Do you believe your voice is heard at the Albion, and do you care?

[Bozza]

Care must be exercised to avoid those nasty people who could hijack internet votes though (such as we did for southampton's kit a few years ago)

Indeed. And fortunately vBulletin, picking software completely at random, would allow such votes to be accessible to a controlled and closed community if required.

 

[Brovion]

..

Would you be interested in joining a new independent supporters' organisation, paying a small annual membership fee, who would try and give you an opportunity to be heard.

100% opposed to that idea! It would just be swapping one clique (if there is one) for another: "I've paid £10 to join a bobble-hat group, therefore my opinion is more important than yours!"

I agree with BensGrandad inasmuch as I don't think we have any 'right' to have our voices heard. Also, as Ecosse Exile pointed out with Rangers, there are (almost) as many different opinions as their are individual Brighton fans and no one group could ever be said to represent 'the fans'. The club is best off looking at a number of different sources (such as, but not limited to, threads on here) to get a vague, general view of the opinions of the fanbase. And we DO have 'fans on the board'.

However these are 'good times' when the club and the fans are all on the same side. If , heaven forbid, we end up with another Archer then we WILL need to resurrect BISA - but that by definition won't be an 'official' club-approved body.

 

[ROSM]

Indeed. And fortunately vBulletin, picking software completely at random, would allow such votes to be accessible to a controlled and closed community if required.

of course completely at random

I now bow down to Lord Bozza the new potential self styled Obergrupenfuhrer of Seagulls fans

may I be the first to say I never liked that Liz Costa or John Baine. YOU were also my hero.

 

[house your seagull]

I think the club are pretty transparent really;

Remember, we're customers, not the stakeholder role which some think we have, if we stop buying the product then maybe they'll listen, if we're quite happy (which, by and large, i think we are) then they don't have a problem.

It's cute to think that fans will have a legitimate voice at the top-table on Queens Road, but realistically, the club would do better with a bit more high-profile customer research.

For example, the new shirt ... If they'd asked us, we would have requested normal stripes right? They didn't ask, they just did it different because ... well, i don't know, but they just did it anyway.

Remember it's Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club Ltd., not an elected body. I think we have more influence on the board than most clubs anyway, we should be pleased with that.

 

[Wozza]

I agree with BensGrandad inasmuch as I don't think we have any 'right' to have our voices heard.

But then the club doesn't have the (moral) right to say it's "consulted fans" when the vast majority of those fans either work for the club or are part of the furniture.

 

[attila]

I said a while ago that I thought we should restart BISA, or something similar: I suggested it on here, and also to the TSLR crew. I also think that new/different people should head it up. Let me tell Bozza or anyone who does this though: you'll be doing a lot of work, which will be appreciated by many people but dissed by some, and loads of people will say 'well done' while not being prepared for whatever reason to get involved themselves. As a result of that you will find you are one of a relatively small number of people who end up doing whatever needs to be done (although an invitation to get involved exists to the whole of our fanbase) and as a result of this some people - rather than get involved themselves - will accuse you of become a 'clique' or 'inner circle' or whatever. That is how things stand at the moment. Yes, let's have a new independent supporters' association, and let's have lots of people involved who up until now for whatever reason (including being too young back in the day, the most valid reason of all) have not played a part.


But....membership fees? Elections? Committees? Sounds a bit bobble hat to me

 

[dougdeep]

Would you be interested in joining a new independent supporters' organisation, paying a small annual membership fee, who would try and give you an opportunity to be heard...

...then join the Supporters Club.

 

[Notters]

Can I just say a big thank you to the randomly chosen under-30s who didn't give a shit

 

[Wozza]

Can I just say a big thank you to the randomly chosen under-30s who didn't give a shit

Were they offered an incentive, like most focus groups? Club shop voucher, for example? I'm guessing not.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Not a good idea. A set of self-important individuals who want to look like they have some power. I can think of very few things that the fans need to be consulted on, especially now that Falmer is on its way. If anyone has a good idea, by all means sent it to the club, and I think Insider is a great access point for this, for us online fans.

If the club wants to get fans views on particular things, like bagdes, I'm sure they'd appoach us, either on here or through the Arsegas. Settng up a group will just waste the clubs time and would never be representative of the fanbase as a whole anyway.

 

[Brovion]

But then the club doesn't have the (moral) right to say it's "consulted fans" when the vast majority of those fans either work for the club or are part of the furniture.

Totally agree. Has it said that at any time? (Not a trick question I genuinely don't know).

The bare minimum it could do before it could say it had 'consulted fans' would be if it put something like a poll on it's own web site.

 

[Brovion]

I said a while ago that I thought we should restart BISA, or something similar: I suggested it on here, and also to the TSLR crew. I also think that new/different people should head it up. Let me tell Bozza or anyone who does this though: you'll be doing a lot of work, which will be appreciated by many people but dissed by some, and loads of people will say 'well done' while not being prepared for whatever reason to get involved themselves. As a result of that you will find you are one of a relatively small number of people who end up doing whatever needs to be done (although an invitation to get involved exists to the whole of our fanbase) and as a result of this some people - rather than get involved themselves - will accuse you of become a 'clique' or 'inner circle' or whatever. That is how things stand at the moment. Yes, let's have a new independent supporters' association, and let's have lots of people involved who up until now for whatever reason (including being too young back in the day, the most valid reason of all) have not played a part.


But....membership fees? Elections? Committees? Sounds a bit bobble hat to me

Sounds a bit like the Supporters' Club. We definitely don't need BISA at the moment; it was very much a 'war' coalition of quite a few different people all united in one aim - to save the club. What would BISA do now? There would just be endless 'peace time' arguments about what pies should be sold and whether Harveys was better than Dark Star.

 

[attila]

Sounds a bit like the Supporters' Club. We definitely don't need BISA at the moment; it was very much a 'war' coalition of quite a few different people all united in one aim - to save the club. What would BISA do now? There would just be endless 'peace time' arguments about what pies should be sold and whether Harveys was better than Dark Star.

You're right in one way, Tim. (Hope all's well by the way - will email soon, want to ask you something) BISA was simply a lot of people acting together to save the Albion. As long as everything in the future is hunky dory (and we have every confidence it will be) then there is far less need for an organised independent supporters' voice, and Ask the Club etc will do fine. But if people FEEL unrepresentated then there's no reason they shouldn't organise themselves and I'm sure the club will listen. It's up to Bozza, or anyone who feels that way, to take the initiative and see what response they get from fellow fans. For what it's worth they'll have my support, but i can see the counter arguments that now that the war is over there is no real need.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

What on earth is all this about?

Are people saying that they want the club run by referendum? What sort of issues should this Swiss Parliament have on the table? Should Tony Bloom triple the player budget? Should the club badge be triangular? Should every bar at the AMEX sell subsidised real ale? Should Gus Poyet sign Michael Owen?

You can get the answer you want on almost every one of them but where does that take us?

If people want to lead off about their favourite topics then they've got this forum to do it on. I've no doubt that the club reads this board and if people's ideas have practical merit then the club will run with them, just as Andy Naylor does in his own way. It's in their interests to.

If the ideas have no merit, they'll sink.

If the people raising them are just do-nothing ranters then they won't be listened to.

Or if people have constructive thoughts then they can always post carefully constructed letters to the chairman. They'll be read and responded to. As others have pointed out, this is a club that tends to listen to its supporters.

I suspect this whole thread is about taking a pop at the so-called inner circle. That group was no more and no less than various people who at various times were prepared to put the leg work in when it was needed. And when it wasn't needed they were very happy to stand back and get on with doing the only thing most of them ever wanted to do, which was just watching the Albion.

And if Bozza and others feel that the Supporters' Club isn't for them, then why don't they join it and influence it and make it want they want it to be?

Special times might call for special groups like the heroic BISA but these are normal, happy times and the last thing we need is factionalism.

 

[Wozza]

They'll be read and responded to.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

What on earth is all this about?

Are people saying that they want the club run by referendum? What sort of issues should this Swiss Parliament have on the table? Should Tony Bloom triple the player budget? Should the club badge be triangular? Should every bar at the AMEX sell subsidised real ale? Should Gus Poyet sign Michael Owen?

You can get the answer you want on almost every one of them but where does that take us?

If people want to lead off about their favourite topics then they've got this forum to do it on. I've no doubt that the club reads this board and if people's ideas have practical merit then the club will run with them, just as Andy Naylor does in his own way. It's in their interests to.

If the ideas have no merit, they'll sink.

If the people raising them are just do-nothing ranters then they won't be listened to.

Or if people have constructive thoughts then they can always post carefully constructed letters to the chairman. They'll be read and responded to. As others have pointed out, this is a club that tends to listen to its supporters.

I suspect this whole thread is about taking a pop at the so-called inner circle. That group was no more and no less than various people who at various times were prepared to put the leg work in when it was needed. And when it wasn't needed they were very happy to stand back and get on with doing the only thing most of them ever wanted to do, which was just watching the Albion.

And if Bozza and others feel that the Supporters' Club isn't for them, then why don't they join it and influence it and make it want they want it to be?

Special times might call for special groups like the heroic BISA but these are normal, happy times and the last thing we need is factionalism.

Could this be TBs' brother Darren by any chance.

 

[NS Herald]

IMHO I think Bozza has raised a very legitimate and relevant subject.

As the club moves into it's new home and will effectively grow nearly 400% in terms of clientele, I think it's important they are conscious of supporters views to ensure they provide the best possible customer service which is to the mutual benefit of the club and the fans.

It was evident during the fans forum that some senior management don't give much credibility to forum's such as this (and often rightly so).

Obviously you will never please all the people all the time and it would be fair to say that on any given subject there will always be a significant number who don't give a toss and want to act like idiots.

Leaving that aside, in terms of Bozza's question to Insider, he raised many sensible points about the spectrum of fans involved which didn't seem to have been dealt with in the most scientific of ways.

We are lucky to have ATC but often don't get much feedback other than 'I'll pass on your suggestion" as clearly Insider doesn't have the time or resources to deal in depth with every issue.

However it is important the club uses modern day methods to canvass fans where necessary on a whole hoste of topics and tries to cover as large an age range and cross section of the fan base as possible. If people want to get involved in the idea suggested I think if run properly it should be a positive move, particularly during the transition into Falmer and hopefully progressing up the leagues.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

If I join will I get preference over big match tickets as I'd obviously be an uber fan

 

[itszamora]

Can I just say a big thank you to the randomly chosen under-30s who didn't give a shit

Quite.

 

[Southwick_Seagull]

Can I just say a big thank you to the randomly chosen under-30s who didn't give a shit

Agreed. Really annoyed at this. As an under 30 I would have been delighted to be involved.