Birmingham City Football Club Supporters’ Forum: August 2016

Joys and Sorrows were proud to attend the Supporters’ Forum on 9th August 2016.  Chaired by David Boston, Customer Services Manager and Supporter Liaison Officer with Colin Tattum also in attendance, in his role as Head of Media and Communications.

In attendance with myself were Margaret Decker, from the Blues Trust, Lynda Courts from Redditch Blues, Linda Goodman of the Birmingham City Supporters’ Club, Chris Sinclair of Northside Blues, Mick and Bik Singh from Blues4All, Tony Routely from Central Blues Travel, Kate Alldrit-Rose, Sam Court, Paul Barber, Adam Pownell, Emma Wilcock, Clare Normanton, Brian Chapman, Andrew Orgill, Susan Smith and Ian Reddington.

The meeting was held in the International Suite of St Andrews, and was incentivised by taking place between 1815 and 1915, aiming to finish in time to get us into our respective seats before kick off.  Tea, coffee and biscuits were provided by the club, and there was a bar available though I didn’t avail myself of a beer as I was driving.

The agenda was 1. Introductions, 2. Fan Representation at BCFC Supporters’ Forum, 3. Retail, 4. Marketing, 5. Parking Update, 6. Match Days, 7. AOB.

Fan Representation at BCFC Supporters’ Forum

  • Everybody was welcomed to the meeting.  Not least, new members who had responded to the club’s invitation to those who hadn’t traditionally been invited via an affiliation via a ‘membership’ of a ‘recognised’ website/group.  Dave Boston said the response had been genuinely positive, and their interest was very welcome.  Certainly, the turnout was high and the input was genuinely welcomed.
  • Fans were now represented from across the country, from all sections of the community, season ticket holders and non-ST-holders, families, Brummies and those further afield.  A more formal, and perhaps more lengthy, meeting is to be held – perhaps in November – with the likes of Julia Shelton, Club Secretary, in attendance.

Retail

  • Wayne Cowan, Head of Ticketing and Retail, has been on leave for two weeks, but Dave Boston did his best to answer some pretty serious concerns around retail.  Plus sizes of football shirts XXL and above were unavailable, women’s fit shirts were unavailable, kids’ shirts were short (e.g. 6 year olds needed to buy 10-11 y/o shirts) and there was concern that £80 for a five year old’s full kit was too high a price to pay.  There was concern over the material quality – after previous assurances “now we’ve got Adidas on board” – that the seams aren’t adequately stitched in some cases, and that the sponsor material is cracking prematurely.  Fans are urged to bring legitimate concerns to the club’s attention, with proof of purchase.  A refund or exchange should be easily arranged, and it will actually assist Blues if they’re to point the finger in Adidas’s direction for future reference.  We’re in a four year tie-in after all!

Marketing

  • The fans asked why there was a need to ‘wipe’ the loyalty points at all.  The simple answer was to ‘encourage use’ and to ‘discourage excessive hoarding’ though the more complex answer was to do with club finances and year-end auditing.  The timing was questioned, with the ability to spend them on new kits and season tickets, etc.  The club suggested next year’s ‘wipe’ is likely to be June 2017, so the fans asked the question could there be any flexibility until 31st July?  Dave Boston said he’d take this up with the club.
  • The staff in the shop are to get further training on loyalty points, to ensure no fan misses out on their loyalty points. If any fan reading this feels they have missed out on any loyalty points, please feel free to contact marketing@bcfc.com.  This email is checked every working day, and any fan with a proof of purchase won’t miss out on their loyalty points.

Parking Update

Match Days

  • Internal discussions were held, after the Cardiff match, and the club wish to apologise to fans who were affected by turnstile and ticketing issues.  Despite knowledge that this “happens every season” and lengthy consultation on this very subject in advance with Ticketmaster, it still happened.  It is hoped that these ‘teething problems’ will ease over time, and won’t recur.
  • Queues on the concourse were witnessed, despite reassurance from Rob Smith at the last Fans’ Forum.  Again, this is hoped to be teething troubles, and as I’ve personally seen the pie and hot dog ‘hawkers’ I can only hope, once word spreads, the queues will die down.  Kiosk staff were missing due to competitors (namely the Test Match at Edgbaston) offering a more competitive salary on the day, and those staff who were at St Andrews were largely new, so training will become less of an issue as the season stretches out.
  • The Cookhouse menu extension caused some confusion, recitified after a lengthy wait, but the club are looking to resolve all of these issues.  The feedback received on the new pizza twists was very positive.  It is confirmed that the little-known-about ‘D-Bar’ on the Paddocks will have a Cookhouse option.
  • Heineken are converting the old ‘Subway’ unit into a new bar.  You may have seen the builders working there on Saturday.
  • The tannoy system is of continuing concern for fans, though from my spot on the Kop, I have to say it sounds good 90% of the time.  It does have some annoying ‘outages’ is all…engineers called in to test the system when the stadium is empty continually tell the club the system should be loud, clear and error free…replacing it is out of the question at this time, for funding reasons, though we do have a state of the art, £250k new screen ready for deployment.
  • The new ‘run-out’ music – “I’m So Sorry” by ‘Imagine Dragons’ hasn’t gone down well with all fans.  Feel free to post sensible alternatives in the comments section below or in the Joys and Sorrows Forum and we’ll make sure the club hear them.
  • The club wishes to re-iterate its desire to make all matchdays SMOKE-FREE.  This is for ALL forms of cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
  • Safe standing was brought up again…this is from the previous meeting’s minutes…

As discussed at previous forum events it is clear that installation of safe-standing into the stadium would come at significant cost and is not a straight forward issue. St. Andrew’s has been constructed as an ‘all seater’ stadium with access and egress, turnstiles and infrastructure built for such (and in accordance with our Safety Certificate). There are many factors to consider and the Club and the FL are in regular dialogue regarding this topic which is deemed to be an ongoing issue.

Any Other Business

  • Blocked toilets and water pressure were mentioned.  Interestingly, football shirts and carrier bags were recently removed from toilets (!) so toilet blockages should be alleviated.  The club are working on solutions to the water pressure problem.
  • Searching at the ground is unpopular with some fans but for obvious security reasons, must remain a permanent fixture.  Any concerns around this area should be brought to the club’s attention immediately.

Thanks to Dave Boston for making us all feel welcome, and to Blues for providing the venue and, indeed, the meeting!

I had hoped to ‘postscript’ the minutes from this meeting with a marvellous account of the high-octane entertainment I’d witnessed afterwards, including the debut first team goals of Jack Storer, or maybe even Clayton Donaldson showing us how it’s done off the bench.  Instead, I’ll just say, if we can’t beat Oxford at home is it even WORTH concentrating on the league?  Ah well, typical Blues, eh?

Keep Right On!

Russell Dempsey

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2 Comments on Birmingham City Football Club Supporters’ Forum: August 2016

  1. I’m liking that. If you can come up with a Birmingham link it’ll be even better. Was Alex Govan ever in the same hotel as John Williams? 😉

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