Pre match fans forum AGAIN?

[Sarge]

Assurances, promises and agreements were given at the last fans forum by both the chairman and the M.D. that the next fans forum would NOT be pre match....can anyone on the Ox vox committee inform why both the chairman AND the M.D. lied publically ? As it's just been announced that the next fans forum will be before the Walsall game....why did they lie publically to fans and local and national media?????

 

[Essexyellows]

Get a grip will you, the bloke is globe trotting businessman who`s diary probably changes day to day.
Having a FF before a game makes eminent sense to the high percentage of exiles who can kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
Sorry if it interferes with your pre match drinkypoos.

 

[captainox]

What was the issue over having it prematch?

 

[Witney Wag]

Well the problem was that the FF was limited to 1hr and that meant a two hour time slot between the end of the FF and KO. For some fans it also means leaving home earlier than they would normally if they want to attend the FF. is there going to be a max participation time on the meeting or will it be limited to 1hr. Sarge has a legitimate complaint as it was stated that they would not hold FF before a game and they have gone back on that.

 

[Sarge]

Get a grip will you, the bloke is globe trotting businessman who`s diary probably changes day to day.
Having a FF before a game makes eminent sense to the high percentage of exiles who can kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
Sorry if it interferes with your pre match drinkypoos.

It's more a case of Tiger, the md and Chris W oufc communications agreeing to/promising things (like the next ff wouldnt be pre match, and that there would be a shareholders agm in 2018 for example...and renaging on both) and not keeping to thier word. Talk is cheap

My work isn't quite as globetrotting as OUFC chairman's, nonetheless it involves lots of miles in the UK and mainland Europe too. If I can make time to attend ffs of a non match day evening tiger n co can too id've thought?

@captainox without going over old ground...it was requested at the last ff that future ones to be held on non match days (of an evening) which was agreed by Tiger, md and Chris W and they added they would hold ffs around Ox on in future.. . Short memories or incapable of keeping to their word made in public ?.....to answer your q request was because most football supporters are superstitious creatures of habit esp for home games. Lucky pre match rituals and habits are compromised and it means a stupidly earlier than usual departure time for those exiles travelling in for the game and fans forum

 

[Deleted member 462]

Have u read Colin’s reply to your same question in another thread sarge ? This isn’t tiger and the club lying or going back on their word. This is them actively listening to their supporters trust suggesting that due to delays in the training ground, that it was more important to do it sooner rather than wait. I understand ur personal objections to pre match forums, but equally it also works better for others who couldn’t attend an evening one. Credit where it’s due, the club are listening, and they are holding an open fans forum.

 

[Sarge]

Have u read Colin’s reply to your same question in another thread sarge ? This isn’t tiger and the club lying or going back on their word. This is them actively listening to their supporters trust suggesting that due to delays in the training ground, that it was more important to do it sooner rather than wait. I understand ur personal objections to pre match forums, but equally it also works better for others who couldn’t attend an evening one. Credit where it’s due, the club are listening, and they are holding an open fans forum.

Tiger also agreed/ promised a shareholders AGM in 2018 at the same fans forum he, the MD n spin doctor Chris W all agreed to a non matchday fans forum....which the previous fans forum was also informed that there would be various fans forums held (on non matchdays) at different areas in Oxfordshire (to make it easier for more fans to engage with the club) .... none of which (AGM included- despite Tiger himself agreeing there would be one held in 2018... have happened as agreed!!!) ..... Ive got work on the morning of the Walsall game, 3hrs away from Oxford, and will only just about make kick off, if traffic is helpful! After getting agreement at the last Fans Forum that ,instead of the inconvenience to both exiles and Oxford-based U's fans , of having pre-match habits messed around with,as well as having to get to a fans forum for 12 midday and not even being held in or close to the breeze block, I for one feel that fans forums thus far are nothing but OUFC complying with current legislative requirements to engage with supports (at least) twice a season.... BUT not taking any notice of what either the fans ask, or the OUFC top table agrees to at said meetings. When I go to watch my team, I want to enjoy a decent day out, meet with friends, family and fellow yellows for a pre-match drink or two, take in the game hopefully a U's win, then have a celebratory/ commiserating beer or two after. I don't want to be setting off at silly o clock in the morning to attend a 60 minute meeting where I'm bullshitted to by those on the top table, then try to find somewhere to park (my usual parking space having been filled by the time the meeting is over), also to find other favoured pre-match habits have had to be sacrificed too....all for what? to ask a few questions, and then find the replies aren't even worth the paper they're written on! Which IMO is most certainly WRONG

A bit like emailing OUFC MD - who invited email enquiries at the last fans forum, yet, when emailed questions, ( not just by me but by other Us fans taking the MD at his word too), the MD patronisingly responds with words to the effect of 'how nice to hear from you, thank you for your valued support', yet NO reference, never mind reply, to questions asked.

Any wonder KR spouts nonsense to the local press ( eg this player, that player the other player are coming in - and they don't sign at all, proclaiming that all business rebuilding the squad would be done before pre-season tour, yet in reality pretty much none was done before the 3 game foray... etc etc etc), when the Chairman n Owner, MD and OUFC communications chappy say one thing publically, then renege on it? To me, every word emanating from OUFC in an official capacity will be taken with a proverbial pinch of salt, until I'm convinced they are, after all, men of their word....and as far as I'm concerned, as things stand not one of them an be trusted on face value on their word.

How many tickets are ACTUALLY still avail' for the cup game Tuesday week? Sold out, we're informed, REALLY? says me !

Quite a number of U's fans can be described as Fun Guys, but that's no reason for OUFC's owner, nor his lackeys, to mete out the mushroom treatment is it? Saying one thing publically (at the previous fans forum- which fuckedup my Saturday, by me having to leave where I was after working the night before several hours earlier to attend a time-limited to 60 minutes fans forum, with my prefered usual pre-match habits disrupted, but I would accept the inconvenience IF what Tiger and co agreed to they stuck to!!!!) and then doing a 180 degree about face really isn't right IMO

Trust is easy to lose, Fact is Tiger, his patronising MD and other current OUFC decision making administrators have blown any trust or belief I had in taking their word at face value........ broken trust takes a long, long time to rebuild if its ever truly repaired. Chairmen, MDs, Head Coaches, Board Members come and go, I've seen many come and then go, I don't think I've lost trust previously in anything like as short period as with the current incumbents

 

[TailsWeWin]

I imagine there a large number of us who’d find coming to Oxford a couple of hours earlier on a match day a lot easier than driving over there on a weekday evening.

 

[Sarge]

I imagine there a large number of us who’d find coming to Oxford a couple of hours earlier on a match day a lot easier than driving over there on a weekday evening.

that's not the issue @CheltenhamYellow ..... the issue is Chairman, MD, and other OUFC officials AGREED at the last fans forum(the pre-match one) that the next fans forum would not be pre-match, therefore not limited to just 60 minutes (they SAID fans forums would be held of an evening in different parts of Oxfordshire to engage with more of the fanbase), thus not interfering with Us fans pre-match prefered habits. Also, a shareholders AGM for 2018 was AGREED by the Chairman, other agreements and promises were also made...none of which have borne any real fruit to speak of. Saying one thing and not keeping to your agreements made publically isn't right IMO

btw- I work all over the UK (& mainland Europe), often travel from wherever I've been working on a Friday back to the motherland for home games on a Saturday am. Weeknight matches (or meetings/ fans forums) are easier for me to reschedule work to go to. With 'nam only being 35 or so miles away down the A40 it shouldn't be that hard to make an evening fans forum(work commitments excepted)?..... I know first hand having been working in Gloucester on the afternoon before DE's last FF as chairman, (held at Court Place Farm, the EVENING before the Oxvox open meeting with safety officer Mr Mixter as guest speaker held at the same venue), and made both of those meetings with time to spare too.

When I go to watch my team play, I want to maximize the day out, definitely not to have it fuckedup by OUFC officials, who can't keep to their own agreements, made publically, to the most important people there is to OUFC , the fans, at the previous fans forum

 

[Deleted member 222]

With all due respect Sarge, the club also suggested we were aiming for promotion this season, along with 71 other football league clubs. If we don't get promoted does that mean they were lying then as well?

Unfortunately in football not everything is as black and white as people would like. Circumstances change all the time. In this case its the delay on training ground (something that is out of the clubs hands due to the heat wave).

 

[Deleted member 222]

thats not the issue @CheltenhamYellow ..... the issue is Chairman, MD, and other OUFC officials AGREED at the last fans forum(the pre match one) that the next fans forum would not be pre match, therefore not limited to just 60 minutes (they SAID fans forums would be held of an evening in different parts of Oxfordshire to engage with more of the fanbase), thus not interfering with Us fans pre match prefered habits. Also a shareholders AGM for 2018 was AGREED by the Chairman, other agreements and promises were also made...none of which have borne any real fruit to speak of. Saying one thing and not keeping to your agreements made publically isnt right IMO

btw- I work all over the UK (& mainland Europe), often travel from wherever I've been working on a Friday back to the motherland for home games on a Saturday am. Weeknight matches (or meetings/ fans forums) are easier for me to reschedule work to go to. With 'nam only being 35 or so miles away down the A40 it shouldn't be that hard to make an evening fans forum(work commitments excepted).

When I go to watch my team play, I want to maximize the day out, definately not to have it fuckedup by OUFC officials, who can't keep to their own agreements, made publically, .to the previous fans forum

Ah so just because it puts you out by having it before a game then it should be in midweek as you are able to move you arrangements around. Well as an exile, if I wanted to attend a fans forum I would be able to if it was pre match on a Saturday. I wouldn't be able to if it was mid week.

It is hard enough for some people to attend a mid week home game let alone a fans forum.

 

[Sarge]

Ah so just because it puts you out by having it before a game then it should be in midweek as you are able to move you arrangements around. Well as an exile, if I wanted to attend a fans forum I would be able to if it was pre match on a Saturday. I wouldn't be able to if it was mid week.

It is hard enough for some people to attend a mid week home game let alone a fans forum.

oh come on @DenisSmithsWig - you're generally an intelligent yf poster, MY issue is AGREEMENTS, PROMISES and ASSURANCES were made by the OUFC Chairman and MD at the previous FF regarding (among other things) future FF's not being limited to an hour, nor on matchdays , they went on to say that future FF's would be held in various places in Oxfordshire to engage with more of the fanbase, also a shareholders AGM in 2018 was agreed to as well....to reiterate MY issue is that the Chairman, MD, and Communications chap ALL gave their word re the next FF ...which, along with the promised shareholders AGM in 2018 , it certainly appears that none of them are men of their word.

IF the Chairman and MD of OUFC can't be trusted to keep to their word (made publically) re a Fans Forum, what else are they not being honest about? THAT is the issue.

 

[Oxymoron]

Playing devil's advocate, the club may have said that future FF would be midweek and at all four corners of the county, but that doesn't preclude having one pre-match at (or a least near) the stadium. If the next one is a Wednesday in Wendlebury, then truth will have out, no?

 

[Deleted member 462]

Tiger also agreed/ promised a shareholders AGM in 2018 at the same fans forum he, the MD n spin doctor Chris W all agreed to a non matchday fans forum....which the previous fans forum was also informed that there would be various fans forums held (on non matchdays) at different areas in Oxfordshire (to make it easier for more fans to engage with the club) .... none of which (AGM included- despite Ttiger himself agreeing there would be one held in 2018) ..... Ive got work on the morning of the Walsall game, 3hrs away from Oxford, and will only just about make kick off, if traffic is helpful! After getting agreement at the last Fans Forum that ,instead of the inconvenience to both exiles and Oxford-based U's fans , of having pre-match habits messed around with,as well as having to get to a fans forum for 12 midday and not even being held in or close to the breeze block, I for one feel that fans forums thus far are nothing but OUFC complying with current legislative requirements to engage with supports (at least) twice a season.... BUT not taking any notice of what either the fans ask, or the OUFC top table agrees to at said meetings. When I go to watch my team, I want to enjoy a decent day out, meet with friends, family and fellow yellows for a pre-match drink or two, take in the game hopefully a U's win, then have a celebratory/ commiserating beer or two after. I don't want to be setting off at silly o clock in the morning to attend a 60 minute meeting where I'm bullshitted to by those on the top table, then try to find somewhere to park (my usual parking space having been filled by the time the meeting is over), also to find other favoured pre-match habits have had to be sacrificed too....all for what? to ask a few questions, and then find the replies aren't even worth the paper they're written on! Which IMO is most certainly WRONG

A bit like emailing OUFC MD - who invited email enquiries at the last fans forum, yet, when emailed questions, ( not just by me but by other Us fans taking the MD at his word too), the MD patronisingly responds with words to the effect of 'how nice to hear from you, thank you for your valued support', yet NO reference, never mind reply, to questions asked.

Any wonder KR spouts nonsense to the local press ( eg this player, that player the other player are coming in - and they don't sign at all, proclaiming that all business rebuilding the squad would be done before pre-season tour, yet in reality pretty much none was done before the 3 game foray... etc etc etc), when the Chairman n Owner, MD and OUFC communications chappy say one thing publically, then renege on it? To me, every word emanating from OUFC in an official capacity will be taken with a proverbial pinch of salt, until I'm convinced they are, after all, men of their word....and as far as I'm concerned, as things stand not one of thems word is to be trusted at face value.

How many tickets are ACTUALLY still avail' for the cup game Tuesday week? Sold out, we're informed, REALLY? says me

Quite a number of U's fans can be described as Fun Guys, but that's no reason for OUFC's owner, nor his lackeys, to mete out the mushroom treatment is it? Saying one thing publically (at the previous fans forum- which fuckedup my Saturday, by me having to leave where I was after working the night before several hours earlier to attend a time-limited to 60 minutes fans forum, with my prefered usual pre-match habits disrupted, but I would accept the inconvenience IF what Tiger and co agreed to they stuck to!!!!) and then doing a 180 degree about face reaqlly isnt right IMO

Trust is easy to lose, Fact is Tiger, his patronising MD and other current OUFC decision making administrators have blown any trust or belief I had in taking their word at face value........ broken trust takes a long, long time to rebuild if its ever truly repaired. Chairmen, MDs, Head Coaches, Board Members come and go, I've seen many come and then go, I don't think I've lost trust previously in anything like as short period as with the current incumbents

I suppose it all comes down to what u perceive as a good answer. I read a lot of the communication between yourself and the club over scarfgate. And as I said to you at the time, it came across very differently to me than it did to yourself. Personally I think the club has become better in fan engagement in recent times, certainly improving on the situation towards the end of darryls time.

Are they always going to please everyone - no

Is it better they are holding an open fans forum, even if not at a time promised, for me - yes 100%. But I do also understand ur frustration. We do speak to them regularly on many different matters and we do generally get answers, and to be fair the same with stadco.

 

[Sarge]

I suppose it all comes down to what u perceive as a good answer. I read a lot of the communication between yourself and the club over scarfgate. And as I said to you at the time, it came across very differently to me than it did to yourself. Personally I think the club has become better in fan engagement in recent times, certainly improving on the situation towards the end of darryls time.

Are they always going to please everyone - no

Is it better they are holding an open fans forum, even if not at a time promised, for me - yes 100%. But I do also understand ur frustration. We do speak to them regularly on many different matters and we do generally get answers, and to be fair the same with stadco.

Fair comment @Dave T ..... as you were at the previous FF you will be aware the interchange and subsequent agreement from Tiger, the MD and Chris W re the next FF ( including the OUFC intent to take FF to various parts of Oxfordshire of an evening!).... granted the forthcoming FF is happening later than most would prefer, and good work Oxvox for getting an agreement for there to be a ff held....however, the Chairman, the MD and the spin doctor/ communications chappy were all involved in agreeing to not hold the next FF on a matchday, with that in mind could they not have been reminded of what they'd said on the subject, publically at the previous FF, and this one arranged in compliance with what they had announced at the previous one???? Should they need reminding? No I dont think s the should be men of their word, however, now it appears that they actually DO need more than reminding, they probably need someone taking minutes at future FF's that way there's no excuse.

Maybe Oxvox get good engagement with OUFC which of course is a good thing for a supporters trust, however some of us mere fans have had less good experiences when, as invited to do so, emails asking questions have been sent to the MD, whos email responses, to put it politely, have come across as very patronising and do not address questions raised in any shape or form. Which coupled with no sight or sign of the promised Shareholders AGM in 2018 , as well as despite agreeing and promising the next FF would not be on a matchday etc, to me seems, in general, OUFC supporters are not regarded very highly by those in positions of power currently at OUFC, or those in said positions believe OUFC will forget wghat has been said, agreed and promised publically.... or , they are at a fans forum , not particularly trustworthy as their words at the last FF, to me now ring very hollow, to say the least

 

[Deleted member 462]

I get what ur saying sarge. Like I said I do understand ur annoyance. Again I personally don’t think any of the staff that replied to the email I saw came across patronising, they were polite and gave answers to the questions asked. And that largely came down to the same thing, u just can’t please all the people all the time.

They give away free scarfs - people who don’t get one are annoyed.

They hold a fans forum- there will always be someone who can’t make it at that time.

Is it better for example to keep a promise made to you, but have less fans attend on a week night, or is it better to please more fans but there for break a promise made previously.

I think it’s great that we have a owner and a M.D. that are willing to stand up in front of supporters and engage with them. I think it was delayed for the best of intentions of having it at the training ground, let’s hope people turn up and take the opportunity to ask genuine questions and concerns

 

[Sarge]

I get what ur saying sarge. Like I said I do understand ur annoyance. Again I personally don’t think any of the staff that replied to the email I saw came across patronising, they were polite and gave answers to the questions asked. And that largely came down to the same thing, u just can’t please all the people all the time.

They give away free scarfs - people who don’t get one are annoyed.

They hold a fans forum- there will always be someone who can’t make it at that time.

Is it better for example to keep a promise made to you, but have less fans attend on a week night, or is it better to please more fans but there for break a promise made previously.

I think it’s great that we have a owner and a M.D. that are willing to stand up in front of supporters and engage with them. I think it was delayed for the best of intentions of having it at the training ground, let’s hope people turn up and take the opportunity to ask genuine questions and concerns

I'm not referring the scarf-gate emails @Dave T .... which I agree were answered... its reference to a number of emails on other various subjects to which the questions asked were ignored completely by the MD, despite his invitation for supporters to email him at both the previous FF and at the Oxvox open members meeting at the Masons Arms, ( held on a non matchday evening, which was incidentally, very very well attended).... I don't regard a reply to an emailed question (to the MD) satisfactory when it reads 'how nice to hear from you, thankyou for your continued support' but fails to address a question asked. As Id guess others see it too having emailed questions in to the MD and had similarly patronising replies that do not respond to the question asked.

 

[Deleted member 462]

That’s a different matter then sarge. I can only comment on the ones I’ve seen and my own experiences. Ur right the Oxvox meeting on a weekday was very well attended, but actually so was the last ff pre match at the Kassam, I’d say probably even larger numbers.

So very hard to say which is the best or preferred time to hold them.
The important thing is that they are held.

 

[Sarge]

That’s a different matter then sarge. I can only comment on the ones I’ve seen and my own experiences. Ur right the Oxvox meeting on a weekday was very well attended, but actually so was the last ff pre match at the Kassam, I’d say probably even larger numbers.

So very hard to say which is the best or preferred time to hold them.
The important thing is that they are held.

And its equally important (IMO) that OUFC Chairman, MD and the rest of the guys, in their gang, remember and keep to their agreements made in public at a fans forum

 

[Sarge]

Playing devil's advocate, the club may have said that future FF would be midweek and at all four corners of the county, but that doesn't preclude have one pre-match at (or a least near) the stadium. If the next one is a Wednesday in Wendlebury, then truth will have out, no?

I like your viewpoint @Oxymoron