I was going to type up a summary of today's meeting at the KC, but as I'm a lazy bastard, here's Rick Skelton's summary instead... http://boothferrytowembley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/hull-city-flag-meeting-15032013.html?spref=tw All I will add, is that Nick Thompson seems a decent bloke, who is genuinely keen to take on the concerns of the fans and deal with them as quickly as possible. Some of the items raised, like coppers with camcorders, seemed a genuine surprise to him and it was obviously something he wasn't happy with. Other things he was fully aware of and his perspective on them, along with what he wanted to do with them, were perfectly reasonable and will be to the benefit of the club. Overall, I was very happy with what I heard, there is undoubtedly a desire to better engage with the fans and to do whatever is required to improve the experience of fans, along with the atmosphere at the KC.
"the risk level at football games is set by a Safety Advisory Group. This consists of the Police, Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service and SMC. Nick himself has recently being added by making a lot of noise and has had Tony Sutton from Hull FC added. He hasn't yet attended a meeting. His goal is to have two fans added to the group to give balance to the discussion. He feels that currently the police bring the risk assessment and the rest of he group are "nodding dogs". This advisory group are stopping the club having home fans in the North Stand at games." As we always suspected. An OT perk for the police to pay for holidays, pension top ups etc
OLM, thank you for the link. It looks to me that we have a club that is being determined to give the fans what the fans want and in turn looks to the fans to play their part. All good stuff.
A decent report and an initiative to be applauded. Looking at some of the names I recognise, I'm more optimistic than I would be had it been the usual suspects, but I'll take some convincing that the OSC has changed enough to be representative of fans views. (but i do accept there are some significant changes there) Is there going to be an opportunity for fans to raise questions and agenda items, could I suggest a more structured feedback of minutes once the group is better established and how often is the group to meet?
There is a panic amongst our boys in blue, that a big earner is about to be binned, mainly due to the Leeds court case result. The SAG didn't actually have a representative of City or FC on it until now, it's no wonder that some of the decisions are daft.
There's a couple who were invited, but couldn't make this afternoon, they included Nash and Andy Medcalf, I think it's a very good group. There was always the odd exile there, if you know what I mean...
Thanks OLM. Was wondering how much I missed having to leave early! If anyone on here wants to make themselves heard you've got me and OLM on here so just let us know. We could even set up a little (sticky?) thread for topics to be raised at the next meeting etc?
I assumed that was you, but we didn't really get the chance to chat to each other until after the meeting, by which time you'd obviously left. So hello.
Topic for next time: Unreserved areas. It's stupid that a lot of season pass holders can't bring along friends to games, unless they want to be by themselves. It's one of the massive flaws in the clubs 'bring a friend for a fiver' deals.
The club want unreserved seating in the North Stand(along with safe standing when it's legal), the Safety Advisory Group are an obstacle to be overcome, but it's being worked on.
I was initially cynical of this so called flag, mainly because I'm not on it. But in all serious it sounds good, and it's nice to have two representatives from here. In fact, I'm so pleased about this that I won't jump on the "PR from the club" line.
There was no discussion about drums or goal music, the list of people involved probably tell you that it would have been a fairly short conversation. Most of the meeting was taken up with the Huddersfield situation and the clubs long term view on what's required to improve the matchday experience(both for home and away fans). The club are clearly aware of the biggest issues, they're very keen to address those issues and though it may take some time, I'm sure those issues will be addressed. Starting with the fact that we have a new food/drink supplier and the new deal gives us an involvement in the prices charged, unlike the **** deal we had previously.
When I was at the Birmingham game it struck me why they couldn't have a system similar to the Theatre whereby you could pay for and order drinks in advance for half time, and then they are ready to pick up. The amount of stuff they could sell would go up dramatically.
I don't know if it's the same for football as it is rugby, but unreserved sections means that there needs to be 10% of the whole stand left for safety reasons. A good idea in theory, not so sure in practice.
The unreservedly seating would have to be addressed at the same time as the safe standing legislation, both are currently prohibited as a result of the Hillsborough disaster.
NT is a good bloke. The fact he's a long time city fan is a bonus but he's also media savy and commercially minded.
Well thats daft! When I spoke to George Hudson a year ago (why was he not there?) he said we'd have goal music over his dead body.
