Our Relationship With Fans, The Mfc Trust And The Supporters Association

[TheLip69]

Why do we need another committee?

We already have the Trust and the Supporters association, can't Leeann get the feedback she requires from them?

Regardless of your opinion of the various merits of either of these groups, and I think mine is well known, they do represent a fairly large section of our fans. Opening up another committee with representatives of both organisations on board, along with whoever turns up on the night strikes me as more than a bit daft.

At least the representatives from the Trust and the Supporters Association will have a mandate from their members, who are the others representing except themselves?

Make the committee purely and simply the Trust and the Supporters Association, anyone who wants a say will need to be part of those groups. This may encourage more people to become members of either organisation making them both bigger and stronger and surely that can only be good for the club.

Have a forum so that non-members can ask questions and make contributions, yes that's a goer, but dont have them on a commmittee.

Mavericks on a committee are nothing but trouble, trust me.

[deJaya]

I think it would be great if there was something on here where users can submit questions. For example each month users could post questions in a topic before a deadline, and after that have a poll where we choose which is the best or most pressing question we would like officially answered and the one with the most votes could be answered by someone from inside MFC if feasible, obviously not all questions we as supporters have can be answered but if some were it would be a great start.

 

absolutely.

 

although perhaps the club could answer the top 3 questions per month.

 

but this seems a very sensible way to approach things.

 

great to see this action from Leeann and the club .. i really hope it works out.

[El Grew]

Interesting debate.

 

Just as a wee aside, I'm presently reading "Motherwell Champions of Scotland 1931/32" and found it interesting to note that even when we were flying very high winning the league and generally being sh*t hot during that era, we strugged to attract fans to go along and watch the team at FP. Seemingly all our best attendances were away from FP as away fans were desperate to see us and/or see their team put one over on us.

 

Some things never change eh?

[fatcalf]

Why do we need another committee?

We already have the Trust and the Supporters association, can't Leeann get the feedback she requires from them?

Regardless of your opinion of the various merits of either of these groups, and I think mine is well known, they do represent a fairly large section of our fans. Opening up another committee with representatives of both organisations on board, along with whoever turns up on the night strikes me as more than a bit daft.

At least the representatives from the Trust and the Supporters Association will have a mandate from their members, who are the others representing except themselves?

Make the committee purely and simply the Trust and the Supporters Association, anyone who wants a say will need to be part of those groups. This may encourage more people to become members of either organisation making them both bigger and stronger and surely that can only be good for the club.

Have a forum so that non-members can ask questions and make contributions, yes that's a goer, but dont have them on a commmittee.

Mavericks on a committee are nothing but trouble, trust me.

The Trust have what? 160 members? Supporters Association? 100-odd? Hardly representative of the entire support without sounding like I'm having a pop at those organisations cos I'm just stating facts. I could argue One Step Beyond represents more, GLF could argue similar but that would be missing the point.

There are more, far more unrepresented fans and many of those fans have something to say, anything that gives them a chance has to be welcomed and this could be a direct route for them. More to be welcomed than run down I'd say.

[Steve Diggle]

I think it's a great idea - As many views as possible need to be collated, filtered and thrashed about to see where we go ahead. There will great views on all things MFC from within the recognised groups and there will be some really poor ones reflecting exactly the same situation that there is on here and within the broader support.

 

The club are in a really tough position I think (like most clubs) and there are loads of long standing issues that don't really have straightforward answers. There are current norms that many on here will defend to the hilt that are the reasons that some folk stay away, there are issues with club finances and fan finances and the stadium. The level of scrutiny on the club based on the way that any chink of info is leaked / expanded upon debated to death etc is something that must be a bit 'claustrophobic' for them too - they cant do anything without it being immediately posted on here and slevered over. This also give 'us on here' (in the loosest terms) the impression that we have more of a say than we actually have.

 

Some sort of regulated forum - where things can be aired would be good.

[Gaag]

This is gonna be like the Them Crooked Vultures of the football world

 

I think it's a good idea to have people representative of all sections of the support getting together, putting forward their ideas and seeing where the common ground lies with the other sections and the club.

 

Someone from the trust, the association, a few fans from here and fpc and a few other fans who have no connection with any of the above should give a good sample. Might be an idea to get people representing the whole base as well. I.e. one of the young un's from the East, a "regular joe" (25-40year old), a female fan, a senior citizen and an adult who brings his kids to the match.

 

At the end of the day, every different fan has their own slightly different views and agenda. Would be interesting to see where the common ground lies.

 

The best that could come out of it is the club taking on board what people are saying and making changes for the good.... the worst? Well, realising that the club and the trust are on the right track already, which won't be a bad thing!

[Frazzie]

Why do we need another committee?

We already have the Trust and the Supporters association, can't Leeann get the feedback she requires from them?

Regardless of your opinion of the various merits of either of these groups, and I think mine is well known, they do represent a fairly large section of our fans. Opening up another committee with representatives of both organisations on board, along with whoever turns up on the night strikes me as more than a bit daft.

At least the representatives from the Trust and the Supporters Association will have a mandate from their members, who are the others representing except themselves?

Make the committee purely and simply the Trust and the Supporters Association, anyone who wants a say will need to be part of those groups. This may encourage more people to become members of either organisation making them both bigger and stronger and surely that can only be good for the club.

Have a forum so that non-members can ask questions and make contributions, yes that's a goer, but dont have them on a commmittee.

Mavericks on a committee are nothing but trouble, trust me.

 

 

As much as it pains me to say it, I kind of agree with that, although as much as it could be argued that there's no need for three fans groups - it could probably be argued just as well that there's no need for two!

[Gaag]

Think of it more of a suggestion box than a supporters group. It's not like it's gonna have constitutional rights or charitable status or anything.

[Frazzie]

Gaag, what you've just described there was a conscious part of our thinking when we were trying to put together a new board for the Trust. We already have the President of the Supporters Association on the board, but we wanted to have at least one season ticket holder from each stand, which we now have, plus we wanted representation from both fans football teams on the board, which we now have. One thing we haven't been able to get on the board yet is any members of the VP/Millenium club, but we have taken steps to communicate with that section of the fanbase and we have at least half a dozen new members from there now.

 

So, as much as our 160 members would never claim to represent the views of every Motherwell fan, we can certainly boast an excellent cross-section of the Motherwell support.

[Steve Diggle]

if I read Leeann's post - it'e more of a mechanism / sounding board than an organisation.

 

An 'on call' list of grumpy old bastards to go - "Shite", "Shite", "No Way" That's a good idea", "Definitely", "Jim Jefferies? yer havin a laugh" etc etc

[numpty]

The easiest way I could see is by a certain topic being raised weekly / monthly by a club official or by a 'suggestion box' method and open it up to all for questions. Add in to this the power to delete any unnecessary tirades or irrelevent points and you could have a very good discussion tool that doesn't decend into a free for all.

Was just about to suggest some sort of 'anonymous suggestion box' scheme myself. For maximum inclusiveness you'd probably have have it on the club website and/or via a dedicated email address though, which obviously opens it up to abuse from numpties from other clubs, but hopefully not enough that you couldn't screen them out.

 

Much as I like the moderated Q&A idea as well, I can see the club being on a hiding to nothing with that one-- assuming they can only answer a limited number of the questions submitted at any time, and they get to choose which ones, there would doubtless still be a paranoid element moaning about favouritism, grudges, cover-ups etc.

[Lobey_Dosser]

At the present time, all attention should be focused on the SPL teams getting together and working out how to improve the quality of the product.

 

The Scottish game is quickly dying on its arse.

 

Time for all teams to pull together and strive for improvements that will engage the fans that have stopped going to the games on a regular basis.

[Gaag]

Leeann, is there something like what you've suggested, but represented on a club level outwith the halls of power? I.e. do representatives of the SPL clubs get together regularly to discuss ticketing and fan initiatives, the state of the game etc?

 

A lobey said, Scottish football is dying on it's arse, and if something positive doesn't happen soon, there probably won't be a league worth supporting in 20 years time.

[real dosser]

Numpty,

 

whilst not disagreeing with your sentiments I still think we have to include supporters who don't have or don't use the internet.

 

I know for a fact that of the fans who sit beside me in the East stand only Fal Dosser and myself visit this site.

 

There are lots of good Well fans there who would have some good ideas to offer regarding the club and I feel they should also be included in any initiative.

 

I don't think as somebody suggested before that you can just have fans turning up to put their questions to the Club but we have to try to include some fans who are not represented by any of the present organisations.

 

The big problem as I see it is how do you manage to do that ??

[Leeann Dempster]

Afternoon Folks, this has been an interesting topic so far and please continue to add your views.

 

Someone recently (and before you speculate - it wasn't anyone at the club) said the following to me:

 

"Don't bother spending time on your hard core supportes - they will stick with you whatever"

 

It not only surprised me but importantly it got me thinking about what they had said. To me it smacked of a different era and an arrogance of certainty that no matter what clubs do, fans will pitch up. Well as evidence suggests otherwise and not only in our figures but in football and sports as a whole, it is just not true.

 

I want us all at the club to engage our fans, importantly involve you in decisions that affect you and for us all, fans, employees and directors alike to be custodians

 

Now onto how we involve you and I don't have a pre determined view on how we do that so hence the initial post.

 

I don't want to just try and create another body / committee and I see the absolute value in the Trust and Supporters Association working in partnership. I have been researching and talking to other clubs to see what they do on this front and so far at least, Norwich City have what I think is the best example of where we might end up. Nothing hard and fast but I think this would be a great start.

 

http://www.canaries.co.uk/page/SCG/

 

I await the incoming!

 

Leeann

[Steve Diggle]

Interesting stuff - looks like a wee bit of overlap with what the trust might be aiming to do - however I'm sure that could be overcome.

 

Interesting aloso to see their 'working groups' are already working on stuff we've been discussing on here relating to MFC.

 

And btw - I know many a diehard that no longer attends - and that's the biggest problem we have right now.

[real dosser]

The example of Norwich looks like a great idea if we could get it up and running.

 

Anything that gets Well fans and management working in tandem has got to be a good idea in my opinion.

 

Push on Leeann lets get something up and running.

[TheLip69]

The Trust have what? 160 members? Supporters Association? 100-odd? Hardly representative of the entire support without sounding like I'm having a pop at those organisations cos I'm just stating facts. I could argue One Step Beyond represents more, GLF could argue similar but that would be missing the point.

There are more, far more unrepresented fans and many of those fans have something to say, anything that gives them a chance has to be welcomed and this could be a direct route for them. More to be welcomed than run down I'd say.

 

Don't get me wrong I'm not running down the idea, I welcome it, I just think it would be extremely useful if we used it to help build up those organisations already operating rather than setting up another committee altogether, albeit with representatives from those organisations.

Just taking any ordinary Joe off the terraces as a representative of us non-members is a non starter in my opinion. If you want to be represented on the council join The Trust or the Supporters association other than that there should be a line of communication open for the rest of us, e-mail, text, post, semaphore, whatever.

I think the Trust and Supporters Association should use this as an opportunity to increase membership.

[Haggischomper]

And btw - I know many a diehard that no longer attends - and that's the biggest problem we have right now.

 

I said that on a thread a few months back - while all the initiatives seem aimed to get new punters through the door nothing seems to be done to win back those who have stopped. Nothing seems to be done to find out WHY they stopped either?

[Moe_Green]

I said that on a thread a few months back - while all the initiatives seem aimed to get new punters through the door nothing seems to be done to win back those who have stopped. Nothing seems to be done to find out WHY they stopped either?

 

This has been discussed before it even got to the stage of asking for ideas of how to go about it, sadly as like a lot of things a while back nothing happened, and nothing will happen until this type of thing is taken very seriously.

For the life of me I can't understand why the MST and supporters Asscs have not made this a priority.

 

I truly hope if this thing Leanne is suggesting gets off the ground, it is populated by new faces and does not follow the tried and tested method of pulling in all the old faces, with the same tired ideas.

[fizoxy]

As good an idea as this is, I think that the major issue with regards to decreasing attendances is the price, and I don't think any fan's committee is going to change this.

 

There's only so much you can do to entice new supporters, and a lot could be done at FP to enhance the "matchday experience" or at least bring it up to an acceptable level, but I don't think anything can be done to to make 90 minutes of watching MFC (or any other SPL club) worth £20.

[Moe_Green]

While I agree that the price is a large part of the decreasing attendances, there are other reasons for it also, and these in tandem with the price issue need looking at closely. There needs to be a properly structured strategy to approach the subject and not like in the past, one person left to get on with it.

[Special aka]

............ I have been researching and talking to other clubs to see what they do on this front and so far at least, Norwich City have what I think is the best example of where we might end up...........

Does this mean you'll make a half-time appearance on the pitch, singing 'who are you' ?

 

Seriously though, I do hope your efforts reap reward and the Club/Fans embrace a more fruitful relationship with each other.

[LadywellToi]

This thread compelled me to finally join the forum and post rather than just read as a guest.

 

I think the idea of introducing new blood should be commended as is a direct link and engagement from those charged with the daily running of the club.

 

A bit about me - I'm sad to say that for the first 11 years of my life I supported one of the old firm, mainly due to the fact the strongest influence on my upbringing came from a little enclave just up the M74. I only ventured to Glasgow to see them only twice. At 11 I made a concious decision to support my local club for the following reasons:

 

a) I felt one extra fan at Fir Park would mean a lot more than one of 45,000 season ticket holders plus umpteen others/hangers-on

b) Proximity and ease to visit Fir Park regularly

c) Religious nonsense

d) Claret & Amber club made it attractive to the pocket money

 

Within 6 months we won the Scottish Cup, I still believe I was as instrumental as Stevie Kirk in the victory.

 

What generates income for Motherwell?

• Firstly .... bums on seats - buying tickets, strips, dodgy catering, etc.
  
• Secondly .... team performance/league position - top 6 ensures another old firm match, more interest from TV, European qualification, more fans from exposure, better advertising revenue
  

Around the time of starting university I was offered the chance to work on the gates at Fir Park, I don't know how it is now, but at the time it was a nice perk, albeit missing the first 20 minutes or so - 35mins when old firm. One thing I noticed over the seasons was the steady but gradual demise of the attendance. Regardless of anything that would ever go on at the club, the weather or if we were in the third division, a core of 2,000 would still show up because its ingrained and their blood is claret. 15 years ago an old firm match had 30 free seats in the East stand and at least 3 unwashed ejected, now the swathe of beige must sadden the vast majority of us.

 

The Trust and Supporters Association are made up of the 2,000, I think for the club to progress we have to attract those from the local area and like me 20 odd years ago. Therefore Leeann's suggestion certainly gets my vote. I'm not suggesting that those who clearly have a strong affinity to the club can't contribute, I am just suggesting that sometimes a new eyes look upon an issue from a different standpoint and with a different solution.

 

We are based in the centre of a large urban area laden with too many senior clubs to really release the full potential. However regardless, how many from our area jump on a bus and head into Glasgow every second week? We have to target these people, those willing to pay to watch Scottish football and those who could be persuaded if the conditions/cost is attractive. There will always be the diehards or gloryhunters, however if MFC is serious about its future it needs to consider some strategy on this. A innovative approach is certainly needed, I don't have the answer but to be fair neither has a successful businessman and countless others.

 

JB tried it when he first took over, I don't know the level of success but I can remember the south stand full of primary school kids/neds on a free day out. For me the issue is a complex one, the product isn't as good as it was (that's not just us, its the full league/national team), proliferation of football on TV, a generation who would rather play FIFA on the PS3 or Xbox rather than dump two jumpers on the ground, the list goes on ......

 

I also haven't worked on the gates for 8 years, that ended when I was asked to act as a steward in the bowels of the O'Donnell stand after being in a horsebox for the previous hour and a half. So I thanked them for the opportunity, handed in my jacket, and went forthwith the buy a half season ticket for the remainder of the season.

[steelboy]

excellent first post.

 

i don't think we'll have much luck targeting guys who go to watch the old firm from motherwell on a regular basis though. i've got mates with season tickets at ibrox and parkhead and they are as commited supporters as we are, they travel and put their hand in their pocket and i doubt anyone who does that is going to countenance changing their allegiance.

 

there are probably 20 OF fans in the area for every one actually attends a match, they'd be a better target but beyond attracting their kids or putting a right good team out i don't really see what we can do. first priority should be to get more well fans attending.