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Post by ssshrew on Sept 7, 2022 20:07:04 GMT 1
So can we have our old supporter numbers back or not. I assume not and presumably there’s no rational reason why I was sent a number of someone who had died.
Still no satisfactory answer as to why other staff aren’t asked to answer telephones either.
Was any mention made of proof reading items that go into the public domain?
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Post by cabanas2017 on Sept 7, 2022 21:19:32 GMT 1
As Roland is in his twilight years what ownership provision is in place should he pass away which will protect the financial well being of our club? If there is a better way to word it please do but I do think it is an important answer for us to know….if how the club is financially protected…. What succession plan is in place. Is there one? No one brave enough to bring the question up at the meeting then ? I suppose it’s not that important 🧐
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Post by FloreatShrew on Sept 7, 2022 23:07:03 GMT 1
The idea of finally contacting new residents is great - but would it not have been good to do that from day one and be a core marketing activity year in year out. Some properties have been there for 8 years now and maybe the residents have already found other things to do. Providing offers to new customers who literally live 5 minutes from your business is hardly the greatest business idea since the I-pod, but somehow it seems to have taken various CEO's over 10 years to think about doing it, and when we get round to it the flyers will probably be poorly printed and new customers will get told off for not using them properly The idea to provide a bar that provides beer quickly to football fans and expanding a club shop where people can spend money is a genius move though. I'm surprised the club allowed this information to leak as lots of other clubs and bars will be trying to copy them now. I've rather wandered off from the club in the last few seasons in part due to exactly these types of issues not being addressed for years, yet it sounds like many of them are stll dragging on years after being raised. Good luck to those trying to help you must be very patient people All of this! Suggested that Smithys could become a local pub. Given the Brooklands is a bit too far and the Charles Darwins not the best pub we've an opportunity to make the club work for the new builds and not just be a source of anger every other Saturday. Never know might even get them to attend!
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Post by martinshrew on Sept 8, 2022 9:17:41 GMT 1
The idea of finally contacting new residents is great - but would it not have been good to do that from day one and be a core marketing activity year in year out. Some properties have been there for 8 years now and maybe the residents have already found other things to do. Providing offers to new customers who literally live 5 minutes from your business is hardly the greatest business idea since the I-pod, but somehow it seems to have taken various CEO's over 10 years to think about doing it, and when we get round to it the flyers will probably be poorly printed and new customers will get told off for not using them properly The idea to provide a bar that provides beer quickly to football fans and expanding a club shop where people can spend money is a genius move though. I'm surprised the club allowed this information to leak as lots of other clubs and bars will be trying to copy them now. I've rather wandered off from the club in the last few seasons in part due to exactly these types of issues not being addressed for years, yet it sounds like many of them are stll dragging on years after being raised. Good luck to those trying to help you must be very patient people All of this! Suggested that Smithys could become a local pub. Given the Brooklands is a bit too far and the Charles Darwins not the best pub we've an opportunity to make the club work for the new builds and not just be a source of anger every other Saturday. Never know might even get them to attend! I've said for a long time Smithys should be stewarded, have a darts & dominoes team (multiple) and have a Sunday league team play out of there. Make it a local for Otley Road and Meole. The Brooklands is a complete dive, serves a woeful pint and the next nearest pub is the Charles Darwin.
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Post by davycrockett on Sept 8, 2022 9:27:43 GMT 1
All of this! Suggested that Smithys could become a local pub. Given the Brooklands is a bit too far and the Charles Darwins not the best pub we've an opportunity to make the club work for the new builds and not just be a source of anger every other Saturday. Never know might even get them to attend! I've said for a long time Smithys should be stewarded, have a darts & dominoes team (multiple) and have a Sunday league team play out of there. Make it a local for Otley Road and Meole. The Brooklands is a complete dive, serves a woeful pint and the next nearest pub is the Charles Darwin. I actually suggested this Tuesday night. Asked the question why some pubs manage better than others? Down to the person behind the bar….. Have you considered a steward? Discussed and not discounted but needs to grow first …..
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2022 11:46:05 GMT 1
As someone who has never been, can I ask some questions around the parliament, and I'll try and do it constructively rather than just whinging (apologies if I stray into that!). I'm trying to understand how it should work versus how it works in practice versus how fans who don't go (the vast majority) perceive it to be working.
My view on how it should work is at each meeting the club and fans will bring areas to discuss, either upcoming things that the club want to brief fans/get their input, or for fans to raise new issues and suggestions for improvement. They would then get taken forward and plans put in place to delivering that, with an agreed approach as to how that will be communicated to the fanbase.
In terms of how I perceive it to work, we see that fans are able to raise issues, although I'm not sure if they are tracked or just raised the following meeting if nothing has happened? But the thing which as an 'outsider' seems strange to me is there are things I would expect the club to engage with fans at the outset, but instead it only gets mentioned right at the end (or after the event). And my perception is there isn't a lot of conversation as to how the news (good or bad) is communicated to the fanbase.
Smithy's is a prime example, when the club wanted to develop this I would have expected them to bring this to the parliament, tell the fans what they are doing and then ask for input from the fans as to any suggestions for what they (we) wanted, of course I wouldn't expect the club to take up the majority of these but there may be one or two good ideas. I'd then expect that this would be briefed to the wider fans. But my understanding of what has happened is the first any fan heard of this was the day before the Accrington game (to tell us it was closed), similarly the first any of us saw any plans was a picture 2 days ago, and the only reason that some fans will have seen that is because B&A Twitter page shared it. Now considering this is a bar for supporters to use, I would have expected some earlier engagement and also updates over the summer. Instead a fantastic news story has a negative element to it because of the lack of certainty as to when it's open
There are probably quite a lot of other things where I would have expected it to have been discussed at the parliament before it went public, we have had issues with the kit/UMBRO, I'd have expected that the club would have engaged with fans at the parliament and basically said 'things are delayed, let's work together to make the best of a bad situation'. I don't believe that anything like that happened?
Whilst I'm not involved, I am a big fan of the idea of it, my main frustrations with it are things the club are not always bringing things they should (as above) and also how things are discussed there but then are not communicated out to the wider fanbase. There's some good news stories that came out of Tuesday but it seems ridiculous to me that I'm reliant on a fan live tweeting to find out 1) Smithy's should be reopening on Saturday 2) To see the first photos's of Smithy's, 3) That the buses from the town centre will be starting up again soon 4) There are plans to enhance the club shop at the ground. This is all good news, we should be shouting about it so all fans know, rather than a small number on twitter and on B&A.
It would be interesting to know whether my perception/understanding is completely wrong and/or if other fans have a similar view.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2022 11:57:21 GMT 1
What succession plan is in place. Is there one? No one brave enough to bring the question up at the meeting then ? I suppose it’s not that important 🧐 and it was a really valid question too. If I went, I would certainly have no qualms in asking it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2022 12:08:34 GMT 1
As someone who has never been, can I ask some questions around the parliament, and I'll try and do it constructively rather than just whinging (apologies if I stray into that!). I'm trying to understand how it should work versus how it works in practice versus how fans who don't go (the vast majority) perceive it to be working. My view on how it should work is at each meeting the club and fans will bring areas to discuss, either upcoming things that the club want to brief fans/get their input, or for fans to raise new issues and suggestions for improvement. They would then get taken forward and plans put in place to delivering that, with an agreed approach as to how that will be communicated to the fanbase. In terms of how I perceive it to work, we see that fans are able to raise issues, although I'm not sure if they are tracked or just raised the following meeting if nothing has happened? But the thing which as an 'outsider' seems strange to me is there are things I would expect the club to engage with fans at the outset, but instead it only gets mentioned right at the end (or after the event). And my perception is there isn't a lot of conversation as to how the news (good or bad) is communicated to the fanbase. Smithy's is a prime example, when the club wanted to develop this I would have expected them to bring this to the parliament, tell the fans what they are doing and then ask for input from the fans as to any suggestions for what they (we) wanted, of course I wouldn't expect the club to take up the majority of these but there may be one or two good ideas. I'd then expect that this would be briefed to the wider fans. But my understanding of what has happened is the first any fan heard of this was the day before the Accrington game (to tell us it was closed), similarly the first any of us saw any plans was a picture 2 days ago, and the only reason that some fans will have seen that is because B&A Twitter page shared it. Now considering this is a bar for supporters to use, I would have expected some earlier engagement and also updates over the summer. Instead a fantastic news story has a negative element to it because of the lack of certainty as to when it's open There are probably quite a lot of other things where I would have expected it to have been discussed at the parliament before it went public, we have had issues with the kit/UMBRO, I'd have expected that the club would have engaged with fans at the parliament and basically said 'things are delayed, let's work together to make the best of a bad situation'. I don't believe that anything like that happened? Whilst I'm not involved, I am a big fan of the idea of it, my main frustrations with it are things the club are not always bringing things they should (as above) and also how things are discussed there but then are not communicated out to the wider fanbase. There's some good news stories that came out of Tuesday but it seems ridiculous to me that I'm reliant on a fan live tweeting to find out 1) Smithy's should be reopening on Saturday 2) To see the first photos's of Smithy's, 3) That the buses from the town centre will be starting up again soon 4) There are plans to enhance the club shop at the ground. This is all good news, we should be shouting about it so all fans know, rather than a small number on twitter and on B&A. It would be interesting to know whether my perception/understanding is completely wrong and/or if other fans have a similar view. That's an excellent thoughtful post. I too have never been to an SP meeting so would also be interested in how it works in practice (i.e who actually drives the narrative) and how representative it is of the supporters base as a whole. One point that I did make on another post mirrors what you have said above, namely that the club does not seem to be proactive in reaching out to the fan base. It's just a shame that we can't join the meeting remotely via the likes of Zoom, for example.
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Post by davycrockett on Sept 8, 2022 14:56:07 GMT 1
As someone who has never been, can I ask some questions around the parliament, and I'll try and do it constructively rather than just whinging (apologies if I stray into that!). I'm trying to understand how it should work versus how it works in practice versus how fans who don't go (the vast majority) perceive it to be working. My view on how it should work is at each meeting the club and fans will bring areas to discuss, either upcoming things that the club want to brief fans/get their input, or for fans to raise new issues and suggestions for improvement. They would then get taken forward and plans put in place to delivering that, with an agreed approach as to how that will be communicated to the fanbase. In terms of how I perceive it to work, we see that fans are able to raise issues, although I'm not sure if they are tracked or just raised the following meeting if nothing has happened? But the thing which as an 'outsider' seems strange to me is there are things I would expect the club to engage with fans at the outset, but instead it only gets mentioned right at the end (or after the event). And my perception is there isn't a lot of conversation as to how the news (good or bad) is communicated to the fanbase. Smithy's is a prime example, when the club wanted to develop this I would have expected them to bring this to the parliament, tell the fans what they are doing and then ask for input from the fans as to any suggestions for what they (we) wanted, of course I wouldn't expect the club to take up the majority of these but there may be one or two good ideas. I'd then expect that this would be briefed to the wider fans. But my understanding of what has happened is the first any fan heard of this was the day before the Accrington game (to tell us it was closed), similarly the first any of us saw any plans was a picture 2 days ago, and the only reason that some fans will have seen that is because B&A Twitter page shared it. Now considering this is a bar for supporters to use, I would have expected some earlier engagement and also updates over the summer. Instead a fantastic news story has a negative element to it because of the lack of certainty as to when it's open There are probably quite a lot of other things where I would have expected it to have been discussed at the parliament before it went public, we have had issues with the kit/UMBRO, I'd have expected that the club would have engaged with fans at the parliament and basically said 'things are delayed, let's work together to make the best of a bad situation'. I don't believe that anything like that happened? Whilst I'm not involved, I am a big fan of the idea of it, my main frustrations with it are things the club are not always bringing things they should (as above) and also how things are discussed there but then are not communicated out to the wider fanbase. There's some good news stories that came out of Tuesday but it seems ridiculous to me that I'm reliant on a fan live tweeting to find out 1) Smithy's should be reopening on Saturday 2) To see the first photos's of Smithy's, 3) That the buses from the town centre will be starting up again soon 4) There are plans to enhance the club shop at the ground. This is all good news, we should be shouting about it so all fans know, rather than a small number on twitter and on B&A. It would be interesting to know whether my perception/understanding is completely wrong and/or if other fans have a similar view. I agree with this and initially it worked more that way with SP meetings in a pub a with an informal committee, the CEO and other club officials were invited along when appropriate. This turned into club led meetings in the sovereign suit but not sure why.Think Covid did changed things so the club would bounce things of the SLOs and go with their opinions. They may have a close circle they used but certainly not the wider fan base. This is why I’ve suggested less formal meetings without the club and to expand the circle of fans doing the great work the SLOs do. Club plans can be put to the SP and decided on and fans plans can be discussed and put forward to the club and discussed with the club at the meeting where the club are present. Urgent decisions can be discussed by e mail / zoom but the club will say some shouldn’t be shared due to sensitivity …..currently they can say they’ve shared it with the Supporters Parliament when in fact they’ve shared it with Mike and Roger who have various different hats. (No offence meant)
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Post by suttonshrew on Sept 8, 2022 17:22:02 GMT 1
I have no issues with any of that DC, but we rely heavily on people ensuring that if we don’t want it being made public knowledge that it doesn’t get plastered all over social media. If that happens it damages the whole thing
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Post by jamo on Sept 8, 2022 20:17:31 GMT 1
I have no issues with any of that DC, but we rely heavily on people ensuring that if we don’t want it being made public knowledge that it doesn’t get plastered all over social media. If that happens it damages the whole thing Therein lies the major problem. As a group/representative body, whatever the groups standing, you cannot cherrypick when you are happy to use and manipulate social media and then complain when others do the same. That’s what the club do and have done for years. Hence the constant suspicion. As an outsider looking in ( and I remember the early POW meetings) it appears to me that the club have very subtlety sought to control and influence whatever agenda it is that the various fan groups have, and there are many, many of those. There cannot be many-if any fans of any league club that have a match day ‘experience’ that in any way matches ours. And yet year after year we are told we are being unreasonable and complaining. More and more loyal long term fans are drifting away, and those responsible for the major contributing factors to that should be held to account. To use a sporting analogy… we are being played.
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Post by suttonshrew on Sept 8, 2022 21:16:17 GMT 1
I have no issues with any of that DC, but we rely heavily on people ensuring that if we don’t want it being made public knowledge that it doesn’t get plastered all over social media. If that happens it damages the whole thing Therein lies the major problem. As a group/representative body, whatever the groups standing, you cannot cherrypick when you are happy to use and manipulate social media and then complain when others do the same. That’s what the club do and have done for years. Hence the constant suspicion. As an outsider looking in ( and I remember the early POW meetings) it appears to me that the club have very subtlety sought to control and influence whatever agenda it is that the various fan groups have, and there are many, many of those. There cannot be many-if any fans of any league club that have a match day ‘experience’ that in any way matches ours. And yet year after year we are told we are being unreasonable and complaining. More and more loyal long term fans are drifting away, and those responsible for the major contributing factors to that should be held to account. To use a sporting analogy… we are being played. I agree with some of that , but not one I'm really sure i know how to sort. If the club felt certain things were going to be made public that they told us, then there is no way we would have a say on it. I don't think that's unique for football clubs either. So i guess the question is do the fans trust the SLOs to pass back the feeling and mood of the fans to the club? If we weren't in position would the fans be happy trying to resolve the issues direct? I think at times Rog and I do struggle gauging the opinions of others but that's because we know if those plans got out into the public domain it would damage the project we were working on, also sometimes answers are needed immediately, for instance Cup Ticket plans..... but i also agree we need to make more time to throw ideas round in a more informal environment as DC has said.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2022 11:44:40 GMT 1
On the subject of Smithys and what we can do, how about looking here for inspiration. I know it's a town centre pub so is slightly different but offering a membership scheme could have its benefits and encourage more of a social club feel to it.
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Post by FloreatShrew on Sept 10, 2022 12:59:40 GMT 1
On the subject of Smithys and what we can do, how about looking here for inspiration. I know it's a town centre pub so is slightly different but offering a membership scheme could have its benefits and encourage more of a social club feel to it. Oh Id be so over this! 2.50 for a pint of Hobsons. Id happily pay a fiver even a tenner a season. Can someone email this to Jamie please. SuttonShrew please have a look at this
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Post by callum on Sept 10, 2022 14:26:47 GMT 1
I have no issues with any of that DC, but we rely heavily on people ensuring that if we don’t want it being made public knowledge that it doesn’t get plastered all over social media. If that happens it damages the whole thing Therein lies the major problem. As a group/representative body, whatever the groups standing, you cannot cherrypick when you are happy to use and manipulate social media and then complain when others do the same. That’s what the club do and have done for years. Hence the constant suspicion. As an outsider looking in ( and I remember the early POW meetings) it appears to me that the club have very subtlety sought to control and influence whatever agenda it is that the various fan groups have, and there are many, many of those. There cannot be many-if any fans of any league club that have a match day ‘experience’ that in any way matches ours. And yet year after year we are told we are being unreasonable and complaining. More and more loyal long term fans are drifting away, and those responsible for the major contributing factors to that should be held to account. To use a sporting analogy… we are being played. I'm one of those who has drifted away which I would never have thought possible, been going to Town games since the late 70's and a season ticket holder for over 20 years, in probably 2018 i wanted to move my seat and emailed the club several times asking for this at the early bird stage, I still await their reply, I haven't been to a home game since and very few away, the final nail in the coffin was the way I was spoken to at the ticket office whilst purchasing a ticket. Myself and 2 son's haven't been back since. I now follow local football which I really enjoy.
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Post by davycrockett on Sept 10, 2022 14:34:56 GMT 1
There was a discussion regarding pricing as it turns out you pay the same £4.90 in the fanzone as you do in the Sovereign Suit……someone mentioned it was cheaper from the bars / buffets in the ground but I don’t drink there….
Jamie felt it would be discriminatory (word used) to charge more in the Sovereign Suit just because it had a roof (think he was serious) He gets most things right but can’t agree with that.
Tried to explain you’d expect to pay more in an executive suit than a mobile bar or pub but it was getting late so think the club will have to learn if the want a supporters bar to be used all week they need to charge pub prices….
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Post by Valerioch on Sept 10, 2022 14:40:00 GMT 1
Therein lies the major problem. As a group/representative body, whatever the groups standing, you cannot cherrypick when you are happy to use and manipulate social media and then complain when others do the same. That’s what the club do and have done for years. Hence the constant suspicion. As an outsider looking in ( and I remember the early POW meetings) it appears to me that the club have very subtlety sought to control and influence whatever agenda it is that the various fan groups have, and there are many, many of those. There cannot be many-if any fans of any league club that have a match day ‘experience’ that in any way matches ours. And yet year after year we are told we are being unreasonable and complaining. More and more loyal long term fans are drifting away, and those responsible for the major contributing factors to that should be held to account. To use a sporting analogy… we are being played. I'm one of those who has drifted away which I would never have thought possible, been going to Town games since the late 70's and a season ticket holder for over 20 years, in probably 2018 i wanted to move my seat and emailed the club several times asking for this at the early bird stage, I still await their reply, I haven't been to a home game since and very few away, the final nail in the coffin was the way I was spoken to at the ticket office whilst purchasing a ticket. Myself and 2 son's haven't been back since. I now follow local football which I really enjoy. I’ll never forget in 2018 when I was buying several tickets for several away games in one go, and was spoken too as if I was a pain in the ass and an inconvenience. I found it funny. Can understand others getting p**sed off with it
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Post by Pilch on Sept 10, 2022 14:45:46 GMT 1
On the subject of Smithys and what we can do, how about looking here for inspiration. I know it's a town centre pub so is slightly different but offering a membership scheme could have its benefits and encourage more of a social club feel to it. can we also call it bar amber ? doesn't really matter about the blue
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Post by davycrockett on Sept 10, 2022 15:09:59 GMT 1
On the subject of Smithys and what we can do, how about looking here for inspiration. I know it's a town centre pub so is slightly different but offering a membership scheme could have its benefits and encourage more of a social club feel to it. I agree but hopefully there will be a chance fairly soon to talk about getting from where it was before to where we and the club want it to go. They stopped opening in the evenings cos the takings didn’t warrant opening. Not sure about memberships scheme as the capacity’s still the same (180 I think but may be way out) If members turn up to find its full of away fans and non members can see a problem. It was said away fans would be welcome when low numbers were travelling as we’d like to be welcomed in away grounds.
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Post by martinshrew on Sept 10, 2022 16:18:41 GMT 1
If you want ground bar inspiration, check out Accys.
A gentle reminder they get half the fans and pay low wages.
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Post by davycrockett on Sept 10, 2022 17:37:13 GMT 1
If you want ground bar inspiration, check out Accys. A gentle reminder they get half the fans and pay low wages. I’ll check it out this season, went in The Crown last…. BTW There was a challenge by Jamie (friendly) to name a club with a better fan zone than us now (he’s visited some ands keen to see more). Regular away fans including me couldn’t….clubs tend to give away fans their own poor zone (BR and FG last 2 games) Good question though.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2022 11:44:27 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2022 11:56:11 GMT 1
If you want ground bar inspiration, check out Accys. A gentle reminder they get half the fans and pay low wages. I’ll check it out this season, went in The Crown last…. BTW There was a challenge by Jamie (friendly) to name a club with a better fan zone than us now (he’s visited some ands keen to see more). Regular away fans including me couldn’t….clubs tend to give away fans their own poor zone (BR and FG last 2 games) Good question though. coleys.co.uk/It would be good if Smithys and the restaurant at the ground could be given an online presence, even if just a page on the website
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Post by martinshrew on Sept 12, 2022 12:27:11 GMT 1
I’ll check it out this season, went in The Crown last…. BTW There was a challenge by Jamie (friendly) to name a club with a better fan zone than us now (he’s visited some ands keen to see more). Regular away fans including me couldn’t….clubs tend to give away fans their own poor zone (BR and FG last 2 games) Good question though. coleys.co.uk/It would be good if Smithys and the restaurant at the ground could be given an online presence, even if just a page on the website The do gigs after games, gigs on other nights, pie peas & gravy, place looks huge, 85" TVs, looks class. Ours looks like a school demountable that can barely stock 3 flavours of crisps, nevermind food. The move to the new ground looks worse everytime you look at what other clubs offer.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2022 13:40:22 GMT 1
coleys.co.uk/It would be good if Smithys and the restaurant at the ground could be given an online presence, even if just a page on the website The do gigs after games, gigs on other nights, pie peas & gravy, place looks huge, 85" TVs, looks class. Ours looks like a school demountable that can barely stock 3 flavours of crisps, nevermind food. The move to the new ground looks worse everytime you look at what other clubs offer. Whilst I agree to an extent, it's an important reminder as to what we had when the ground opened and how far we have come. When we first opened we had nothing for fans, it was down to the Super Blues to get the Powerleague open for fans. We eventually over the place and made it our own and had more of a supporters bar feel to it, but we certainly were restricted based on the original design . I'd say the current redevelopment sounds exciting but I don't really know a lot and have only seen one picture (taken off a projector from last week's parliament) We now also have a fanzone which has been a huge plus, I remember when it first started when it was basically one van serving beer and another serving whilst a band played at the back of the South Stand and we all stood around on a car park. The people at the club should be applauded for how much that has come along. The issue for me again isn't so much about what we have but how we market it, most football clubs/businesses would be shouting from the rooftops about the new supporters bar that is opening. We are still not sure when ours will be open.
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Post by martinshrew on Sept 12, 2022 13:55:44 GMT 1
The do gigs after games, gigs on other nights, pie peas & gravy, place looks huge, 85" TVs, looks class. Ours looks like a school demountable that can barely stock 3 flavours of crisps, nevermind food. The move to the new ground looks worse everytime you look at what other clubs offer. Whilst I agree to an extent, it's an important reminder as to what we had when the ground opened and how far we have come. When we first opened we had nothing for fans, it was down to the Super Blues to get the Powerleague open for fans. We eventually over the place and made it our own and had more of a supporters bar feel to it, but we certainly were restricted based on the original design . I'd say the current redevelopment sounds exciting but I don't really know a lot and have only seen one picture (taken off a projector from last week's parliament) We now also have a fanzone which has been a huge plus, I remember when it first started when it was basically one van serving beer and another serving whilst a band played at the back of the South Stand and we all stood around on a car park. The people at the club should be applauded for how much that has come along. The issue for me again isn't so much about what we have but how we market it, most football clubs/businesses would be shouting from the rooftops about the new supporters bar that is opening. We are still not sure when ours will be open. I agree on the last bit for sure. The difference between ours and Accys is staggering, theirs looks class.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2022 14:13:32 GMT 1
I agree on the last bit for sure. The difference between ours and Accys is staggering, theirs looks class. It does, we obviously don't know what ours is going to look like but I wouldn't expect it to be as good as that as we still have the limitations of the current building. However, if we were building a new bar from scratch then I'd be expecting more and challenging why we couldn't match what Accrington have done. Like a number of things, we are limited because of the decisions made when building the new ground which ultimately were done on the cheap and with little consideration of the average fan. As I've said improvements have been made and there are people who have done a hell of a lot to improve the matchday experience for fans and I am very grateful for them, however the club's lack of business acumen in terms of promotion is shocking. I know I will sound like a broken record but if we take Smithys, any self respecting business would have told their customers that improvements were being made and then provide updates/glimpses over the coming months to try and entice fans, resulting in a big reopening. Instead I expect a brief article will get posted about mid afternoon tomorrow confirming Smithy's is open, by which point most fans will have made alternative plans.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2022 14:17:43 GMT 1
Whilst I agree to an extent, it's an important reminder as to what we had when the ground opened and how far we have come. When we first opened we had nothing for fans, it was down to the Super Blues to get the Powerleague open for fans. We eventually over the place and made it our own and had more of a supporters bar feel to it, but we certainly were restricted based on the original design . I'd say the current redevelopment sounds exciting but I don't really know a lot and have only seen one picture (taken off a projector from last week's parliament) We now also have a fanzone which has been a huge plus, I remember when it first started when it was basically one van serving beer and another serving whilst a band played at the back of the South Stand and we all stood around on a car park. The people at the club should be applauded for how much that has come along. The issue for me again isn't so much about what we have but how we market it, most football clubs/businesses would be shouting from the rooftops about the new supporters bar that is opening. We are still not sure when ours will be open. I agree on the last bit for sure. The difference between ours and Accys is staggering, theirs looks class. It's hard to tell from the picture what the revamped Smithy's will actually look like when it reopens. On first glance it looks very underwhelming. It will certainly be functional for match days, but will it appeal outside of match days as a pub? Certainly, in its old form I would say not.
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Post by frankwellshrews on Sept 12, 2022 14:23:29 GMT 1
Have to say I'm slightly disappointed by that shot of the new Smithy's.
Looks like a conference room or something. Appreciate you can't see the whole thing but if the bar's now taken out the booths by the door across the back and most of the space is being taken up by that big table in the middle, where are people going to sit? Or at least perch and have somewhere to put your beer?
If they're wanting to use it for events etc you need a larger number of smaller tables.
On the plus side at least the bar being where it is will now make it less likely that barn raised smokers will just leave that door wide open in the middle of January.
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Post by davycrockett on Sept 13, 2022 8:24:44 GMT 1
I’ll check it out this season, went in The Crown last…. BTW There was a challenge by Jamie (friendly) to name a club with a better fan zone than us now (he’s visited some ands keen to see more). Regular away fans including me couldn’t….clubs tend to give away fans their own poor zone (BR and FG last 2 games) Good question though. coleys.co.uk/It would be good if Smithys and the restaurant at the ground could be given an online presence, even if just a page on the website Yes found that really looks good and well advertised…. Certainly some ideas although a bit different being pitchside within the stadium. Smithy’s on match day should be an improvement with easier service and sky sports etc with the fanzone next to it, certainly improving which is a positive hopefully…..big question is making it somewhere fans and locals want to use on non match days what do fans want? What do locals want? One thing I also noticed on Coleys site was the reviews with one highlighting £3.50 a pint
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