FWG Meeting 17th March 2015
Attendees from the club:
James Mooney (Head of Marketing and Communications at Hull City)
Henry Crane (Catering and Hospitality, not sure if he’s SMC or Hull City)
Topics discussed:
Arbitration process and outcome – Not much of an update on this as you might expect. JM wants it resolved as soon as possible and believes the owners share that view. JM assured us that we won’t be expected to buy season tickets without knowing the name of the club, but if this was unavoidable, full refunds would be offered in the event of the name being changed.
Safety Advisory Group (SAG) – OLM is the fans’ rep on the SAG and will continue to attend meetings. OLM requested the meeting minutes to share, these have since been posted on a separate thread on here.
Airco Arena – JM feels sorry for the clubs who’ll no longer have access to it. Apparently this was a final resort after exhausting all other options. Bishop Burton was not an option due to the timescale which the college couldn’t agree to. The audit is in April and the next opportunity would be in 18 months’ time if this is missed. The club believes that it will satisfy the terms of the lease regarding community use by providing access to local football clubs when it’s not being used by the academy or first team. The club also believe that this arrangement will be enough to satisfy the PL’s requirements, namely that a Category 2 academy’s covered pitch must be used exclusively by the club. JM has offered to meet a group representing most of the local clubs but they have asked to meet one of the owners. Discussions continue.
Away Supporters’ Initiative – There is a debate ongoing in the offices about what to do with the £200k set aside by the PL for away supporters. Some of the money has been spent on Arsenal away. There is money still to be spent and JM accepted that this should have been sorted long ago. No specific or general figures could be given. It was pointed out that the FWG has agreed unanimously on more than one occasion to spend this money on subsidising tickets rather than travel but some unspecified people at the club are against this idea and prefer it to be spent on travel or even on improving the experience for away fans at the KC, rather than on our owns fans. It was asked by more than one person on what basis anyone can be against subsidising tickets, and specifically how subsidised travel can be a better option. JM wasn’t able to answer this, but agreed to provide an update by the end of the week.
Plans for 2015/16 season –Prices and age groups for next season’s matchday tickets and season passes were discussed but nothing is confirmed at this stage. It will obviously depend on which division we’re in.
Teams on big screen – Bill, representing the Senior Tigers asked if the line-ups can be presented on the big screen in the build-up to the game but before the teams come out. This used to happen. JM agreed and said this will be in place by Sunday’s game against Chelsea.
Turnstile queues – I raised this saying it hadn’t been a problem until the new system was installed. The club believe a big part of the problem is fans gradually arriving later and later and that this is the biggest contributing factor. Apparently CCTV footage shows a lot of people leaving nearby pubs when the early televised game finishes which often means a big walk-up close to kickoff time. There’ll be a new scanning system installed in the summer and 4 new turnstiles will be fitted.
Stadium Maintenance/cleanliness – I raised this as requested but didn’t have examples to give which meant it couldn’t go very far. I agreed to give specific examples in future, so if people want to send me specifics I will make a note of them. I mentioned the amount of litter either side of the walkway between the stadium and Argyle street. Others acknowledged this. JM suspected it might be council land not included in the SMC lease and therefore not the SMC or club’s responsibility. I pointed out that this had been cleaned up years ago when Adam Pearson decided to just do it even though he wasn’t certain whose land it actually was, but saw that it needed doing. This will be investigated.
Ladies toilets in the South stand – apparently there is no hot water and the flushing is ‘lazy’. This will be looked into
Goal music – JM reported that some people at the club are in favour of introducing goal music, though he himself disagrees with it.
Introducing stands – I brought this up as someone on here had asked. I said a lot of people really dislike it. A few people in attendance said they actually do like it. JM said it wouldn’t be going in the near future.
North stand concourse – We were again told it’s not practical to open the gate in the North-West corner to allow fans in the crowded North stand into the West stand, HC claimed it could mean the West becomes overcrowded to the point of being unsafe which currently isn’t the case in either stand apparently. No other gates in the corners of the ground are opened.
SLO – Ian Waterson from CI brought up the UEFA guidelines on Supporters’ Liaison Officers (which he feels are not met by the club) and asked that we discuss it in detail at the next meeting as an agenda item. JM was reluctant at first because he feels the current SLO gets too much stick but eventually agreed to discuss it and to bring along the SLO to the next FWG meeting.
Vegetarian/Vegan food (mainly FAO Alpha Kenny Body) – I spoke to HC individually about this. He explained the cheese pizza is available everywhere but the lower West which is not technically possible. He did explain why but I can’t remember the exact details, something to do with the size of the units I think. He invited me to put AKB in touch with him to discuss catering arrangements for vegetarians/vegans.
Hull Pie – HC also mentioned that he has spoken to the owner of Hull Pie, who he feels is still establishing his business but he is keen to try and work with them if possible.
We ran out of time so I've sent the last couple of questions to JM via e-mail afterwards:
PA System – I put to him the points raised on here about it being poor in some areas.
Ballboys - I mentioned the recent home game (QPR?) where a few of us felt they were very slow getting the ball back in when the team needed a goal and asked if they are briefed to get it back as quickly as possible when the team need it.
Once I get a response on those last two I’ll post them.
