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Fans Liaison Committee - September 2006

FLC meetings are normally held on the first Monday of each month but this one was delayed because of the unavailability of the Chairman and FLO on the 4th. No bad thing that, since City had mustered just one solitary point by the start of the month and propped up the division, a meeting then would have been a very solemn occasion indeed.

Not so now, since City have won two on the bounce, and questions for the chairman have become ‘that song we play when the players run out is crap, can we change it?’ as opposed to ‘are we going to be relegated? Should I drown myself if so?’.

Public Address and Scoreboard

It was the pre match routine and Steve Jordan’s manner on the mic that kicked off the meeting. A fair few people had expressed dismay that Republica’s ‘Ready to go’ was no longer the song the players run out to, it having been replaced by Planet Funk’s ‘Chase the Sun’, which also soundtracks televised Darts coverage.

The Chairman thought this had been changed at the behest of the supporters, but this is not the case, at previous FLC meetings it had been mentioned that some felt the ‘loop music’ played before the ‘Tiger Tiger’ intro kicked in was getting a little stale and needed refreshing, but nobody had moaned about the use of ‘Ready to go’ at previous meetings. It should not be a problem returning to the ‘Tiger Tiger’ then ‘Ready to go’ set up.

Announcer Steve Jordan continues to divide supporter opinion, some feel the ‘round the ground’ pre match routine has had it’s day, that he tends to bellow when just talking will suffice when a mic is being used making some utterances sound garbled, that repeating the goalscorers first name in the hope the crowd will chant the surname and screeching ‘get behind the Tigers, come on!’ before the kick offs is both embarrassing and a nauseating attempt to choreograph the fans.

Though accepting some of the points made, Adam Pearson said that he had received contrary viewpoints about Steve Jordan from people quite happy with his style and method. He said that going round the ground does get the desired response prior to kick off but agrees that exhorting supporters to ‘get behind the Tigers!’ is a bit much, there was a consensus around the table and that element will be dropped. As for the goalscorers name being stated twice, the second time just the first name so fans chant the surname, the Chairman said this appears quite popular to him.

On a show of hands to determine who was in favour of this and who was against, the committee was split. As a result it was decided that this will remain for now, but that the practice had to be done ‘tighter’, it must be announced as quickly after the goal is scored as possible so it’s done before play has recommenced. Although abominations such as drummers and music after goals are unlikely to inflicted upon us any time soon, the chairman noted that some elements of crowd prompting are useful for younger supporters. Striking a balance between maintaining a traditional atmosphere and including younger fans is imperative.

It was decided that when reading half time scores, results from the division City are in should be announced before those from other divisions, and these should appear on the scoreboard also. The practice of showing other scores on the electronic board was observed last season but it hasn’t happened so far this term. Both teams line ups should be displayed before kick off too.

On the subject of scoreboards the Chairman said the club would be in a position to afford a giant screen next summer, but it’s all a question of priorities. Such a screen would cost £250,000 to buy and around £70,000 a year to run, and if the club feel the money would be better spent on a new player at the time, then we are more likely to make a signing rather than a TV purchase.

The Council’s bus

The issue of the bus for supporters with disabilities being parked outside the South Stand after home games was raised for the infinitieth time. Stadium Manager John Cooper is satisfied that there is no health and safety issue with it being there even though some supporters feel it hampers mass egress from the stadium complex.

Walkway lighting

The walkway from the Anlaby Road flyover to the stadium complex is poorly illuminated. The club will ask Hull City Council to review the matter.

Away Direct and Ticketing

Several complaints were made about Away Direct members being allocated poor seats at recent fixtures, Birmingham being a notable example. This is frequently due to home clubs insisting upon a certain pattern of sales due to segregation reasons. However, Away Direct members are supposed to be given the best tickets for away fixtures and the club will disregard unreasonable selling instructions to ensure this is done in the future. Complaints of this nature were made last season and it may explain why the number of supporters choosing to be part of the Away Direct scheme has dropped significantly. It was also noted that tickets for Southampton have been sent out already, the fixture isn’t until November and there are three away fixtures between now and then.

Away ticket postage was raised. Although the committee was successful in ensuring that season tickets were posted out in unmarked envelopes, tickets for away matches can easily be identified as they are sent in windowed envelopes. This may be behind a number of instances of tickets going missing.

City have requested an allocation of 5,000 tickets for the trip to Elland Road in December, Sunderland received that amount recently. Leeds United had their first meeting with the Polizei about the fixture last week and because of their parlous financial situation are hoping for the maximum number of briefs to be allocated to Tiger Nationals. If the police reject the request for 5,000, we will get 3,200 tickets with travelling restrictions highly unlikely. No alteration to the kick-off time is envisaged.

Sales for the Crystal Palace game are in line with expectations, with a crowd of around 18,000 anticipated. The chairman compared our away support favourably to most of the division, noting that Coventry and Derby combined barely brought a thousand to the Circle.

Season ticket holders on a 4/6 month payment scheme will soon receive a mailshot inviting them to switch to the popular 12 month payment scheme for next season. The scheme allows you to pay for your pass in twelve instalments – eleven at 1/11th of the present price, with the twelfth payment including the final balance plus any increase in price for next season.

The club will trial opening the ticket office after games for a short time following several requests. Previously the view was taken that this was not necessary as there are now several ways to purchase tickets as well as in person at the stadium, such as on the web, by phone or at the new kiosk under the City Hall.

Official Website

Last month we raised a supporter’s issue regarding the dearth of information on the clubs juniors on the OWS. An update was made but this has since been the only one, and the supporter was seeking regular updates about the youth set up. This comment will be passed on to the OWS editor.

Youth development

How is the academy facility at Ideal Standard progressing? Building work has slowed down somewhat as a need has been identified for more dressing rooms that was originally planned. The pitches are practically ready though and should be in use in a matter of weeks. The club are keen to enter the FA Academy League to improve the level of oppostion the juniors face. A proposal for a Championship reserve league, split North and South, will be discussed at a forthcoming meeting of Championship clubs, this too would raise the standard of opposition faced by our reserves, which will include members of the youth team. The Chairman is confident the proposal will be given the green light and the regionalised league should kick off next season. The present reserve set-up that City are part of does not provide strong enough opposition either for first-teamers dropping down to the stiffs or for improving young players.

Refreshment costs

The high cost of matchday refreshments was commented on by one supporter. The Chairman observed that the price of food and drink is comparable to other social activities (he cited Lightwater Valley as an example) although he agreed that it is higher than is ideal. The costs incurred running the refreshment kiosks, there are 700 matchday staff to pay on a matchday, dictate that items cannot be sold as cheap as they can at a newsagents or a garage. Contracts with suppliers also mean that the club cannot just slash prices on a whim. Adam Pearson takes the view that he should focus on ticket prices, catering costs are very unlikely to fall, so he is looking at ways of making entry to games more affordable.

City’s monthly wage bill is approaching half a million pounds, and with gate receipts just making six-figures, the club has to look at other streams of revenue to make up the shortfall. Sky Sports only chip in £60,000 for televised fixtures and arguably that is lost when some supporters choose to watch at home or in the pub rather than in the stadium.

Several Championship chairmen have made noises about making football more affordable, although all are aware that lowering costs places them at an immediate disadvantage. Pearson hopes that a consensus will emerge in the next few years that prices simply have to stop rising in order to reduce the risk of pricing fans out of the game. He stressed that if City ever made the Premier League, the TV money would probably be so great that a reduction to £15 per ticket would be feasable.

Issues about the quality of the catering service were also raised. The club feel this is down to the average age of the staff – the club would like more mature individuals to be serving, but they are not able to recruit them as easily as teenagers.

Sponsorship and Revenue

City are in talks with a new sponsor to replace Bonus who will not renew when their deal expires at the end of the season. The Chairman was staying tight lipped about the new backers identity, though he feels it is a done deal. The Gemtec back of shirt sponsorship deal gives them the option to renew for a second season, replica shirts will not carry the Gemtec logo on the back of the shirt if the deal is extended though supporters will have the option to have it screened on. City would only seek a replacement sponsor for the back of the shirt “if the money is right”.

The Chairman stressed the importance of revenue from the League Cup, accusing many Championship clubs of endangering one of the games last means of redistributing wealth from the top tier down. If Championship teams field reserve sides, this makes it far easier for the Premier League teams to follow suit, devaluing the whole competition to the point at which it may be killed off. City will be fielding strong sides in the Cups this season and the manager is determined to make lengthy progress in them both, which is a welcome change for Adam Pearson.

Stewarding

Are the stewards at the KC adversarial? Some wondered just what the female Tranmere fan who was forcefully ejected during the 1st Round League Cup game at the stadium had done to deserve such treatment, and the pointlessly confrontational attitude shown towards a group of young City fans in the North East corner that evening was questioned. This seems to be an issue at the start of each season, when new recruit stewards display overzealous tendencies, with more intolerance of intermittent standing a particular problem. The club will review all ejections to date this season to see if any have been unreasonable and indicative of an overall deficiency in this area.

Smoking poll

The recent OWS poll to gauge opinion on a possible smoking ban at the KC Stadium received just over 2000 votes. The results were 75%-25% in favour of a ban. 68% of those in favour of a ban were non smokers. Of the 25% who voted against a smoking ban, 15% indicated they were not smokers. A smoking ban in the stadium then is inevitable, but there is no inclination from the club to rush things, they would like to further explore the idea of smoking pens, fenced off areas outside the ground that people can stand and smoke in at half time.

Miscellaneous

A question raised on behalf of ‘someone who likes mascots’ (oh dear) queried why other clubs don’t bring their grown men in furry suits to the KC Stadium for interactive japery with Roary. City do permit teams to bring their mascot with them but many choose not to.
The magnificent fighting Marines and a ball-juggler have been booked for upcoming half-time entertainment, and Tony Norman has been invited to be a special guest for the Sunderland home fixture.

There was some confusion about whether the Tiger Travel coaches are permitted to make drop offs at various locations. Officially they only stop for alighting at the KC Stadium and that’s the line the ticket office will trot out, though in practice stops are made. This is completely at the driver’s discretion, though they are being encouraged to do more, particularly when returning from night matches.

It was suggested that the club could do more to promote itself around the City. In years gone by a tiger striped bus stalked the city, there was a Hull City taxi and outside Boothferry Park billboards advertised the next home game. Hull FC do a fair bit of this, the next fixture is displayed on posters in the old Black and Decker shop opposite Pozition nightclub, that vintage record shop on Spring Bank has a big picture of Hull FC players holding aloft the Challenge Cup and beneath it are details of how to buy season tickets. One suggestion was a board or banner in Paragon Station welcoming people to Hull, home of the Tigers. The McDonalds opposite Elland Road is Leeds United themed, could one of the fast food restaurants in the city centre display a framed signed City shirt to increase exposure of the club to junk food addled youths? The club inviting further suggestions.

Finally, the chairman discussed a few team matters. The club turned down a couple of bids and enquiries for players as the transfer deadline approached, the Chairman wouldn’t divulge details but said that Leeds made no approach for Jon Parkin despite media reports to the contrary. Stephen McPhee will be fit and playing by December, the club was very eager to extend his contract despite his prolonged injury problems as he is viewed as a valuable asset and one they don’t want to lose on a free transfer. Much of the thinking behind the recent acquisitions was the manager identifying a need for greater leadership on and off the pitch. He has brought in experienced players who add to the dressing room, and the early indications are that this policy may prove successful.

The next meeting will take place early in November. Topics to be taken forward from this meeting and discussed further are:

- advertising for the club, both in Hull and beyond. What can the club do to continue raising its profile?

- Off the pitch, what should the matchday routine be like? What role should the stadium announcer play? What music should be played?

E-mail your thoughts to Les or Andy, or take part in the discussions on the Tiger Nation Forums. (LM/AD)

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