Leicester City Football Club – Fans Consultative Committee Meeting – Thursday 5 August 2010.
· TB opened the meeting and welcomed everyone
· The minutes of 21 January were recorded as true and accurate.
Matters Arising:
· TB advised that further to our last meeting the upgrade for child tickets for evening games has been introduced.
· TB advised that we have introduced a seat exchange for the new season.
· TB advised that a mini package has been introduced in the form of the Flexi 10 memberships.
· TB advised that the kiosk catering provider has changed and we would welcome feedback from everyone after the Middlesbrough game.
· TB to speak to FMc to ensure we offer black coffee in the kiosks.
· TB advised that the club has a new anthem which is played before the PHG, namely “When You’re Smiling”. JT advised that Jersey Budd is a massive city fan and asked what everyone thought about the song. CG thought it was a little slow at the beginning but the general consensus was that it was unique and good.
· Paul Hunt introduced himself in his capacity of the club’s new Commercial Director. PH advised that he has previously worked at both Bolton and Wigan football clubs and has experience on the commercial side of the business. PH is very excited by what he has seen at the club, he said we have some great passionate staff here and he is looking forward to a great season. PH thanked everyone for a warm welcome to the club…..
· CT advised that the Flexi 10 membership scheme bridges the gap between our casual supporters and season ticket holders. CT advised that the Platinum memberships were hugely popular last season and our aim is to allow our supporters as many flexible options as possible.
· CT advised that following feedback from our season ticket holders that we have introduced the seat exchange so if STH’s miss a game they can bring someone else to another game when they show their ST voucher. T’s & C’s apply, for example you cannot cross over from a gold to a platinum game. We will evaluate the success of the scheme throughout the season.
· AC advised that the city council were considering putting a ban on the new unauthorised car park on Filbert Street. This is causing severe traffic problems at the end of the games but is out of the club’s control. Supporters who have concerns should write directly to the City Council Highways Agency. It was also pointed out that after the 20 September supporters will not be able to park on certain sections of Narborough Road.
· AD advised that the club website had listed which charities had received money from the reduction in vat last season but he would still like to know what the total amount was.
· CT advised that the decision to not allow ordering of tickets through e-mail was to comply with legislation in relation to credit/debit card details. Therefore the e-mail service will only deal with enquiries. We would encourage supporters to buy on-line. LCFC’s on line sales are currently lower than other clubs. CT advised that the handling charge we are obliged to make is passed on from our provider.
· CT advised that the computer system crashed in relation to ticket ordering for the Cardiff play-off game and it had been a learning curve for the club.
· IC asked on behalf of LHu how many season tickets the club has sold. CT advised c 14,000. We currently have 1000 members but expect these numbers to rise significantly.
· IC asked what the club stance is in relation to the “Ultra’s”. CT advised that Kevin Barclay had met with the group and AG advised that KB had made it quite clear that they would not be able to stand or bring flag poles into the ground. The club is happy to encourage a good atmosphere but within safety parameters.
· SW enquired about the Junior Fans Forum. TB advised that the first meeting took place at the end of last season and it went very well although there was a small uptake of 7 or 8 children. The topics they discussed included the Junior Membership Scheme and child friendly website. Birch and Carl Pentney attended. We are currently looking at our Junior Membership Scheme as the club recognise that these are our fans of the future.
· PH added that we need to engage with kids and in the past FNF has been very popular with our young supporters. PH reiterated that Junior Fans Forums are very important so we can learn the views of our young supporters.
· PJ asked how many people had purchased tickets for the first floor seating area. CT advised over 700 across the Great Hall and Weller Lounge but our target is 1000 STH’s. PJ commented that he was pleased this area had been opened up to the general public.
· LH joined the meeting at this point and apologised for being late.
· EB passed on her congratulations to AN on completing his trek.
· CT confirmed that Foxes Home Travel has always run at a loss. CT advised that going back 10/11 years “Fansport” made losses year after year c £240,000. CT advised that we do however have an obligation to bring supporters to the stadium by coach but in the current climate we need to minimise our loss. CT has written to Fox Travel STH’s to get as many people on board as possible. CT has agreed with the stewards that we will evaluate the situation half way through the season to measure the success. CT advised that we must try and keep the scheme in place as for a number of our elderly supporters it’s the only way they can get to the games.
· AGu advised that some of the DSA members had dropped out because of the pick-up point. AGu was advised that the club is under an obligation to allow emergency services to gain access to the stadium and AC advised this is also why we keep Burnmoor Street clear.
· CT advised that he thought it was a fair point that some supporters had complained regarding the new T’s & C’s in relation to car parking. However any supporter who is unhappy about this season’s arrangements has been notified that they can have a full refund.
· AGu advised that there was little information on the website for disabled supporters and requested a DSA section. The club is quite happy for this to happen and CT advised AGu to send him the information and he will ensure that this is passed to our New Media Officer. JT will ensure that this is activated.
· AGu referred to the negative publicity in the Leicester Mercury regarding a supporter who did not qualify for disability seating and it was noted that the lady herself openly admitted that she isn’t disabled.
· CG raised concerns regarding the clubs policy for supporters who are ejected from the stadium and reinstating them after they have served their ban. AG advised that all supporters that are banned are written to by Kevin Barclay explaining how they can retrieve their tickets back and they are invited to meet with KB to sign an acceptable behaviour agreement with the club. AC advised it was a good system that works well.
· LH confirmed that disciplinary action was taken against a steward for his unacceptable behaviour at the Watford game last season.
· TB confirmed that all complaints that the club receive are logged through Fanzone.
· CT accepted that there had been some confusion regarding the letter sent out to supporters in relation to picking up their season tickets and logistical issues arranging post/collection of 14,000 season tickets.
· LJ advised that there had been spelling mistakes on the Fossils & Foxes certificate issued to supporters. JT advised that these had been produced by an external company and they were being re-produced. Supporters will then be written to with an apology and replacement.
· CG asked if the club would consider electronic entry into the ground in the future. LH advised that we have trialled this previously but technology has now improved although very expensive but it is on the agenda.
· LH advised that the club has come a long way since last January with the play-offs, the exit of Nigel Pearson for which the club is very grateful for what he accomplished with the team but now we have a new chapter with Paulo Sousa and he will also be strengthening the squad.
· SW asked about investment in the club. LH advised that the proposed investors had spent a lot of time and money in the due diligence process.
· CG asked about Birch’s situation. A general discussion took place. LH advised that he hoped Birch would still be involved with the club.
· AD referred to the UEFA Supporter Liaison Officer concept. JT advised that this is already in place through Fanzone with Tom Bettles as the point of contact in his capacity of customer/supporter insight executive.
· JT advised that we would value everyone’s feedback regarding the new-look match day programme, this can be done through the website on-line survey.
· AN advised that he was bemused last season regarding the Middlesbrough game being in high demand but the play-off semi final against Cardiff being of less interest to supporters and wondered if anyone had any ideas why that was. The general consensus was that everyone was saving their money for Wembley and that the play-off semi-final was on a Sunday, expensive and on TV.
· AN advised that there are numerous games this season where we clash with the Tigers and we are not allowed to both play on the same day. AN advised that the Tigers have been very helpful to date moving 4 or 5 games where we have only moved 1 so far. However their Heineken Cup games could cause us problems.
· AN advised that we are playing in the Totesport.com Cup final vs Oldham at Quorn next Wednesday at 7pm.
· CG referred to the fact that there was currently no reserve team. AN advised that this had been the subject of a lot of debate but we shall still be playing reserve team matches and organise our own games. AN advised that we shall also be playing the Westerby Cup winners.
· PJ asked if there was any news regarding the shirt sponsorship. LH advised that we would have some news before Saturday.
Present: Ellen Bale (EB), Tom Bettles (TB), Ian Cockerill (IC), PC Andy Cox (AC), Alan Digby (AD), Richard Gamble (RG), Cliff Ginetta (CG), DC Ali Grimsley (AG), Andy Gubbins AGu), Harj Hir (HH), Lee Hoos (LH) (part meeting), Paul Hunt (PH), Lee Jobber (LJ), Pete Johnson (PJ), Andrew Neville (AN), Steve Robertshaw (SR), Jamie Tabor (JT), Chris Tinbergen (CT), Angela White (AW), Simon Winfield (SW).
Apologies: Linda Barren, Kevin Bourgault, Kevin Buckingham, Raj Kumar, Barbara Merrell, Lisa Hunt
Next Meeting: Thursday 9th December