Updates on:
- THST Annual General Meeting
- WNSL application to Brent Council
- Sky TV meeting
- Fulham FA Cup tie
- Millwall FA Cup tie
- Gent away Europa League tie
- Gent at Wembley
Other:
1. THST Annual General Meeting
We held our AGM on 13 February, and thanks to those full members who either turned up on the night or sent in proxy votes. Details are on the AGM section of our website, but all the resolutions were passed. This means that we welcome Pete Haine as a new board member, and welcome back Katrina Law, Keith Sharp and Kevin Fitzgerald. The Greene Partnership was reappointed as auditors.
We also published our Annual Report, which can be read here.
The first meeting of the new Board is set for 6 March, where positions and work streams will be agreed for the coming year.
It is also likely our regular hosts, Nabarro, will no longer be able to accommodate our meetings after the end of next month so should any members have office space they'd be willing to offer up in Central London, we'd be delighted to hear from you.
2. WNSL application to Brent Council
Wembley National Stadium Limited has applied to Brent Council to remove the maximum capacity cap on events at Wembley. This would enable THFC to use the stadium’s full capacity of 90,000 for more games.
As we compiled this newsletter, we have no further detail on what this would mean as the application was not due to be heard until the end of March.
In discussions with THFC, we have asked that full information on next season is communicated to fans as soon after the hearing as possible, and that information on the new stadium is communicated as soon as possible after that.
3. Sky TV meeting
Following an initial meeting of fan reps and executives from Sky Sports in November, reps from Chelsea Supporters' Trust, Spirit of Shankly and THST once again met with senior Sky representatives on 22 February to continue discussions around the impact of games moved for broadcast on matchgoing fans. In a constructive and positive meeting, Sky recognised that their customers and matchgoing fans were one and the same, and the need to balance selecting the most attractive fixtures for broadcast with the problems that need caused travelling fans.
Sky explained how they are now mindful of the impact of their selections and had flipped subsequent TV picks as a result of the previous meeting with fan reps in November.
There are limitations as to how many of the issues facing travelling fans Sky can reasonably resolve. The Premier League sets the fixture list each season with no input from the broadcasters and Sky are contractually obliged to show each team in certain slots a minimum (and maximum) time each season, meaning accommodating all fans at all times isn't possible. But we were encouraged by Sky’s enthusiasm to continue to build a working relationship with supporter representatives and the desire, from the top of the organisation, to reduce the frequency of matches which see fans travelling from one end of the country to the other at ungodly hours, often with no public transport options available.
The fan reps will now seek meetings with the Premier League, BT Sport, the train operators and individual Clubs as we look for a joined-up approach to ensuring fixture rescheduling for broadcast purposes has minimal impact on travelling fans in the future.
4. Fulham FA Cup tie
Immediately after the FA Cup Fifth Round draw pitched Spurs against Fulham at Craven Cottage, we lobbied THFC to push for accessible pricing, as always. Their impact is extremely limited in FA Cup
away games, where the host Club sets the pricing. So, we also contacted our peers at the Fulham Supporters' Trust to ask for their support in keeping the cost of attending the game down.
The pricing was acceptable at £30 for adults, given FFC's previous fondness of charging £49 for away fans at PL matches, but it was disappointing we didn’t get more of the neutral section in our allocation. We were also disappointed that Fulham charged £45 for neutral section tickets.
Thanks to our friends at Fulham Supporters’ Trust for putting the case for accessible pricing at this game.
5. Millwall FA Cup tie
As soon as the FA Cup Sixth Round draw was announced, as is our standard practice, we lobbied THFC for £20 adult tickets, concessions everywhere and no ballot. The Club makes the final decision on ticketing based on a number of factors, and we feed opinion into this.
We received lots of questions about whether tickets for this game should have been allocated by loyalty points. There were pros and cons for issuing tickets in this way or via a straight online sale. Issuing tickets via loyalty points would have meant losing the chance to choose a seat in a particular location, which we know from feedback throughout this season is an important consideration for many fans, perhaps even more so considering the opposition for this fixture, whereas an online sale doesn’t take loyalty point totals into account.
Pricing also has an influence, and we did not know the Club’s decision on this until it was announced on the official Club website. We’re pleased Spurs opted to keep tickets below the level it has previously pushed quarter-final pricing up to, and we also recognise the Away club will, realistically, have had some input into discussions even though the final decision on pricing is that of the host club. We’re particularly pleased THFC did not push the pricing into game categorisation, something that would have seen members paying a minimum of £47 for a top priced ticket in a location they may not have wanted had tickets been allocated on loyalty points.
We are pleased with the inclusion of a bronze member window in this sales period, considering the erosion of benefits to this level of membership seen this season. And we consider £25 for adults and £10 for concessions throughout the stadium to be satisfactory pricing.
As always, perspective on the fairness or otherwise of any ticketing system depends heavily on individual circumstance.
6. Gent away Europa League tie
There were a few issues with travel to and entry into the stadium at Gent, and THST board members there attempted as best we could to liaise with THFC staff and get up-to-date information out to travelling fans via Twitter. We felt that communication from the home club at the gates themselves could have been better, and some of the travelling support did not gain entry to the ground until after kick-off.
Once inside the stadium, there was an inconsistent attitude to sitting fans in the seats specified on their tickets and we also found that the refreshment voucher token system we had been told would not be in operation was in fact in operation. At the end of the game, travelling fans were held back even though we had previously been told we would not be.
As always in these cases, we try to provide as much information as possible – communication is key – and we used the Trust Twitter feed to push information out once we had liaised with the THFC stewarding team.
We understand this was one of the largest travelling supports Gent have had to deal with, and acknowledge their communication after the game asking for feedback and apologising for any problems.
We’d also like to, once again, praise the efforts of our travelling stewards.
7. Gent at Wembley
Storm Doris caused widespread disruption to train services on the evening of our Europa League tie against KAA Gent at Wembley. That meant many fans were unable to get to the game. A number have contacted us after finding their loyalty points for this game would not be allocated, in line with the decision made by the Club to award points retrospectively on this occasion.
We strongly disagreed with the decision to award points retrospectively when the Club announced it would be making this change for this game. We understood the concern that the Club’s decision to price tickets very accessibly could mean fans bought tickets just to get the LPs, but our objection was based on two factors.
The first was that the vast majority of fans buy tickets to see a game. We’d argue that 80,000 people turning up on the night underlines that. The second was that there may be perfectly legitimate reasons why fans could not attend. And this proved to be the case, with travel disruption making it impossible for a significant number of fans to attend despite the very best of intentions.
Our advice has been for fans to contact the Club, but we understand the Club is sticking by its decision only to award LPs to fans whose ticket barcode was scanned on the night.
Other
We were impressed by the smoothness of the process, despite the need for extreme concentration throughout, and thank Beth, especially, for her patience in answering our often very obvious questions and talking us through from start to finish. Running the ballot fairly is an extremely complex process, and it’s clear much thought has gone into how to do this to provide the best possible outcome for supporters.
There is no doubt they are run fairly and squarely, and the draw is entirely random.
However, some difficulties were highlighted with the coordination of the sales process between Thomas Cook Sport and THFC. At present, TCS will accept bookings on chartered trains and take monies ahead of the Club allocating match tickets. This inevitably leads to a situation where fans who have missed out on match tickets are left with train tickets they’ve paid for, with no option of a refund. We think this is unacceptable and while we managed to secure refunds for fans affected this time, have asked that the process be reviewed by both THFC and TCS to ensure there is full integration between the sale of train tickets and the allocation of match tickets moving forwards.
The timing of the debate, coming after the Brexit vote, was not ideal and we recognise both that football governance does not sit quite as far up the scale as such a vital and contentious issue as Brexit, and that many MPs had put in long shifts in the debate in the preceding days.
Mr Lammy’s reply did state that he would follow up on the football governance issue with the Sports Minister, and we asked to be kept informed of any progress.
We also encouraged fans to lobby their MPs via the Vote Football platform ahead of the debate.
Each rider has their individual fundraising page for friends and family. If you would like to give the whole team an encouraging push then please donate here. With one in eight men in the UK suffering from Prostate Cancer at some stage in their lives this is a vital cause to support.
A reminder…
iSpurs information portal
The Club has also set up a new, dedicated information portal online which answers many of the questions we are frequently contacted with. We’d urge fans to read and familiarise themselves with the details available on the portal as we continue to receive a high volume of questions asking for this information.
THST Board
27 February 2017
For more exclusive and live updates follow us on our social media sites:
Twitter: @THSTOfficial
Facebook: www.facebook.com/THSTOfficial
LinkedIn: Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust
- Observing the Southampton ballot
- Subsidised train for Liverpool away
- Writing to David Lammy re: FA reform debate
- THFC/ THST Board to Board meeting
- Football to Amsterdam 2017
1. THST Annual General Meeting
We held our AGM on 13 February, and thanks to those full members who either turned up on the night or sent in proxy votes. Details are on the AGM section of our website, but all the resolutions were passed. This means that we welcome Pete Haine as a new board member, and welcome back Katrina Law, Keith Sharp and Kevin Fitzgerald. The Greene Partnership was reappointed as auditors.
We also published our Annual Report, which can be read here.
The first meeting of the new Board is set for 6 March, where positions and work streams will be agreed for the coming year.
It is also likely our regular hosts, Nabarro, will no longer be able to accommodate our meetings after the end of next month so should any members have office space they'd be willing to offer up in Central London, we'd be delighted to hear from you.
2. WNSL application to Brent Council
Wembley National Stadium Limited has applied to Brent Council to remove the maximum capacity cap on events at Wembley. This would enable THFC to use the stadium’s full capacity of 90,000 for more games.
As we compiled this newsletter, we have no further detail on what this would mean as the application was not due to be heard until the end of March.
In discussions with THFC, we have asked that full information on next season is communicated to fans as soon after the hearing as possible, and that information on the new stadium is communicated as soon as possible after that.
3. Sky TV meeting
Following an initial meeting of fan reps and executives from Sky Sports in November, reps from Chelsea Supporters' Trust, Spirit of Shankly and THST once again met with senior Sky representatives on 22 February to continue discussions around the impact of games moved for broadcast on matchgoing fans. In a constructive and positive meeting, Sky recognised that their customers and matchgoing fans were one and the same, and the need to balance selecting the most attractive fixtures for broadcast with the problems that need caused travelling fans.
Sky explained how they are now mindful of the impact of their selections and had flipped subsequent TV picks as a result of the previous meeting with fan reps in November.
There are limitations as to how many of the issues facing travelling fans Sky can reasonably resolve. The Premier League sets the fixture list each season with no input from the broadcasters and Sky are contractually obliged to show each team in certain slots a minimum (and maximum) time each season, meaning accommodating all fans at all times isn't possible. But we were encouraged by Sky’s enthusiasm to continue to build a working relationship with supporter representatives and the desire, from the top of the organisation, to reduce the frequency of matches which see fans travelling from one end of the country to the other at ungodly hours, often with no public transport options available.
The fan reps will now seek meetings with the Premier League, BT Sport, the train operators and individual Clubs as we look for a joined-up approach to ensuring fixture rescheduling for broadcast purposes has minimal impact on travelling fans in the future.
4. Fulham FA Cup tie
Immediately after the FA Cup Fifth Round draw pitched Spurs against Fulham at Craven Cottage, we lobbied THFC to push for accessible pricing, as always. Their impact is extremely limited in FA Cup
away games, where the host Club sets the pricing. So, we also contacted our peers at the Fulham Supporters' Trust to ask for their support in keeping the cost of attending the game down.
The pricing was acceptable at £30 for adults, given FFC's previous fondness of charging £49 for away fans at PL matches, but it was disappointing we didn’t get more of the neutral section in our allocation. We were also disappointed that Fulham charged £45 for neutral section tickets.
Thanks to our friends at Fulham Supporters’ Trust for putting the case for accessible pricing at this game.
5. Millwall FA Cup tie
As soon as the FA Cup Sixth Round draw was announced, as is our standard practice, we lobbied THFC for £20 adult tickets, concessions everywhere and no ballot. The Club makes the final decision on ticketing based on a number of factors, and we feed opinion into this.
We received lots of questions about whether tickets for this game should have been allocated by loyalty points. There were pros and cons for issuing tickets in this way or via a straight online sale. Issuing tickets via loyalty points would have meant losing the chance to choose a seat in a particular location, which we know from feedback throughout this season is an important consideration for many fans, perhaps even more so considering the opposition for this fixture, whereas an online sale doesn’t take loyalty point totals into account.
Pricing also has an influence, and we did not know the Club’s decision on this until it was announced on the official Club website. We’re pleased Spurs opted to keep tickets below the level it has previously pushed quarter-final pricing up to, and we also recognise the Away club will, realistically, have had some input into discussions even though the final decision on pricing is that of the host club. We’re particularly pleased THFC did not push the pricing into game categorisation, something that would have seen members paying a minimum of £47 for a top priced ticket in a location they may not have wanted had tickets been allocated on loyalty points.
We are pleased with the inclusion of a bronze member window in this sales period, considering the erosion of benefits to this level of membership seen this season. And we consider £25 for adults and £10 for concessions throughout the stadium to be satisfactory pricing.
As always, perspective on the fairness or otherwise of any ticketing system depends heavily on individual circumstance.
6. Gent away Europa League tie
There were a few issues with travel to and entry into the stadium at Gent, and THST board members there attempted as best we could to liaise with THFC staff and get up-to-date information out to travelling fans via Twitter. We felt that communication from the home club at the gates themselves could have been better, and some of the travelling support did not gain entry to the ground until after kick-off.
Once inside the stadium, there was an inconsistent attitude to sitting fans in the seats specified on their tickets and we also found that the refreshment voucher token system we had been told would not be in operation was in fact in operation. At the end of the game, travelling fans were held back even though we had previously been told we would not be.
As always in these cases, we try to provide as much information as possible – communication is key – and we used the Trust Twitter feed to push information out once we had liaised with the THFC stewarding team.
We understand this was one of the largest travelling supports Gent have had to deal with, and acknowledge their communication after the game asking for feedback and apologising for any problems.
We’d also like to, once again, praise the efforts of our travelling stewards.
7. Gent at Wembley
Storm Doris caused widespread disruption to train services on the evening of our Europa League tie against KAA Gent at Wembley. That meant many fans were unable to get to the game. A number have contacted us after finding their loyalty points for this game would not be allocated, in line with the decision made by the Club to award points retrospectively on this occasion.
We strongly disagreed with the decision to award points retrospectively when the Club announced it would be making this change for this game. We understood the concern that the Club’s decision to price tickets very accessibly could mean fans bought tickets just to get the LPs, but our objection was based on two factors.
The first was that the vast majority of fans buy tickets to see a game. We’d argue that 80,000 people turning up on the night underlines that. The second was that there may be perfectly legitimate reasons why fans could not attend. And this proved to be the case, with travel disruption making it impossible for a significant number of fans to attend despite the very best of intentions.
Our advice has been for fans to contact the Club, but we understand the Club is sticking by its decision only to award LPs to fans whose ticket barcode was scanned on the night.
Other
- Observing the Southampton ballot
We were impressed by the smoothness of the process, despite the need for extreme concentration throughout, and thank Beth, especially, for her patience in answering our often very obvious questions and talking us through from start to finish. Running the ballot fairly is an extremely complex process, and it’s clear much thought has gone into how to do this to provide the best possible outcome for supporters.
There is no doubt they are run fairly and squarely, and the draw is entirely random.
- Subsidised train for Liverpool away
However, some difficulties were highlighted with the coordination of the sales process between Thomas Cook Sport and THFC. At present, TCS will accept bookings on chartered trains and take monies ahead of the Club allocating match tickets. This inevitably leads to a situation where fans who have missed out on match tickets are left with train tickets they’ve paid for, with no option of a refund. We think this is unacceptable and while we managed to secure refunds for fans affected this time, have asked that the process be reviewed by both THFC and TCS to ensure there is full integration between the sale of train tickets and the allocation of match tickets moving forwards.
- Writing to David Lammy re: FA reform debate
The timing of the debate, coming after the Brexit vote, was not ideal and we recognise both that football governance does not sit quite as far up the scale as such a vital and contentious issue as Brexit, and that many MPs had put in long shifts in the debate in the preceding days.
Mr Lammy’s reply did state that he would follow up on the football governance issue with the Sports Minister, and we asked to be kept informed of any progress.
We also encouraged fans to lobby their MPs via the Vote Football platform ahead of the debate.
- THFC/ THST Board to Board meeting
- Football to Amsterdam 2017
Each rider has their individual fundraising page for friends and family. If you would like to give the whole team an encouraging push then please donate here. With one in eight men in the UK suffering from Prostate Cancer at some stage in their lives this is a vital cause to support.
A reminder…
iSpurs information portal
The Club has also set up a new, dedicated information portal online which answers many of the questions we are frequently contacted with. We’d urge fans to read and familiarise themselves with the details available on the portal as we continue to receive a high volume of questions asking for this information.
THST Board
27 February 2017
For more exclusive and live updates follow us on our social media sites:
Twitter: @THSTOfficial
Facebook: www.facebook.com/THSTOfficial
LinkedIn: Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust
RSS Feed
