Dave L Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 I've seen this phrase crop up quite a bit recently, and as Supporter Liaison with a responsibility for bridging that gap, I clearly have to take it seriously, and I do, as does everyone who works at the club. So can I ask those who hold that view to expand on it a little? What do you mean? How do you perceive that gap? Can you quantify it in any way? Is it a gap that exists at other clubs, or is it unique to Bristol City? If you know of a club where that gap doesn't exist, what is it that they do that we don't? What can we do to bridge that gap that we're not doing already? I'd sincerely welcome any suggestions you might have. Constructive feedback and suggestions will be more than welcome. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CiderArmyy Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 I just can't relate to players anymore, in recent times I'd go to the gate and couldn't wait to watch one of my favourites players, for example scott murray bradley orr basso etc. There's no "fan favourite" in this crop of players, with exception adomah. No player puts in a meaty tackle, a brilliant run or fantastic saves. And I think thats where the gap lies between the players and the fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i hate you butler Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 what time will the covers comeoff the pitch dave? some reckon gotta come off 3 hours prior or does common sense prevail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolcitysweden Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 People are frustrated with the lack of football knowledge at the club. It has nothing to do with communication. We would have been better off tossing a coin for atleast the last five years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinnionForEngland Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Totally agree with the first reply, although i would add i think Cunningham could and would be a fan's favourite if he weren't so unlucky with a bad injury. It doesn't really feel like Bristol City anymore, just a clueless rabble dressed in red getting stuffed every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aizoon Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 The conflict between fans and stewards at the EE is really going to kick off unless the club gets a grip on what is happening. If reports are true, and it is using contract security staff, then it's a disaster waiting to occur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Br 1st ol Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Dave, Steve used to offer a Q&A on this forum. Whilst it was generally respected and not abused, I understand why he stopped it. Steve was accessible, credible, and generally reassuring. He was the face, the voice, the logic of the board. Fans at least had a personality, a person with whom we could both identify and be reassured. Jon may be equally committed and sensible and capable of reassuring fans, but the message is not being communicated often enough. Since Steve stepped aside, and Colin was removed, there is no regular dialogue that links the fans with the board. For the record, I have confidence in the boards competence, but as an external Comms professional, can see the gap in their skills in sharing this with the fans. I am sure this observation is not news to you or the board. An audit of how you communicate, with whom, when and with which message, cross referenced by feedback and interaction would be a good starting point. A little media training might also add skills and confidence for the board and encourage a more regular interaction with customers. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Lack of direction from the board. Players who appear to have no fight for the club and just want to pick up their over inflated wages and the club milking us punters till we are dry. Not too much to sort out there Dave! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellRedPhil Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 As others have said the lack of connection with the players is the greatest it's been in a long time with the exception of a few, but it's deeper than that. A faceless chairman, a financial backer that no longer lives in this country, the fairly recent of loss of AGM's, the problems the EE have had after injecting a lot of time and money into giving the Gate a unique feel (many feel not only undervalued but almost viewed as a nuisance to the Club), a severe lack of communication on a series of matters, the promise of deals such as "food vouchers" and the result of having to change your entire routine and arrive very early to claim them (I'd rather no vouchers at all than the offer that is available, which has pretty much just annoyed everyone). The feel-good factor has been all but drained from this great Club and whilst results on the pitch of course play a huge factor in this, I do not believe they are the sole factor. Besides, the two are clearly linked. What can be done? That's a good question, and I guess it's one for the Club to answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevep38 Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 I think some of the problem is that we see players who earn an extraordinary amount of money seemingly not really give a toss during games, even though the player is going to get what wages he can(we all would if we could), In normal everyday jobs we would be sacked if we put in the performances these players do, there doesnt seem to be any comeuppance for players, who will go on earning vast sums whilst not doing a lot and whatever performance they put in, i think players should get performance related pay, basic wages and add ons for goals assists clean sheets ect. not vast sums and then add ons. People say that it is a short career and yes it is, but try telling that to a front line soldier,he can do a max 22 years then has to get another job, you dont see him/her getting thousands each week for what is a very difficult and dangerous job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WellRedPhil Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 I think some of the problem is that we see players who earn an extraordinary amount of money seemingly not really give a toss during games, even though the player is going to get what wages he can(we all would if we could), In normal everyday jobs we would be sacked if we put in the performances these players do, there doesnt seem to be any comeuppance for players, who will go on earning vast sums whilst not doing a lot and whatever performance they put in, i think players should get performance related pay, basic wages and add ons for goals assists clean sheets ect. not vast sums and then add ons. People say that it is a short career and yes it is, but try telling that to a front line soldier,he can do a max 22 years then has to get another job, you dont see him/her getting thousands each week for what is a very difficult and dangerous job. The wage debate is always more 'relevant' when we, or any other team for that matter, are playing shit. When you're flying high no one cares how much the players earn and it can be an easy argument to fall back on. I don't think player wages really are an issue, if we were doing well people wouldn't moan about them being "overpaid" or whatever the problems are deeper than that, they are engrained within the Club, not just attitudes towards players finances. Football's a well paid profession, we all know that, and there is surely no need to constantly bring it up in relation to almost every other factor concerned with the Club? High wages may well be a problem for football as a whole, but we at the moment have many problems for Bristol City individually, which I find far more worrying. Edit: That's not to say I think our wage bill is acceptable, or that we are paying suitable wages when compared with our turnover, which the accounts showed was 3x less than our wage bill! Just that people can use the fact that footballers are well-paid as an excuse to knock them whenever they do anything wrong, when most of the time the issue at hand is not relevant to their salary. In my opinion of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusader Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Trying to be constructive as possible - the community department despite 'award winning' hasn't got the community links that the likes of Shaun Parker and his Community Department had. They used to have 4 or 5 venues each week of the summer holidays at the likes of Weston Super Mare, Gloucester, Radstock, Chippenham, areas where over 100 kids would attend. The areas would pull in lads who went one way or another City or Yeovil, City or Cheltenham, City of Swindon. There also used to be a team that would do closer areas, Hartcliffe School, Imperial Sports Ground, St Thomas More School, Grange School to mop up Bristol supporters. All children would be given a match ticket. More recently more children would attend programmes organised by Jamie Shore Soccer Schools, Avon Sports Academy, Man Utd Soccer Schools. Quid A Kid Schemes for children coming with parents. Free tickets to Schools organising visits Player visits to local club presentation nights (this should be in EVERY players contract) Youth Team Scholars doing coaching in the Community I could list lots of initiatives to have the club making a greater impact in the community Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 In bad times you get nostalgia for 'the good old days' whenever they were, it's human nature and would probably happen at every club that is struggling in the league. One small thing, the EE asked Derek to give them a wave when he was checking the pitch v Watford but there was no response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcfcsouth Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 The Eastend for some is a massive reason, I know you say there is no anti Eastend agenda but it is perceived to be like that. The current stewarding situation, which appears to have happened since the new guy took charge. We are doing very very badly, and the club appears to think it is a good idea to try and wind fans up even more. This is only going to end in one way, badly. There seems to be no real connection from board level anymore, hardly anyone knows who the chairman is. Someone above said Jon, he isn't the chairman is he? Twitter posts like the one from the commercial manager or director I cannot remember the name of, we're all meant to be clubbing together while he is off watching arsenal at Southampton. None of the players seem close the fans, the fans have been quite "nice" to the players so far. I can only this getting worse while they appear to not be trying hard. Token gestures from the club like the food vouchers, ok they are a bit better this time round but why 2.30pm? Also why did the club feel they could advertise something so heavily, to then be truly awful? Again this gives the impression the club is quite frankly taking the mickey. It's appears at times that the club believes fans to be downright completly stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bcfc-Chris Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Eastend gets treated poorly. The flags have now gone, finally tickets can be bought more often, and now the surfer flag issue. Also why don't you just put all the tickets that are on sale for the Eastend online, instead of the case where they are sold out online but there are more if you ring up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolcitysweden Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 My only experience of the stewards is putting up the flag in EE and Tommy Alford is a truly great man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulcitymod Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Many good posts above. I for one miss the buzz in the Dolman bar before the game. It now feels dead in there. Bring back the bookie.... quick Furthermore the 'new' official bcfc website and Bristol City player are awful absolutely terrible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid in the Riot Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 My only experience of the stewards is putting up the flag in EE and Tommy Alford is a truly great man Haha yes 'all hail Tommy Alford'!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcfcsouth Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Bring back the bookie.... quick I forgot that, I used to like popping down a bit earlier to put on some bets. If the reason is clue, and the club wanted too much rent, surely anything is better than Nothing? Seems to be "cutting your nose off to spite your face" I never go in the deh anymore but used to when the bookies was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC101 Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Linking to the offers for this season and the vouchers. When the ST went up on sale last season the club said if you order a ST before 25th of May you get all these benefits including bring a friend for free. When I finally got the ST and read the letter I found out that the bring a friend offer is only available to people who ordered their ST before 2nd of May. That is a big gap which wasn't mentioned before the ST got sent to people. That was probably the best offer available as part of the package, and it was changed without telling anyone, meaning I couldn't use that benefit. That definitely doesn't help making the club and fans feel closer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Joe Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 its the little things that will make all the difference, players getting out to the local kids footy clubs, not just when the tv crews are around, helping the kids at the coaching events, the last joint event with the evil post ended with one player presenting a prize to the fastest player comp.. was it a shirt or set of gloves etc, no it was a screwed up pair of shorts.when the kids asked where are the players etc, the response was well its there day off, or they have been training all day. these events have now been cancelled, so there goes your future fans and poss players. mascots, the guys and girls who run it do a great job, the problem gets when the kid/kids go into the dressing room, for that 5 mins that the kids are in there they should be the center of the universe, what you get is 2 or 3 players show an interest the remainder seem to see it as a nusense.5 mins lads to pause your i players and show an interest please. Get the kids hooked on the club and they will want to come back, and that means bringing an adult and it snow balls from there... just my 2 pennys worth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Firstly the gap between home and away fans is way to big in the E.E and home supporters should always be behind the goal, not shoved up in the corner and it made difficult if not impossible for home fans to get tickets because of who we happen to b playing. The catering is a way over priced joke and I always feel like I`m being ripped off if I have to buy anything from them, which I hardly ever do because of that. Stewards seem to be so pre-occupied with home fans that away fans seem to get almost free riegn, particularly if there are a lot of them. Players seem to be just passing through and most show little to no love for our club and most seem to be here for the money............ours. Official contact is minimal, maybe you or someone should have there own q and a on here even if most replies will probably be no comment, which is fair enough in some instances, transfers, etc. email or private contact is no good as it leaves all the rest of us in the dark. Thats when rumours abound and like now gloom and doom spreads. Been here for 45yrs and this will always be my club, it needs a good sort out though. Wonder how many of the undoubted many, many posts will get a reply? you have opened a can of worms and no doubt it will run and run until its stopped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aizoon Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Good point about the catering. How come the Gas can do excellent pasties and we get lukewarm sh1te? Haven't tried the canned worms yet, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edada Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Last season you sold out of boys away shirts by November and didn't get any more in all season leaving my son (and no doubt others) without one. The treatment of season ticket holders who use the dolman bar is poor. Overpriced beer, it's the only place I've ever had a fizzy Guinness. Before the charlton game, despite asking several times, no one could be bothered to find the remote to turn the sound up on the sky game, as well as sort the grainy picture. Players refusing to communicate with young supporters whilst in community building. Stadium debacle, a reported £18million wage bill with nothing to show for it, no decent cup run for years - if we get to half time level it's a result. And yet we still turn out because we are supporters. If you really want to show you are listening, sign a couple of decent centre backs in January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRL Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Good point about the catering. How come the Gas can do excellent pasties and we get lukewarm sh1te? Haven't tried the canned worms yet, though It's lindley catering isn't it? They have a terrible name in catering. I guess they pay city to serve up their luke warm filth, hence nothing ever changes, city make their guaranteed income, we the fans have to lump it again, paying extortionate prices for pass poor food. I can only assume city are making a shed load for the deal, when you consider the amount the catering company charge us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfOfWestStreet Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Derek hardly acknowledges the supporters, I appreciate he's no Gary Johnson in the charisma stakes, but maybe clapping each stand wouldn't go a miss. All communicatons are done through twitter/rubbish website/you tube this may be the modern way but has no soul. People don't drink in the exhibition hall as its over priced, stinks like chip fat, has no bookies and 100 Tvs and only one playing football. You can drink and meet friends bedminster for half the price. Regardless of your opinions on the steward situation Dave, I'm certainly not one to cause trouble and attend with my girlfriend but seriously the stewarding is very poor, I've never felt so unwelcome at a football match, as if our presence there in the EE is an irritant. After all we're paying customers and appreciate some basic level of customer service. This has to be addressed. Being refered to ad a vandals didn't impress me much, I'm a supporter not a criminal. Finally sort the speaker/tanoy out in the EE its broken and we can hardly hear the music played, I've quite enjoyed Tims Pre Match playlist just wish we could hear it. Cheers for inviting questions and opinions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid in the Riot Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Basically a simple straightforward, say it as it is with no bells and whistles on approach, being completely open rather than full of spin approach and doing things that the fans actually care about rather than what the board/whomever think they should care about would be a start. It may not be enough however to attract those who have already have had enough and walked away, in some cases for good Agree with this. McInnes said at the fans meeting that although there was talk (coming out of the club) pre-season about us competing for the play-offs, privately it seems no-one within the club was actually expected anything other than another really tough season. So a bit more honesty in that respect wouldn't go amiss. If we are expecting another tough season then just tell the fans that, don't get people's hopes up of something we are clearly not going to achieve. From attending that meeting it also strikes me that the club have a real problem with the current board, of whom Harman, Lansdown Jnr and Dawe attended in that none of them came across as natural public speakers. None of them looked comfortable communicating with supporters, and there is a real lack of 'football background' about all of them Guy Price included. They are businessmen in suits and it looked like an inconvienience for them to have to take time out to speak to supporters. In fairness, I have spoken to Guy a couple of times and he is approachable and very honest. I don't know what's going on in the east end, last week someone got told to 'keep the noise down' because they were singing too loud??! The players are petrified of the supporters for some reason and don't properly acknowledge us at the end of games. I remember on a couple of occassions Gary Johnson sent injured players into the away end to sit with supporters for games. Now we're lucky if two senior players can be arsed to walk over and clap the support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BITW Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 For a start I genuinely have no idea what our chairman looks like. For someone at the head of BCFC there is a seriously bad lack of communication between he and the fans. And as mentioned above, me and all my mates who hold season tickets feel completely disconnected from the players and have done for a while now (although I don't see what you could do about that Dave!) Stop at the end of tomorrow's game and take the time to count how many of our players actually take the time to come and clap our fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrs Court Red Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Everything is given polished lipservkce but ideas are poorly implimented and issues badly communicated. It's clear that the club has disengaged with its core supporters, and occupies nearly a siege mentality against fans groups. We supposedly had a supporters trust, formed when things kind of felt like this, even that seems to have dissapeard, swallowed up by the supporters club. Back then fans were largely treated poorly, despite having a more open chairman. There's two people to credit for bringing everyone together, Steve Lansdown and Gary Johnson. Communication, Visio and charisma. Now we have a blog that criticises fans written by someone with no control at the club, and a twitter feed. It's a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert tann Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 "So can I ask those who hold that view to expand on it a little? What do you mean? How do you perceive that gap? Can you quantify it in any way? Is it a gap that exists at other clubs, or is it unique to Bristol City? If you know of a club where that gap doesn't exist, what is it that they do that we don't? What can we do to bridge that gap that we're not doing already?" Sounds like a man who means business and deserves a good response from City fans. Obviously not a Merchant Venturer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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