Notes from the first Supporters’ Forum Drop-in of the season, held on Thursday, September 5, are shown below. All Drop-ins are held at 7pm in the HUB on the first Thursday of each month and all supporters are welcome.
A total of 17 people attended the drop-in including Forum Committee members Phil Tooley, Nigel Goodlad, Neil Kerry and PC Adam Collins.
- The minutes of the committee meeting of 24 August were reviewed and one action arising from that was with regard to Lucy Parker, the new SLO (Supporter Liaison Officer), and her wish to organise an appeal for Matchday Ambassadors. Phil Tooley agreed to contact a friend (and Chesterfield supporter) who volunteers for many sporting events and could be a good contact to determine what works and what doesn’t work in seeking to attract and retain these types of volunteers. ACTION: Phil Tooley
- Another note on the minutes was with regard to the club potentially using a heritage badge on a future kit. The Forum Committee had no issues with this, and the drop-in attendees were also asked, and again, there was no dissent with the idea being deemed a good one.
- The audit of accessible toilets was noted and it was pointed out that there is now a widely available identity badge to indicate a toilet is appropriate for Stoma Bag users. Action: Phil Tooley / Peter Whiteley
- True Blue Travel (Lincoln City). It was noted that the coach did not turn up for this game, it was due to leave at 4pm. At 4.15pm, Liz Smith (Travel Steward) rang Wilfreda Beehive who indicated they had not received a booking but they were able to source a Sheffield based coach to convey supporters to the game, obviously later than anticipated. Several people decided not to risk waiting so made their own way to the match. A total of 35 were booked on the coach, but only 20 subsequently travelled. An additional issue was that some supporters had receipts but were not on the stewards’ list. The coach travelled to Lincoln City and whilst some supporters accessed the stadium by kick-off, some with mobility issues were not being able to get in until 7.15pm as it was quite a long walk from drop-off to the correct stand. Following the misunderstanding, a full refund is being made to all who booked regardless of whether they actually travelled. Why was the coach not booked? What lessons are to be learned? Action: Peter Whiteley (post meeting note from Lucy ; the Club Superstore will be responsible for all travel moving forwards)
- True Blue (Gillingham). All went well, particularly one element; despite being told that the coach drop-off point was a significant walk from the stadium, the driver was allowed to stop much nearer. The irony is that one regular traveller chose not to travel as the walk predicted was too long. The same person went to Lincoln City, where the coach was forced to drop-off even further away than would have been the case at Gillingham, so they only arrived in the Lincoln ground at 7.15pm. This is an area that the drop-in feel could become part of the standard role of the Disabled Liaison Officer. Action: DLO (Peter Whiteley)
- True Blue (Crewe & Derby). Both trips went well. It was asked why coaches cannot be advertised and tickets sold earlier. Quotes for the full season have been received, so why cannot these be made available, with the condition that if costs change due to fuel or similar supplements, prices could be amended. The addition of expected behaviour notices along with coach tickets was praised. Could a similar message be printed on match tickets? Action: SLO
- Home Games. Generally all things have gone well. Minor issues are occasional visitors with day tickets not knowing how to present them (worth re-showing existing video tutorial). At the Swindon game, some new season ticket holders also had issues on where to present them at the turnstiles (a once only problem) whilst a few didn’t work properly, but issues seemed to have been rectified. The new public address system was deemed to be a success, though a little loud in the East Stand. Action: Nick Johnson (re-post existing ticket video ahead of next home game)
- Comments from Lincoln City were that their fanzone, which was adjacent to their Centre Spot Bar, was excellent with a couple of ‘Christmas Market’ style cabins plus other stalls selling food, sweets, drinks etc and there was an inflatable football game, which was seen as positive. It was welcomed that the Tuck Shop would be starting at CFC and regular reminders would be useful, and if it is successful in the East Stand, would others be added elsewhere, particularly the West Stand family zone. CFC’s own fanzone was seen to be positive, with the hope that some protection would be forthcoming for inevitable winter weather. Action: Nick Jonson (reminder of Sweet Shop), SLO (potential additional Sweet Shops)
- Car Park. It was reiterated that the exit onto the ‘Tesco Slip Road’ was only meant to be for visiting coaches, but one suggestion made was could it be made that the ‘Main Entrance’ at the end of the game should be ‘Left Turn Only’ and an opened up slip road being ‘Right Turn Only.’ Clearly this could potentially lead to some initial confusion, but in the long term could be an improvement. It was also noted that, on matchdays, several cars in the North West corner in particular are parked in areas where bays are not marked out and this caused some confusion. The new electric charging points were praised, but feel that there should be some publicity about them for non-matchdays but, for matchdays, again confusion is caused because they are not available for charging on matchdays (health & safety) so are ‘normal’ spaces. It was felt that this message needs to be conveyed, especially for electric car users who would consider using them on matchdays, and normally aspirated car users who wouldn’t consider using them on matchdays. Action: Stadium Safety Officer Tony Booker (parking and movement), Nick Johnson (Publicity)
- Communications. Is the hello@ email still in use? Shown on the website, so if it is in use, is there an ‘owner’ of it? Still some email addresses without auto-responses. There were two specific examples of office staff not responding in what was felt to be an appropriate timescale. One supporter, who was unable to attend a few games at the end of last season and this beginning of this season asked for programmes to be saved, and this was acknowledged in the shop. Ahead of the supporter returning, to check all programmes were there, they rang on seven occasions and were told someone would get back to them. No-one did, and when the person went into the shop to collect the programmes, none had been saved (several were ‘rescued’ but not all). A group of 14 supporters from across the country and overseas wanted to book 14 hospitality places for the Accrington game. At that point, they were not on the system, so the group leader (a friend of Phil Tooley) contacted Phil who emailed the ticket office and asked them to contact the group leader, for what was over £1000 worth of business. As people had to make flight, rail and hotel bookings, they wanted to know availability as soon as possible, which was noted in the initial mail. Several days later, no contact had been made with the group leader. Full details of the process will be passed on to the club. Action: Paul Stankard / Peter Whiteley
- Attendees again were concerned about the allocation of tickets for away games where there will be limited availability (games noted from the Travel Meeting held in August), with everyone seeking fairness as much as possible. SLO to note
- Safe Standing. Supporter experiences of this at Derby were good and whilst it is acknowledged that this is not a priority at the SMH Group Stadium, this view is worth noting.
- Seating for people who cannot or do not want to stand. It was noted that at some away games, particularly those such as Crewe, where the bar is adjacent to the seats and there is a large following, many people come in late and do not necessarily use their own allocated seat, frequently standing in front of others who do not want to have to stand. This is obviously a larger issue at away games, but where possible, could ‘front’ seats be allocated to those who most need them. Peter Whiteley & PC Adam Collins to note
- Salford post-match pitch invasion. Supporters were concerned and critical of the seeming lack of action of stewards to prevent this clearly child-led invasion, which could lead to ongoing disciplinary actions for the club and the closing of front row seats. Tony Booker to note
- Are there any plans for half-time or pre-match entertainment? Action: SLO
- There has been talk before about organising a Programme Fair. Discussion led to the possibility of linking this with a Memorabilia Event as well as a Badge Collectors event. Could the club enable the Forum to organise this in the lounges, possibly on a Sunday afternoon? Action: SLO
