I'm only just dipping into my mail for the first time in a little while and I came across an email from Paul Barber, covering some of the responses given on NSC to the recent FAQs that the club released.(Original thread here) He is happy for me to share it here.
Also, note the last bit. If this is something you are interested in, please let me know...
It's always valuable to see how important communications, such as yesterday's Q and A piece have been received by supporters.
So, in the same spirit, here's some direct feedback from the "headmaster" to those who have commented or raised further queries:
- to be clear (but not patronising...) we do these things (the Q and A) to hopefully help all supporters better understand our decision making, and also to save our staff a lot of time answering the same queries over and over again, by phone, email, and face to face.
- the time saving for staff then allows them to spend more hours selling tickets, dealing with supporter problems, and looking at other operational matters (such as...how to make the ticket exchange system better...!).
- as seriously, we also do these things because we are very committed to ongoing dialogue with our supporters; we see this as a significant, very important, and differentiating aspect of how we run the club.
- inevitably, the more you communicate, the more dialogue you have, the more detailed questions you are asked; and, inevitably, someone will eventually ask a question they don't like the answer to!
- however, ALL of the questions raised in yesterday's piece are directly from our own supporters - and the questions have been repeated verbatim in the majority of cases; if the piece seems negative when we're top of the league, well, we're only answering the questions put to us (when we're top of the league...!).
- the questions (and answers) have been grouped in the most common themes (from
the past 5 months or so) and include the supplementary questions that have often followed our original replies (we usually get supplementaries when our replies have been brief and to the point or technical, hence the detail we've tried to provide here...).
- it's quite common that an NSC thread prompts a direct email to me or to our supporter services team; that's probably why the questions we've answered are similar to issues raised by NSC contributors and/or threads - not because we all religiously read NSC - although after today's browsing we might!
- the answers provided are designed to be honest, direct and as thorough as possible; if this makes the answers or the language patronising for some fans but prevents a flurry (or avalanche!) of supplementary questions from others, well, we can live with that!
- as I've always said, we won't always provide the answers people want - or the answers people want to hear - or use the language that some might prefer but we will be honest, as open as possible, thorough, and consistent; we will never duck a question.
- the headmaster and his team's "penny pinching" exercises (aka running the football club's business to the best of our ability!) have now contributed to several millions of pounds per year in cost savings since the first year of the Amex opening that we have re-invested in the playing squad, services to supporters, or keeping ticket price increases to a minimum: constantly improving our business through careful cost management at every level is, I'm afraid, not only necessary but will be ongoing.
- the best ticket exchange systems in football (and other sports) still leave clubs and stadiums with empty seats at each game (see Tottenham, Arsenal and Man City, for examples). Fan inertia is a massive factor - some people just don't want others using their seat or don't mind if it's empty - and, having operated various ticket exchange systems (with a range of different fan incentives) for almost 10 years at different football clubs, it always has been this way.
- just to be clear, we try to avoid "management speak" full stop - sometimes it just happens! - and certainly never for not doing something we should be doing but, by the same token, we must also prioritise what we can do and when, and measure the likely return against the investment in time, resources and budget: and this sometimes means that we don't do things as quickly as some fans would like.
- the ticket exchange is "clunky" - it always has been - but with a relative handful of sell-outs since the stadium opened, it simply hasn't been a priority, particularly when we are trying to drive down costs (low volumes of ticket exchanges don't justify significant time or investment and having worked with relatively high volume exchange systems previously, we are a very long way from the volumes necessary to making this a priority before now)
- finally, to answer another query, allowing (potentially) any number of people to list their tickets for re-sale before a sell-out is declared doesn't make any operational sense for us; it simply leads to many, many emails and calls from those that have listed tickets asking when will be they sold, have they sold, what's the likelihood of them being sold etc - this is time we need our staff to be concentrating on selling the tickets we do have to get to a sell-out....!
Anyway, as ever, happy to engage further in this way or, as I've offered several times, to do an exclusive NSC members' forum at the Amex. I'll be the "headmaster" or the "gofer" - and the audience can wear badges with their NSC user names so I can answer individual questions or points any wishes to raise with the "headmaster" face to face...!
Also, note the last bit. If this is something you are interested in, please let me know...
It's always valuable to see how important communications, such as yesterday's Q and A piece have been received by supporters.
So, in the same spirit, here's some direct feedback from the "headmaster" to those who have commented or raised further queries:
- to be clear (but not patronising...) we do these things (the Q and A) to hopefully help all supporters better understand our decision making, and also to save our staff a lot of time answering the same queries over and over again, by phone, email, and face to face.
- the time saving for staff then allows them to spend more hours selling tickets, dealing with supporter problems, and looking at other operational matters (such as...how to make the ticket exchange system better...!).
- as seriously, we also do these things because we are very committed to ongoing dialogue with our supporters; we see this as a significant, very important, and differentiating aspect of how we run the club.
- inevitably, the more you communicate, the more dialogue you have, the more detailed questions you are asked; and, inevitably, someone will eventually ask a question they don't like the answer to!
- however, ALL of the questions raised in yesterday's piece are directly from our own supporters - and the questions have been repeated verbatim in the majority of cases; if the piece seems negative when we're top of the league, well, we're only answering the questions put to us (when we're top of the league...!).
- the questions (and answers) have been grouped in the most common themes (from
the past 5 months or so) and include the supplementary questions that have often followed our original replies (we usually get supplementaries when our replies have been brief and to the point or technical, hence the detail we've tried to provide here...).
- it's quite common that an NSC thread prompts a direct email to me or to our supporter services team; that's probably why the questions we've answered are similar to issues raised by NSC contributors and/or threads - not because we all religiously read NSC - although after today's browsing we might!
- the answers provided are designed to be honest, direct and as thorough as possible; if this makes the answers or the language patronising for some fans but prevents a flurry (or avalanche!) of supplementary questions from others, well, we can live with that!
- as I've always said, we won't always provide the answers people want - or the answers people want to hear - or use the language that some might prefer but we will be honest, as open as possible, thorough, and consistent; we will never duck a question.
- the headmaster and his team's "penny pinching" exercises (aka running the football club's business to the best of our ability!) have now contributed to several millions of pounds per year in cost savings since the first year of the Amex opening that we have re-invested in the playing squad, services to supporters, or keeping ticket price increases to a minimum: constantly improving our business through careful cost management at every level is, I'm afraid, not only necessary but will be ongoing.
- the best ticket exchange systems in football (and other sports) still leave clubs and stadiums with empty seats at each game (see Tottenham, Arsenal and Man City, for examples). Fan inertia is a massive factor - some people just don't want others using their seat or don't mind if it's empty - and, having operated various ticket exchange systems (with a range of different fan incentives) for almost 10 years at different football clubs, it always has been this way.
- just to be clear, we try to avoid "management speak" full stop - sometimes it just happens! - and certainly never for not doing something we should be doing but, by the same token, we must also prioritise what we can do and when, and measure the likely return against the investment in time, resources and budget: and this sometimes means that we don't do things as quickly as some fans would like.
- the ticket exchange is "clunky" - it always has been - but with a relative handful of sell-outs since the stadium opened, it simply hasn't been a priority, particularly when we are trying to drive down costs (low volumes of ticket exchanges don't justify significant time or investment and having worked with relatively high volume exchange systems previously, we are a very long way from the volumes necessary to making this a priority before now)
- finally, to answer another query, allowing (potentially) any number of people to list their tickets for re-sale before a sell-out is declared doesn't make any operational sense for us; it simply leads to many, many emails and calls from those that have listed tickets asking when will be they sold, have they sold, what's the likelihood of them being sold etc - this is time we need our staff to be concentrating on selling the tickets we do have to get to a sell-out....!
Anyway, as ever, happy to engage further in this way or, as I've offered several times, to do an exclusive NSC members' forum at the Amex. I'll be the "headmaster" or the "gofer" - and the audience can wear badges with their NSC user names so I can answer individual questions or points any wishes to raise with the "headmaster" face to face...!
Firstly, I would like to apologise to any BHA staff who are made to read NSC. Secondly, would BHA staff please be aware that many posters are either stupid (and there's nothing wrong with being stupid), drunk, taking the mickey, or palace fans in disguise.
