No matter how bad a season we've just had I would of brought a season ticket in fact I brought three your a fan through the best of times and the worst so If people you know would rather go support city that is fine but if we are promoted this season don't moan if you can't get a season ticket next season but you never know city might get promoted
BTW not having a go at you personally I just don't buy the excuse last season the football was crap a true fan goes through the worst and the best times
It wasn’t just the bad results last year though.
It was the complete disconnect with the fans as the Board froze and couldn’t see the wood from the trees.
Aside from a few on here and a small number at games, it was startlingly obvious to all that we were hurtling towards disaster and the club did nothing for far, far too long.
That led to apathy rather than anger as many felt that our leadership either didn’t understand the gravity of the situation, or didn’t care what was happening.
We won one game out of the last ten if you were a season ticket holder last year. That’s pretty demoralising, and particularly if you can barely afford to be attending for that level of ‘entertainment’.
The lack of meaningful fan engagement and communication added to that feeling of apathy and disconnect.
Jason Burt made these point recently and, as a national football journalist, he understands these things with a bit of emotional distance despite now being supportive of the club.
Jason Burt also made the point that the club really takes for granted its fans, as we generally are very loyal but often treated poorly. He is absolutely right in this regard.
And again, let’s not forget that many of us paid for season tickets for two seasons in which we didn’t actually get to go to a significant number of games, without mass calls for refunds, so again we’ve been extremely loyal.
Where’s the Fans Forum to bring people together? Where’s the Open Day to get kids to the training ground and meet the players? Where’s the open invitation to the training ground over the summer for a big BBQ for fans to talk with the squad, the managerial staff and leadership team? The club has known it will be off to Spain for weeks and weeks - why no involvement of the fans for a day out there where they can meet fans who might like to go out?
Really basic stuff to bring people inside the tent and show that their support means something to the club, other than just a slogan for the marketing (which admittedly has been much improved).
Not only that, but you could have iPads and laptops on hand for people to fill in the stadium survey there and then, and generally get people on board for a grass roots campaign over the coming months.
Unless I’ve missed it, I’ve not seen any of those things being organised. Just the bare minimum at best in terms of genuine, face to face engagement. The recent exhibition was a (necessary) tick-box for pre-app purposes. The consultants will have led on that, not the club.
All we get are excuses about doing it next time at some unspecified time in the future, again and again.
If I was really having to watch every penny, and I’d been recently treated like we have as fans, I might be really considering whether to spend on season tickets. That might be the difference between not going on holiday this year, or having a nice Xmas. Or being able to have a car running, or being able to pay the rent. The club needs to understand this.
There are so many good things happening at the club right now. The manager is fixing the mess of his predecessor, some of the back office areas of the club are returning to life, the stadium will be a game changer.
Plenty more to do on the fan engagement side of things though. The club has posted this list of things happening in July:
With preparations for the new season in full swing, there’s a lot going on in July. So here are some of the highlights to key an eye out for over the coming weeks:
www.oufc.co.uk
Aside from spending even more money, there’s very little going on to involve the fans. Just buy tickets and shirts, that’s your lot.
Jason Burt absolutely nailed it sadly. I hope someone senior at the club bothered to listen to what he said. It would be good for them, the club and, most importantly, the fans if they did something about it.
