As part of the new Fan Engagement Framework, the club has re-started it’s ‘Your 90 minutes’ sessions for fans to come and give their views to the club on various topics. The session was ably hosted by Supporter Liaison Officer, Jim Donnelly.
Last week’s session was on the Matchday Experience and was the best attended Your 90 Minutes yet, and people certainly had plenty of opinions and thoughts.
Match build-up/atmosphere
- Poor atmosphere
- No-one wants to get there early as nothing to do/hear/see
- Lack of food choices and it’s overpriced
- Too many queues
The group discussed the idea of creating a dedicated fanzone outside the ground with lots of food options and entertainment, or the early game on a big screen. Talked about what went well at other clubs. People want places to sit as well as stand. Similarly, people would stay after the game to avoid the traffic nightmare if somewhere was open, with maybe the late game showing. It was agreed less clappers were probably needed (club has reduced from 30,000 to 6,000) and to be placed where people could get them if they liked them, not thrust into their hands. People were mixed on honesty flags, many don’t wave them and Jim reported that some people still steal them (and they’re expensive).
Food and drink options
- General feeling of poor choices and it was overpriced
- Awful customer service from people who never smile
- Queues, queues, queues
- Even if you pre-order they don’t get it ready
- Awful beer and burnt pasties
The 25-year-long concession deal with current provider (blame Tim Davies and Milan Mandaric) finally comes to an end soon. A chance to look at different offerings and food types. People wanted to get local beers in. Park the burgers vans outside the open gates at half time. The session wanted whoever the future provider is on the concourses to have set service level agreement targets and the contract be managed and if they don’t meet the agreement, financial penalties to apply.
Singing section
- Generally supportive of it
- Want to create a better atmosphere
The club now has the conundrum of how to grow it without forcing some people to move who have sat in the areas for years that it could expand into. Would they accept financial incentives? Better seats at the same price? It was suggested a new survey be done to see how many currently want to move into the singing section.
Safe standing
- Supportive of the rail seating and people having the choice to stand if they want to
- Want to see the club get on with it.
There were discussions about where it could go as you have to consider sight lines. The away fans will need it as well as a home section.
Engagement
Despite Jim’s ask at the start to not discuss the £25 season ticket charge or ticket prices at this session due to time constraints, fans did find time to vent their frustration at the end of the meeting, They asked Jim to send a strong message to the club that they did not feel they were being listened to and that the club was only doing a Fan Engagement Framework because it had to and not because it wanted to. The group requested that directors attend future Your 90 Minutes sessions.
The club aims to hold another session also on the Matchday Experience very soon for another group of fans and is going to start sending out more surveys. The Trust would urge anyone with any views and ideas to go along to the in-person sessions and complete the club surveys. Please have your say.
The Foxes Trust has released a statement on its views of the proposed Fan Engagement Framework here.
You can also have your say on some of these things now in the Trust’s end of season survey here, but hurry as the closing date is today, 5th August.