[Albion] FAB member vote

[rippleman]

I think over the years we have learned that PB is a bit of an autocrat and it's his way or the highway. It was always going to be an exercise in optimism to think that his stance and opinion on anything was going to be swayed by input from fans. He has consistently cocked a snoop at the FAB since it's inception. He isn't ever going to buy-in to the idea that fans views and opinions have any real significance or validity.

I wish the members of the FAB well. If you need a brick wall to bang your heads against there are plenty about.

 

[chaileyjem]

I think over the years we have learned that PB is a bit of an autocrat and it's his way or the highway. It was always going to be an exercise in optimism to think that his stance and opinion on anything was going to be swayed by input from fans. He has consistently cocked a snoop at the FAB since it's inception. He isn't ever going to buy-in to the idea that fans views and opinions have any real significance or validity.

I wish the members of the FAB well. If you need a brick wall to bang your heads against there are plenty about.

?? Albion go out of the way to listen to fans and Bloom/Barber invest millions in making the fan experience better - certainly compared to other clubs. From padded seats way back to the Fan Zone to (tweaking) the sharing scheme following protests and keeping season tickets relatively low (freezing prices since Covid, being loyal to Harvey's etc. . Lets not kid ourselves - its not some fan owned democracy - but its far more naunced than "PB is an autocrat" and they both spend hours and hours at fan groups - as well as the FAB - listening to fans . They will also invite all sorts of fans , old and young to the club to hear from them if they campaign or write an article etc. . They don't have to do this. Few other clubs bother. So i just don't agree that fans views don't have any "significance or validity" to Tony Bloom or Paul Barber .
Now They've not exactly given full throated support to the FAB - for all sorts of reasons - but have listened and made some small, meaningful changes thanks to their work.
Good luck to the FAB who i'm certain aren't naive and well aware of the above but i'm sure many on NSC will keep reminding them nonetheless !

 

[Arthur]

And your suggestion for organising fans to make (what you think) are real improvements is ... ?

Make it 100% independent from the club. At the moment they are just puppets for the club.....signing an NDA.....c'mon!

Stop banging on about bollocks like diversity and focus on things that actually affect the majority of fans (Sodexo's crapness, away fans in the home end, cover for the train queue etc etc). Get some normal people involved! The only people who are going to want to do it in its current guise are busy tosspots who are doing it to inflate their own egos.

 

[chaileyjem]

Make it 100% independent from the club. At the moment they are just puppets for the club.....signing an NDA.....c'mon!

Stop banging on about bollocks like diversity and focus on things that actually affect the majority of fans (Sodexo's crapness, away fans in the home end, cover for the train queue etc etc). Get some normal people involved! The only people who are going to want to do it in its current guise are busy tosspots who are doing it to inflate their own egos.

You can set up a 100% independent fan group. Others have and do.

 

[Arthur]

You can set up a 100% independent fan group. Others have and do.

And I expect they do an awful lot more for the normal fan than the current FAB like organise transport to games for example.

 

[Insel affe]

"I'm a Brightonian through and through and can trace my family lineage back over 425 years of living in the local area"

And ?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

And I'm not even on there!

Why didn't you go for it this time?

 

[jackalbion]

Why didn't you go for it this time?

Didn't get on it twice, couldn't be bothered this time.

 

[Gazwag]

So many of our kids won't grow up with that visceral excitement of feeling a crowd organically grow in voice as one and start singing in the build up to players coming out - 30,000+ unorchestrated fans all combining in the same song, with natural support and passion coming out at full volume, and after a great game celebrating their heroes with their own song instead of what the PA decides to broadcast. Yes, they'll be excited, they'll have great moments, but not as great as they could have been. Chelsea next week - imagine how epic it'd be if there was no PA, no songs played, no flames, just the tension and songs from the opposing fans building before the players come out. That's a fan experience. What we currently have is in danger of becoming a curated, managed, customer experience.

Other than say a dozen games since the Amex opened the atmosphere has never been great. In all UK football matches 90% of away games the away fans say "we outsung the home fans" which is true because that is modern football in the UK. Even Palace rely on the microphones being conveniently place to sound loud on TV because TV say its loud there and TV get what they want.

Despite many pretending it was, the Goldstone was never a cauldron of noise, we are not a noisy fanbase at home and no attempt by fans group will really ever change that, TB was sold a lemon when they said the acoustics at the Amex would be fantastic, bit like the lovely blue roof we had for a season or so.

 

[drew]

And I expect they do an awful lot more for the normal fan than the current FAB like organise transport to games for example.

Do you think it's the club's responsibility to organize all transport to any game? We have a unique system with transport from all over Sussex included in your ticket. Not one other premier league club does that.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

FAB might be a very worthwhile initiative at other clubs, but just seems to me to be a bit spurious at the Albion. Individuals can email PBOBE directly and pretty much be assured that their email will be read and responded to in a timely manner. And on a wider level NSC provides the club with a near-real-time level of feedback that many other clubs can only dream of. So, with the greatest respect to those devoting their time and energies to FAB, it does seem a bit surplus to requirements here. Sorry

 

[pigmanovich]

"I'm a Brightonian through and through and can trace my family lineage back over 425 years of living in the local area"

And ?

But can they play at leftback?

 

[Arthur]

Do you think it's the club's responsibility to organize all transport to any game? We have a unique system with transport from all over Sussex included in your ticket. Not one other premier league club does that.

No I don't. I was merely pointing out that the independent fan groups are there for a reason. The FAB has no purpose in its current guise.

Oh and the travel voucher has been in place long before the FAB as I'm sure you well know.

 

[Whitechapel]

And your suggestion for organising fans to make (what you think) are real improvements is ... ?

I suggested they organise some kind of Patreon or similar monthly donation scheme and use that as funding for flags/displays. They would; in theory, be in a unique place to confirm designs were okay with club whilst getting the opinion of fans on what they want to see.

So far we’ve got a moderately sized flag which has to go in the bin the second De Zerbi leaves and that’s it.

 

[drew]

No I don't. I was merely pointing out that the independent fan groups are there for a reason. The FAB has no purpose in its current guise.

Oh and the travel voucher has been in place long before the FAB as I'm sure you well know.

What else can you name that has been achieved by some of the independent fan groups then? A bunch of friends can get together to organise travel, that does make them an effective voice for change. I also never implied that the FAB had anything to do with our travel scheme.

As for the principle of the FAB, I don't think it is necessarily warranted at our club. And clubs where it is needed, eg Blackpool under the Oystons, the owners are not going to pay attention to their views anyway.

 

[Arthur]

What else can you name that has been achieved by some of the independent fan groups then? A bunch of friends can get together to organise travel, that does make them an effective voice for change.

A group of friends got together and and bought a banner congratulating Leverkusen at the last game. They didn't have to sign NDA's have a DBS check get voted in to do that.

I also never implied that the FAB had anything to do with our travel scheme.

Why bring it up then?

As for the principle of the FAB, I don't think it is necessarily warranted at our club. And clubs where it is needed, eg Blackpool under the Oystons, the owners are not going to pay attention to their views anyway.

That we agree on.

 

[Giraffe]

As a side note to this pointless exercise. How bloody painful is the voting page. Certainly on my phone selecting candidates was a bit of a lottery, wasn't clear how many, or which sections (to me at least). As others have said I'd like to see a photo. Relevant because if we know them from games and they're a twat I don't want to accidentally vote for them. I clicked two I thought would do a job, then realised I'd selected the wrong one. Largely user error I'm sure but it was all a bit painful.

ps) I then aborted because of the details needed at the end and I couldn't be arsed!

 

[Talby]

I think over the years we have learned that PB is a bit of an autocrat and it's his way or the highway. It was always going to be an exercise in optimism to think that his stance and opinion on anything was going to be swayed by input from fans. He has consistently cocked a snoop at the FAB since it's inception. He isn't ever going to buy-in to the idea that fans views and opinions have any real significance or validity.

I wish the members of the FAB well. If you need a brick wall to bang your heads against there are plenty about.

This in a nutshell - the management style is autocratic. In business parlance we’re stakeholders but it feels we’re told things only.

People saying that fan engagement doesn’t apply because we’ve got TB. Well, we nearly had nothing - no voice, no ground, no club

We do need a method of formal putting forward ideas or concerns. Speaking to some 1901 member on another thread and also with friends that are members it appears that the service isn’t necessarily delivering as expected, with some hollow promises along the way.

PB is clearly the right man for TB but we’ll still be here after he’s retired with a massive pot of money.

 

[Giraffe]

We do need a method of formal putting forward ideas or concerns. Speaking to some 1901 member on another thread and also with friends that are members it appears that the service isn’t necessarily delivering as expected, with some hollow promises along the way.

Has there ever not been service issues in 1901? As a former member I was hoping it had got better. Sad to hear this isn't the case given the cost of this now.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

?? Albion go out of the way to listen to fans and Bloom/Barber invest millions in making the fan experience better - certainly compared to other clubs. From padded seats way back to the Fan Zone to (tweaking) the sharing scheme following protests and keeping season tickets relatively low (freezing prices since Covid, being loyal to Harvey's etc. . Lets not kid ourselves - its not some fan owned democracy - but its far more naunced than "PB is an autocrat" and they both spend hours and hours at fan groups - as well as the FAB - listening to fans . They will also invite all sorts of fans , old and young to the club to hear from them if they campaign or write an article etc. . They don't have to do this. Few other clubs bother. So i just don't agree that fans views don't have any "significance or validity" to Tony Bloom or Paul Barber .
Now They've not exactly given full throated support to the FAB - for all sorts of reasons - but have listened and made some small, meaningful changes thanks to their work.
Good luck to the FAB who i'm certain aren't naive and well aware of the above but i'm sure many on NSC will keep reminding them nonetheless !

(1) Sharing scheme is proving not to work - see last Sunday's pretendance.

(2) Freezing prices since Covid - really?

We are lucky to have PBOBE and especially Bloom, but let's be honest the FAB is a box -ticking exercise, nothing more.

BTW, your reply is almost long enough to be written by PBOBE himself.