OxVox Updates

[OxVox]

Notes from our recent meeting with Grant Ferguson, which were issued to members on Friday, can be found here: http://www.oxvox.org.uk/meeting-grant-ferguson/

A recent update from Paul is also now available on the site.

 

[Essexyellows]

Just a quick "Thank you" to the OxVox team for the informative update sent yesterday.

Explained well the complexity and need for confidentiality around a lot of things as well as reinforcing the "critical friend" role OxVox play.

Nice to see Fans Forums being discussed as well, the Club needs as many of us on board as possible.

Anyone who isn`t a member needs to join!

Join OxVox | OxVox

 

[uptheus]

Disappointing to read the latest minutes from the meeting with Adam Benson re; engagement with the fans in the terms of Fans Forums with Grant and Tim. Very poor by the club, especially with all the support given by certain individuals/fans who have given up their time in trying to garner local community support for the new stadium.

 

[werthersoriginal]

The Oxvox report rather implies they made proposals and Adam Benson refused or deflected a lot of them. It would be interesting to know what sort of communication structures there are at three comparable clubs, say Derby, Wycombe, and Exeter - one bigger, one smaller, one fan owned.

 

[Yello]

Someone needs to be reminding the hierarchy it was the likes of the Traffords / mr North , 13th man etc selling products/ programmes / whatever during our darkest days in the conference that gave us the funds to help fight our way out of that shithole. They need to learn some history , its not all about them.

 

[Yello]

Sorry, meant towards to ownership, not Oxvox.

 

[Foley]

It is difficult to comprehend really.
It wouldn't take that much time by the Chairman CEO, manager etc, to significantly improve the fan communication.
Tim Williams was suggesting that he wanted the new stadium to be pretty full even if we are still in L1. Why not engage with the supporters ( who have generally been hugely supportive with regard to the new stadium).
Baffling

 

[Yello]

Id say its baffling but also somewhat concerning.

 

[Northstandboy]

Very disappointing from the Club.

After all we are only “customers”. Treat us like crap, we will still come back.

From the moment we were downgraded from fans we should have known how they would treat us.

 

[MJB]

Allowing your head of commercial to become the only real point of contact for key stakeholders is a massive red warning light.

A CFO would think it’s appropriate for their Commercial lead to drive their communications and engagement strategy and activities.

A CEO would recognise that this would be a really, REALLY bad move and step in.

 

[m]

Someone needs to be reminding the hierarchy it was the likes of the Traffords / mr North , 13th man etc selling products/ programmes / whatever during our darkest days in the conference that gave us the funds to help fight our way out of that shithole. They need to learn some history , its not all about them.

Unfortunately these are exactly the sort of actions you might expect from a top 30 club.

(A point better made by @Paul Cannell elsewhere - but blimey does he use a lot of words)

 

[Essexyellows]

And of course the "Fans Board/CAB" that contains a very few/select fan(s) raises its head as a direct result of the Crouch Report.

We were given the lubricant in the form of a panel.

Now the Club are taking the attitude that genuine, independent organisations that ask tough questions aren't worth responding too and are going in hard.

This says it all " If the board has no real teeth and ideas are merely cherry picked and passed along the line then this could at worst just become a tick box exercise that dissipates the effectiveness"

Where are all the people who ever thought the panel was a positive thing? You`ve been had, well and truly.

And now we get a "diversity survey" from the Club, so it proves they can communicate and survey us, but seemingly not on anything really important.

 

[Colin B]

The biggest concern for me (among many concerns) is that all of this is coming via the Commercial Manager. Where is the CEO? Where is the Chairman?

Seems as though "they" are already fobbing OxVox off by sending the monkey along to meet them, rather than one of the organ grinders.

 

[Sarge]

The biggest concern for me (among many concerns) is that all of this is coming via the Commercial Manager. Where is the CEO? Where is the Chairman?

Seems as though "they" are already fobbing OxVox off by sending the monkey along to meet them, rather than one of the organ grinders.

agree 100%

 

[Yellow River]

The biggest concern for me (among many concerns) is that all of this is coming via the Commercial Manager. Where is the CEO? Where is the Chairman?

Seems as though "they" are already fobbing OxVox off by sending the monkey along to meet them, rather than one of the organ grinders.

Comes across as cowardly hiding behind the commercial manager whilst also breaking a pledge to front up at a fans forum.

 

[MJB]

The biggest concern for me (among many concerns) is that all of this is coming via the Commercial Manager. Where is the CEO? Where is the Chairman?

Seems as though "they" are already fobbing OxVox off by sending the monkey along to meet them, rather than one of the organ grinders.

Absolutely.

Whether they are deliberately empire building or not, it is entirely inappropriate to have your commercial lead engaging with important stakeholders in this way. Their interests and KPIs make them unsuited to engaging with representative groups and other key partners of the club in this way. They can be a voice, certainly, but not leading on the relationship.

Very poor corporate governance which the club needs to nip in the bud pretty damn quickly.

 

[Manorlounger]

The biggest concern for me (among many concerns) is that all of this is coming via the Commercial Manager. Where is the CEO? Where is the Chairman?

Seems as though "they" are already fobbing OxVox off by sending the monkey along to meet them, rather than one of the organ grinders.

That's because he's head of Commercial & Marketing, you know, the chap who deals with customer issues.

 

[holdsteady]

Dunno what you are all moaning about, this will all be sorted out at the next fans forum that was due in 2022.

 

[Foley]

The biggest concern for me (among many concerns) is that all of this is coming via the Commercial Manager. Where is the CEO? Where is the Chairman?

Seems as though "they" are already fobbing OxVox off by sending the monkey along to meet them, rather than one of the organ grinders.

Totally agree. Tim Williams has gone very quiet this season ( he used to at least be on the 5 minute forum regularly)
The supporter engagement seems to have been deliberately reduced.
Did Adam Benson seriously suggest that Oxvox were being 'negative'?
Oxvox have seemed to have done huge work on supporting the club on the new stadium. It is incredibly disappointing that the Chairman/ CEO have seemed to have tried to reduce supporters asking questions, when so many other clubs appear to be increasing their communication/ accountability. Especially when the team are doing so well, the stadium is potentially on the horizon, crowds are up. Talk about pushing on an open door

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it does make you wonder what is there to hide?

 

[m]

Totally agree. Tim Williams has gone very quiet this season ( he used to at least be on the 5 minute forum regularly)
The supporter engagement seems to have been deliberately reduced.
Did Adam Benson seriously suggest that Oxvox were being 'negative'?
Oxvox have seemed to have done huge work on supporting the club on the new stadium. It is incredibly disappointing that the Chairman/ CEO have seemed to have tried to reduce supporters asking questions, when so many other clubs appear to be increasing their communication/ accountability. Especially when the team are doing so well, the stadium is potentially on the horizon, crowds are up. Talk about pushing on an open door

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it does make you wonder what is there to hide?

Meanwhile OxVox are said to be too close to the club by sections of our support.

It feels orchestrated to me.