I'm surprised, it cropped up a lot when there was talk of the trust saying it had some sort of guidance. I'll have a look for you later if I get chance.
Away Supporters Initiative deals: Arsenal supporters receive a £2.50 discount on every Premier League away ticket. The Gunners will also provide away supporters with a refreshments voucher worth £10 at an away fixture this Christmas. The club also discount supporter travel to Hull City for the match on Bank Holiday Monday (£10 for the coach trip and they also ran a train at £20 per return/£30 1st class). This followed on from the trip to Man Utd in the FA Cup for a Monday evening game where they ran two trains and 20+ coaches (£10 coach return/£20 train). Visitors to the Emirates will also notice a new, large video screen playing clips for the visiting side. Aston Villa announce subsidised tickets to a minimum of five away games during 2014-15, including £5 off Chelsea away. AVFC will also put on five free coach trips for longer away days and midweek games (Crystal Palace, Hull City, Newcastle United, Sunderland, and Southampton). Chelsea offer £10 per person travel for every league game outside London and knock £10 off three away league fixtures after consultation with the Fans' Forum. Everton introduce the “Road Trip” initiative at four games (Burnley, Southampton, Crystal Palace, QPR). Depending on number of away games attended in 13/14 the Road Trip offers free coach travel, food, matchday programmes and journeys accompanied by former players. Palace and QPR fans receive meal deals at Goodison Park. The club's reciprocal deals against Newcastle United and Swansea City are also funded by the ASI. There’s also a £10 discount on all tickets for Evertonians travelling to Chelsea in Feb 2015 and additional ‘Road Trip’ to West Ham including free travel, complimentary breakfast and free giveaways. The club also introduce a team of travel stewards that now go to all away fixtures with Everton supporters. Hull City spend their money on the away end, making it an "inviting and welcoming place, and improving the standards and match-day experience for visiting fans". Leicester City discount £10 off tickets for Swansea City away (25th October). The Foxes say they will implement more deals through the season. Liverpool reduce ticket prices for their own travelling fans by £2-£4. The club says further benefits to improve the away supporters' experience “are expected to be” announced during the season. The club also subsidise tickets by £10 for the trip to Old Trafford on Sunday 14th December. Manchester City knock 50% off ticket prices for Arsenal away reducing an adult ticket to £32 and offer half price tickets for Chelsea away. The club also provide free coach travel to Crystal Palace. Manchester United reduce every away ticket for their fans by £5. Newcastle United reduce away match tickets for its supporters who travel to Spurs (Sunday 26th October) and Manchester United (Boxing Day) by £10. Reciprocal deals with Everton, Southampton, Spurs, Stoke City, Swansea City and WBA introduced. Queens Park Rangers offer free coach travel and reduced match tickets for the trip to Swansea City on Tuesday 2nd December. There’ll also be free coach travel to Merseyside for the R’s match against Everton on Monday 15th December. Southampton - subsidise travel for 7 fixtures (Newcastle United, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Everton, Swansea City, Burnley, Hull City) and tickets for Newcastle United (reciprocal), Chelsea, Manchester City. The Saints provide Christmas-themed food for hundreds of fans travelling on the official, subsidised coaches on Boxing Day and gave out 2,500 branded Santa Hats as a special gift. In the away concourse they purchase t-shirts for each PL club for staff to wear. Sunderland offer discounted tickets for trips to Southampton (Saturday 18th October), Crystal Palace (Monday 3rd November), and Spurs (Saturday 17th January). Swansea City reciprocate Leicester City’s ticket deal so travelling fans save £10 when they make the return journey. The club say they will also reward fans attending away games with incentives including discounted tickets and travel. Supporters who went to on the opening day's match get up to £15 off Manchester City away. Stoke City offer free coach travel to all away fans from the Britannia, at every single Premier League game, for the second successive season. The club also did a reciprocal deal with did with Newcastle United (tickets £20 adults & £5 concessions). Tottenham Hotspur run free coach services to seven away games (saving an average of £27 to those who used it) and subsidise coaches at £10 per head to seven other games (average saving £19). This means a fan could attend all Spurs matches outside London for £70 travel for the entire season. The club also put on free of charge coaches for our regional supporters clubs who took up the offer of one free trip per season. Spurs also organise two flights to Newcastle United and airport/stadium shuttle transfers (minimum saving per fan £95.50). All catering staff in the away section dressed in Toffs/Score Draw retro shirts for 14 of 19 home PL matches to welcome visiting fans. West Bromich Albion have informed us they will be offering free coach travel to one game this season (TBC), have organised reciprocal deals with Newcastle and Swansea, and ran 'Kids for a Quid' at the Burnley match. West Ham United offer free coach travel for two fixtures; £10 discount on two fixtures; reduced booking fees on all away tickets; £5 coach travel saving on all other away fixtures; reciprocal deals with fellow PL clubs; improved in coach travel facilities and entertainment; away end branding to welcome away fans. - See more at: http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/away-supporters-initiative-201415#sthash.lgULTadE.dpuf.
The one thing I do remember, was that the Premier League recommended that clubs should consult with fans and come up with plans that were most relevant for their club and fans. In fact, I believe that was pretty much the exact wording used.
Yes Ehab, all the other clubs got it wrong didn't they. No it wasn't at all. They just said that there weren't any specific rules and suggested that fans should be consulted. They weren't firm about anything they said on the topic. This is one of those Allam things that people seem to find more acceptable over time. People seem to have forgotten but Ehab even accused every other club of breaking the rules and claimed it was only to be spent on opposition fans. That's obviously bullocks but he said it publicly. The horrible **** would say anything to avoid telling the truth. His dad hates us so it was decided we weren't getting anything and that we'd be grateful for it. But an Allam never does things like that honestly and up front, they don't have the balls, so they strung us along for months with straight up lies. I'd find them so much less detestable if they weren't so slimy about everything like this. Even when people are onto them they deny it time and time again and then eventually when it becomes public they come up with some lie.
So, everyone else got it wrong and spent money on their own fans. The fact the writers have put that statement regarding the clubs position on the ASI initiative in inverted commas suggests a certain amount of scepticism on their part.
The bits I saw that said they were looking for something more than just reduced prices seemed clear enough. You seem to be clear that it shouldn't be spent on away fans, yet Southampton and others did that too. Where do you get that bit from? Before anyone jumps in, I'm not defending the lack of spend on City fans, I'm querying some of the suggestions on it being against the 'rules'. It seems some are upset, but their version of the 'rules' seems less than accurate. If there's an issue to address, it's better targeted specifically and accurately or it's just noise.
I think Southampton also revamped the away part of their ground didn't they? It also seems to have the support of Peter Scudamore. "One of our unique selling points is the away attendance because it creates the tension, the passion, the show," says Richard Scudamore, the Executive Chairman of the Premier League. "The most committed of all supporters is the travelling fan. 'Full and vibrant stadiums make the League special' >> "We and the clubs recognise the sacrifices this group makes as well as the undoubted positive impact they have on the atmosphere generated. "That is why the clubs set up and funded the Away Supporters' Initiative, where each club set aside a minimum of £200,000 per season to fund things like free travel, reduced ticket prices or better in-stadium facilities and experience." http://www.premierleague.com/conten...by-club-away-fan-deals-in-premier-league.html
Without wishing to enter into a great debate about the rights and wrongs of how we spent the ASi, there has to be a bit of balance. The EPL did not say that the money was to be spent on discounted tickets, vouchers or travel for a clubs own fans. It is all about making the "Matchday Experience better for travelling fans". It was completely up to the clubs, how they spent it.
Southampton spent a small amount on away fans visiting their stadium but had loads of things they spent money on for their own fans. No similarity to what the Allams did which was to spend **** all on their own fans. Leaving aside that having Scudamore's support is nothing to be pleased about, the fact is that ours was the only club that spent nothing on their own fans. An indication of the contempt with which they regard them. Ehab's making out that we were the only club doing it right was pathetic blustering to try and justify themselves.
The fact every club spent money on their own fans with the exception of ourselves says everything about the Allam's attitudes towards their own fans compared to the owners of other clubs.
Basically, the rules said that there weren't any rules. That doesn't justify stiffing your own fans, that's why we're the only club who did it and it was done entirely out of spite.
The guidance was to improve the away fans experience. The fact some wrongly thought this meant just cheaper tickets seems to be part of the angst. Yep, the club should have discussed it more, but knocking a fiver off a ticket is hardly going to get the atmosphere bouncing. Getting wrapped up in this simply cuts the time and resources from addressing more core issues. It's a hiding to nothing, given for better or worse, the people that initiated it seem okay with the spend.
You're making an argument for the club getting it wrong, when the people that set the fund up mention improving the away end as a positive. If there's an argument to be had, it's surely better to base it on something more solid. The club not talking to some fans group is more the issue than a misunderstanding over what the fund was for.
Leaving aside the change of name issue and the Airco debacle what the Allam's did with the ASI was ****ish in the extreme. It's quite obvious that their attitude was 'you never helped us with the name change so you can get to ****', much in the same way that they obviously despise the council as they never got their way, thank ****, with the stadium. They might have done a awful lot of good for City, and for the City of Hull, however they come across as very, very bitter people, childish almost, if things don't go exactly the way they want them to. It's all been documented before, all of it, I don't hold out any hope at all that the Allam's, the support base, and the council will ever be a cosy trio, it just won't happen as the Allam's would need to eat some serious humble pie, and that's not in their nature, they'd see it as weakness, whereas normal balanced people would see it as sensible and magnanimous.
