Fan Engagement Forum Report from 26/9/2018

Present from Barnsley Football Club

Gauthier Ganaye - CEO
Adam Lamping - Head of press relations
Beth Sefton - (Not sure what her official job title(s) is/are)

Fans Groups present (please shout if I forgot some groups. I have a feeling I might have):

Barnsley FC Supporters' Trust
The BBS
Courthouse Reds
East Dene Reds
Athersley Reds
Manx Reds
Matchday Drinkers
+ some non-affiliated representatives

NOTE: This is my report from the notes I made. It won't be a word for word account of what was said so please no forensic analysis There may be bits I misunderstood or have misrepresented. If anyone present feels that's the case please let me know and I'll update. Thanks

GG opened the meeting by saying he was sure we are all thinking of Steve (Croft) tonight who would usually have been at the meeting and mentioned the good news about his progress that has been posted on the club site.

Air Ambulance
Alan Bloore asked the first question for Gauthier (GG). He asked what plans the club might have in respect to fundraising for the air ambulance given all the suggestions etc. from fans. He mentioned that the Trust would like to do some fundraising via Redfearn's
GG: has a plan in place. The rearranged date is not agreed yet. (The clubs plan was discussed, and it was a good one IMHO. More about this will be publicised when appropriate)
Ray Brammer (RB) suggested a just giving style page that all fan groups can fundraise against with the aim of an initial 12K total (since that is what it costs to run for only 1 day). Everyone agreed this was a good strategy.


A rearranged date for Burton
GG: Had a date in mind but Burton went and won in the cup, so that's not happening. We don’t want to play in an international break when we could be weakened (e.g. Oct 16th)
Holes in the East Stand roof
Me: Hole in the roof in the East Stand - fault or water feature?
GG: It's fixed (It’s not rained since).
GG’s real answer: Steve Cryne is working on getting these fixed.

@Hooky Fella (Paul) raised a couple of points that he had highlighted on the BBS:

Blue light hero days
Bury style armed forces and emergency services (Blue light hero days). Is this something we would consider
GG: Do it every year for armed forces day
Beth: Used to run a scheme for NHS and Emergency services but didn't get much take up. They have a certificate that states they have given away 30K tickets (for the armed forces I think this was)

Five a side tournament
@Hooky Fella floated the idea of a Supporters Group 5 aside tournament to raise money for the air ambulance
Lyndsey mentioned she was involved in the Liam Jones legacy five a side tournament which was good and raised money for the cause. Adam mentioned James Cryne, and some of the staff in the BFC office also put a team in. Organising a tournament at the end of the season with each supporters organization (and the club staff) putting in a team was discussed.

Catering
Me: What are your plans to fix the issues with the catering. Ths has been an issue with the last 3 catering suppliers
GG: Last 2 games everything was perfect.
Me: Wasn't my understanding
GG: The problem we have is they get a fixed fee and its up to them how they run things.
Everything you guys put on social media is useful as we can raise official complaints
Me: Are there controls in the contract?
No can't do anything..
From what ive seen the last 2 games they have opened more bars and got more staff
1 year left on the contract after this.
Me; More complaining on the BBS and social media is good?
GG: Yes, helps us document it.
Me: Must admit I haven't looked, I'm just going on what people have said
GG: Wants the catering supplier to deliver the best service
possible and is putting what pressure he can on them to do this.
Further discussion was had on how this could be improved with cashless tokens, better process etc

Player Contracts
GG: Explained there are a few different scenarios
Mowatt playing better than was expected. Could sign somewhere like Wigan for instance for 500K signing on fee. Does he get a slightly improved deal and complicate a future move?
The chance we have at the minute is that they are all loving their football and they loving playing for his manager
Take someone like Ethan Pinock. His deals not up this summer but he's 26. But we want to sign him to a better deal
Basically it's complicated but he's working on it

Tom Bradshaw
Contract up in the summer
Daniel came in and said he could do something with him. So we said fine, we'll offer him a new deal (wasn’t a plan a but backed Daniel).
He wouldn't sign it
We kept him for the window (we have this double window now)
Milwall played a record fee
People will say he would have scored 20 goals. He's never scored 20 goals. No one knows what he would do.
We had Woodrow lined up during the transfer window. When that deal was possible and milwall came along it made sense.

Woodrow
GG: With Woodrow we strengthened the team
Don't like to say when players are going to be fit
Picked up a muscle injury. Trained for an hour did it again the same day
Desperate to play. Never seen a player so desperate to play. Took a pay cut to come. Wants to score goals

Transfers in Jan
GG:We don't know what we'll need in January. Still a little bit of money in the budget.

Fans being stopped from watching training

GG: Never seen a club where fans come to watch training every day
Daniel came in. He said we can't work like that. His team is on social media 2 days before the match
Scouts are coming on Thursday/Friday to watch
DO we want to win football matches or do we want to give an advantage to the opposition
I understand people are used to it.
The club will be doing open training sessions properly with tea and coffee etc

Adam mentioned that they know the team so they can prepare media etc for the following day and its astounding how many times the team is on social media.

Ground Improvements

Me: Other than the heritage project and the mural, what are the other changes that are being made?
GG:Brand new gym for players. The last one was shocking. Machines to help players recovery. Every pound we are spending is to try and make our team more competitive.
For instance, for players coming back from injury, we have a machine that allows players to start to run by taking the weight of their legs/knees. (e.g. only allow 10% of weight on legs)
The press box has been improved. We put the press up in a **** hole and expect them to write nice things about us
Every year we are saying we will spend x% of the budget on the stadium
Next step to improve pitch and training pitches. That's a considerable cost. Something we don’t see, but we work with that every day

Singing Section

Me: You have mentioned having a singing section next to the away fans.
GG: Yes, we would need to spend some money to open it up to our fans. (Turnstiles)
What we do want to do it work with you guys to improve the matchday atmosphere

Can we bring in School kids when there are low away tickets?
GG: We already give them away every game through reds in the community
Good price for luton but price is not always the answer

West stand for away fans
Coachhouse: what about using the west stand
Beth: We can't put away fans in the West as there is no disabled access. (Beth seems to be sick of repeating this so definitely don’t ever mention this)

Trouble in t'ponte
Ray: I've been asked to raise the trouble in't ponte end
Beth: WE've had complaints int eh ponte since Noah was a young man. There have been complaints of drinking/drug taking in the top corner. Happened again at the start of the season so the club has decided they will nip in the bud. Stewards are stopping anyone who doesn’t have a ticket in that area from sitting there. Shouldn't cause any problem. For some reason, people who were allowed to sit in that area didn't want to show their tickets.
This will continue to occur.

GG: Same time these people are the ones creating the atmosphere so we need a solution

Safe Standing
Safe standing was talked about and cost. Not much club can do though until the law changes.
AB mentioned the progress made by the FSF , and he thinks its only a matter of time before it is legal again.
A discussion was had about the merits of safe standing.
GG: Too early to talk about it.

Family Stand
Ray: Plans to expand the family stand
GG: No. We wanted to create a product. The next step is to find a sponsor with a synergy that will help improve the matchday experience further in that area. (It's sold out every game now by the way)

contd below....

 

OGC Nice
Paul Robinson: Any possible synergies with Nice?

GG: As discussed at the trust meeting, it's not that easy. Different ownership structures. The Gap between Ligue 1 and League 1 is also an issue
There will be some synergies, and they are working on them.


100 anniversary of World War 1
Alan: What will the club be doing for the anniversary of ww1
Alan: Suggestions of some going to lay a wreath on Batrops grave. Barnsley pals memorial for those that died at the Somme.
Adam talked about when the club is going to commit to the poppy game.
Could be the cup game. Could even be on the Remembrance Sunday
Adam mentioned James Cryne had lent the council some of Patrick's memorabilia around Wilf Bartrops for the council museum to display nearer the time
Alan asked if anyone wanted to be involved in the trip of remembrance
Adam mentioned the programme would also reflect the anniversary. Just need to confirm the fixture.

Distribution of away tickets

Lyndsey mentioned some of their members have been to every away game but haven't had the games allocated because they have been bought on block. Discussion on how whoever buys them should add the references
Beth: Accrington was decided at the Trust meeting. 14 years history, 95 away stubs and a case of white zinfandel
Ray was saying people are arguing that those who get Fleetwood, will get Accrington, will get Wimbledon, will get Bristol Rovers. Beth: And that's right. Those are the people who went to every game. We can only do ticket allocation based on who has attended. Other than introducing a points system which would be on similar lines.
Accrington allocation will be around 700 (probably), so there are likely to be season ticket holders who've been to every game who won't be able to go.
Ray: Colchester away stub

Strategic plan (various separate chats going on at this stage)

Me: have you got a strategic plan to grow the football club in the next 3-5 years.
GG explained how he wanted to do to grow the revenue. He discussed various commercial arrangements that pre-dated him that don't make a lot of sense and talked about a much more ambitious plan for the future. He certainly seems to be aiming higher than any of his predecessors. (At least based on the conversations I had with them)
He explained how the marketing team and commercial should work. Marketing building products for commercial to sell which doesn't seem to have happened in the past or at least not with a great deal of strategic thinking.

Supporters' Bar
Me: I also asked about the Supporters' Bar
GG: He has plans on his desk to move the offices to the east stand mezzanine and to build a sports bar at the front of the Ponte where the offices and Redfearn's/Ozone is now. The cost to do this is large. Certainly, more than I would have guessed, for sure. He is working on a business plan to (hopefully) make it happen.

Ground Purchase
Me: What about the ground purchase?
GG: The club could own the ground at some point. Still on the cards even though the 6-month option has elapsed (or pushed back actually)
Alan asked about buying the brewery land.
GG: said he didn't want to unveil his plans before they own the ground

Supporters Man of the Match presentations was discussed.
Last season, East dene were promised players, but there were some difficulties
GG: Date was difficult.
Adam explained when players couldn't do stuff before matches. The fact they disappear off on holiday straight after the last match. Getting them to do stuff after a game is also difficult if they are in for training etc.
GG: Suggested a joint man of the match for all supporters groups and club send the appropriate players.
Would have to be a big venue (Metrodome was suggested)

Birmingham / Bolton sanctions
Alan asked about the Birmingham / Bolton sanctions (for cheating)
GG expressed he was pretty angry about it all (or words to that effect)
He also mentioned that at the football league meeting the issue was raised and because 13 of the clubs are looking like breaking the rules (in the champ) they now want to change the rules and increase the limits that the clubs can leave. You couldn’t make it up.

Moving fixture times
ME: Not really a question for this season, but can we be more challenging to SYP about moving fixures. Alan mentioned they are adamant that they won't change their minds. (Meeting SLOs 6 weeks ago). GG confirmed that there was little they could do.

Non-official twitter accounts
Ray mentioned the non-official twitter accounts people are falling for. Can we have a list of official players accounts
Adam pointed out they are already on the official site.

 

Ive probably not conveyed this very well. It sounded like it was very much integral to there plans.

 

They are going some development work though at the ground

 

One thing he did mention was that based on the small amount of time Woodrow had trained, Stendel was very excited and thought he could make a difference to the team

I *think* he said we replace the pitch totally every 6 or 7 seasons so I guess it's coming round to that time. Not sure why we do this but I imagine there is a good reason or we wouldn't be splashing the cash.

 

Thanks. Have removed it.