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OVER THE
COUNTER
BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.
Aaaand
It’s Live... As I write this, “Aaaand it’s live” is the catchphrase from Martin Tyler the Sky Sports’ commentator will be echoing this weekend. The Premiership is back and brings to an end a long 11 weeks since we last had football! That said, like so many others, I really enjoyed the women’s Euros. The atmosphere, the games and the spirit were to be celebrated and the quality of the football played was excellent. And you know that things are changing when Danilo signs up the Lionesses for an official calendar and the Chelsea ladies will be on lots of walls come January 2023. The Premiership of course is made up of the top 20 teams in England and promises to be full of ups and downs, especially if you are a Man United fan like me! My anticipation of the Premiership gave me an idea for this month’s column in which I would list the top 20 card companies as I saw it right now. I thought I would look at who ‘the big boys’ are, who the relegation strugglers were likely to be and how the newbies that had fought their way into that list would fare. I had started plotting it out, linking names, companies and teams with taglines such as: l A fallen giant (Man U) struggling with a lack of identity. l A revitalised favourite refreshed with new money (Newcastle). Then I had second thoughts. Which companies would I offend by leaving them out? Who would perhaps not make the list? And of those who did may take offence at the quirky descriptions. I remember writing a piece along these lines 10 years ago and those thoughts never entered my head. I reckon I was trying to be some sort of a light version of Piers Morgan. I was trying to do my copy of his approach as opposed to being my own original self! 24
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
That ‘football league’ article 10 years ago did create a fair bit of controversy at the time but in truth these days I have no desire to cause any issues or indeed cause anyone to lose any business. Changing my mind and evaluating things is something that I am definitely much better at now than I was in my youth. I used to think that changing my mind showed a degree of weakness. It showed I had been swayed, yet in reality changing your mind says more good than bad. It shows that you have a sense of awareness and curiosity. I know I have to change this business. I have to keep it current and run it in a different way. I have to manage costs and situations that my parents didn’t when they took on the business all those years ago. I also need to make sure that it survives and succeeds. I can’t be the one responsible for it not being a success and that is the fire which is still burning in me. When my parents bought the business in June
Above: Football commentator Martin Tyler is a well known voice of the Premiership. Left: Danilo’s official licensed calendar for The Lionesses to mark the team’s success as well as the progress made in women’s football. Below: Edwina Curry was a Junior Health Minister for two years, resigning in 1988 during the salmonella-ineggs controversy. She is now offering herself as a motivational speaker.
1988 the interest rate was hovering around 10% before it would rise further in the future years. 1988 was interesting. People’s disposable income was squeezed, unemployment was low, Comic Relief launched as there was a real need to support local issues, Edwina Curry had ‘egg on her face’ having made certain comments, British Rail increased costs by 21%, Postal workers walked out on strike because of pay, Nigel Lawson the Chancellor slashed income tax. In fact, everything was very similar to now except the nurses received a 15% increase in their wage. No-one would mind that today. And the point of this list? Simply to illustrate that life goes on and is often cyclical. We may be thinking that these are the most difficult trading circumstances any of us have faced, but there have been difficult times before. Of course now we have the Internet, the Covid tail, energy price rises and many other things to overcome but indie retailers are and always have been resilient and innovative.