“City Matters” fan committee

Ubiquitous said:
I think it’s interesting that this thread is dominated by chat about away ticket criteria, which affects relatively few City fans. If this is the total scope of the focus group then for most fans it will be a waste of time.
Click to expand...
I'm not convinced it is only a relatively few, many of my mates have binned aways as without fucking and diving there's little chance of going unless you fancy a wet Monday night in Middlesbrough etc.
 
Lot more of a priority is the state of our customer service at present.
Its literally impossible to speak to anybody at present due to huge waiting times on the phones no matter what time of day you call, some supporters are still waiting on membership packs paid for in the summer, ticket exchange refunds not being processed, lots of supporters with ticket enquiries or trying to buy going unanswered, the Twitter page not responding to queries.
Sort out the major issues first that affect the bulk of supporters then move on from there
 
No way this group should speak to the club about ticket points, never seen one at an away game and they will just shaft loyal fans.

They should address the number of tickets distributed by points, and why it has been greatly reduced. The club would love to get rid of points and this lot are walking into the trap as scape goats.
 
The minutes for the first meeting are up on the club website (although I can only see them on my phone and not on my computer at the moment). The club were told it wasn't acceptable for these to be delayed so long so we've agreed that the minutes of meetings will in future be online by the Friday of the week following the meeting. As we had a meeting last night, the next set should be up by close of play next Friday.

The main subjects discussed were ticket points & the North Stadium redevelopment. The latter's been discussed at length and the Focus Groups & email surveys have been done so there's nothing to be gained in talking about that here. We had a wide-ranging discussions on ticket points and presented a number of options to the club. There were a number of areas we felt needed to be addressed:
  1. People buying tickets for the points then passing them on, meaning it wasn't a fair process. The club said the average selling out level was around 12.5k points but a few games had gone much lower.
  2. Because of the above, we felt that 18-25 year-olds were among the worst group affected as they had little chance to catch up those on higher points.
  3. We felt the points system still had some merit but we needed to look at how it could be amended as the current system just encouraged abuses.
  4. We weren't in favour of a general ballot as there were a number of disadvantages to that system.
  5. We also questioned the Platinum scheme, on the grounds that it was divisive and a very cheap way to accumulate extra points and was part of the problem of people buying tickets they don't intend to use. We asked for it to be discontinued.
  6. We talked about European aways and how people booking the official Thomas Cook package weren't always sure they'd get tickets., causing problems and unneccesary expense later down the line if they didn't get a ticket. Our view was that anyone applying for the TC travel package should get a ticket on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of points.
The club gave us some data which people may well find interesting:
  • The breakdown of away tickets (assuming a 3000 allocation) is as follows: 60% go to points holders via normal sale, 20% to OSC's, 15% to Hospitality & 5% internal
  • There are just under 5000 seasoncard holders in the 18-25 age range
  • There are 27,000 Gold & 13,000 Platinum seasoncard holders
The actions we asked the club to consider were:
  • Abolish points for away games, meaning there was less incentive to buy away tickets.
  • Introduce a random ID check for a subset of fans who had bought away tickets to ensure they were the ones using them.
  • Introduce a ballot involving a limited number of away tickets for 18-25 year olds.
  • Make some adjustments to the points system to flatten it out while still ensuring that the people at the top who were regular away-game attendees weren't disadvantaged.
Thoughts?

Edit: here's a link that should work https://www.mancity.com/fans-and-community/club/city-matters/meetings-and-actions
 
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Damocles said:
Seems some Bluemooners have been elected as representatives to the new City Matters committee. These guys will meet with the club once a quarter to address any concerns in the fanbase.

I know Colin Savage, who was elected to represent seasoncard holders, and Mark Barber who represents disabled fans are two regulars here though I can't recall Mark's username.

So what I'm basically saying here is if you're unhappy with something at City then PMing them two is a way to get your voice heard.

Think we should sign Messi? PM @Prestwich_Blue. He'll pass it on. Don't think we should sign Messi? PM @Prestwich_Blue so he can let them know. Not sure on whether we should sign Messi? PM @Prestwich_Blue so he can hear your voice.

Basically, Mark and Colin are now personally responsible for your bad or good "match day experience" and I know that both will be eager to hear your complaints. Enjoy lads!
Click to expand...

Who do we PM, D, if we don't know who this Messi guy is?
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
The club gave us some data which people may well find interesting:
  • The breakdown of away tickets (assuming a 3000 allocation) is as follows: 60% go to points holders via normal sale, 20% to OSC's, 15% to Hospitality & 5% internal
  • There are just under 5000 seasoncard holders in the 18-25 age range
  • There are 27,000 Gold & 13,000 Platinum seasoncard holders
The actions we asked the club to consider were:
  • Abolish points for away games, meaning there was less incentive to buy away tickets.
  • Introduce a random ID check for a subset of fans who had bought away tickets to ensure they were the ones using them.
  • Introduce a ballot involving a limited number of away tickets for 18-25 year olds.
  • Make some adjustments to the points system to flatten it out while still ensuring that the people at the top who were regular away-game attendees weren't disadvantaged.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
The breakdown of away tickets - does this apply to "all games" or is it an "average" of all games ?
Surprised there are so few seasoncard holders 18-25.
Also surprised at the number of Platinum seasoncard holders, though I'm not sure what I expected the figure to be really, since we'll never get anywhere near 13000 away tickets, why are people still paying the extra ?

On the actions, I think point 1 is a tricky one, you could almost say get rid of points altogether in that case, but there needs to be some system to recognise those that go regulary (or evenr iregularly).
A "random ID check for a subset of fans", not really sure what that means, ie what subset, and who decides etc...
Agree with point 3.
I think the points system does need some kind of reset because its gets harder each year to keep up, I started to miss out on games 5 years ago, and because I now miss out I fall further behind each year, basically I now have little chance, such that I couldn't get a ticket for a midweek game at Watford (it was close, but no cigar), I'm hoping to get one for Newcastle, but I'm not hopeful after Watford, and I need to book a hotel and trains, and that won't happen until I at least see the criteria.

Keep up the good work with the updates.
 
If you did get rid of points for away games I take it you wouldn't need the I'D check?

Could be genuine case's of folk not making the away games and having to move their ticket on, I think pissing abt with id checks won't work.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
The minutes for the first meeting are up on the club website (although I can only see them on my phone and not on my computer at the moment). The club were told it wasn't acceptable for these to be delayed so long so we've agreed that the minutes of meetings will in future be online by the Friday of the week following the meeting. As we had a meeting last night, the next set should be up by close of play next Friday.

The main subjects discussed were ticket points & the North Stadium redevelopment. The latter's been discussed at length and the Focus Groups & email surveys have been done so there's nothing to be gained in talking about that here. We had a wide-ranging discussions on ticket points and presented a number of options to the club. There were a number of areas we felt needed to be addressed:
  1. People buying tickets for the points then passing them on, meaning it wasn't a fair process. The club said the average selling out level was around 12.5k points but a few games had gone much lower.
  2. Because of the above, we felt that 18-25 year-olds were among the worst group affected as they had little chance to catch up those on higher points.
  3. We felt the points system still had some merit but we needed to look at how it could be amended as the current system just encouraged abuses.
  4. We weren't in favour of a general ballot as there were a number of disadvantages to that system.
  5. We also questioned the Platinum scheme, on the grounds that it was divisive and a very cheap way to accumulate extra points and was part of the problem of people buying tickets they don't intend to use. We asked for it to be discontinued.
  6. We talked about European aways and how people booking the official Thomas Cook package weren't always sure they'd get tickets., causing problems and unneccesary expense later down the line if they didn't get a ticket. Our view was that anyone applying for the TC travel package should get a ticket on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of points.
The club gave us some data which people may well find interesting:
  • The breakdown of away tickets (assuming a 3000 allocation) is as follows: 60% go to points holders via normal sale, 20% to OSC's, 15% to Hospitality & 5% internal
  • There are just under 5000 seasoncard holders in the 18-25 age range
  • There are 27,000 Gold & 13,000 Platinum seasoncard holders
The actions we asked the club to consider were:
  • Abolish points for away games, meaning there was less incentive to buy away tickets.
  • Introduce a random ID check for a subset of fans who had bought away tickets to ensure they were the ones using them.
  • Introduce a ballot involving a limited number of away tickets for 18-25 year olds.
  • Make some adjustments to the points system to flatten it out while still ensuring that the people at the top who were regular away-game attendees weren't disadvantaged.
Thoughts?

Edit: here's a link that should work https://www.mancity.com/fans-and-community/club/city-matters/meetings-and-actions
Click to expand...
On the subject of euro aways, we make a mini break out of these so don’t use tc plus we can do it cheaper, don’t agree that anyone who books on these club trips should get priority regardless of points. I’m only on about 13500 points so take the risk of not getting tickets and this will be even more reduced if priority is given to those using the club trips.
 
blue corby said:
On the subject of euro aways, we make a mini break out of these so don’t use tc plus we can do it cheaper, don’t agree that anyone who books on these club trips should get priority regardless of points. I’m only on about 13500 points so take the risk of not getting tickets and this will be even more reduced if priority is given to those using the club trips.
Click to expand...
This seems to be a ridiculous conclusion that has been reached
Anyone without the points required would just book on Thomas Cook.
Both City and Thomas Cook would love that as they then control both the supply of tickets and mode of transport.
Expect prices to rocket when we draw a big name in the knockout stage and all tickets go to Thomas Cook, only to have empty away ends in the less glamourous games.
 
blue b4 the moon said:
The breakdown of away tickets (assuming a 3000 allocation) is as follows: 60% go to points holders via normal sale, 20% to OSC's, 15% to Hospitality & 5% internal

60% to points holders & 20% to supporters clubs.

No comment.....
Click to expand...
And some of those points holders are also in a Supporters Club, so could be 40% each

Or another way of looking at it is that less then half of the tickets go to independent fans.
 
squirtyflower said:
This seems to be a ridiculous conclusion that has been reached
Anyone without the points required would just book on Thomas Cook.
Both City and Thomas Cook would love that as they then control both the supply of tickets and mode of transport.
Expect prices to rocket when we draw a big name in the knockout stage and all tickets go to Thomas Cook, only to have empty away ends in the less glamourous games.
Click to expand...
I actually thought it was the club who had said If you book with Thomas cook you get priority tickets, I was wrong, P.B that's an utter pisstake to have even suggested that.
 
squirtyflower said:
And some of those points holders are also in a Supporters Club, so could be 40% each

Or another way of looking at it is that less then half of the tickets go to independent fans.
Click to expand...
But if they have sufficient points many will get them independently anyway, that's what I do because the OSC deadline for a branch to order away tickets is 6 or 7 weeks in advance which is too soon for me to know for certain that I can make it.

On the other points raised, I'm opposed to the Thomas Cook suggestion, as commented already it's just a back-door general sale and reduces the allocation to points holders who would rather travel independently.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
The minutes for the first meeting are up on the club website (although I can only see them on my phone and not on my computer at the moment). The club were told it wasn't acceptable for these to be delayed so long so we've agreed that the minutes of meetings will in future be online by the Friday of the week following the meeting. As we had a meeting last night, the next set should be up by close of play next Friday.

The main subjects discussed were ticket points & the North Stadium redevelopment. The latter's been discussed at length and the Focus Groups & email surveys have been done so there's nothing to be gained in talking about that here. We had a wide-ranging discussions on ticket points and presented a number of options to the club. There were a number of areas we felt needed to be addressed:
  1. People buying tickets for the points then passing them on, meaning it wasn't a fair process. The club said the average selling out level was around 12.5k points but a few games had gone much lower.
  2. Because of the above, we felt that 18-25 year-olds were among the worst group affected as they had little chance to catch up those on higher points.
  3. We felt the points system still had some merit but we needed to look at how it could be amended as the current system just encouraged abuses.
  4. We weren't in favour of a general ballot as there were a number of disadvantages to that system.
  5. We also questioned the Platinum scheme, on the grounds that it was divisive and a very cheap way to accumulate extra points and was part of the problem of people buying tickets they don't intend to use. We asked for it to be discontinued.
  6. We talked about European aways and how people booking the official Thomas Cook package weren't always sure they'd get tickets., causing problems and unneccesary expense later down the line if they didn't get a ticket. Our view was that anyone applying for the TC travel package should get a ticket on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of points.
The club gave us some data which people may well find interesting:
  • The breakdown of away tickets (assuming a 3000 allocation) is as follows: 60% go to points holders via normal sale, 20% to OSC's, 15% to Hospitality & 5% internal
  • There are just under 5000 seasoncard holders in the 18-25 age range
  • There are 27,000 Gold & 13,000 Platinum seasoncard holders
The actions we asked the club to consider were:
  • Abolish points for away games, meaning there was less incentive to buy away tickets.
  • Introduce a random ID check for a subset of fans who had bought away tickets to ensure they were the ones using them.
  • Introduce a ballot involving a limited number of away tickets for 18-25 year olds.
  • Make some adjustments to the points system to flatten it out while still ensuring that the people at the top who were regular away-game attendees weren't disadvantaged.
Thoughts?

Edit: here's a link that should work https://www.mancity.com/fans-and-community/club/city-matters/meetings-and-actions
Click to expand...
Agree with points 1 to 5, 5 especially.
I would ask you to explain how point 6 would help anybody except TC?

I also think it would be a good idea to 'award' extra points to season ticket holders who actually attend home games to discourage empty seats.
 
Myself and my son, who's 25 have nearly 13500 points and we hardly ever get a chance to get an away ticket ?
How bad is that only 60% go to the fans that attend EVERY home match including all the cup games ?
 
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Prestwich_Blue said:
The minutes for the first meeting are up on the club website (although I can only see them on my phone and not on my computer at the moment). The club were told it wasn't acceptable for these to be delayed so long so we've agreed that the minutes of meetings will in future be online by the Friday of the week following the meeting. As we had a meeting last night, the next set should be up by close of play next Friday.

The main subjects discussed were ticket points & the North Stadium redevelopment. The latter's been discussed at length and the Focus Groups & email surveys have been done so there's nothing to be gained in talking about that here. We had a wide-ranging discussions on ticket points and presented a number of options to the club. There were a number of areas we felt needed to be addressed:
  1. People buying tickets for the points then passing them on, meaning it wasn't a fair process. The club said the average selling out level was around 12.5k points but a few games had gone much lower.
  2. Because of the above, we felt that 18-25 year-olds were among the worst group affected as they had little chance to catch up those on higher points.
  3. We felt the points system still had some merit but we needed to look at how it could be amended as the current system just encouraged abuses.
  4. We weren't in favour of a general ballot as there were a number of disadvantages to that system.
  5. We also questioned the Platinum scheme, on the grounds that it was divisive and a very cheap way to accumulate extra points and was part of the problem of people buying tickets they don't intend to use. We asked for it to be discontinued.
  6. We talked about European aways and how people booking the official Thomas Cook package weren't always sure they'd get tickets., causing problems and unneccesary expense later down the line if they didn't get a ticket. Our view was that anyone applying for the TC travel package should get a ticket on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of points.
The club gave us some data which people may well find interesting:
  • The breakdown of away tickets (assuming a 3000 allocation) is as follows: 60% go to points holders via normal sale, 20% to OSC's, 15% to Hospitality & 5% internal
  • There are just under 5000 seasoncard holders in the 18-25 age range
  • There are 27,000 Gold & 13,000 Platinum seasoncard holders
The actions we asked the club to consider were:
  • Abolish points for away games, meaning there was less incentive to buy away tickets.
  • Introduce a random ID check for a subset of fans who had bought away tickets to ensure they were the ones using them.
  • Introduce a ballot involving a limited number of away tickets for 18-25 year olds.
  • Make some adjustments to the points system to flatten it out while still ensuring that the people at the top who were regular away-game attendees weren't disadvantaged.
Thoughts?

Edit: here's a link that should work https://www.mancity.com/fans-and-community/club/city-matters/meetings-and-actions
Click to expand...

Encouraging more 18-25 year olds is absolutely essential. Not just for our away atmosphere, but for home too.

The next generation of die hards who are going to create an atmosphere at home games are likely to come from this age range. I’d even extend it to 16 year olds.

When I was in this age range, away tickets were available to all regular (5 years and above) season ticket holders. For big games a certain amount of away stubs were also required.

It rewarded loyalty, but it wasn’t a closed shop like it is now. A 16 year old kid wanting to go to an away game now has got absolutely no chance of a ticket, unless his dad has been taking him to aways regularly since he was a kid. That’s not fair on the youngsters who weren’t so fortunate.

I appreciate people with shit loads of points will feel like they shouldn’t be penalised, but we need to look at the bigger picture. The future of the club depends on the younger generation coming through and creating an atmosphere.

And another thing people with loads of points need to understand is, other people with less points are not necessarily less committed or less loyal. The lads I used to go to regular aways with all the way down to the 3d Division refused to pay for Platinum when it was introduced out of protest at being fleeced / having their loyalty exploited.

There are people who’ve been to less games, in a much easier climate watching better football with more points, simply because of the ridiculous Platinum system. It doesn’t make them any more “loyal”. It just makes them the beneficiaries of a misguided, warped points system.

I agree with some kind of reward system, and feel it’s right that the most comitted fans should not be tossed aside. But it’s becoming an “old boys club” and City should not fall in to that trap. As with everything in life, there should be some balance.
 
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