Does anyone have a genuine complaint...

[fcportaloo]

Nah, apart from being asked to pay champagne money for beer performances.

 

[grubbyhands]

Complaint? Yes. The club appears to have lost all sign of direction and motivation both on and off the pitch. It seems that we "customers " are being simply viewed as a 'cash-cow' who can be milked for more and more cash whilst being very poorly entertained by second rate players, most of whom have been brought in as cheap replacements , and who are led by an inadequate management team. I am sure that like me, most supporters are season ticket holders who are there for the season. However, quite how many are still there next year is an issue that should concern the club.

Yup exactly this for me I'm afraid.

 

[Biscuit]

3/10

 

[essbee]

Bozza,

Not winning is one thing. The manner in which we are not winning and
the current behaviour of the club towards me - a paying customer, is what
pisses me off.

 

[Skaville]

My 7 year old has been a Brighton fan for all of his short life. This is an impressionable age and I am desperate for him to bleed blue and white. I've taken him to four games this season - Wednesday, Bolton, 'Boro and Rotherham. The football is so ***** his interest is waning. He met a distant cousin today who asked who he supported. He hesitated and refused to answer, something he has never done before. This means one if two things - he's embarrassed or seeing the allure of supporting a side that doesn't get booed off the pitch.

My other complaint would be that the current manager has to be as bad tactically as anyone I can remember in nearly thirty years of supporting the Albion. This system is ridiculous.

 

[Justice]

Yes Barber and Burke have turned us into last years Barnsley. The confidence has been sucked out of the side with a manager who hasnt a clue how to motivate a team, pick the right formation or outwit his opponent.

 

[DavePage]

I don't remember any boo's? Good cup tie as I remember although I doubt I could have heard boo's over their fans...

Why would we boo, we got 3 points didn’t we?

 

[Eeyore]

Well some people already think we have St Paul writing a series of epistles.

St Paul spoke of a guaranteed salvation though.

 

[Miami Seagull]

In short I would say my grumble concerns the corporatisation of the club, but not in general, specifically in its dealings with fans.

We have a CEO who reportedly earns £350-400k per annum telling us that we need to buy three different kits in one season at £45 a go, on top of one of the most expensive season tickets in the country. At the same time the service level from stewards and caterers alike appears to have gone backwards and the cost of food and drink is increasing. We get charged for ordering an away ticket on the internet even if we collect it ourselves and if we lose our season ticket for the first time in our 40 years of supporting the Albion we get charged again.

At the same time we see two successful managers leave because they weren't happy here and the quality players they acquired have mostly been sold and replaced with less able players.

Now I actually don't mind watching an unsuccessful Albion. 80% of my Albion supporting life has been less than good, that's not why I go, but I do object to feeling like the club is trying to screw us over for every penny they can get.

When we moved to the AMEX I was proud that the club strived to retain the soul and contact with fans but I feel they have given up on this and sold their soul in the same way most premiership clubs seem to have done, without actually reaching the premiership. Being premiership ready off the pitch makes sense but treating fans like premiership fans when they don't have premiership football is totally non-sensical.

Just 19,000 people went through the turnstile on Saturday. Not much point putting prices up if you lose 20% of the crowd.

Outstanding post, agree 100%

 

[pastafarian]

Now I actually don't mind watching an unsuccessful Albion. 80% of my Albion supporting life has been less than good, that's not why I go,

Agree with this 100%,the match day experience has always been more than just the football to me,its the pre match pint with your mates,its the stupid poker game on the train to Sheffield,its the ridiculous shenanigans your group gets up to when you stay overnight in parts of the country you would otherwise never visit.

which brings me on to my Genuine complaint?.....,given the fact the average day out for an Albion Fan is a good one even in the days we were really crap.......how on earth has it now come to be acceptable amongst a certain few fans to BOO the team off at full time.......utter utter frackwits!...walk out the ground disgruntled and miffed by all means but BOO?

I am fairly sure with a bit of personal effort and an extra 10 pints of Stella inside me i will be able to traverse the North in one mighty leap and give the culprits at the back the bitch slap they deserve,they can then listen to their vaginas all the way home moaning about why we are not in EPL or whatever its being called this week.........

Ps if any of tossers BOO the team at Spurs ......i expect to be preloaded with multiple versions of Stella.

 

[fosters headband]

My biggest complaint is from a couple of seasons ago but still sits badly with me today.
We were told that all our season tickets had to increase to cover the cost of transport and I think it went up by £30 per ticket.
I like many accepted this and duly paid for my season ticket, only to be told just prior to the start of the season that the special buses that ran from both Rottingdean and Shoreham, would no longer be running. We were then told that the club had arranged for this service from Rottingdean to continue with Seagull Travel for another £70 per season. I say this now, I don't think the club should pay these transport costs and fans should pay their own travel costs, but I still feel today it was a very cheap trick on a large section of Albion fans.
This for me set the tone of how Barber was prepared to treat fans, which until today has not changed.

 

[trueblue]

I have a genuine complaint. In the last 2 home games, we've looked like a team that doesn't really believe in how it's being asked to play.

Defensively the system is so susceptible to counter attacks it's reckless. We have fullbacks playing as wingers, wingers playing in the hole, central midfielders playing as full backs. I'm loathe to slag off any of the players, partly because I never see how it helps - but also because some that we know are at worst solid performers are being made to look crap by the job they're being asked to do.

It was an interesting idea but it's gone on too long. The style established over several seasons is being lost, the passing is degenerating along with confidence, morale and by the looks of it, team spirit.

I'm not anti-Barber, anti-Bloom, anti-the prices, anti-The Amex. Not even anti-Burke. There've been some very good signings, some average ones and a few that haven't come off at all. I think within our budget, we probably get the best we can afford and I don't buy into all this League 1 striker stuff. O'Grady has scored at this level, Baldock is a decent player, others have prospered after making that - and much bigger - steps up.

So, for now, the coaches have to carry the can for not getting the best out of the players they have. Maybe if they alter the style, we can start to turn draws into wins. Maybe they should have tried that a few weeks ago. As Steve Coppell used to say "if you do what you did, you get what you got". Something has to change.

 

[stss30]

In short I would say my grumble concerns the corporatisation of the club, but not in general, specifically in its dealings with fans.

We have a CEO who reportedly earns £350-400k per annum telling us that we need to buy three different kits in one season at £45 a go, on top of one of the most expensive season tickets in the country. At the same time the service level from stewards and caterers alike appears to have gone backwards and the cost of food and drink is increasing. We get charged for ordering an away ticket on the internet even if we collect it ourselves and if we lose our season ticket for the first time in our 40 years of supporting the Albion we get charged again.

At the same time we see two successful managers leave because they weren't happy here and the quality players they acquired have mostly been sold and replaced with less able players.

Now I actually don't mind watching an unsuccessful Albion. 80% of my Albion supporting life has been less than good, that's not why I go, but I do object to feeling like the club is trying to screw us over for every penny they can get.

When we moved to the AMEX I was proud that the club strived to retain the soul and contact with fans but I feel they have given up on this and sold their soul in the same way most premiership clubs seem to have done, without actually reaching the premiership. Being premiership ready off the pitch makes sense but treating fans like premiership fans when they don't have premiership football is totally non-sensical.

Just 19,000 people went through the turnstile on Saturday. Not much point putting prices up if you lose 20% of the crowd.

Extremely well put. Agree completely. As a side note I would not object (as strange as it may seem) to being overcharged for food/drink IF we saw some results on the pitch. All I have seen since we moved into the AMEX is a steady decline in the squad strength, I understand the club is trying to reign in their spending for financial fair play rules but it alienates supporters and you can see that in the crowd numbers as well. As a season ticket holder I would be happy for the club to lower ticket prices significantly to get the stadium packed on matchdays again but I know it won't happen.

In summary, the club constantly looking for a bit of extra cash and a decline in squad strength and crowd numbers is my complaint.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

This was the season that I was hoping to introduce my grandson to the Albion. He's been all kitted up for a few years and has started to ask if he can go to a game. Can't do it at the moment. That's my complaint.

 

[portlock seagull]

yes - Sami sounds like Arnold schwazzaneger or however you spell it. Other than that, no, everything's fine. isn't it?

 

[Ferg]

Tannoy system

...that doesn't boil down to "Boo hoo - we're not winning as many games as I've become accustomed to"?

I'm not sure I've read much, if anything at all, that people would be moaning about if 3 or 4 of the draws had been wins.
R
Anyone? Honestly?

The Public address system in the west lower area near the dug outs is inaudible any chance the club improving it !

 

[portlock seagull]

This was the season that I was hoping to introduce my grandson to the Albion. He's been all kitted up for a few years and has started to ask if he can go to a game. Can't do it at the moment. That's my complaint.

Is this because of ticket prices? Or because as I suspect the 'product' (in customer parlance) isn't great and he'd be bored stupid? Or you don't want to be seen out with a full kit ********?

 

[essbee]

The Board and management have become like most of to*ser politicians.

They've lost touch and haven't got a clue what the average Albion supporter
thinks, cares about our worries about.

 

[Captain Sensible]

My complaint is is no longer value for money. I've said this every time Barber has put up prices, "it's ok to charge higher prices when you are winning but as soon as you start losing and go on a poor run, you run the risk of losing a lot of fans".
I have no confidence in the recruitment system anymore, the team management or indeed Mr bloom to turn it around. Being at the Amex is quite depressing these days, I have avoided taking anyone new to a game.
I hate to say it but Poyet was right.

 

[paul-brighton]

I think my complaint would be the growing disconnect between the club and the fans. I don't go as much as I would like any more, but have been a couple of times this season, and I've been shocked by the tenacity of the sales and marketing team CONSTANTLY trying to push the clubs "customers" into buying something. The constant barrage of sales emails from the club, and having gone to the boro game I found it so cringeworthy that during the worst performance of the season, they decided to release the third kit!!! Surely someone at the club should have recognised that it would have gone down like a horny dog at a miss lovely legs contest, and just gone "Sod it lads, wait till Monday". Another thing that irked me at the Boro game was the change in discount levels (I realise I am very out of touch having not really been able to go for the past 18 months or so). It used to be the standard 10% across the board, but now have a "flexible" discount system based on the length of time you are essentially being part of a captive audience. Every aspect of how the club is going about its business seems like a cash grab, and to me it feels grubby and wrong - and for the first couple of seasons it genuinely didn't feel like that. When I go to the game I want to feel like a fan, not like a customer or demographic.

So for you it's around the time Barber started... just like for me (except I do go every home game) and away when cash available.