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[Albion] Fan advisory board
- Thread starter Postman Pat
- Start date
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
I believe he resigned.
- Aug 8, 2005
- 27,217
I was wondering the same. Don't recall any of the new FAB four listed here being on the vote list?
Meet The FAB - Brighton & Hove Albion Fan Advisory Board
We have recently appointed four new members to the FAB They are Andy Goodchild, Jo Davis, Gerry Brown and Charlie Benny. Gerry Brown I’ve been a lifelong Albion Supporter since the Goldstone days, and one of my earliest memories is sitting on a tin roof on top of a turnstile in April 1958...
bhafc-fab.co.uk
- Aug 8, 2005
- 27,217
If true, that says all you need to know. I was very pessimistic about this from the start. It's just a way for the club to do exactly what they want but be able to say that the FAB rubber stamped it. I actually have no issue with the club doing what they want by the way. Tony Bloom can flog our children through the streets of Brighton every Saturday for all I care provided we continue to see the best football of our lifetime. I just don't like the pretence of pretending they have consulted with fans when frankly they can't. Surely the fan surveys are a better way to do this than get a dozen fans in a room. I also don't like the way they select individuals to represent all parts of the club. The club is the mens team and it's pretentious to pretend anything else. It should be 90% STH's of mens football. Instead you have representatives from all parts of the club. That doesn't make sense.
Strewth.
Where did they get the idea that the fan majority actually wants that ?
Lol.
Members pursuing personal agendas perhaps ?
That is exactly why the whole concept is somewhat flawed.
studio150
Well-known member
I thought that this had been raised at a Fans Forum, and effectively rejected by PBOBE.
If the FAB say that they represent the fans, what discussions have they had with other fans over this, to gauge the likely level of support.
No doubt the FAB believe they are doing a good job, but for me I see their involvement as no more than a tick box exercise by the club, as there seems to be little or no wider engagement with the fanbase.
Does look at this point exactly that…….little or no communication, little or no SM presence, patchy info on their website (no ‘news’ since August for example) and not really current (eg latest minutes), not using club’s comms channels to increase visibility and we’ve no real idea of the key issues they’re focusing on
He obviously thought it was a load of old tosh then
kevo
Well-known member
- Mar 8, 2008
- 9,800
They need to raise the issue of the trains post-Ajax, which was a potentially dangerous situation, not to mention hugely frustrating and inconvenient, especially for those travelling long distances. The whole train problem needs to be addressed, because the stadium is so reliant on train travel.
For the FAB to prove their worth, they should be bringing up the important issues - not whether to put the words up to Sussex by the Sea because a few old codgers have a failing memory!
For the FAB to prove their worth, they should be bringing up the important issues - not whether to put the words up to Sussex by the Sea because a few old codgers have a failing memory!
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,612
Some of @Barry Izbak 's posts on here - earlier in this thread - about how the FAB has grown , worked on various things with the club or just as fans - especially after a difficult first few months where 2 members were asked to resign after breaching confidentiality agreements - and the challenges of trying to represent a massive fan base with lots of different interests, demographics and spaces where they hang out (NSC being just one of them) are worth a read.
And much as i agree that it would be good if the website, comms were more comprehensive / up to date. That takes time, they're volunteers and the Board now has 5 new members where that is a priority. And its also a bit of a moot point just saying they're an excuse for the club to avoid regulation over and over. Doesn't make their job any easier . Imagine joining NSC, seeing this thread and reading posts where you are accused of being a patsy for the club, or that its all a load of "tosh" , "Flawed", that the board has "no real idea", and "pursues personal agendas".
Would you then want to reach out to NSC and engage ?
And much as i agree that it would be good if the website, comms were more comprehensive / up to date. That takes time, they're volunteers and the Board now has 5 new members where that is a priority. And its also a bit of a moot point just saying they're an excuse for the club to avoid regulation over and over. Doesn't make their job any easier . Imagine joining NSC, seeing this thread and reading posts where you are accused of being a patsy for the club, or that its all a load of "tosh" , "Flawed", that the board has "no real idea", and "pursues personal agendas".
Would you then want to reach out to NSC and engage ?
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,612
Nigel Summers did at least 3 podcasts, a piece in the programme - one of the clubs "comms channels" of course, wrote an article for Dogma, came on here, and talked about the first year of the FAB at lot at the end of last season. So unfair to say there's been "little or no communication" . I'm hoping that more info comes out of the website, minutes are published and this continues but they've gone through a lot of change as a group.
As I posted earlier, a further member of the FAB joined NSC last week.
I've emailed him to point him in the direction of this thread, so hopefully he has a chance to contribute in the near future. I hope the rather blunt feedback doesn't put him off.
However, I do agree with the general sentiment of ensuring you let people know what's going on. Full disclosure: I put the FAB website together for them and host it for them - all done free of charge. Without digging back through emails, I would imagine I stressed the same message I give to anyone who asks me for help with a website: there's no point doing it if you are not going to keep it up to date. It's a commitment you have to be prepared to make.
There's no real excuse for not providing meeting notes/minutes now. Zoom can take them automatically for you, with their AI assistant. So a first draft can be available, immediately, and someone can then review, tweak/edit as appropriate and then publish. There are similar tools for face-to-face meetings.
- Jun 27, 2012
- 14,612
Yep. Agreed its the #1 priority. Keep comms up to date to ensure trust of the fans etc. I know that they asked for social media / board/committee experience for the new members so hope thats rectified soon.
And looking forward to seeing more of the FAB on NSC.
Brian Fantana
Well-known member
If it has been raised and dismissed by PB, you'd have thought that the website would be amended to add that update. i.e. This is something that the FAB discussed with club and the feedback received was x,y,z. A log of previous issues raised with the club, with both positive and negative outcomes, would be useful to avoid them receiving the same suggestion(s) multiple times.
Horses Arse
Well-known member
I agree re the club being in very good hands BUT as a principle we should not be so accepting that the custodians of any club can do what they want without fan engagement (in the truest sense).
If systems/measures are not in place to provide visibility and demonstrate suitable engagement when times are so good the bad times will become very bad indeed and we should know that better than anyone. I've no issue with the make up of the individuals participating per se but cant see anything of note to demonstrate true engagement and participation. It feels very much like a patsy to overcome the growing call for fan engagement. I don't believe anyone within the club is interested in this because of what Tony has done for the club and due to the fact that he is a fan, but I don't feel entirley comfortable with that. I'm sure that means I'm thought of as entitled by some, but so be it.
Barry Izbak
U.T.A.
Can I address all the points on the past couple of pages:
Meeting minutes – we have our own website because we have better control over getting the meeting notes on there. We do ask the club to upload them to the FAB page on the club website
The process for selecting and electing the new members was protracted and I cannot understand how you can have missed it. Nominations were submitted. FAB created the shortlist. Fans voted on the club website.
We had a Travel Scheme update last week. Minutes will go up very shortly. The subject of covered walkways was discussed. It is impossible to provide covered walkways everywhere due to cost. Are there any away grounds that have bought and erected this?
The idea of loyalty points for the men’s team for attending women’s games was discussed. And rejected. End of Binfest.
The question of a lack of communication from the FAB is a good one. How would you have us communicate? From the comments above people obviously don’t read club emails. It may surprise you but only a small minority log in the NSC. Thousands of people don’t use Twitter or Facebook.
If the FAB wanted to communicate with every fan, how should we do it?
The trains problem is a big issue for 50% of the people who go to the Amex. We discussed it at the Travel Review last week and it is important to understand that Brighton & Hove Albion don’t run the trains any more than they run the buses or the motorways. You can be absolutely certain that the clubs Travel Group are in constant contact with GTR (the company that actually run the railways) all season and including “live” during matchday when they manage additional carriages in to Falmer where possible, one thing we didn’t realise.
Bozza’s point is well made and absolutely correct. We don’t have control over the club website page, but we do after our own. We need to do better. This item will be on tonight’s regular weekly agenda. Expect to see a marked improvement. That being said, most people don't know about our website, only those who are really interested, so the question about how we could communicate better is really important.
Meeting minutes – we have our own website because we have better control over getting the meeting notes on there. We do ask the club to upload them to the FAB page on the club website
The process for selecting and electing the new members was protracted and I cannot understand how you can have missed it. Nominations were submitted. FAB created the shortlist. Fans voted on the club website.
We had a Travel Scheme update last week. Minutes will go up very shortly. The subject of covered walkways was discussed. It is impossible to provide covered walkways everywhere due to cost. Are there any away grounds that have bought and erected this?
The idea of loyalty points for the men’s team for attending women’s games was discussed. And rejected. End of Binfest.
The question of a lack of communication from the FAB is a good one. How would you have us communicate? From the comments above people obviously don’t read club emails. It may surprise you but only a small minority log in the NSC. Thousands of people don’t use Twitter or Facebook.
If the FAB wanted to communicate with every fan, how should we do it?The trains problem is a big issue for 50% of the people who go to the Amex. We discussed it at the Travel Review last week and it is important to understand that Brighton & Hove Albion don’t run the trains any more than they run the buses or the motorways. You can be absolutely certain that the clubs Travel Group are in constant contact with GTR (the company that actually run the railways) all season and including “live” during matchday when they manage additional carriages in to Falmer where possible, one thing we didn’t realise.
Bozza’s point is well made and absolutely correct. We don’t have control over the club website page, but we do after our own. We need to do better. This item will be on tonight’s regular weekly agenda. Expect to see a marked improvement. That being said, most people don't know about our website, only those who are really interested, so the question about how we could communicate better is really important.