Last Night's Fans Engagment Forum Part 1

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First of all, I should explain that this is prettymuch entirely from my memory which is a bit rubbish!
I usually use a Livescribe pen and app to create a pencast so I can go back and listen to the relevant parts of the conversationby touching the pen on my fancy notepad. Unfortunately, this has failedme for the first time and I've only realised after the event! So PLEASE don't take this as absolute gospel it's more a flavour of what was said rather than a verbatim account.

Present fromBFC: Patrick Cryne, Ben Mansford, Beth Sefton.

Ben welcomed everyone and opened the meeting with an apology with regards the bottle tops comments at the WSB event and explained the context behind them.

Season Pass
The introduction ofthe season pass was talked about and the timings.

Zebra Finance Scheme
The clubs financeagreement lapsed in February and under new FCA rules they would have to have full permission to offer the Zebra credit scheme. This requires a certain amount of process and red tape and will not be possible in the time scales ofthe season ticket offer. Unfortunately, the confirmation of this was all very late in the day.

"Easy Payment" Scheme
Less than 5% of seasonpass holders (341 in total) used the finance scheme last season. Even so, Patrick recognises that the club should offer something so fans can spread the cost of the payment. The club have looked into offering their own instalment plan. They are still finalising this but HOPE tobe able to offer a scheme to those who take up the early bird offer. This would likely involve splitting the payments across 3 months over April to June inclusive. There could be a small admin charge for setting upthis facility as it would create additional work for the box office.More on this next week when the club have ironed out any issues.

The club will publicise the existing savings scheme in future and it's unlikely that this new"Easy Payment Plan" scheme will last longer than this year. Theclub will look at becoming an Agent for a finance provider so theycan once again offer schemes like the Zebra one in the future.

Oldham
Ben talked about ourremarkable support.
BUT There were issuesfrom a small number of fans.
20 odd seats weresmashed. Some were thrown out for substance related issues. Ben has spoken toyoung fans who were photographed with broken seats on social media. Ben feelsthere was a certain amount of peer pressure with those involved. Ben and SouthYorkshire Police have also been speaking to years 7-11s at Netherwoodand further presentations are planned for other schools with regardsto anti-social behaviour at football.
Ticketing was talkedabout. Beth explained how the original 800 tickets were sent with allocatedseating. When Oldham realised they could cash in on our surge up the table theydecided they would make it unreserved. Our box office expected that the wholestand would be used at this point and obviously this didn't happen and createdissues.
Talk of our riskelement and being top of the league of anti-social arrests was again mentioned.Ben stated that the Supporters' Trust have made a request to southYorkshire Police for clarification of these stats.

John Stones
I asked the questionif it would be possible to put to bed once and for all the mystery surrounding a possible sell on fee for John Stones. Patrick answered the question.
Patrick explained that there was indeed a substantial sell on fee if John Stones ever leaves Everton.That was the one saving grace of the deal that was done. He admitted his mistake here and that he is the one who has ultimately paid for this (financially).
He says he's tried totake the approach of holding his hands up when he's made mistakes. It might be easier to sweep these things under the carpet and not speak about them againbut this is not his way.
He then talked abouthow he and his family have been affected since the decision to sack Danny Wilson and the West Stand Bogs meeting. PC went there trying to be honest and open and thought coming away on the night that he and Ben had done that. He was surprised to be told about the continued and heightened criticism afterwards.
I should probably say at this point that he did not have an issue with what was raised at the Old No7 or the manner in which the night was conducted by WSB. Quite the opposite actually, he was quite complimentary about it.
Patrick has the feeling that for the first time since his tenure that he doesn't have the empathy and support of the majority of Barnsley fans. His other take away from the West Stand Bogs meeting and criticism thereafter is that the fans would rather the club be self sufficient and there's a belief he should step aside. At this point in proceedings, I did think he was going to tell us that he was going to walk away. He didn't quite go as far as saying he will stop bank rolling the club.
He's also worried he will have been the owner of the club and will have nothing to show for itin the way of success. Took us to championship but we got relegated eventually. We got to an FA Cup Semi but really should have got to the final. He compared himself to the hangman who never got to hang anyonenotorious. I didn't quite get the reference but I think it was to do witha film or documentary that aired on TV recently.
He talked, again, of wanting his son James to be more involved and it was for this reason he was made a Director. Patrick felt that it was essential in terms of the Cryne family’s succession planning and the future stability of the club.Unfortunately, with some of the abuse and criticism that James has had to endure via social media and in person (e.g. on thetrain back from Crawley) as well of some of the conspiracy theories that have been laid at his door, James has decided he doesn't want to be involved any more, wants to just stay as a fan and is no longer a Director. One of his reasons is that he thinks that the club has made his Father miserable and doesn't want that for himself. (I think we certainly saw evidence of this first hand tonight and I couldn't help but think back to The Full Ponty's observation at the Old No 7 with regards the "burden" of the club).

He elaborated more on James's involvement with the statistical model that he built. Clubs are taking more of an analytical approach to identifying, testing and monitoring theprogress of players. Peterborough was used as one example and some detail around this was given. It was also mentioned how, in the past, they had used their model to pip us to players we had been scouting. James had built the algorithm's to support the manager's recruitment as well as the club's testing and monitoring of players. James's interest in this was not a footballing one but a mathematical one. A piece of software has been built around this model for the club by a software company in India. I think Patrick said that Mark Burton currently looks after it. It sounded like Patrick also finds this interesting from a mathematical and technical point of view. It doesn't sound like James is involved in this project anymore either.

Patrick explainedthat the system was involved in the identification of Hourihane, Scowen, O'Sullivan, Ryan Williams and Winnall although Patrick conceded it was fairly obvious with the latter. He explained how this was essentially a tool to aid the manager.

Patrick went on to reiterate how ludicrous it was that some of these conspiracy theories have been built on top of snippets taken totally out of context that himself, Ben and Danny have said.
One thing that clear was that, irrespective of this model, the ultimate decision on players is made by the manager.
Patrick also talked about how James had previously been involved in things at the club (although he didn't go into detail here) but his name has never been mentioned before now because of his age.

I have to say I haven't done a very good job here of capturing the mood and sombre nature inthe room as Patrick explained himself and some of the genuine anguish recent events and views about his son and his ownership seem to have caused him and his family. I must say I felt quite sad and even perhaps guilty that some of this vitriol has emanated from this Forum.
Quite a few of us around the table put their point to him in one way or another that he is reading the level of support from our fan base incorrectly and a good majority of our fans are 100% behind him.

CNTD..
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Last Night's Fans Engagment Forum Part 2

<!--StartFragment-->Fan Ownership Q) Ownership model - fan inclusivity.There seems to be a very black and white view of this .What is the view of theclub towards shared ownership models such as Swansea?
Ben repeated Patrick'soffer to step aside if the fans could find a suitable model and business planto take the club forward. He reiterated how difficult this would be with League One or Championship budgets. The impact of wealthy individuals and property companies on Portsmouth and Swansea's "fan ownership" schemes was also touched upon.
Personally, I think that we, as a fan base, need to be more organised in the event that the Cryne family do one day decide that they have had enough. I hope this never happens and Ben mentioned that when we went into administration the newly formed Supporters Trust only managed to raise a few thousand pounds. Ben was wrong , it was closer to £100K, according to someone who was involved at the time. That said, scratching around for a few grand probably won't be the answer if we ever find ourselves in a similar position. A plan B might not be a bad idea though!

Planning Permission for Houses on Carpark
I asked the question about the Car park and what the situation is with regards the planning permission on it.
Patrick explained that this was a very old planning application and that at the time the land was purchased, the Council had certain requirements to show value in what they had invested in. With this in mind, Patrick eventually agreed that they could put in a planning permission application for houses at the bottom of the Pontefract Road car park and on the finger of land next to where the away coaches park. This met the Council’s requirement as it added value to the asset even without realising it and actually building on it. This requirement for the Council has now gone away Patrick thinks they may keep the planning permission current as it still adds value to their stake in Oakwell.
I asked in the current austerity if the council had wanted to sell their share. He said this was the case but both parties views on the valuation are worlds apart.The Council’s value is based on what the land would be worth to Barrett to build houses on where as his value would be based on uses that Tiverton Preedywould approve of. Patrick joked about a church but no one has interested anymore. Leisure facilities were mentioned also.
Patrick stated that he would not allow any houses to be built on Oakwell. He didn't believe this is what Tiverton Preedy intended. For this reason he would not see the club move to a new home. Since he and the council own 50% each they are at an impasse. Patrick recommended that if you are ever in a similar partnership thenone party needs to have a 51% shareholding.
Similarly, Patrick would like to see the land enhanced to provide additional leisure facilities but the council require these to be provided within the walled "Tuscan Village", town centre. Again, because of the 50-50 split no progress can be made.
It was asked if it had been considered buying the school on Grove street. It seems it has indeed been considered and even to use it as a school (for the academy). Other uses have been considered including office space, therapy areas and accommodation.Patrick's view is that the planning department in Barnsley are not sympathetic to progression and are more interested in telling you what the problems are with a particular idea or project rather than being supportive.

Preston Players’ Apology
Preston have apologised for players who urinated against the stand and the players inquestion have made a donation to Barnsley Hospice

Ponte Catering.
Ben explained the changes to the catering in the South Stand that had caused issues(selling beer and food in the same place). The bottle bar has already been reopened.

Ticket Distribution - Q) If our current formcontinues until the end of the season, how will the club allocate tickets forBradford away? Or even a playoff away fixture?
Beth explained that max no of tickets would be 2800 for Bradford and season ticket holders withaway stubs or away history would get priority. More to be announced soon onthis.

Ticket Distribution - Q) We’ve been told beforethere will be a new priority system for popular games, when will this be inplace?
Next season theclub taking back the shop and will let this settle down with theimplementation of a loyalty programme for the start of the 2016/2017 season.

Supporter Liaison Officers Q) How are they engagingwith Fans?
Email, website in person. (2 home and 2 away SLOs) slo@barnsleyfc.co.uk
They are also coordinating with the FSF to provide a central resource of SLO best practice and training
The role really is all about information gathering so they can offer help and advice to make going to both home and away games better for all supporters. (more info on the origin of the SLO provided below by Alan Bloore)

Policing of Coaches
On going issues withsome police forces were mentioned with regards to away coaches.
In particular, the SLOs had raised the issue that one entire coach was with two banned fans was sent back (possibly using section 27 orders). Ben has asked the Police for clarification as to why all fans were returned. It was mentioned by Courthouse and Hoyland Reds representatives that this was not a regular away supporters bus and had also not notified the Police of their plans and had gone straight into Oldham.
A meeting will be held between the Police and the SLOs rather than a wider forum about variety of issues with away games. The Club will try and get the Police to attend the forum.

Safety in the Ponte Car Park Q) Why are thefloodlights in the Ponte car park always switched off?
Ben explained there has been an issue with some of the floodlights for several years.

Charity Walk
The Barnsley FC Supporter's Trust and West Stand Bogs charity walk to Bradford City in memory of the 56 football fans who tragically never made it home on 11th May1985 was discussed including how far Ben would be walking.
More info can be found at:
http://bfcst.org.uk/bfcst-wsb-fanzine-charity-walk-to-bradford-city-fc-25th-april-2015/ http://www.weststandbogs.co.uk/walk-bradford-association-bfcst/

CNTD..

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Last Night's Fans Engagment Forum Part 3

Misc
It was mentioned that Lewin Nyatanga also got some quite bad treatment on the train back from Crawly by all accounts and took it quite badly.

After 90 mins +stop pages the meeting was brought to halt.


A quick Background to Supporters Liaison Officers Roleby Alan Bloore

The concept of these positions started in Holland and Germany about twenty years ago.
They were brought in to try and change supporter behaviour by offering help and advice to Supporters to make the match going experience better.

In 1990 the FSA ran a small information service at the World Cup in Germany. On from this was the work England Supporters started at Euro 96, where fan volunteersworked at the stadiums and other events to help with the smooth running of EURO96. Six of us from Barnsley were part of the team at Hillsborough, Leeds and Nottingham.

From this work the Supporters organisations, worked together with the FA on the 1998 world cup qualifiers and for the first time we had Supporter liaison officers at all the games.We took this into the actual tournament and we found this approach was working.

From then the idea has been developed through the FSF Fans embassies and regular meeting with FIFA, EUFA and our own FA. Through to EUFA making it a condition of their EUFA licencing system for clubs playing in Europe. All clubs have to have a Supporters Liaison Officer/team.

The Premier League put it into their licencing system as well. The Football League followed at the beginning of the 2013-14 season.

One of the problems of introducing so quickly down the leagues is that apart from the EUFA guide, available on EUFA website there is no other guide available to Football League clubs.

Barnsley, along with all the other clubs with the exception of Doncaster Rovers initially just paid lip service to this role. Don Rowing took it on and then Ben Mansford took over.

After talking to the club throughout last season, Ben agreed with our view that a supporter/team should undertake this role. He advertised for these roles andquite a few applied.

I have for the last 5 seasons liaised with away supporters’ and go into the away end at most games and talk to away supporters, in particular the disabled. From that the club have changed a few things to make the away experience at Oakwell better.

As a result of this and my other experience with England over a long period Ben asked me to be part the SLO team and offer my guidance.

There is now an increase in the number of SLO’s that are supporters and not club employees.

The FSF works closely with the PL & FL on implementing this new role. We arecurrently working on guides of best practice and hopefully soon we will have more information to pass down to Supporters.

The role really is all about information gathering so we can offer help and advice to make going to both home and away games better for all supporters.
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SLO Carlo on Facebook came up with a good suggestion. A round of "their's only one Patrick Cryne" at the Sheff United game

 

Yeah he did also say "when we beat Sheff Utd"