HCST Statement – 24/08/2018
The result and atmosphere at our game against Rotherham earlier this week was a welcome relief from what are testing times being a Hull City AFC supporter. However we are concerned by the ongoing silence from the club on certain issues of major importance to supporters.
These concerns include:
· Ticketing, specifically the proposed re-introduction of concessions and the club's dialogue with the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) on this topic. The club stated that this was expected to be concluded by the end of July, but there has been no word on this since then or indeed for many months.
· The new 'matchday card'. We spoke to the club when this was announced and both parties agreed that there should have been a longer period for supporters to be able to get these cards without paying a fee. Since that discussion however, there has been no further update or action.
· Supporter Dialogue. There appeared to be some promising progress on this in the spring. Since then, the club have talked of holding less frequent full supporters committee meetings, offset by more regular catch-ups with individual supporter reps. To date, nothing has taken place and so it has been several months since the club met with supporters in any official or documented capacity.
· Club branding. Some changes have been made and we are pleased with this but we don't think it's unreasonable for fans to expect to be kept up to date on remaining elements such as the official website URL. An official update on progress with the crest redesign process would also be welcome.
· The owners' ongoing intentions for the club, such as whether or not they still intend to sell it.
· The owners' ongoing intentions for the club, such as whether or not they still intend to sell it.
Last week we wrote to the club expressing our concerns and requesting an update on the aforementioned issues.
For transparency, our letter can be found here.
No direct club response has been received to date, so we can only assume that the club have decided to assume the familiar position of ignoring supporters' concerns.
We have and will continue to liaise with the relevant authorities, the Football League and supporter bodies such as the FSF on these matters.
The FSF have promised to supply a summary of the discussion which their representatives have held so far with Hull City. Clearly it would be conducive to a much healthier relationship if the club itself could provide this update to supporters.
In addition, the FSF have offered to facilitate a survey for Hull City fans to give their views on these key issues. This again would be in lieu of the club releasing the full details of their own ballot results.
HCST will continue to work on behalf of members and supporters to try and resolve these long-standing issues. Dialogue must continue in order to improve the supporter experience.
As always, we welcome any feedback or suggestions from supporters. You can e-mail us on
[email protected] or contact us via our social media accounts or website.
If you still haven't joined the trust, or your membership has lapsed, please consider joining us. You can do it online at hullcitysupporterstrust.com/join - every new member helps us to be stronger in our representation of your views as Hull City supporters.
Board of Directors, Hull City Supporters’ Trust