Jump to content

Saints Supporter's Charter


Wes Tender

Recommended Posts

A very interesting brochure just dropped onto my doormat, entitled the "Southampton Football Club Supporters' Charter". I don't recall ever receiving one of these before and it appears to be an initiative of Nicola Cortese's. Apparently from reading the attached letter from David Luker that accompanied it, Cortese has had a meeting with Malwhinney about it and he stated that it summed up a lot of the good things that are happening here.

 

Certainly it is an initiative that is to be welcomed, especially as the previous incumbents either did not seem to know about good customer relations, or else they didn't care either way.

 

Especially good are Cortese's concluding paragraphs on the back page of the booklet.

 

"As custodians of your club, we have defined and clear plans to take it forward. It is our intention to take the club back to the Premier League and ensure that at the same time it is competitive within the league in which it sits.

We want to engage with business partners at all levels and be seen as a responsible corporate organisation adding value to the Community with the projects we undertake.

 

Within the next few months we will be delivering news of our Supporter Engagement Policy whereby our supporters, specifically our Season Ticket holders, can actively play a part in dialogue with their club in an effort to shape its destiny, such as pricing policies for ticketing and retail products. We intend this strategy to be ground-breaking in football by enabling supporters to build a unique relationship with the Club"

 

How refreshing and professional these people are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep got mine a couple of hours ago, couldn't be bothered to start a thread about it. Really good, although can't say I agree with this; "If a match is abandoned after kick-off, ticket holders will be entitled to purchase tickets at half-price for the rearranged fixture".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep got mine a couple of hours ago, couldn't be bothered to start a thread about it. Really good, although can't say I agree with this; "If a match is abandoned after kick-off, ticket holders will be entitled to purchase tickets at half-price for the rearranged fixture".

Is that if it's abandoned at half-time? If it's after 60 minutes do we have to pay 2/3 next time?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be fair, the club has had a Supporters' Charter for years.

 

Whether they've actually paid any attention to it in the past or not, though, is another matter...

 

Put it this way, it's the first time the club has bothered to mail them out to fans.

(I'm assuming it's mailed to ST holders).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep got mine a couple of hours ago, couldn't be bothered to start a thread about it. Really good, although can't say I agree with this; "If a match is abandoned after kick-off, ticket holders will be entitled to purchase tickets at half-price for the rearranged fixture".

 

Abandonments are pretty rare these days, it would need a blanket of pea-soup fog to descend or rain or snow of biblical proportions to abandon the game. Usually if a game is in danger it would be postponed prior to kick off. I know that it sounds a bit mean not getting a full refund for an abandoned game but if the game goes ahead for any amount of time, all of the stadium costs have to be met (i.e. stewarding, police, catering etc.).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Abandonments are pretty rare these days, it would need a blanket of pea-soup fog to descend or rain or snow of biblical proportions to abandon the game. Usually if a game is in danger it would be postponed prior to kick off. I know that it sounds a bit mean not getting a full refund for an abandoned game but if the game goes ahead for any amount of time, all of the stadium costs have to be met (i.e. stewarding, police, catering etc.).

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8376276.stm

 

Only 2 weeks ago, after 60 mins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be fair, the club has had a Supporters' Charter for years.

 

Whether they've actually paid any attention to it in the past or not, though, is another matter...

 

Well, it's the first that I've heard that they had one. What really is the point in having a Supporters' Charter though, if none of the supporters, apart from perhaps a few like you, knew of it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it's the first that I've heard that they had one. What really is the point in having a Supporters' Charter though, if none of the supporters, apart from perhaps a few like you, knew of it?

I think it was a Premier League/Football League regulation that clubs had to have one and have it hosted on their website - what they then did with it was up to them.

 

The only time I can remember it ever being brought up was when the club decided they were going to amend the pledge to only release a new away kit every two years and do one every year instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does this include a pie & pint house within walking distance of the stadium for home and away fans to mix?

 

Fans should be able to decide what is sold in the stadium shops - specifically beer and snacks. It's going to be about perference - but a decent lager & bitter is a must for any football ground. People don't mind paying over the odds aas long as it is a decent pint!

 

Then again with the thousands staying away - their voice will never be heard above the clamour of the real supporters, the season ticket holders.

 

Brace yourselves for a bumpy ride - it'll be my season ticket is better than yours next. Hang on it already is especially if you sit in The Itchen over The Northam!

 

Can't fault the effort - but I will never be a season ticket holder as long as I have a hole in my ar$e - however I will always be a supporter whether there is a charter for me or not!

 

Roxy Saints do The Strand - Mr Cortese...a bit before your time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a positive and welcome step. Well done, Nicola and Markus.

 

I do hope though that the Charter can be reviewed periodically in consultation with supporters to take into account views and changing circumstances.

 

One thing I would heartily recommend is that Season Ticket holders are given refunds or comps when match dates have to be altered to times that the ST holder cannot make. (They are always re-arranged to Tuesdays and I work Tuesday evenings, and sadly its a job which is impossible to bunk off, grrr!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a positive and welcome step. Well done, Nicola and Markus.

 

I do hope though that the Charter can be reviewed periodically in consultation with supporters to take into account views and changing circumstances.

 

One thing I would heartily recommend is that Season Ticket holders are given refunds or comps when match dates have to be altered to times that the ST holder cannot make. (They are always re-arranged to Tuesdays and I work Tuesday evenings, and sadly its a job which is impossible to bunk off, grrr!)

 

You might open an antique bookshop to give you the necessary freedom. It works very well for certain people. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a positive and welcome step. Well done, Nicola and Markus.

 

I do hope though that the Charter can be reviewed periodically in consultation with supporters to take into account views and changing circumstances.

 

One thing I would heartily recommend is that Season Ticket holders are given refunds or comps when match dates have to be altered to times that the ST holder cannot make. (They are always re-arranged to Tuesdays and I work Tuesday evenings, and sadly its a job which is impossible to bunk off, grrr!)

 

Not sure how workable that is, as probably about a fifth of our games are scheduled for Tuesday nights from the word go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"As custodians of your club, we have defined and clear plans to take it forward. It is our intention to take the club back to the Premier League and ensure that at the same time it is competitive within the league in which it sits.

We want to engage with business partners at all levels and be seen as a responsible corporate organisation adding value to the Community with the projects we undertake.

 

Within the next few months we will be delivering news of our Supporter Engagement Policy whereby our supporters, specifically our Season Ticket holders, can actively play a part in dialogue with their club in an effort to shape its destiny, such as pricing policies for ticketing and retail products. We intend this strategy to be ground-breaking in football by enabling supporters to build a unique relationship with the Club"

 

A lot of good intentions, but let's see some action

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A very interesting brochure just dropped onto my doormat, entitled the "Southampton Football Club Supporters' Charter". I don't recall ever receiving one of these before and it appears to be an initiative of Nicola Cortese's. Apparently from reading the attached letter from David Luker that accompanied it, Cortese has had a meeting with Malwhinney about it and he stated that it summed up a lot of the good things that are happening here.

 

Certainly it is an initiative that is to be welcomed, especially as the previous incumbents either did not seem to know about good customer relations, or else they didn't care either way.

 

Especially good are Cortese's concluding paragraphs on the back page of the booklet.

 

"As custodians of your club, we have defined and clear plans to take it forward. It is our intention to take the club back to the Premier League and ensure that at the same time it is competitive within the league in which it sits.

We want to engage with business partners at all levels and be seen as a responsible corporate organisation adding value to the Community with the projects we undertake.

 

Within the next few months we will be delivering news of our Supporter Engagement Policy whereby our supporters, specifically our Season Ticket holders, can actively play a part in dialogue with their club in an effort to shape its destiny, such as pricing policies for ticketing and retail products. We intend this strategy to be ground-breaking in football by enabling supporters to build a unique relationship with the Club"

 

How refreshing and professional these people are.

 

I think you'll find we published one of these during the Wilde bunch error. It's amazing how easy football fans are to be won over by PR, far more than in any other walk of life it would seem. A chairman only has to go on record with some nice PR speak like 'we are not a selling club anymore' and the majority of fans are all to ready to take each and every word as gospel and prasie him to the hilt for it. Sadly for him, Lowe never realised this and made it very obvious to the fans the contempt he held them in. I would imagine that Lowe thought 95% of our fanbase were utter morons. Ironically I would imagine the same can be said for Glazer, Abramovich, Gillett and Hicks, etc. However they are far too media savy to ever let the fans know this.

 

Working in football club's PR dept must be like shooting fish in a barrell. It's a cold December morning, what shall we do? I know lets stick out a Fan's Charter. We can fill it with weasal words and before you know it the fans will be campaigning on message boards to send the owners Xmas cards! Let's get to work!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When is the last time that Saints had a match called off which was already in progress? Not sure if I can remember one in the 20-odd years I've been supporting them.

 

We were away at leicester, abandoned sometime in the second half i think. i can remember the pitch being flooded with a saints player laying in the water doing the breast stroke. it was on match of the day at the time

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were away at leicester, abandoned sometime in the second half i think. i can remember the pitch being flooded with a saints player laying in the water doing the breast stroke. it was on match of the day at the time

 

I seem to remember a game v Luton at the Dell that was abandoned because of fog. I don't think we've been even close at St Mary's (although the Nigeria/Japan International was pretty waterlogged).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of good intentions, but let's see some action

 

Of course, the prrof of the pudding etc, etc. But I think we can cut these guys a bit of slack, seeing as they've delivered on everything else they've so far talked about.

 

I agree entirely with o_b that fans are all too often taken in by words which are not backed up by actions, and understand that this waryness has come from years of broken promises or empty words from previous regimes, and supposed 'saviours' like Wilde.

 

We should not taint the new owner and his staff with the same doubt that we had in the past as it is not their fault that we as a fan base have come to be this way. We should try and rise above the 'once_bitterne(!), twice shy' mentality that we've developed, and give the new regime the benefit of the doubt because they have duly delivered everything expected of them so far.

 

So yes, these are only words, and many fans are taken in easily, but having demonstrated a level of commitment to the club not seen in decades, I think ML and NC and co should have earnt some trust from us to deliver on this if they say they are going to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure how workable that is, as probably about a fifth of our games are scheduled for Tuesday nights from the word go.

 

Yep. It is a disincentive for me to renew my ST next season as I now have to miss so many matches. I'm losing out seriously as my work schedule changed since buying the ST. Something that needs to be considered next season when costing ST's so that Sats only matches are offered imho.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you'll find we published one of these during the Wilde bunch error. It's amazing how easy football fans are to be won over by PR, far more than in any other walk of life it would seem. A chairman only has to go on record with some nice PR speak like 'we are not a selling club anymore' and the majority of fans are all to ready to take each and every word as gospel and prasie him to the hilt for it. Sadly for him, Lowe never realised this and made it very obvious to the fans the contempt he held them in. I would imagine that Lowe thought 95% of our fanbase were utter morons. Ironically I would imagine the same can be said for Glazer, Abramovich, Gillett and Hicks, etc. However they are far too media savy to ever let the fans know this.

 

Working in football club's PR dept must be like shooting fish in a barrell. It's a cold December morning, what shall we do? I know lets stick out a Fan's Charter. We can fill it with weasal words and before you know it the fans will be campaigning on message boards to send the owners Xmas cards! Let's get to work!

What was published by Wilde, was what he described as a manifesto. There is a difference between the two things, believe it or not. You also need to take into account the varying circumstances prevailing at that time and compare them against those in-situ now. At the time of Wilde's manifesto, the ownership of the club was split into factions through those who controlled it by their shares . The purpose of that manifesto was not to curry favour with the ordinary fans, but to attract the support of the shareholders at an EGM, so it was pretty much the same as a manifesto put out by a political party preceding an election.

 

Liebherr owns the club outright. He does not need to have a Supporters Charter at all if he couldn't be bothered to. But he and Cortese recognise that it is good business practise to keep the customers of a business happy and apart from the odd cynic like you, most people will welcome this initiative.

 

And in case you hadn't realised, the campaign to send a Christmas card thanking Markus Liebherr for rescuing our club had already been set in motion before this Charter had been sent out. It could well be that people feel more inclined to do that because of this Charter, but it is not a compulsory action and if any feel as you do and can't be bothered to make this small gesture, then you can save yourself a few bob and feel like Scrooge come Christmas, if that's what makes you happy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you'll find we published one of these during the Wilde bunch error. It's amazing how easy football fans are to be won over by PR, far more than in any other walk of life it would seem. A chairman only has to go on record with some nice PR speak like 'we are not a selling club anymore' and the majority of fans are all to ready to take each and every word as gospel and prasie him to the hilt for it. Sadly for him, Lowe never realised this and made it very obvious to the fans the contempt he held them in. I would imagine that Lowe thought 95% of our fanbase were utter morons. Ironically I would imagine the same can be said for Glazer, Abramovich, Gillett and Hicks, etc. However they are far too media savy to ever let the fans know this.

 

Working in football club's PR dept must be like shooting fish in a barrell. It's a cold December morning, what shall we do? I know lets stick out a Fan's Charter. We can fill it with weasal words and before you know it the fans will be campaigning on message boards to send the owners Xmas cards! Let's get to work!

 

 

the difference between Lowe and the other people you mentioned was that they all run successful businesses dealing with the public and realise that PR is important not being seen in the clubs training kit with your initials on it, or talking about Klingons

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We should not taint the new owner and his staff with the same doubt that we had in the past as it is not their fault that we as a fan base have come to be this way. We should try and rise above the 'once_bitterne(!), twice shy' mentality that we've developed, and give the new regime the benefit of the doubt because they have duly delivered everything expected of them so far.

 

Personally i'm chuffed to bits with our new owner and the way Nicola is running the club. They've got us good players in, have not overcharged on tickets and haven't been like Lowe wanting to be in the press at every opportunity. I've got absolutely nothing to complain about.

 

What really does worry me though is that these initiatives are always jumped on by the 5 or 6 gob****es/supporters clubs with next to members who like to speak on behalf of everyone else. And this exactly what will happen again.

 

I reckon it's David Luker trying to big himself up, when all he should be doing is selling tickets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What really does worry me though is that these initiatives are always jumped on by the 5 or 6 gob****es/supporters clubs with next to members who like to speak on behalf of everyone else. And this exactly what will happen again.

I disagree. Fans have got involved in the past because they were concerned and wanted to try and do something to help. Whilst the methods have been debated long and hard and many fair criticisms levelled at Supporters Groups, the one thing I am personally 100% certain of is that the majority have always done so with good intentions. It's all in the past now however and I too am more than happy with how things are going, but in the past that wasn't the case, so these people tried to do something.

 

I reckon it's David Luker trying to big himself up, when all he should be doing is selling tickets.

Again, disagree, David Luker is simply doing his job, which is not just selling tickets, but also liaising with fans according to how the hierarchy above him see fit, which is what this has laid out.

 

What both David Luker and Supporters Groups have in common is that they are the ones who've often put their heads above the parapet, only to be shot at, when all any of them want is to improve things for everyone involved. If others disagree with the way they go about it, that's fair enough, but I think it's massively unfair to criticise them for giving a sh!t and wanting to do something about it.

Edited by Minty
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What was published by Wilde, was what he described as a manifesto. There is a difference between the two things, believe it or not. You also need to take into account the varying circumstances prevailing at that time and compare them against those in-situ now. At the time of Wilde's manifesto, the ownership of the club was split into factions through those who controlled it by their shares . The purpose of that manifesto was not to curry favour with the ordinary fans, but to attract the support of the shareholders at an EGM, so it was pretty much the same as a manifesto put out by a political party preceding an election.

 

Liebherr owns the club outright. He does not need to have a Supporters Charter at all if he couldn't be bothered to. But he and Cortese recognise that it is good business practise to keep the customers of a business happy and apart from the odd cynic like you, most people will welcome this initiative.

 

And in case you hadn't realised, the campaign to send a Christmas card thanking Markus Liebherr for rescuing our club had already been set in motion before this Charter had been sent out. It could well be that people feel more inclined to do that because of this Charter, but it is not a compulsory action and if any feel as you do and can't be bothered to make this small gesture, then you can save yourself a few bob and feel like Scrooge come Christmas, if that's what makes you happy.

 

I think you have got a bit confused. Yes, there was a Manifesto which was to curry favour for the Wilde bunch takeover but there was also a Fans Charter. Had you forgotton? Allow me to jog your memory:

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/staticFiles/c7/37/0,,10280~145351,00.pdf

 

It looks pretty similar to NC's one....

 

I'm pretty straightforward in what I want from an owner:

 

Ensure the good has good facilities (ground, training, etc)

Appoint a good manager

Fully back this manager, both in financial and other ways

 

From my perspective, ML and NC have ticked all of these 3 boxes since they took over.

 

Personally I would prefer it if they left it like that and let us fans judge them on their actions and not on their words.

 

Their actions have been Grade A so far but ironically I am left feeling less impressed with them when they feel they need to go down the PR route. When their actions are doing more than we could have ever hoped for why do they feel the need to try and further butter us up with Charters and statements like 'we are no longer a selling club'?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you get one of the booklets Once Bitterne? It was not primarily a "we're amazing" piece of PR, it was full of their plans for different aspects of the club. They ask for fans to write in and give their views so they can change these plans for the better.

Also, I honestly cannot see where they have said we are not a selling club - but even if they had there is nothing wrong with that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Their actions have been Grade A so far but ironically I am left feeling less impressed with them when they feel they need to go down the PR route. When their actions are doing more than we could have ever hoped for why do they feel the need to try and further butter us up with Charters and statements like 'we are no longer a selling club'?

 

What you see as 'PR' and 'buttering up', I think most fans (my guess, and I stand to be corrected) would welcome as good communication with fans.

 

If you're not interested, that's fine, and you can happily sit back and enjoy the bits you like, but in this day and age, I think only the very naive or very arrogant organisations (in business as well as football) think they will always keep the fans happy, and so to have some channels of communication is beneficial.

 

Whether they are used is up to us, and if we're happy, so be it, but I think it's important to still have them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...