Forgot about this until a moment ago in the standing / seating thread. NP notes caught my eye in the Watford programme when he said DP had lost 4 stone - interesting that NP was very complimentary about the job DP does helping players settle in. Does this mean the FLO duties have ended? Is there a current organised 'bridge' between the fans and the club i.e. like the FLC used to be, pre Duffman?
I think he still is, if he is he shouldn't be but the reason he got the job will keep him in it. A couple of friends were discussing something with him and Brendon Smurthwaite (I hear from unofficial channels he left in a recent round of cuts?) at a preseason game and were told to email him about it and got no response at all. I spoke to someone else at the club, who I'm not going to name, and their response when I asked them about it was "not surprised you haven't had any response" and then advised me who I should tell them to get in touch with instead. It's more than a touch farcical when fans are being advised by club employees to bypass the FLO because he's got a habit of not responding to them. Maybe if we bought memberships in the Independent Supporters Club that was chaired by a club employee (yeah, that's independent) we'd get listened to. FLC (that was the mettings with various reps wasn't it?) hasn't been run for a few years. I know one of the old reps knows AP privately (kids at the same school etc) so if there were anything major that he wouldn't be aware of already he would probably go and say something to him, but if it's normal stuff like the food is crap or the the beers are poured too slowly, or Barnsley prices that he already knows about then he's not going to go see him (it's in AP's private time he sees him so he doesn't like to bring up the club in more than a 'good game at weekend' kind of way).
I think they are trying to encourage fans to join the official supporters club and have that as a liason between fans and club No idea what Danny Pratt is doing now , will it make any difference ? Has he done much in the past ?
Cheers Ricardo - more than I asked for. I thought DP had left when the previous job cuts were announced. I'd previously e-mailed him about things and got no reply. So it surprised me when I saw NPs comments about him in the Watford programme, and the glowing terms in which he was referred to, especially helping players settle in at the club (and losing 4 stone !). I knew the FLC got dropped due to Duffman, but was surprised that when AP returned something wasn't eventally re-established (I concede that AP's brief when he returned would have meant setting up the FLC was low priority). It seems to me from the various e-mails I receive from the club, and the way the OWS is more upbeat and chatty than it ever was, that whoever is behind it (Maguire?) is working to get fans onside, but missing a trick by not conversing directly. I'm sure the club has people that read all the forums (i.e. the away strip shenanigans at start of season) and reports back to someone (Maguire?) but can't help thinking they're missing a trick here.
The FLC always seemed to concentrate on relatively trivial matters though , as soon as they started questioning ticketing issues and the like that was the end of it
It's maybe been a change of role for him, I think there's very little chance of the club getting rid of him completely though. If it is a change of role then there should be someone else put into the FLO role. It doesn't need to be full time either, you just need someone with an email address and a phone for other fans to contact them and who can meet with the club once a week or once a fortnight to discuss issues that have come up, and if there's anything more urgent can ring the right people between meetings to sort it. It think it helps that the guy responsible for it all (unless his role has changed) is a City fan himself. I don't know if Brendon was a City fan or not, and he was pretty good for communicating with fans through the website and messageboard (on the OWS board) when it was his responsibility to be fair to him, but the current guy will be getting friends asking him about things like returns from injury etc, like we all would if we knew people working at the club. Must make it easier to provide the information fans want if you're being asked for it on the side.
