Home Match Day Thread Giveaways for kids yesterday?

[WuTang]

The club can't win sometimes.

OUFC gives out 300 free scarves to the family stand (300 is not many in football stadia terms). You aren't guaranteed a free scarf, those who wanted one obviously arrived ASAP to grab one. They were always going to be extremely popular, free stuff will always get snapped up by adults and children, thinking otherwise is naive. If a freebie scarf was that important to me, I would have entered when the turnstiles opened to make sure I get one. It's a scarf though... they're on sale in the club shop if you miss out.

300 people received a free scarf and it improved their matchday experience. If you arrived late and didn't receive one your matchday experience was surely no different to usual, except more colour in the stadium, that's a good thing surely?!

And likewise with the email replies, all be it slightly slower than the Sarah Gooding days, you received 3 replies, 3 apologies off 3 club officials. That's some going IMO, you'd be lucky to get that at another club. AND they sorted out a free scarf in the end too.

The Ultras constantly give out free flags, it doesn't mean everyone is guaranteed one and I'd be amazed if anyone has contacted them complaining they didn't receive one!

 

[FalmouthOx]

Did the club a favour -complete new branding so cannot sell them next year. The stock had already been written off to zero. They should offer every shirt, signed by all the players, into the half time raffle on the final day. And any kids who missed out to adults nicking the last flag and scarf should be given a new one. Thats PR

 

[Sarge]

The club can't win sometimes.

OUFC gives out 300 free scarves to the family stand (300 is not many in football stadia terms). You aren't guaranteed a free scarf, those who wanted one obviously arrived ASAP to grab one. They were always going to be extremely popular, free stuff will always get snapped up by adults and children, thinking otherwise is naive. If a freebie scarf was that important to me, I would have entered when the turnstiles opened to make sure I get one. It's a scarf though... they're on sale in the club shop if you miss out.

300 people received a free scarf and it improved their matchday experience. If you arrived late and didn't receive one your matchday experience was surely no different to usual, except more colour in the stadium, that's a good thing surely?!

And likewise with the email replies, all be it slightly slower than the Sarah Gooding days, you received 3 replies, 3 apologies off 3 club officials. That's some going IMO, you'd be lucky to get that at another club. AND they sorted out a free scarf in the end too.

The Ultras constantly give out free flags, it doesn't mean everyone is guaranteed one and I'd be amazed if anyone has contacted them complaining they didn't receive one!

No question on the good intentions of the club with giveaways(free tickets in the past, giveaways on Good Friday) ....and no guarantee of a free scarf for kids in family stand either....however, the point many are missing is well-intentioned gestures by the club do need managing properly by the club, and when it evidently doesn't go as planned, it doesn't take much for the club to say so?. 300 free scarves, intended for kids in family stand all gone an hour before kickoff, with the vast majority given to Adults, sadly not as intended to kids.


@happimammas daughter is young, impressionable, believes everything put out on the OUFC official website (unlike old cynics like me!)... she has now been to two home games.... if she feels valued by OUFC , which she obviously doesn't at the moment, as the official website implied free scarves were intended for kids (not adults!) .... and then to see, in the main Adults wearing free scarves that were intended for kids (according to OUFC website), its not surprising she feels not valued, and let down.

IF OUFC brushed up on customer relations, who knows, in a few years time there may be an addition or two (or more) to the Ultras ranks, assuming @happimamma s daughter, at a very impressionable age, doesn't end up feeling 'un-valued'(by OUFC) as she does at the moment. A slightly different tact by those at OUFC in a position to address the issue is all that's needed, ( a simple 'THANKS to all who welcomed KR on good Friday, , the free scarf distribution didn't go quite as planned this time, we will endeavor to get it right, should there be a next time' would suffice), yet it does appear that OUFC administration departments collectively are lacking in customer services. Which given the corporate direction that football has headed in over recent years should be right up at the top of priorities, I think

 

[SiHath]

Why is no one"demanding" an apology from the adults who aparently took scarves and flags intended for kids?

Where are the apologies from fans on this forum who were moaning, when this giveaway was originally announced, that it was just the club getting rid ouf old stock before the new badge branding stuff arrived, which turned out to be totally wrong.

It feels like some people are determined to take offence at anything and everything the club does.

 

[happimamma]

You may be right Dave but I don't know any of these people personally so I only have what i said and what they replied ie words.

One thing that can't be denied is that they did not resolve it to my satisfaction and I'm not actually difficult to please and rarely complain. Niall could have telephoned me and that might have lead to greater understanding between us.

I guess I'm old-school and believe in people holding their hands up, admitting a mistake and saying sorry for that mistake (which is very different from "Sorry you are upset"

The club can't win sometimes.

OUFC gives out 300 free scarves to the family stand (300 is not many in football stadia terms). You aren't guaranteed a free scarf, those who wanted one obviously arrived ASAP to grab one. They were always going to be extremely popular, free stuff will always get snapped up by adults and children, thinking otherwise is naive. If a freebie scarf was that important to me, I would have entered when the turnstiles opened to make sure I get one. It's a scarf though... they're on sale in the club shop if you miss out.

300 people received a free scarf and it improved their matchday experience. If you arrived late and didn't receive one your matchday experience was surely no different to usual, except more colour in the stadium, that's a good thing surely?!

And likewise with the email replies, all be it slightly slower than the Sarah Gooding days, you received 3 replies, 3 apologies off 3 club officials. That's some going IMO, you'd be lucky to get that at another club. AND they sorted out a free scarf in the end too.

The Ultras constantly give out free flags, it doesn't mean everyone is guaranteed one and I'd be amazed if anyone has contacted them complaining they didn't receive one!

I understand ur upset, maybe I’m just reading the emails differently, but it really doesn’t come across like that at all to me. I would be far more annoyed at adults that have taken advantage of an initiative intended for children, and fair play for calling a few out on that. Also not really down to the youth team players handing them out, being just kids themselves. I think they have acknowledged a mistake by saying they will look at how they do these things in future. I think they have apologised several times . And knowing macca, and him chris and Kathy all being fans as well as employees, I don’t think any would fail to care or take the P**s

 

[Deleted member 462]

The club can't win sometimes.

OUFC gives out 300 free scarves to the family stand (300 is not many in football stadia terms). You aren't guaranteed a free scarf, those who wanted one obviously arrived ASAP to grab one. They were always going to be extremely popular, free stuff will always get snapped up by adults and children, thinking otherwise is naive. If a freebie scarf was that important to me, I would have entered when the turnstiles opened to make sure I get one. It's a scarf though... they're on sale in the club shop if you miss out.

300 people received a free scarf and it improved their matchday experience. If you arrived late and didn't receive one your matchday experience was surely no different to usual, except more colour in the stadium, that's a good thing surely?!

And likewise with the email replies, all be it slightly slower than the Sarah Gooding days, you received 3 replies, 3 apologies off 3 club officials. That's some going IMO, you'd be lucky to get that at another club. AND they sorted out a free scarf in the end too.

The Ultras constantly give out free flags, it doesn't mean everyone is guaranteed one and I'd be amazed if anyone has contacted them complaining they didn't receive one!

No question on the good intentions of the club with giveaways(free tickets in the past, giveaways on Good Friday) ....and no guarantee of a free scarf for kids in family stand either....however, the point many are missing is well-intentioned gestures by the club do need managing properly by the club, and when it evidently doesn't go as planned, it doesn't take much for the club to say so?. 300 free scarves, intended for kids in family stand all gone an hour before kickoff, with the vast majority given to Adults, sadly not as intended to kids.


@happimammas daughter is young, impressionable, believes everything put out on the OUFC official website (unlike old cynics like me!)... she has now been to two home games.... if she feels valued by OUFC , which she obviously doesn't at the moment, as the official website implied free scarves were intended for kids (not adults!) .... and then to see, in the main Adults wearing free scarves that were intended for kids (according to OUFC website), its not surprising she feels not valued, and let down.

IF OUFC brushed up on customer relations, who knows, in a few years time there may be an addition or two (or more) to the Ultras ranks, assuming @happimamma s daughter, at a very impressionable age, doesn't end up feeling 'un-valued'(by OUFC) as she does at the moment. A slightly different tact by those at OUFC in a position to address the issue is all that's needed, ( a simple 'THANKS to all who welcomed KR on good Friday, , the free scarf distribution didn't go quite as planned this time, we will endeavor to get it right, should there be a next time' would suffice), yet it does appear that OUFC administration departments collectively are lacking in customer services. Which given the corporate direction that football has headed in over recent years should be right up at the top of priorities, I think

Literally the first thing new owners did on getting through the door was make changes to the ox4life package making it much more attractive to young fans. 2 weeks later they give thousands of free items away to kids again. You can only learn from ur mistakes, and improve the next time. Likewise it shouldn’t only be negative feed back the club receives, would they have got an email giving thanks for making someone’s day or what a good offer it was. I’m sure plenty of kids also did go away feeling valued from the giveaway. Also worth noting that one of the members of staff does it on a voluntary basis, unpaid I believe, to try and help with the link between club and fans, so the Criticism there is a little harsh.

 

[happimamma]

That is PR! and love your icon / pic

Why is no one"demanding" an apology from the adults who aparently took scarves and flags intended for kids?

Where are the apologies from fans on this forum who were moaning, when this giveaway was originally announced, that it was just the club getting rid ouf old stock before the new badge branding stuff arrived, which turned out to be totally wrong.

It feels like some people are determined to take offence at anything and everything the club does.

Did the club a favour -complete new branding so cannot sell them next year. The stock had already been written off to zero. They should offer every shirt, signed by all the players, into the half time raffle on the final day. And any kids who missed out to adults nicking the last flag and scarf should be given a new one. Thats PR

 

[SiHath]

On the same day that there was a free flag and scarf giveaway there was also a small group of Syrian refugee families who came to the game. The community trust and the yellowarmy asked for volunteers to give a few minutes of their time to meet them when they arrived to make them feel welcome. There were a couple of fans who said they would but due to illness were unable to attend, and I was the only person not part of the community trust team, to greet them. These people had to leave their homes in fear of their lives.

When I see how much time and effort some people on here are putting into complaining about what the club do, complaining that they didn't get a free scarf I have to say I'm disappointed that energy couldn't have been put into 15 minutes welcoming some people who fled a civil war with little more than the clothes they were wearing at the time.

Priorities seem slightly misplaced

 

[WuTang]

Sorry, just seems like a total overreaction to me. The scarves were never specifically reserved for children. It was 300 scarves in the family stand (where there are more children than elsewhere in the ground). 300 people turned up early and all received a scarf, parents and children alike. If you didn't get one, maybe you should have arrived earlier when there was so few available. It's not as if you ordered one and the club didn't deliver. Never seen such a meltdown over not receiving something for free which you'd never had received anyway if it wasn't for such a generous offer from the club (300 scarves are not cheap!).

 

[Blox21]

Winners and losers , that's life !!!
Get used to it kids .

 

[Mellowyellow]

On the same day that there was a free flag and scarf giveaway there was also a small group of Syrian refugee families who came to the game. The community trust and the yellowarmy asked for volunteers to give a few minutes of their time to meet them when they arrived to make them feel welcome. There were a couple of fans who said they would but due to illness were unable to attend, and I was the only person not part of the community trust team, to greet them. These people had to leave their homes in fear of their lives.

When I see how much time and effort some people on here are putting into complaining about what the club do, complaining that they didn't get a free scarf I have to say I'm disappointed that energy couldn't have been put into 15 minutes welcoming some people who fled a civil war with little more than the clothes they were wearing at the time.

Priorities seem slightly misplaced

But it’s the same PR dept at the club, PRB or Chris Williams, if he is the communications Person, that should be looking to help. After all it is the responsibility of OUFC to welcome such guests surely to their premises, not fan volunteers?

 

[SiHath]

But it’s the same PR dept at the club, PRB or Chris Williams, if he is the communications Person, that should be looking to help. After all it is the responsibility of OUFC to welcome such guests surely to their premises, not fan volunteers?

I think that depends on if you see the club as the people employed by it, or if you see it as the fans.

I see it as the fans and that's why I volunteered.

 

[happimamma]

For the record, the website specifically said that the scarves were intended for children, the flags for everyone and my complaint is definitely not that we didn't get a scarf LOL It is simply that it would have gone a long way for OUFC to have put something up on the website explaining that it didn't go to plan but they do value young supporters - That's all! They made a big mess-up handing them out to every adult. I'm only making a valid and correct point!

Best, Kendra

Sorry, just seems like a total overreaction to me. The scarves were never specifically reserved for children. It was 300 scarves in the family stand (where there are more children than elsewhere in the ground). 300 people turned up early and all received a scarf, parents and children alike. If you didn't get one, maybe you should have arrived earlier when there was so few available. It's not as if you ordered one and the club didn't deliver. Never seen such a meltdown over not receiving something for free which you'd never had received anyway if it wasn't for such a generous offer from the club (300 scarves are not cheap!).

 

[Deleted member 462]

You may be right Dave but I don't know any of these people personally so I only have what i said and what they replied ie words.

One thing that can't be denied is that they did not resolve it to my satisfaction and I'm not actually difficult to please and rarely complain. Niall could have telephoned me and that might have lead to greater understanding between us.

I guess I'm old-school and believe in people holding their hands up, admitting a mistake and saying sorry for that mistake (which is very different from "Sorry you are upset"

The club can't win sometimes.

OUFC gives out 300 free scarves to the family stand (300 is not many in football stadia terms). You aren't guaranteed a free scarf, those who wanted one obviously arrived ASAP to grab one. They were always going to be extremely popular, free stuff will always get snapped up by adults and children, thinking otherwise is naive. If a freebie scarf was that important to me, I would have entered when the turnstiles opened to make sure I get one. It's a scarf though... they're on sale in the club shop if you miss out.

300 people received a free scarf and it improved their matchday experience. If you arrived late and didn't receive one your matchday experience was surely no different to usual, except more colour in the stadium, that's a good thing surely?!

And likewise with the email replies, all be it slightly slower than the Sarah Gooding days, you received 3 replies, 3 apologies off 3 club officials. That's some going IMO, you'd be lucky to get that at another club. AND they sorted out a free scarf in the end too.

The Ultras constantly give out free flags, it doesn't mean everyone is guaranteed one and I'd be amazed if anyone has contacted them complaining they didn't receive one!

I understand ur upset, maybe I’m just reading the emails differently, but it really doesn’t come across like that at all to me. I would be far more annoyed at adults that have taken advantage of an initiative intended for children, and fair play for calling a few out on that. Also not really down to the youth team players handing them out, being just kids themselves. I think they have acknowledged a mistake by saying they will look at how they do these things in future. I think they have apologised several times . And knowing macca, and him chris and Kathy all being fans as well as employees, I don’t think any would fail to care or take the P**s

You say it wasn’t resolved and that u wanted an apology, and admission of mistakes so it doesn’t happen again.

“ i would very much like you to take on board what has happened and do everything to ensure the same doesn't occur again. I would also feel happy if either my daughter and her friend receive an apology and / or the website make an apology and assure children that they are very much appreciated as fans - because obviously that is not the message they received on Good Friday.”

It might just be me but do u not get that in both emails from Niall

“On behalf of Oxford United Football Club, please accept our apologies. (Apology) We are sorry that you left the match feeling disappointed. Our aim was to simply generate a better atmosphere to enhance our supporters match day experience.

We will undoubtedly learn from your observations when we consider this type of initiative again.(learning from mistakes )

We hope that you will continue to attend Oxford United matches, your support is greatly appreciated. (Appreciation of support)

As stated in earlier e mails, please accept our apologies in relation to your disappointment surrounding the recent match.(apology again)

It would also be greatly appreciated if you could pass on our apologies to both your daughter and her friend.

Yours sincerely,

Niall.

 

[happimamma]

Funny you should mention this as a) these families were behind us in the stands (all wearing free scarves of course) and b) having been a long-time supporter and activist on behalf of asylum seekers I went out of my way to make them feel welcome and they seemed happy to be at the match I'm pleased to say.

On the same day that there was a free flag and scarf giveaway there was also a small group of Syrian refugee families who came to the game. The community trust and the yellowarmy asked for volunteers to give a few minutes of their time to meet them when they arrived to make them feel welcome. There were a couple of fans who said they would but due to illness were unable to attend, and I was the only person not part of the community trust team, to greet them. These people had to leave their homes in fear of their lives.

When I see how much time and effort some people on here are putting into complaining about what the club do, complaining that they didn't get a free scarf I have to say I'm disappointed that energy couldn't have been put into 15 minutes welcoming some people who fled a civil war with little more than the clothes they were wearing at the time.

Priorities seem slightly misplaced

 

[SiHath]

Funny you should mention this as a) these families were behind us in the stands (all wearing free scarves of course) and b) having been a long-time supporter and activist on behalf of asylum seekers I went out of my way to make them feel welcome and they seemed happy to be at the match I'm pleased to say.

Thanks for making them feel welcome. The scarves they had were in addition to the 300 scarves given away, just in case anyone gets the wrong idea...

 

[happimamma]

I'm trying Dave but as i said before, I don't know Niall so all i do know is that he only apologised to me that i left the match disappointed and i don't care about myself being disappointed - I care about the children being disappointed. I also feel that asking me to pass on apologies to the children is not exactly OUFC doing it directly. If he had telephoned me or if he had asked for my kid's email address and written "Sorry to hear that you did not get a scarf - I'm sorry that some adults received scarves which wasn't our intention but i do want you to know that you are valued as a supporter" that would have satisfied me.

All i can say is that my feeling on receiving the final email was that it was sarcastic because even though i had spelled out that i didn't want an apology for me being disappointed, its the first thing he said!

I don't know what else i can say.

Kendra

You say it wasn’t resolved and that u wanted an apology, and admission of mistakes so it doesn’t happen again.

“ i would very much like you to take on board what has happened and do everything to ensure the same doesn't occur again. I would also feel happy if either my daughter and her friend receive an apology and / or the website make an apology and assure children that they are very much appreciated as fans - because obviously that is not the message they received on Good Friday.”

It might just be me but do u not get that in both emails from Niall

“On behalf of Oxford United Football Club, please accept our apologies. (Apology) We are sorry that you left the match feeling disappointed. Our aim was to simply generate a better atmosphere to enhance our supporters match day experience.

We will undoubtedly learn from your observations when we consider this type of initiative again.(learning from mistakes )

We hope that you will continue to attend Oxford United matches, your support is greatly appreciated. (Appreciation of support)

As stated in earlier e mails, please accept our apologies in relation to your disappointment surrounding the recent match.(apology again)

It would also be greatly appreciated if you could pass on our apologies to both your daughter and her friend.

Yours sincerely,

Niall.

 

[Deleted member 462]

I'm trying Dave but as i said before, I don't know Niall so all i do know is that he only apologised to me that i left the match disappointed and i don't care about myself being disappointed - I care about the children being disappointed. I also feel that asking me to pass on apologies to the children is not exactly OUFC doing it directly. If he had telephoned me or if he had asked for my kid's email address and written "Sorry to hear that you did not get a scarf - I'm sorry that some adults received scarves which wasn't our intention but i do want you to know that you are valued as a supporter" that would have satisfied me.

All i can say is that my feeling on receiving the final email was that it was sarcastic because even though i had spelled out that i didn't want an apology for me being disappointed, its the first thing he said!

I don't know what else i can say.

Kendra

You say it wasn’t resolved and that u wanted an apology, and admission of mistakes so it doesn’t happen again.

“ i would very much like you to take on board what has happened and do everything to ensure the same doesn't occur again. I would also feel happy if either my daughter and her friend receive an apology and / or the website make an apology and assure children that they are very much appreciated as fans - because obviously that is not the message they received on Good Friday.”

It might just be me but do u not get that in both emails from Niall

“On behalf of Oxford United Football Club, please accept our apologies. (Apology) We are sorry that you left the match feeling disappointed. Our aim was to simply generate a better atmosphere to enhance our supporters match day experience.

We will undoubtedly learn from your observations when we consider this type of initiative again.(learning from mistakes )

We hope that you will continue to attend Oxford United matches, your support is greatly appreciated. (Appreciation of support)

As stated in earlier e mails, please accept our apologies in relation to your disappointment surrounding the recent match.(apology again)

It would also be greatly appreciated if you could pass on our apologies to both your daughter and her friend.

Yours sincerely,

Niall.

Well I’m guessing that he probably didn’t know she had an email address at 11. Or what even her name is. As u didn’t mention either. All the things u ask for in ur initial email I think the club has responded to. But that is just my take on it.

 

[MarkG]

Snowflakes. Also not good form copying and pasting Club email replies which I understand were not to be made public last time I asked a question.

 

[Thehorse777]

Snowflakes. Also not good form copying and pasting Club email replies which I understand were not to be made public last time I asked a question.

To be fair, from what I can see it isn’t really the kids who have had an issue with it but more the parent who feels like their kids have missed out when others haven’t.

Of course this is disappointing, as it was for myself when not managing to get my hands on a free flag (would have been nice hanging from my balcony on holiday) but it’s one of those things.

Had the club promised free scarves/flags to everyone in attendance you would almost have a case for complaint, but even then only if it was part of the ticket you had purchased rather than a nice extra the club said they’d provide.

In my opinion, Complaints like this, and the publishing of the emails in the public domain to use as another stick to beat the club with is only likely to make such initiatives rarer in the future.

It may seem to those who make the decisons to do these (and have to deal with the aftermath) that they are more hassle than they are worth.