[Albion] Is it time to restart BISA or something similar?

[Thunder Bolt]

Without taking sides here but don’t Tony Bloom and Paul Barber regularly attend fans forums to explain and answer questions regarding the club and their role with supporters?

Yes, and not necessarily fans forums but groups as well, like NWSussex Seagulls, and Seagulls over London. It's often just Paul Barber and 20 people so there's plenty of chance to have a discussion rather than a 'lecture'.
As has been pointed out, PB is very good at responding to individual emails and queries.

There's lots we can grumble at, but are we just grumbling? The flasks, water etc issue is common at most grounds now.

 

[Dr. No]

On the field things are going absolutely brilliantly, I think everyone will agree about that. Off the field we are treated like 'customers' and since the 'war years' ended have had no collective representation as supporters in the face of the negative aspects of the modern football experience discussed in many threads on here.
Many will say: no need, things have moved on, and the club won't listen anyway: no need, they know 95% of us won't walk away and there is a big waiting list ready to snap up the tickts of the 5% who do.
I actually think the revival of an organised supporters' group would be listened to by the club for all kinds of reasons, historical and actual, and it might make things easier for all concerned.
If it does happen it should be the new generation who take it forward: we old gits have done our bit.
We have a proud history of democratic relations with the club, not the top-down approach currently favoured ( an annual online fan survey and annual fans' forum doesn't really compare with our previous relationship does it?)
What do you think?

No.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Bloody sad if football supporters of any club have got to a point where they think they are inconsequential, nothing has ever changed if nobody did nothing, we wouldn’t be where we are if that were the case , no organisation no matter how big should conduct itself as if it were untouchable or unaccountable, I actually think we have a pretty open and on the whole good relationship with the goings on at our club but it wouldn’t hurt to have more of a fan based input on some things that happen beyond our control, the Ifollow continuing saga being one of those things so conveniently swept under the corporate carpet, would a BISA type group have any effect on this ? I don’t know but to those that think the fans don’t matter anymore I respect your opinion but sincerely hope you’re wrong .

It’s a new world and as John said a fresh band of brothers and sisters would be needed to set this up , I couldn’t march to the corner shop now let alone hold up a something out banner .

Every individual fan now has direct access to PB aka the club's Deputy Chairman. So far as I can see, every direct communication receives a detailed personal reply. It's taken as read as fair play that the detailed reply is available to be worked up into the Deputy Chairman's Programme Notes, and can be readily made available on NSC, should the correspondent choose to do so. Absolutely no requirement to allow our very own Wolfie Smith to insinuate himself into the process. It's over mate, move on.

 

[Tubby-McFat-Fuc]

I think that we have a CEO who will personally respond (at length) to every e-mail he receives from individual fans.
A chairman who sits and shares a can of Stella with random fans, on the train back from away matches.
Club representatives made available not just for the one annual forum you mention, but also disparate supporters' groups (Seagulls over London, Seagulls over Burwash ffs!).

If anything 'access' to 'the club' for each individual fan, is greater now than it has ever been.

Crikey. I agree 100% with you!

I can't see what the club can do to make it more personal, short of cloning Tony Bloom and Paul Barber, so we can all sit next to them at away games!!!

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

The tone of the email communication is terrible.

I got an email saying I bought a ticket for the Carabao Cup Bournemouth cup game last season and didn't attend, and how naughty I was. I was in Bournemouth that night, and I know that as I bought a coffee machine earlier that evening. But I tried to explain in an email to the Club there might be an error, but did not get anything back from them. Guess they have far more important things to do than to listen to a "customer" who has been a season ticket holder for nearly 20 years.

 

[attila]

Oh god, we should have seen this bollox coming over the last couple of days.

The very epitome of self-entitled, look at me, my voice is still important (honest).
I guess this time it's Attila's turn to live in the past, last time it was Harty, which one next?

Thankfully [MENTION=3566]hans kraay fan club[/MENTION] has already very eloquently written why this is shit.


You want it you set it up, be honest if anyone else does they won't be able to breath with you old gits telling them how, just leave the rest of us out of it.

I'm not setting anything up, not going to tell anyone what to do, don't want anyone to look at me, not getting involved any more, just want to drink beer and watch football. I was just asking for an opinion, which I might pass on, and you and the inevitable THPP want to make it personal and have a go at me. Honestly.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

I am sure the club would welcome a supporters club provided they are running it and making money from it. With current success they are holding all the cards. I do find their tactics quite discriminating which is a shame because what they are doing is abusing the good faith of those very supporters who fought hard to keep them afloat. I accept that Bloom has had his hand in his pocket for a long time now, but fear he is allowing his management team to run roughshod over the hands that have fed the club for several generations.

 

[Tubby-McFat-Fuc]

On the field things are going absolutely brilliantly, I think everyone will agree about that. Off the field we are treated like 'customers' and since the 'war years' ended have had no collective representation as supporters in the face of the negative aspects of the modern football experience discussed in many threads on here.
Many will say: no need, things have moved on, and the club won't listen anyway: no need, they know 95% of us won't walk away and there is a big waiting list ready to snap up the tickts of the 5% who do.
I actually think the revival of an organised supporters' group would be listened to by the club for all kinds of reasons, historical and actual, and it might make things easier for all concerned.
If it does happen it should be the new generation who take it forward: we old gits have done our bit.
We have a proud history of democratic relations with the club, not the top-down approach currently favoured ( an annual online fan survey and annual fans' forum doesn't really compare with our previous relationship does it?)
What do you think?

In short no.

What do you want the club to listen to?

What are they doing to upset you now?

With have 30,000 people attending games now. How personal do you expect them to be?

Some communications need to be harsh and to the point.

Flasks are banned on security grounds, not because they want you to buy a bovril. (I think most of the negative comments on that have got to be wind ups haven't they)

Someone was banned for a few games, because he apparently said vile things about a dead WBA player. Good.They said what they needed to.

The CEO, will personally answer emails if and when he has too. How much more personal do you want it.

Its almost as if, you are looking for attention, and miss the dark old days.

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm not setting anything up, not going to tell anyone what to do, don't want anyone to look at me, just want to drink beer and watch football. I was just asking for an opinion, which I might pass on, and you and the inevitable THPP want to make it personal and have a go at me. Honestly.

If you don't believe this is all about you, then there are bigger issues that you need to be dealing with.

"pass that on"

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I think I’m getting a bit bored with all the incessant moaning about frankly trivial matters and imagined slights.

This. I don't read the missives about fan behaviour as they are not intended for me. And I am not part of the (imaginary) demographic (invented, and then mocked, by broflakes), those 'offended on behalf of others'.

And somehow I can't imagine the lads in their silly jeans that look like tights dragging themselves away from snapchat and tinder for long enough no notice that Barber has been telling them off.

If anyone is hankering for the good old days when we sat in the rain at Withdean but had weekly chats with Martin Perry (I may have his old phone number somewhere), and all it took to blag a few signed programmes was a timely text (some of you old 'mailing listers' may recall the Oh Gary Hart challenge) then I say......(sorry Attila) 'Bollocks to that!'.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Yes, and not necessarily fans forums but groups as well, like NWSussex Seagulls, and Seagulls over London. It's often just Paul Barber and 20 people so there's plenty of chance to have a discussion rather than a 'lecture'.
As has been pointed out, PB is very good at responding to individual emails and queries.

There's lots we can grumble at, but are we just grumbling? The flasks, water etc issue is common at most grounds now.

I have attended various North West Sussex Seagulls meetings over the years, in which various illumni from the club have come and given us a talk. Charlie Oatway came to our first members meeting in my local pub, the Hare & Hounds, to promote his new book and chat about his time at the club, and ever since then we have blessed with many others, Tony Bloom, Paul Barber, Martin Perry, Paul Camillin, and various players too.

Many other fans groups hold similar meetings too. So maybe BISA, or a version of it, still exists, just under a different guise. We will always have differences with the club, that's the way of things, but now we are at peace, not at war with it. Long may that continue.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

On the field things are going absolutely brilliantly, I think everyone will agree about that. Off the field we are treated like 'customers' and since the 'war years' ended have had no collective representation as supporters in the face of the negative aspects of the modern football experience discussed in many threads on here.
Many will say: no need, things have moved on, and the club won't listen anyway: no need, they know 95% of us won't walk away and there is a big waiting list ready to snap up the tickts of the 5% who do.
I actually think the revival of an organised supporters' group would be listened to by the club for all kinds of reasons, historical and actual, and it might make things easier for all concerned.
If it does happen it should be the new generation who take it forward: we old gits have done our bit.
We have a proud history of democratic relations with the club, not the top-down approach currently favoured ( an annual online fan survey and annual fans' forum doesn't really compare with our previous relationship does it?)
What do you think?

Of course in 'We Want Falmer' there were a number of comments in the last handful of chapters about firstly the breaking of the idea that no one person would ever control the club again and for there to be a supporter representative on the board. For the former, while I'm not overly comfortable with it, Bloom has complete control and it is unlikely we would be where we are today if he didn't have complete control. BUT as commentators in the book suggest - we as fans should always be watchful. As for the later, I'd still support this but it would require a body such as BISA to allow for that person to be elected and to understand what views of the supporters were.

So overall, do I think we need it now ? no. I only think it will be necessary once the board has supporter representation ( and yes I get TB is a supporter ! ).

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

If all people have to moan about these days is flasks and bottle tops then the club can carry on doing what they do best for the rest of us who went through those shit years.
Look how far we have come and be grateful that someone at the club has the decency to reply to e mails and meet fans face to face and have a drink with fans on an away game etc
None of the above things ever happened 20 years ago.

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[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I'm not setting anything up, not going to tell anyone what to do, don't want anyone to look at me, not getting involved any more, just want to drink beer and watch football. I was just asking for an opinion, which I might pass on, and you and the inevitable THPP want to make it personal and have a go at me. Honestly.

So just jog on and drink beer and watch football then - and make full use of, and subvert as appropriate, the existing excellent and probably unparalleled current lines of direct communications

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

It was before my time, or perhaps just a group that I wasn't aware of - but why was this BISA shut down in the first place ? And do those reasons for shutting it down no longer hold true ?

That will give you the answer.

 

[Is it PotG?]

I think I’m getting a bit bored with all the incessant moaning about frankly trivial matters and imagined slights.

 

[Hamilton]

The tone of the email communication is terrible.

I got an email saying I bought a ticket for the Carabao Cup Bournemouth cup game last season and didn't attend, and how naughty I was. I was in Bournemouth that night, and I know that as I bought a coffee machine earlier that evening. But I tried to explain in an email to the Club there might be an error, but did not get anything back from them. Guess they have far more important things to do than to listen to a "customer" who has been a season ticket holder for nearly 20 years.

I must have a really thick skin or something, because I’ve never been exposed to this type of arrogance that you describe.

There are always things to improve, but I’ve never had to respond so roundly to the attitude coming from the club.

I’m sure that in your case there was an error, but the club don’t know that and can’t really get into a tit for tat email exchange. It’s just life isn’t it?


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[LamieRobertson]

The communication seems great ..but it seems to be all one way and yeah facilities are top notch ..football great ..but then personally i’m paying more than I ever have done for those benefits, as i’m sure most others are

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

The tone of the email communication is terrible.

I got an email saying I bought a ticket for the Carabao Cup Bournemouth cup game last season and didn't attend, and how naughty I was. I was in Bournemouth that night, and I know that as I bought a coffee machine earlier that evening. But I tried to explain in an email to the Club there might be an error, but did not get anything back from them. Guess they have far more important things to do than to listen to a "customer" who has been a season ticket holder for nearly 20 years.

This is exactly my point.

Something has gone wrong. You didn't get a reply. But from other stories that are shared we know that they do typically reply, and take this kind of thing seriously. So rather than concluding that they have "far more important things to do", you could have thought "this doesn;t fit with the way the club typically treats supporters across the 20 years I've been a fan and from what I've read on NSC, maybe something has failed somewhere. Wouldn;t it be useful if I called them to ask about my reply and also to tell them that somewhere in the fan support process, there has been a glitch".

What you chose to do - to a club you support and that we all agree are an example other clubs should aspire to - is slag them off on NSC.

I'm not picking on you, but you popped up as an example of what I was talking about in my post within minutes. If more people took the clubs good intentions at face value and supported them, and didn't conclude from one experience that "they don't care about fans", I think we'd see BHA move on to even higher levels of engagement and collaboration.

 

[nwgull]

Fair play to fans that went to Gillingham every other week and held a season ticket throughout the Withdean years, but I get the impression that some of them won’t be happy until they’re given a season ticket for life, receive personalised comms from the club several hours before general press release and are applauded by 30,000 fans into their seat every home game.