum??
As I’m enjoying the feed and what Adam has to say his host decides to get close in thus both microphones becoming too near and a horrible squealing noise is heard everytime he asks a question… “Move your microphones you idiot” comments one facebook user… “Sit further apart” says another.. Really the best part of the night for me was the comments on the live feed, some genius, some simple, but most very funny.
The host wraps up the evening because of ‘sound issues’ after around half an hour before Adam babbles on about Cheltenham and the start of the raffle… I log off having heard enough but get a few plusses out of the event, although I’m glad I didn’t take the 4 hour commute paying £££’s on trains and hotels for that!!!
So what did we learn?
That Football Index is healthy and the market is good. A share split will happen (on March 26th) but the finer details are not decided (these will be decided on March 18th). Adam (who I get the impression would prefer a 10 way but might be outvoted to a 4 way split) wants more of the same and the longevity in the product is essential.. The dividends may take a slight hit initially but you’ll get more shares for your pound and you’ll be able to buy more… Exciting times ahead.
What did I learn?
That football index is new to all this too… Adam praised his staff and stated he’s applied to get FI in the Times top 100 list for growing businesses (which should certainly put a few worried punters minds at ease on the financial side of the company) whilst we need to remember that this is still a young company and they will make mistakes along the way, but they have listened to us before and will continue to do so in order to grow the business and become a predominant player in the fantasy sports/betting culture of this country. I think as long as we keep piping up we’ll be in good hands!!
One thing I would like to see on the next trader meet though…
A proper camera, a proper microphone, a quiet more formal location and please no more OPTA people, Gary Newbon’s or retired footballers that don’t understand the dynamics of the index!!! I would much rather have an experienced trader or two opening the show (maybe even Noir with a slideshow) with a quick presentation on what works for their portfolio… Before Adam or Mike tell us what’s going off in their world and perhaps a Q&A’s at the end before the raffle, vol-au-vents & celebrity selfies…
I'm off to have a nespresso and mid morning pork pie!!!
Have a great day!!!
