BFCST Update; owners, players and supporters

No, I wasn’t suggesting you thought full pelt, pitchforks etc, I was just trying to make the point they have to start civilised and progress. IMO of course.

 

Generally anxious for Saturday. I feel now I might say the wrong thing to someone no matter what I say someone will kick off at me.

Everything is annoying me but I'll be their Saturday as its not a day out. its me following my club.

I also welcome making our voices heard but insulting players is gonna look bad on us as a club.

 

No one will kick of at you for saying that mate. You're pretty much describing how most of us feel.

 

I completely understand why the supporters trust are scared of upsetting the owners and why they feel the need to use a softly softly approach but I personally feel it's gone far beyond pandering to rich men (and women) now.

They avoided answering the question on the £750,000 so many times yet the statement is still ever so nice and polite.

There's something that's actually really pissed me off about this statement too actually. The trust is close to agreeing an interview with con way. Wtf? Close to agreeing? It isn't a football transfer. They aren't buying a house. It's a fecking interview. How much agreeing and negotiation is involved?

Paul can we have an interview?
Yes.
Ok name the time and place.
28th January over zoom.
Cheers.

It's really quite simple. He agrees to an interview or he doesn't. It's either agreed or it isn't. It can't be close to being agreed unless there is negotiation and if there is negotiation then he should be told to **** off and that information given to the fans
In a similar way the trust hopes that the possible potential future interview is when Paul Conway starts being honest. Sorry but the statement should read we hope you will change your attitude and be open and honest starting NOW not if and when an agreement is reached for an interview at some point in the future.

As I say I completely understand the softly softly approach because there's a fear of losing future interviews if the trust is actually honest about the situation but after 4 years of lies and treating fans like **** I just can't agree with licking their arses to get an interview. Despite claiming to be rich I don't look up to them or put them on a pedestal. I judge on words and actions and so will speak honestly about them.

Just my opinion of course

 

Bang on, the time for talking is done. Actions speak louder than words and it's time for the Supporters Trust to step up, which I'm sure they will do.

 

The role of the Supporters Trust (as I see it) is to use their position to talk to the club on behalf of fans. Part of that includes maintaining a degree of respect in order to keep lines of communication open. As we know Gally and Loko spoke to Khaled for over 2 and a half hours and asked questions - including all questions from the Facey group that don't seem to like them - on behalf of fans. Fans may not have received the answers they perhaps were hoping for, but they can use this as evidence against the owners going forwards, citing a perceived lack of transparency. The next step is to talk to the main man, big dog Paul Conway. This will either wipe the slate clean and give fans an honest answer to all their concerns - a concept that is about as likely as the team achieving divisional retention (lol) this term - or the fans will rightfully argue that the time for talking is done based on the answers received (from Conway). I too would agree that then would be the time when we could legitimately say all avenues have been exhausted. I would argue that now is not that time.

Saying that now is the time to stop talking - when securing a conversation with Conway seems likely - poses the question: why would we want to let Conway off and not talk to him, and what would we expect the Supporters Trust to do 'action-wise' instead? I don't mean this facetiously but what is the alternative, Gally and Loko encroaching the field of play and unveiling a Supporters Trust banner reading 'JUST LEAVE, NOW!' in front of the West Stand? Doing what an individual from the Facebook group suggested and throw tins of food? Submit a strongly-worded letter to the CEO/Board essentially saying 'JUST LEAVE, NOW!'? Doing something illegal and completely jeopardizing the club and the Supporters Trust's' cause, and in doing so severing the ties it currently has, taking away its opportunity to use its voice and talk to the club?

The Trust has done the right thing, Conway needs to talk. If he doesn't talk then that is the point where I would look at it and say the time for talking is done, because where do you go from there? Just have a regular, smokescreen check-in with Khaled in which the big, key questions are dodged and the board stays silent? Nope. But we aren't at that stage yet. Conway needs to talk, and be given the opportunity to talk, and then we judge him on his answers.

People need to recognize the ST is doing what it can within its remit and capabilities. It has acted with dignity and transparency on behalf of supporters, and it hasn't used personal attacks or insult towards the club, the board or other fan groups. It needs to be respected in turn.

 

Apart from the BFCST website, and the link here, where else does this statement get posted to ensure maximum reach?

 

Lol

 

In support of a peaceful protest, I have put a call into the Canadian Truckers to ask if they can swing by Grove Street, after they've finished with Ottawa.

They don't come much more polite than my northern neighbors, eh!

 

Same. Sick of people looking down on people because they’ll be spending money in the ground. I went the owners gone but I also want my beer and pie.

 

I'll be respectful by watching illegally at home and leave my Season ticket unused as I have since November I believe.
I hope a discussion with the owners is forthcoming but given the response we got from the to the £750k question I expect very little.
Nothing they say is going to change my opinion at this point only the things they do.

 

How does this process work. How does the message become agreed. Is it from a trust board meeting, individual message from a trust member etc. Is the trust a representative of fans as seen by the club. Im interested how the process works and responsibilities as it seems like this is a message to fans (but I thought it represented fans) as well as to the club. Maybe I need to to some homework on how the trust works but in the meantime I thought I would ask.

 

I think this is the right way to go, keeping the pressure on in a professional manner, they know the fans aren’t happy, they know the fans weren’t happy with the answers that the CEO was able to give and so now requesting answers from the owners, the right steps and once the owners give their answers that is the end of the trail -

After that we can see where it stands, and if more serious action is needed. By going public on it this has put in the wider public eye with the chronicle and Yorkshire post picking up on it, so I’m sure they’ll also be keeping a keen eye on what mr Conway will have to say if he speaks.

 

Sorry if already mentioned but it strikes me the lack of transfer activity plus the lack of any kind of response or information from these current owners or anyone else. Could be to do with selling or potentially selling the club

 

I wasn't trying to be critical of the trust or yourself or anything. I do understand why you have to polite and everything because that's how things work. You catch more flies with honey etc. I just personally think they need calling out with brutal honesty.

 

Do you mean "calling out" such as saying that the Conway Out lot are a hoax?

 

Yes they do. If they didn't, the CEO would not be available for interview or attend fans forums; Paul Conway would not be contemplating an interview and would not have given any in the past. There would be no interaction with fans and no concession to their grievances if they did not care.

Now, I'm not suggesting the reasons why they care are entirely honourable, but to suggest they don't is incorrect and without logic or rationale.

The current owners have made no secret that they wish to profit from their association with the club. Their belief is that football clubs in Europe are dramatically undervalued. A sports team in the US commands a much higher purchase price than one in Europe when the fan base is of similar numbers. Our owners believe the market will even out across the globe, and they believe the value of European football clubs will increase to align with the value of US Sports teams. That relies on the club they have purchased retaining a similar sized fan base, or, even better, increasing it. And retaining or improving the status of the team - the two go hand in hand.

A football club isn't worth anything if no one cares about it, if the fanbase is alienated and no one has a vested interest. If that became the case, no one would ever purchase the club from them and no profit could be made.

This entirely illogical argument that they don't care about supporters, an argument that cannot be evidenced and is easily contradicted, has to stop, because if you misunderstand the problem then it cannot possibly be rectified.

The problem is not that they don't care, they want to make money, they need a well supported club to do so, so of course they care. The problem is that their model to keep the club attractive to the fan base is not working. It is flawed. And it is hurting their pocket just as much as it is hurting our hearts. The owners and the fans want the same things. For different reasons, but it's still the same goal.

They're not going to walk away. Shouting 'Conway Out' does nothing. It achieves nothing. They'll only go if someone buys them out offering them a profit. That will only happen if we have a solid customer base. And that will only happen if we are, for the size of our club and within our expectations, successful.

Anyone going head to head with them because they believe they don't care about about providing a product to keep fans interested is going to do much more harm than good because they've entirely misunderstood what is happening.

They're currently failing to engage the customers with the product, but that's due to poor decision making, a flawed model, not because they don't want to or don't care.