TOPIC: Fan Rep - Priorities

Having read some of the drivel posted on here over the past few days following the appointment of Claire to the Operations Board surely it is time to draw a line in the sand, stop the personal attacks and conspiracy theories and start providing her with some priorities with regards to what we would like her to attempt to achieve during her tenure. In the cold light of the day whoever was elected was never going to be in a position to storm the boardroom demanding answers to takeovers/Blue Yonder/Steve Patt's comments etc so how about some constructive guidance for things that she might be able to achieve?

As someone who now lives overseas and is unable to get to many games I am perhaps under qualified to throw too many ideas out there, however all you regulars must have lots of things you would like to see improved on your match day experience and the Club in general?

Stop talking sense, don't you know the role is to constantly answer the same question 47 times on here?!

Well said

Has she sorted the flag out yet?

Absolute priority must be the billionaire, and getting a stop put to the lies and misinformation about this. It needs to be stopped right now, I can't say nipped in the bud, because it is in full bloom. Secondly a full explanation of what was going on with Pattison last week, and why he felt he had to lie. Those things, whether they affect the strategic or operational side of the club are what the fans (and fans of other clubs) see, and they are of huge importance to the fans. Claire has to challenge the insular nature of the football club if she is to have even the slightest hope of being any sort of success.

I realise her position as director is on only the football club board and not on the holding company board, but decisions taken at holding company level roll into the football club, and there is a massive amount of cack that comes from that direction, that is where the openness needs to come from. If we're honest there is no way she (or anybody for that matter) will ever get them to own up to what they're doing, but she has to try. If she doesn't go for the most important issues, the ones the owners don't want to answer, then she is doing exactly what they want. If she does she'll get no answers and be slapped with a confidentiality agreement anyway.

Maybe some people feel the price of pies, or the queues at the bars are more important than the future of the entire club, but I'm one of the ones who doesn't.

Completely agree with where you are coming from Moorlad, however as you have stated in your post she stands pretty much zero chance of getting a positive response to those questions, but yes as the fan's rep she has to try and seek some explanation on those issues.

I just feel that perhaps we also mustn't forget about pushing for improvements on things that she can achieve, whether that is better engagement between club and fans, improvements to WRE toilets, ticket prices for next season etc etc

The FBI could'nt get the truth out of Nixon and his cohorts. Pissing up against the wind spring to mind.....

that's my point, whilst the current situation should still be broached repeatedly we must also take this opportunity to push them on items that we can realistically hope to be improvedpensionerblue wrote:

halpinforpope wrote:
So what you're saying is that I was right all along, that the position is purely window dressing, and is in no way designed to give the fans a voice. In fact is a position designed to hide Nixon, Jenkins and Pattison from the difficult questions and deflect all the blame and vitriol on to somebody else.

We should not forget about any of the other improvements to the club, and to the matchday experience, but when Claire asks about the WRE bogs and she's told to piss off, she needs to then ask about why the entire stadium is being allowed to fall down around us while we're watching games, then we're back on to one of the big subjects - Blue Yonder, and whether it exists, and who has their finger in that pie, and why aren't we getting any information. If she asks about improving engagement with the fans she'll have to say the only way to do that is to be more open and honest from the top of the club right on down, then from an open point of view, she has to talk billionaires, and from an honesty point of view she has to bring up Pattison. Even ticket pricing has to bring up important things like why aren't they doing anything about the dwindling crowds, and the level of supporter disengagement and we're back to the same things again, I'm afraid there is no avoiding the big issues, because the affect everything else at the club. They are why supporters feel disenfranchised, and they are really what needs to be addressed.

Window dressing is perhaps a bit harsh but I do agree with what you are saying in that there is no reason why she can't ask the difficult questions, but as we all know there is very little chance she will get any of the answers we are looking for.
So the point in this thread was for people to bring up things for her to discuss with the Operations Board that we may be able to get a mutually satisfying conclusion.

I'm sorry mate, but if she's seen to be doing that, and not what people consider to be the important stuff, I'm afraid she'll be slaughtered on here (and everywhere else as well). Every time she speaks to the media or produces anything it must have a progress (or lack thereof) report on what she has found out about the billionaire, and what she's doing to find out.

that's fair enough, my whole point was that whilst she can continue to push them for answers on those topics we need to provide some other issues we would like her to look at and discuss with PK and SK
Moorlad wrote:

If I'm entirely honest mate, if Phil and Suzanne aren't aware of most of the small issues, and working towards improving the vast majority of them, then they shouldn't be doing the jobs they are. Most of the little niggles are pretty obvious, and will all be similar to what problems other clubs have. So yes, she can easily find out what the plans are for the Warwick bogs, and give us a run down, but if that is not already on the club's agenda, then we're in even worse shit than I thought.

Moorlad wrote:
I dare say the price of pies will drop in a "see, we value what our fans think" token gesture. Happy clappers will praise them, and the BOD will tell everybody at the next fans forum (when will this be by the way? I can see it being the feistiest one for a while) that they value what our fans think.

Singing Section - this should be introduced and actually supported by the club and its stewards.

Also who is Katie at the club??? I've been doing a youth project recently and a young person got in contact with her about a signed shirt being donated to give away as a prize for a charity event. This was all sorted and she was supposed to attend an event at Carlisle Train Station last Tuesday. However when it came down to the actual event, she was a no show, and made up excuses as to why there was not shirt even though this was promised to a group of 16 year olds. Not exactly professional to say the least.

You see, this is exactly where the club do not value the fans. They have a chance to do something for a load of youngsters, and perhaps create lifelong fans of the club, and they don't actually give a toss. It is an attitude that exists from top to bottom in the club, and as long as those idiots are there that will not change. I don't care how many fan reps there are on the board they will not change the attitude of the people at the top. Their workers take the lead from those clowns, and if they (Nixon, Jenkins and Pattison) see us only as some sort of cash cow, then everyone who works for them will, to some extent, feel the same. We don't matter to the club, they only care about the cash we bring in.

cufcmike wrote:
Unfortunately Mike, I'm afraid you are absolutely right, there will be some sort of token gesture somewhere along the line, perhaps not pies, but something Claire brings up. This whole post is a token gesture and they need some way of saying look we're in touch with the fans, we feel your pain, and we're doing all we can to address your concerns.

All the while they'll be carrying on trying to find a way out of the corner they've stupidly painted themselves in.

Let's get it right though, regardless of happy clappers and token gestures, they can't be allowed to get away with what they're doing.

Billionaire my arse.

To be fair, unless Claire is seen to actually challenge the board on the bigger questions it will just confirm what many on here believe, that the whole election of the representative was a stitch up from the start... with the person least likely to challenge the BOD being chosen. That isn't my opinion by the way... I think Claire has come across quite well during the process when she has communicated and certainly doesn't seem to be a pushover... however, the process was a shambles and she should really have withdrawn her application as soon as a family member was discovered to be on the selection panel. As a result of that she is starting well behind the curve with a lot of fans and will have to be visibly seen to challenge the status Quo and try to get some answers. Improving the bogs or winning some token gesture won't cut it with the sceptics I'm afraid. I wish her the best of luck but can't help thinking that she has no chance of achieving anything worth talking about.

Here's a bit of an update on today...

I've learnt a lot more about things from the point of view of having responsibilities as a director, that's been helpful and has identified questions about the business I need to know before the first board meeting.

I've now had contact with all parties in the CUSG & arranging to meet over the next week or so.

Themes of issues that are being raised as important & priorities are obv the billionaire, trust (lack of) between club & fans, the protest flag, bars (prices & speed of service), younger supporters (teenagers) & the WRE bogs!! (My dad is leading the Winder Out protests as I've not already been down to install new ones.)

It's been particularly helpful when people make suggestions about improvements & how to go about raising issues. It's clear there are a lot of people who want things to improve & haven't given up all hope of things changing.

I'll hopefully be meeting with Suzanne & Phil this week.

I'm realistic. I know it's going to be tough. However the club wanted this role & whatever the motivation was for that we have it & we should use that to our advantage.

Best wishes,
Claire

If she asks questions about anything under a confidentiality agreement, even if she does get an answer, we won't know will we. All she'll be able to say is that she's asked, been given an answer but can't say anything. What use is that ?

If they're doing the WRE bogs they need to sort out the Paddock ones too, pissing in a half-pipe set in concrete is hardly modern standards is it. Even non-league clubs have better facilities than we do.

Best of luck Claire, you've got a hell of a job on your hands, not just with the club but the fans too it seems.

Claire_Like_Eh wrote:
About which you've already said you won't raise - rather like campaigning for President of Marshall Islands and ignoring climate change really but there we are......