
Stadium Access Cards:
confirmation from THFC as to reason for issues at Swansea/Tbilisi and steps to rectify this.
StubHub: explanation from THFC as to queues pre Swansea and learnings moving forward.
Away Fans Experience: confirmation from THFC that the Premier League grant will be used on subsidised coach travel.
Madrid Partnership: epetition passed onto THST by e-Spurs.
THFC confirmed on 5th September that the access card failures experienced at the Swansea match were as a result of a
third party incorrectly printing batches of Bronze and Lilywhite members cards.
THFC is issuing paper match tickets to all members who have purchased tickets for the Norwich City game on 14th September,
irrespective of whether their new cards worked at Swansea and Tbilisi.
It is likely every Bronze and Lilywhite member will receive another new access card as soon as THFC can organise this. Paper tickets will be issued in the meantime.
Platinum, Gold and Silver Season Ticket access cards are unaffected.
During a phone conversation with THST’s ticketing representative on 6th September, THFC fully acknowledged the
problems caused for supporters at the two home games thus far this season.
Ticketing:
THST continued to press for ticketing information to be relayed to fans as quickly as possible, taking the Cardiff fixture change confirmation as an example this week where transport needed to be booked and the announcement came
later than THST would have wished.
StubHub:
THST continue to chase for top level transactional data following the Swansea home game, as promised in earlier meetings between THST, THFC and StubHub.
Regarding the queues for StubHub ticket collections ahead of the Swansea game, THFC confirmed that insufficient windows were opened initially. One window was servicing StubHub collections at first and this was increased to eight windows as kick off approached.
The StubHub requirement of Photo ID upon collection significantly slowed down the process, especially when reconciling non UK forms of identification against booking information.
THFC confirmed that five windows will be open for collections pre Norwich from 11am (maybe 10am) and that the traffic on the platform has been slower than for Swansea so far. THFC is hopeful of avoiding a repeat of the difficulties.
Atmosphere/Visuals:
The inaugural meeting of the Atmosphere Group has been confirmed for Tuesday 10th September in Central London.
Representatives of THST, The Fighting Cock, Spurs Youth, THFC and the FSF will be present. This will be a closed meeting.
Minutes on this meeting will be posted in due course.
The Park Lane ‘Balcony Banner’, featuring Bill Nicholson, is still awaiting approval by THFC prior to funds being raised and production started.
Away Fans Experience:
As explained last week, THST approached THFC to confirm how the £200K grant to each Club from the Premier League was to be spent on improving the Away Fans experience.
THST’s preferred option was to reduce away match tickets by £2.75 to enable all those attending an away game this season to benefit in a small way.
THFC discussed at Board Level and opted to offer subsidised coach travel to all Premier League away games this season, priced at £10 for Adults and free for U16’s accompanied by an adult.
THFC will publicise arrangements for the coaches in due course, starting with the Cardiff Away match.
THST disagreed with this decision as it does not benefit those living outside of North London, or any of the Supporters Clubs who already organise coaches themselves.
Considering this is the decision THFC has reached, THST has requested additional pick up and drop off points, a relaxation on the food and drink rules and the option to travel ‘one way’ for evening games when other transport options may be limited. Awaiting a decision from THFC.
UEL Group Stages:
THST raised the lack of Thomas Cook tours to any UEL group stage matches. The destinations themselves, VISA requirements for Moscow and the fact these would be 2 night trips meant the costs were very high (£650 - £850 per person) and the demand for official tours to Anzhi and Sheriff wasn’t there to warrant this.
Tromso is proving more popular, however, the tiny allocation of 320 tickets massively restricted the possibility of taking any for an official trip, even 40 or 50 would have been tricky from such a small pool.
THST will also raise the pricing structure for this season’s UEL home games wth THFC, which has seen a significant increase on the 2012-2013 prices.
Credit Unions:
THST is exploring the possibility of working with a Credit Union to offer an alternative way of funding Season Ticket purchases and is in the process of discussing tested options with Supporters’ Direct (National umbrella organisation for supporters’ trusts and fans unions).
Fan Safety Abroad:
THST has been invited to the House of Commons on 25th September to discuss fan safety at overseas matches at a seminar organised by Supporters’ Direct. More details will follow on this.
Real Madrid Partnership:
An e-Petition, created by E-Spurs, calling for an end to the strategic partnership between THFC and Real Madrid is due to be presented to THST on 7th September.
THST wish to be clear that it is not running the petition. It is addressed to THST to pass onto THFC in the capacity of fans representatives. THST is acting as the conduit on this occasion.
THST has, however, contacted the THFC Board for an explanation as to the exact details of the partnership with Real Madrid and the benefits to Spurs over the past year.
THFC is in the process of discussing the partnership and declined to comment at this moment in time.
Press & Media:
Interview with the International Business Times regarding the RM Partnership Petition
Inaccurate coverage in the Metro of the RM Partnership Petition with a retraction to follow
Asisting BBC Newsround in sourcing families struggling to afford football for a piece on ‘The Price of Football’
Social Media:
Queries via the @THSTOfficial twitter account were passed onto THFC on topics including Big Screen problems at Swansea, non-transferrable tickets, regulations for flags and banners, lack of WIFI at the Lane, fixture changes & ticket allocations.
Next Week:
THST meeting with Donna Cullen is scheduled for Wednesday 11th September at WHL.
For more exclusive and live updates follow us on our social media sites:
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Linkedin: Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust