'Fans not customers'

[attila]

Only just seen this thread, had to drive up to Northwich with Robina and MIL yesterday. Northwich beautiful on a grey Monday morning
I put this poem on the Albion FB page a few days ago, don't know if it was that that inspired the banner. Anyway as far as I am concerned - spot on (though it should have been bigger!!) It isn't 'moaning' or being 'ungrateful'. I think most of us are over the moon with our current situation. It is expressing who and what we are. It wasn't 'customers' who saved our club from Archer & Co and it won't be 'consumers' who will stand up and be counted if similar action is ever needed in the future ...


TERMS AND CONDITIONS

At the meal table, I’m a consumer.
I’m a customer when in a shop.
For the sake of our poor English language
That’s where corporate brand-speak should stop.
When I get on a train, I’m a passenger
(And to hell with their privatised plan)
At my gigs, I perform to an audience.
At the Albion, I am a fan.

A consumer will gulp down a product
Till a better one’s sold on TV.
A customer’s wallet goes elsewhere
If he’s not got the right guarantee.
But we fans will be there for a lifetime.
We’ll stand up for our rights come what may.
We’re the core, we’re not passive consumers -
That’s why our club’s still here today.

 

[Diego Napier]

It's so important that the club doesn't "sell out". Premier League football is the goal, but it's not worth it if the club has to sell its soul to get there. By that I mean by ripping off the fans, many of whom are responsible for the stadium happening at all after years of campaigning, and also turning the genuine football experience into an plastic americanised "family day out" just because that's what they reckon gets bums on seats. It's our club and as long as we the fans are listened to, and carry on getting a good value genuine football experience, there shouldn't be a problem.

I agree with you in part but I find it difficult to understand what you mean by the "soul" of the club.

Is it the board who kept the club going during the bleakest years and worked tirelessly for our new stadium?
Is it Tony Bloom who has paid for our present and future?
Is it the fans of other clubs who gave us their support?
Is it all the government and other officials who believed in our cause and helped us succeed?
Is it our fanbase who fought for the existence of the club?

I suppose I know that know you are really referring to our fanbase. The fanbase is made up of many different types of people from the Goldstone, Withdean eras & since the Amex has been built. Some of them think thay they are being ripped off but I'd suggest most won't.

It's easy to get emotional if we look back to the hard times but the reality is that the club needs to move forward on a sound financial footing, not least to complete with the "big boys" in attracting and paying the wages/salaries of good players but also to ensure that we don't do a Palace. I'm not suggesting that minorities within the fan base aren't important but the tail shouldn't wag the dog.

The club have their pricing strategy right for the league games as testified by a 3 fold increase in attendances from Withdean to Falmer. Let's not get too hung up about one cup game; yes, it takes on unreal proportions in the non-reality that is NSC cyberspace but in the real world Tony Bloom wants a club that pays for itself an he's appointed Barber to help ensure he gets it.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

in the real world Tony Bloom wants a club that pays for itself an he's appointed Barber to help ensure he gets it.

This should be a sticky.

 

[Monkey Man]

Only just seen this thread, had to drive up to Northwich with Robina and MIL yesterday. Northwich beautiful on a grey Monday morning
I put this poem on the Albion FB page a few days ago, don't know if it was that that inspired the banner. Anyway as far as I am concerned - spot on (though it should have been bigger!!) It isn't 'moaning' or being 'ungrateful'. I think most of us are over the moon with our current situation. It is expressing who and what we are. It wasn't 'customers' who saved our club from Archer & Co and it won't be 'consumers' who will stand up and be counted if similar action is ever needed in the future ...


TERMS AND CONDITIONS

At the meal table, I’m a consumer.
I’m a customer when in a shop.
For the sake of our poor English language
That’s where corporate brand-speak should stop.
When I get on a train, I’m a passenger
(And to hell with their privatised plan)
At my gigs, I perform to an audience.
At the Albion, I am a fan.

A consumer will gulp down a product
Till a better one’s sold on TV.
A customer’s wallet goes elsewhere
If he’s not got the right guarantee.
But we fans will be there for a lifetime.
We’ll stand up for our rights come what may.
We’re the core, we’re not passive consumers -
That’s why our club’s still here today.

 

[drew]

I feel quite strongly about my concerns that the club might sell its soul (BHAFC has always been a fan centric community club) to maximise profit. However I agree with this post, the banner is embarrassing purely because there is not anything worth protesting about at this point. The match day/cup ticket prices are very expensive, the treatment of Gully's Girls was poor, and there are other minor indications that the club is becoming more of a business than the community club it has always been. However these are early signs, and so far the club has responded to some concerns to a degree.

I feel sorry for those people who don't mind, or even WANT, to be treated as a customer. Throughout my life BHAFC has always been a community club to the point it seems like it would have bent over backwards for its fans and the Brighton community. DK did not save the club to make money, he saved it for the fans because he was a fan. When saved, the club was in desperate need of cash so much so that it had to make an "alive & kicking" fundraising campaign just to stay afloat. The fans gave money because we loved the club, not because we had a chief executive calculating how to make as much money as he could form us. We were so skint yet the club still gave something back in the form of AITC and countless other community projects. We are a fan centric, community club and it would be tragic if that was disappeared because of the clubs greed.

Essentially I think it's important for all fans to be aware that we should never tolerate being ripped off by the club we love, just as we should never tolerate our concerns being ignored by the club. Just because the Arsenal's and Man Utd's are corporate cash cows who would be more than happy if their whole ground was full of Asian tourists, doesn't mean we need to emulate that to be successful. The most important thing is keeping our match day experience fairly priced and enjoyable with all our values as a community club remaining in tact.

Have to say that in the 20 years of following the Albion at the Goldstone I was never aware that it was a community based club. That only came during the Withdean years which represents quite a small portion of the clubs history.

It is good that people are not going to take all the decisions and bow our heads to the hierarchy, but I suspect that Tony Bloom's attitude is one of 'Fans AND customers'. I do think the approach of the club has been over aggressive in respect of some issues, (such as the legal threats against NSC with regard to the

NSC is a bitchfest far too much of the time, with some (not all) people demanding better players, better manager, better transport, cheaper tickets, bigger range of pies and real ale, but the only way that can be achieved is if either TB subsidises the club to a further degree (and he has already stuck in £150 million), or the books are balanced through a combination of revenue maximisation and cost control.

We can't have our cake and eat it.

Have to agree with EP here. Seems to me that some people are getting their knickers in a twist over absolutely nothing. I have no reservations about being both fan and customer. I couldn't care less what they call me. I know that I go to watch the Albion, that is the club I have followed for too many years. When I don't get to their game, I don't take myself off to some other game or fly to germany to experience the bundesliga, I'm not intereste in them. I don't subscribe to sky sports because I'm not worried about watching 3 or 4 games over a weekend for clubs I have not affinity for. I couldn't care less what the club prefer to describe me as long as I get to watch the Albion.