I just want to watch football, now I have to cconsider my Albion supporter "aspirations"

[Kalimantan Gull]

People want to come and watch the Albion, more than anyone predicted. The costs have to be covered, and no-one is making any money at the moment, we are due to lose another £8M next year aren't we? If they had to make all that back in one fell swoop, it would add £340 to everyones season ticket, or put the price of a pie and a pint through the roof. So the club is choosing to run itself like a real business rather than the noddy outfit it has been for so many years, if they don't who knows where the club will be in a few years time.

It really isn't is it? How much do you think they are likely to make? £10-£30 x what, 2000, 3000 people? Taking into account seniors and kids rates, they'd be lucky to clear one month of CMSs wages from this scheme.

Arguing with yourself now?

 

[Superphil]

The first point is in black-and-white in the latest press release - loyalty points will not be activated for non-members.

That's not quite what it says but the sentiment does sound that way, perhaps another FAQ in a few days, in response to the responses will clear it up.

Arguing with yourself now?

Cheeky, you know the second quote there was in response to someone saying the membership scheme was nothing but a money making thing, more like a small plug in the leaking money dam.

 

[Lower West Stander]

I just want to watch football, now I have to cconsider my Albion supporter "asp

The problem I have with Barber is that he just comes over as a corporate CEO trying to maximise returns for his employer. He has absolutely no loyalty to the club and it shows. contrast this with someone like David Gill who is a genuine fan as well as being a good CEO.

I find his communications both patronising and condescending and that why we are all so cynical. I just get the impression that fans are collateral damage in his efforts to grow the top line. Unless he improves both the way he communicates with the fans and the actual methods he uses to improve the clubs finances, I think he will remain mistrusted by a large number of fans. (Which is what we are - not customers!).

No idea what has gone on with Poyet - but I think a more savvy CEO could have handled it a lot better. if he talked to Poyet like he talks to us, I can imagine the reaction!

 

[Man of Harveys]

I miss those halcyon days when you could just pay at the gate if you fancied going that day...

I don't think you'll need to miss them: that's exactly what will happen for the overwhelming majority of games next season.

So far be it to suggest that people just ignore this hare-brained, irrevelent and mildly irritating scheme and it will die through lack of interest. Ahem.

 

[Grombleton]

At the end of the day, Barber's job is to make sure that we stay within the FFP rules and continue to turn around and make money so we can continue to attract a high calibre of players- moving forwards, not backwards like many other clubs have done.

It's always going to be a contentious job, especially with the family and community feel that the club has and the recent history...but we have to begin to accept that its not 'our' club- it has shareholders, it has people that require it to make money...it has players to pay for. If it means putting a few extra quid into the club's pocket to ensure the continued progression of the Albion, then i'll do it.

 

[Return of the Rev]

If it gives you the attention you so desperately long for then you're more than welcome.

Much appreciated

 

[joeywortho]

Barber is a tool - he was more at home at his and my true love

 

[Buzzer]

I just want to watch football, now I have to cconsider my Albion supporter "aspirations"

Much appreciated

You're quite a nice chap in real life. We exchanged pleasantries on the coach down to the Plymouth Fans Reunited. Shame that this act that you put on here gives people the wrong impression.

 

[Acker79]

The costs have to be covered, and no-one is making any money at the moment, we are due to lose another £8M next year aren't we?

Isn't it that we're due, next year, to announce we lost about 8m this year? So, being a pedant, we are hoping to reduce the amount we lose next year, rather than being lose 8m again.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I don't think you'll need to miss them: that's exactly what will happen for the overwhelming majority of games next season.

So far be it to suggest that people just ignore this hare-brained, irrevelent and mildly irritating scheme and it will die through lack of interest. Ahem.

It will be one of those schemes put on the back burner until needed , get into the Premier League and the **** will hit the fan when the JCLs sign up for memberships and oust those who have followed the club for years and whose loyalty points are worthless.

 

[Return of the Rev]

You're quite a nice chap in real life. We exchanged pleasantries on the coach down to the Plymouth Fans Reunited. Shame that this act that you put on here gives people the wrong impression.

To be fair i never been horrid on nsc just silly/childish

 

[Beach Hut]

So if you opt in for the away ST you are automatically committing yourself to paying for every away game ?

 

[Ernest]

So if you opt in for the away ST you are automatically committing yourself to paying for every away game ?

Yes that is what a season ticket is

 

[Beach Hut]

Yes that is what a season ticket is

OK so I wonder how many fans would actually commit to that ?

Say 100 at the very most, just seems a bit pointless to me

 

[Return of the Rev]

So if you opt in for the away ST you are automatically committing yourself to paying for every away game ?

Its a premier thing,we need to remember who we are.

 

[drew]

It's the definition of "better things" that matters.

What almost kills you, should make you stronger. I'm concerned that we're being led back to being a normal football club again - with customers/fans treated the same way as any other club. It doesn't have to be like that. It shouldn't be like that.

Far too many supporters/fans are ostracised by their clubs - they are not included in the running of the club or what the club stands for. In campaigning for the Albion, the fans played a huge part in determining whether their would be a club that would have customers. Therefore, the relationship between fans and management could be different. I would argue it should be.

I would argue that the Albion should be seen as the campaigning club. In the same way that it tacitly supported Falmer For All, it should be actively nurturing organisations that campaign for better relationships with fans; that include the disadvantaged in football; that campaigns for financial fair play and is not just content to be "compliant." I'd like to see the Albion campaigning on behalf of Doncaster Belles, I'd like to see it commissioning studies into whether safe standing can work (as this is what many fans care about.) Instead, we are becoming a club that is forgetting its recent roots. We are forgetting the experiences that rescued the Albion and should have made us stronger - better.

We do still have some of this e.g. AITC, but we can do more. It should be in the very values of the club. It should be enshrined in the way the club behaves.

I regret to explode the myth but we are just like a lot of other clubs. Yes we have had a stormy time but that, in the grand scheme of things, is a small segment of our history. There are plenty of other clubs that have community programmes although it has to be said that ours is very good and won awards. When exactly have the fans had a real say about the running of any club (other than Ebbsfleet). Chairmen and their Boards have always had control. Even in our case, the fans have never had control. We were able to influence the removal of Archer but even when he went, control went to another chairman and board.

Now that i have read the details on the website i feel i can make a more balanced and level-headed response.






**** off barber

I think that says more about you than anyone else!

So, what you are saying is that you went to 2 games, and an away game, and that should be seen as loyalty? Like you say, your loyalty points will come into it in some way as yet unspecified, but by attending 2 home games how does that compare to a £30 membership? I'm not digging at someone who has been to 2 games, but loyalty is about a bit more than that isn't it? If we draw Spurs away again (for example) should someone who went to 2 games expect to get a ticket due to their 2 game loyalty?

I think if we got Spurs away then 23,000 sth would be ahead of matey boy and his 3 game definition of loyalty!

So it's all about cash then?

Let's say someone can't afford the thirty notes in order to receive nothing, but during the course of the season they will save up and try to go to some games. They pick a couple of low key games and an away game. It's spread out because that is when they can afford to go.

Then suddenly Spurs come to town, and some geezer who has shelled out thirty notes and only attended one game gets to go.

Now, let's look at it another way. No membership. Same scenario. Who has more loyalty points?

If you want to talk about rewarding loyalty, then reward loyalty. If you want to reward people that put their hands in their pockets in order to baggsy the best seats then talk about that.

All so unimaginative and predictable.

I love the way the implication is pleading poverty so limited to just those games this person has gone to and then all of a sudden Spurs arrive on the scene and there's money available to get a ticket, plus he assumption that the guy who has paid £30 hasn't been to any games!

The problem I have with Barber is that he just comes over as a corporate CEO trying to maximise returns for his employer. He has absolutely no loyalty to the club and it shows. contrast this with someone like David Gill who is a genuine fan as well as being a good CEO.

I find his communications both patronising and condescending and that why we are all so cynical. I just get the impression that fans are collateral damage in his efforts to grow the top line. Unless he improves both the way he communicates with the fans and the actual methods he uses to improve the clubs finances, I think he will remain mistrusted by a large number of fans. (Which is what we are - not customers!).

No idea what has gone on with Poyet - but I think a more savvy CEO could have handled it a lot better. if he talked to Poyet like he talks to us, I can imagine the reaction!

Who is David Gill a fan off then?

 

[Working class pride]

As long as you can buy a ticket without buying a membership if it has not sold out then I cant understand the problem. I wont buy a membership but if others do and they get better priority to me then good luck to them. Its hardly selling the ground for a pittance and marooning the club in Gillingham is it.

 

[Hamilton]

I just want to watch football, now I have to cconsider my Albion supporter "asp

I regret to explode the myth but we are just like a lot of other clubs. Yes we have had a stormy time but that, in the grand scheme of things, is a small segment of our history. There are plenty of other clubs that have community programmes although it has to be said that ours is very good and won awards. When exactly have the fans had a real say about the running of any club (other than Ebbsfleet). Chairmen and their Boards have always had control. Even in our case, the fans have never had control. We were able to influence the removal of Archer but even when he went, control went to another chairman and board.

Drew dear chap. There is no myth to explode as we haven't done enough to earn the right to be seen as different to other clubs. The option is there for us, but will we take it.

We play in a self styled community stadium. Are we going to live up to that belief in community in all we do?

And don't confuse having a say in the running of the club with having a voice within the club. Two different things.

 

[fcportaloo]

I could afford to pay £30 to be a Gullible member but I won't. This sort of exploitative rubbish makes me love the club less, so if this scheme means I am able to attend less then so be it. I was fairly ambivalent about us making the prem (although gutted on the night) as the price and availability of tickets would have been a big barrier to me supporting the team.

Really, if nobody joins this ludicrous scheme then the ticketing system remains as now. What football needs are days of action where all supporters boycott a game. Empty stadiums will see our views considered.

In the meantime I suggest our CEO thinks less about clappers, branded cupcakes and launching a cable channel for the club and appointing a team manager who can assemble the squad for next season, that is Seagull Priority.

 

[ROSM]

Just over a week ago, I wrote on the 'gutted' thread that many things around our club would be changing the next few weeks. I said some would be popular with many and an ambivalence to others and some were real fundamental issues that would be all down to the handling as to how people would perceive them.

This was one of the former....... And it's been handled appallingly. I can only assume that the latter, when it does happen, will start a binfest that will render NSC in turmoil for months. Interestingly, many have highlighted the thing that could be impacted by the latter, in this thread, as an example that we haven't (yet) lost our soul.