General Supporters Panel - Yay or Nay?

Do the supporters on here want or need a Supporters Panel ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 35 53.8%
  • No

    Votes: 30 46.2%

  • Total voters
    65
  • Poll closed .
But that changed way before the SLO changed. @Steve Gilbert stated that our last SLO oversaw more fan engagement, better match day experiences and increased attendance. I would suggest that only the fan engagemnet part is valid, and that is looking to be addressed by this very panel.
Did the ultra’s not fall away shortly after Sarah Gooding left her role?
As for match day experience then you had things like Ollie’s den for starters where young fans could go before a game and players would offer pop along before a game if they weren’t in the squad.
What happened to the partnership with the sports bar on the complex which was trying to become a place for fans to drink before a game?
I seem to remember the club also trialing an outside bar before a couple of games. Again something that might be worth doing if viable, a bit like what was in place at the priory.

My main point was though that there was a much better feel good factor around the club and on a match day under the previous SLO, Sarah and it was done without her needing a supporters panel. In fact, I believe she worked closely with OxVox on various things. That might be an idea for the current SLO to try?
 
Did the ultra’s not fall away shortly after Sarah Gooding left her role?
As for match day experience then you had things like Ollie’s den for starters where young fans could go before a game and players would offer pop along before a game if they weren’t in the squad.
What happened to the partnership with the sports bar on the complex which was trying to become a place for fans to drink before a game?
I seem to remember the club also trialing an outside bar before a couple of games. Again something that might be worth doing if viable, a bit like what was in place at the priory.

My main point was though that there was a much better feel good factor around the club and on a match day under the previous SLO, Sarah and it was done without her needing a supporters panel. In fact, I believe she worked closely with OxVox on various things. That might be an idea for the current SLO to try?
Sarah was an excellent SLO and it became a lot more difficult to communicate with the club after she left. Eales was on a staff clear out mission at the time which made everything difficult. When he took over he recruited lots of staff all assigned to specific roles which pushed the club forward during the promotion season, when he decided he wanted to sell up most of the staff left the club and it was streamlined to the bare minimum, this led to roles, such as SLO, being swept aside for a while.

We are nowhere near the standard set off the pitch during that promotion season.
 
Did the ultra’s not fall away shortly after Sarah Gooding left her role?
As for match day experience then you had things like Ollie’s den for starters where young fans could go before a game and players would offer pop along before a game if they weren’t in the squad.
What happened to the partnership with the sports bar on the complex which was trying to become a place for fans to drink before a game?
I seem to remember the club also trialing an outside bar before a couple of games. Again something that might be worth doing if viable, a bit like what was in place at the priory.

My main point was though that there was a much better feel good factor around the club and on a match day under the previous SLO, Sarah and it was done without her needing a supporters panel. In fact, I believe she worked closely with OxVox on various things. That might be an idea for the current SLO to try?
fan zone wasnt it ? .... IMO it should be a regular occurrence
 
Unfortunately for all sorts of reasons, health, family, career, moving etc the original and most recent group of Ultras won't happen again.

However I've always been hopeful a new group would look back and want to do something similar, but when you look around we have such few teenage/young adult aged fans it's far more unlikely than I thought.

When I see other clubs on the football league show and look to the stands, many of them have huge pockets of the "young element" coming through, even Reading on our doorstep who have always had woeful support. They are bringing them through the turnstiles with very cheap tickets for certain areas and this is leading to better atmospheres, and more chances of Ultra style groups.

When I look at our home games now, it's such an ageing support and I don't see anything from the club to challenge this. I mentioned this to the club countless times over the years but they were not interested. The East Stand could be significantly cheaper, particularly for young adults, it could comfortably be reduced in capacity (vary rarely sell outs) to make it unreserved which would improve the atmosphere as singers congregate (this was our biggest problem for years).

Although it can be a little cringe to read, make a "singing section" where people can expect to stand, flags to be waved etc. If that's highlighted as a season ticket area to buy in the summer you could see much better atmosphere. We got close to this once, even an article on the official site stating it was going ahead only for them to scrap it last minute because it was "too much hassle" to organise.

All these require the club to be proactive though, you can have ideas but as we found out, anything that might create a little work will be rejected. That's why the wire for flags at the back of the stands was fantastic work by OxVox who really pushed the club to organise this with the stadium company.

It's easy to reel off ideas, it's another thing to have a group who pushes and pushes and puts ideas into action for the benefit of everyone.
You really are right about the East stand, I'm not one to talk as I'm a quiet reserved sort of person but there doesn't seem to be a lively, loud feel about it which is strange for a home end, and it never looks packed.
 
Far too late, as highlighted elsewhere on here by @WuTang and others, the baby went with the bathwater - once these things are gone and missed you end up trying to "mend" something that shouldn`t have been broken in the first place.

Now I was never one for "waving flags" myself but the effort and time those youngsters put into their work cost the club nothing and should have been facilitated not stamped out. They were also future long-term customers - where are they now?

The draconian implementation of "rules" killed them stone dead as supporters having some fun.

So now we get the "corporate response" of a "Supporters Panel" to filter out the organic growth of such things before it lands on the Supporter Liaison Officers desk.
The way they were treated by the club was terrible. They made a real difference to how our supporters were seen by others during the match day experience.
 
Unfortunately for all sorts of reasons, health, family, career, moving etc the original and most recent group of Ultras won't happen again.

However I've always been hopeful a new group would look back and want to do something similar, but when you look around we have such few teenage/young adult aged fans it's far more unlikely than I thought.

When I see other clubs on the football league show and look to the stands, many of them have huge pockets of the "young element" coming through, even Reading on our doorstep who have always had woeful support. They are bringing them through the turnstiles with very cheap tickets for certain areas and this is leading to better atmospheres, and more chances of Ultra style groups.

When I look at our home games now, it's such an ageing support and I don't see anything from the club to challenge this. I mentioned this to the club countless times over the years but they were not interested. The East Stand could be significantly cheaper, particularly for young adults, it could comfortably be reduced in capacity (vary rarely sell outs) to make it unreserved which would improve the atmosphere as singers congregate (this was our biggest problem for years).

Although it can be a little cringe to read, make a "singing section" where people can expect to stand, flags to be waved etc. If that's highlighted as a season ticket area to buy in the summer you could see much better atmosphere. We got close to this once, even an article on the official site stating it was going ahead only for them to scrap it last minute because it was "too much hassle" to organise.

All these require the club to be proactive though, you can have ideas but as we found out, anything that might create a little work will be rejected. That's why the wire for flags at the back of the stands was fantastic work by OxVox who really pushed the club to organise this with the stadium company.

It's easy to reel off ideas, it's another thing to have a group who pushes and pushes and puts ideas into action for the benefit of everyone.

So much of that is interconnected and thanks for the post.

I may have mentioned pricing before, for youngsters they are being costed out it is as simple as that.

Then there is the implementation of "rules" - do we really need to enforce rows & seats when the ground is 40% empty?

Club being proactive as long as it doesn`t create work for them.............. then it set`s up a filter to reduce AT`s workload.

Nobody can see that though and anyone who can is an "irritant". 🤷‍♀️
 
Then there is the implementation of "rules" - do we really need to enforce rows & seats when the ground is 40% empty?
The problem with changing it now (for the East Stand in particular, where relaxing the rules would make most sense) is that it would P**s off a fair few season ticket holders who have had their seats since the ground was opened if we suddenly made it a free-for-all.

If we ever get the mythical new stadium, I'd like the main 'Home End' to be terraced as a first choice if possible, if not free seating as default (the club could insist on using allocated seating if a certain level of seats were sold - these days it could easily make a call on that 2 days before matchday). Can't be that difficult, can it?
 
Sarah was an excellent SLO and it became a lot more difficult to communicate with the club after she left. Eales was on a staff clear out mission at the time which made everything difficult. When he took over he recruited lots of staff all assigned to specific roles which pushed the club forward during the promotion season, when he decided he wanted to sell up most of the staff left the club and it was streamlined to the bare minimum, this led to roles, such as SLO, being swept aside for a while.

We are nowhere near the standard set off the pitch during that promotion season.
This is an area that particularly interests me as a supporter. From my vantage point in the SSU it was always a thrill to see how the East stand, and in particular the Ultras, got behind the team, something, as you rightly say, has been missing for some time.
Regardless of how folk feel about the Supporters' Panel it is just this sort of thing that has provided the impetus for the working group to get the panel set up and with a Memorandum of Understanding agreed by the club in how the two interact. The club has agreed to meeting with the panel a minimum of four times a year with the panel able to call upon club officials to attend other meetings as and when the panel deems it relevant. Not just the SLO, in other words.

Whether it be the actions of the Supporters' Panel, OxVox or any other group that gets things done is surely irrelevant, just get them done. Part of the remit of the panel was to represent all the fanbase and to do that it will need supporters from all areas, background and orientation to come forward.

During the process of the working group we have had several conversations with the club and at all levels there does seem to be a real desire to get the chains of communication open and hear what the fanbase has to say.
I would like to see the return of the safe standing, Sadly, I think that boat has sailed and until we get a new stadium, purpose built with input from the fanbase, I don't think it will happen. That is not to say that it cannot be discussed though and maybe the club would go for the return on a small scale, much as before. At the very least plans could be laid for the future.

As one of the working group and probably standing as a candidate, I would encourage those with passion to do the same, get involved, if it all comes to nothing, at least we will have tried. If it doesn't work out then where will we be with our club? The panel needs supporters from every background, every age.
 
The problem with changing it now (for the East Stand in particular, where relaxing the rules would make most sense) is that it would P**s off a fair few season ticket holders who have had their seats since the ground was opened if we suddenly made it a free-for-all.

If we ever get the mythical new stadium, I'd like the main 'Home End' to be terraced as a first choice if possible, if not free seating as default (the club could insist on using allocated seating if a certain level of seats were sold - these days it could easily make a call on that 2 days before matchday). Can't be that difficult, can it?
I doubt whether the whole home end of the mythical new stadium would be terrace, however part of it would I’m they would have seats for ST holders and if the club wanted a singing zone before the new ground was occupied they could putone area to aside where no ST ‘s would be sold and that could be the singing area.
 
The problem with changing it now (for the East Stand in particular, where relaxing the rules would make most sense) is that it would P**s off a fair few season ticket holders who have had their seats since the ground was opened if we suddenly made it a free-for-all.

If we ever get the mythical new stadium, I'd like the main 'Home End' to be terraced as a first choice if possible, if not free seating as default (the club could insist on using allocated seating if a certain level of seats were sold - these days it could easily make a call on that 2 days before matchday). Can't be that difficult, can it?

Easy enough to mark a ST seat is it not?
Big yellow S to contrast against the faded blues.
Then ask folk who want to mingle to respect that?

Easy enough and self-managing around the X & Y rows where folk happily accommodate such things.
 
I doubt whether the whole home end of the mythical new stadium would be terrace, however part of it would I’m they would have seats for ST holders and if the club wanted a singing zone before the new ground was occupied they could putone area to aside where no ST ‘s would be sold and that could be the singing area.
I don't see why we couldn't go all standing behind one goal when we build it, would be what 4,000 places out of the 21,500 capacity, so would be doable. Obviously it would be the rail seats variety, not a classic old-skool terrace with crush barriers. That would leave seating up the sides for those who want it.
 
Easy enough to mark a ST seat is it not?
Big yellow S to contrast against the faded blues.
Then ask folk who want to mingle to respect that?

Easy enough and self-managing around the X & Y rows where folk happily accommodate such things.
In theory yes, but in practice I'm not sure what kind of gaps you'd have around the existing ticket holders, how easy seats would be to find, for example if you turned up in a group of 5. Best way would be to have the 2 or 3 sections behind the goal reserved for ST, then outer ones on first-come-first-served.

Would be an interesting experiment to try, maybe in a cup game when attendances tend to be lower.
 
I don't see why we couldn't go all standing behind one goal when we build it, would be what 4,000 places out of the 21,500 capacity, so would be doable. Obviously it would be the rail seats variety, not a classic old-skool terrace with crush barriers. That would leave seating up the sides for those who want it.
But have terraces been allowed back to what they were in the past
 
This is an area that particularly interests me as a supporter. From my vantage point in the SSU it was always a thrill to see how the East stand, and in particular the Ultras, got behind the team, something, as you rightly say, has been missing for some time.
Regardless of how folk feel about the Supporters' Panel it is just this sort of thing that has provided the impetus for the working group to get the panel set up and with a Memorandum of Understanding agreed by the club in how the two interact. The club has agreed to meeting with the panel a minimum of four times a year with the panel able to call upon club officials to attend other meetings as and when the panel deems it relevant. Not just the SLO, in other words.

Whether it be the actions of the Supporters' Panel, OxVox or any other group that gets things done is surely irrelevant, just get them done. Part of the remit of the panel was to represent all the fanbase

During the process of the working group we have had several conversations with the club and at all levels there does seem to be a real desire to get the chains of communication open and hear what the fanbase has to say.
I would like to see the return of the safe standing, Sadly, I think that boat has sailed and until we get a new stadium, purpose built with input from the fanbase, I don't think it will happen. That is not to say that it cannot be discussed though and maybe the club would go for the return on a small scale, much as before. At the very least plans could be laid for the future.

As one of the working group and probably standing as a candidate, I would encourage those with passion to do the same, get involved, if it all comes to nothing, at least we will have tried. If it doesn't work out then where will we be with our club? The panel needs supporters from every background, every age.

If that was in a meeting at work I would have called "House" about halfway through on BS Bingo. :)

Basics before dreams.

  1. Pricing
  2. Facilities
  3. Belonging
There you go, have that on me.
 
In theory yes, but in practice I'm not sure what kind of gaps you'd have around the existing ticket holders, how easy seats would be to find, for example if you turned up in a group of 5. Best way would be to have the 2 or 3 sections behind the goal reserved for ST, then outer ones on first-come-first-served.

Would be an interesting experiment to try, maybe in a cup game when attendances tend to be lower.

A question for the dot-counters who may, or may not, have a map of ST seats?
 
But have terraces been allowed back to what they were in the past
There is a move back towards terraces, but as I said more the 'rail seats' variety of safe standing. We are a few years away yet from any new ground, so can make a decision then. I think we should really consider a good percentage of standing if allowed.
 
If that was in a meeting at work I would have called "House" about halfway through on BS Bingo. :)

Basics before dreams.

  1. Pricing
  2. Facilities
  3. Belonging
There you go, have that on me.
But it was on here where, as we all know, folk talk a lot of B*****s all the time. Don't they.
 
The problem with changing it now (for the East Stand in particular, where relaxing the rules would make most sense) is that it would P**s off a fair few season ticket holders who have had their seats since the ground was opened if we suddenly made it a free-for-all.

If we ever get the mythical new stadium, I'd like the main 'Home End' to be terraced as a first choice if possible, if not free seating as default (the club could insist on using allocated seating if a certain level of seats were sold - these days it could easily make a call on that 2 days before matchday). Can't be that difficult, can it?
You're right in that it needs to be implemented during the summer before season tickets are back on sale. Something like this can't be done during the season once everyone has their season ticket seat.
For anyone who moans that it's "their" seat and they don't want to lose it, did you same the same thing about a "spot" on the terrace in the london road? Or did you just stand in roughly the same place each game? If the seat really does make all the difference, just get there earlier to secure it I say, they're all empty when it opens.

Kassam/Stadco did agree to the "safe standing" barrier at the back of the East Stand to be implemented down 10 rows following a trial. You could potentially have this installed in the East Stand if that agreement was met and obviously we provided the funding, however if a new stadium really is on the horizon then that's a possible reason they'll sweep the idea under the carpet again.

During the process of the working group we have had several conversations with the club and at all levels there does seem to be a real desire to get the chains of communication open and hear what the fanbase has to say.
I would like to see the return of the safe standing, Sadly, I think that boat has sailed and until we get a new stadium, purpose built with input from the fanbase, I don't think it will happen. That is not to say that it cannot be discussed though and maybe the club would go for the return on a small scale, much as before. At the very least plans could be laid for the future.

I hope there is some fan consultation when it comes to stadium design before things are signed off, I'd be gutted if we ended up with a soulless bowl. Safe standing, low roof, and areas to hang real flags at the front, back, sides, not sold out for advertising here there and everywhere. Ensure stands are close to the pitch unlike our current stadium, etc etc. Spurs' new stadium took so many plaudits, but even with it's giant single tiered stand behind the goal, fans are quickly realising it's already feeling soulless. We want something, tight, compact and noisy we can ensure will be 75% full if we are in League One.
 
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