City calling round ex-season ticket holders - drumming up business?

paulchapo said:
In the unlikely event the character Roy Cropper liked football he would have been a City fan. He would have revelled in the utter misery of our lean years and prided himself that he helped stand firm and fight the football superpowers. Once our takeover happened though he would have left, bemoaning that we had lost our soul. His final tipping point would have been staggering confused through the countless games and events around the ground,becoming more exasperated as he slowly arrived at the turnstiles. On reaching one of showesecs finest and being told he couldn't take his flask and sandwiches inside, he would have finally handed over his season card and quit. Not before lecturing the steward and manager of course and stating,

"This flask has attended every game with me since 1955. In times of hardship and inclement weather It has proved to be a great source of succour. On the basis it is now refused entry gentlemen I reluctantly withdraw my support and bid you good day."
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i rest my case, when do i get my fiver
 
OccupiedPalestineBlues said:
Are City starting to listen to disenfranchised supporters, looking to rescue attendances because season ticket take-up is dwindling or are they drumming up more support ready for the long awaited North stand expansion?

I had a call from City supporter services, about an hour ago. I nice fella / good listener, called Sam, wanted to know if I planned to take up a season ticket this year after I had been forced by the club to cancel my last one, about 4 games into last season.

I explained the circumstances, of my cancelling, to Sam. City had sent me an email to introduce a new a rule that prevented supporters taking a bag bigger than an 'A4 sheet of paper', as they described it, into the ground.
That was a problem to me as I'd always attended on my bike, so I had cycling clothing (waterproofs, high viz, helmet, gloves etc.) and while they wouldn't go into an A4 sized bag, they did fit in a bag that would go under my seat, so as not to interfere with the walkways.
I also took my flask and my butties in that bag so I called City supporter services and explained why I needed a bag of about the size that I'd always taken.

Their first response was to say that I wasn't allowed to take my butties or flask into the ground. I made the point that security had always checked my bag and that they'd never had an issue with it's contents (other than to ask me what was on my sandwiches). They countered that by telling me that they'd deal with the security, specifically on the gate I used, to make sure that they didn't allow me to take butties or a flask ever again.
They told me verbally that it was because they had an agreement, with the food franchises, to make sure that supporters didn't have their own food and drink and so that they'd be forced to buy from the franchises - though they wouldn't put that in writing.
I pointed out that me not taking food or drink wouldn't increase franchise sales at all because I'm a bloke who's at an age that demands he goes for a piss a halftime - and halftime isn't long enough to queue for / use the toilets and then queue to buy food and drink before the 2nd half kicks off. But they wouldn't take account of what is effectively an age related medical condition that affects most men over 55 . . . as many of you will find out.
I'd approached supporter services as a long term supporter looking for help in dealing with a cruel rule change and the heartless sods had no mercy whatsoever.

It took a long and drawn out process of correspondence and I even went to the ground to meet the head of supporter services and the head of security for the South stand - he was a right idiot, he kept going on about his opinion that cyclists are no different than other supporters so didn't have any different bag size needs.

The ultimately told me that I could store a bag with them if I was willing to pay for a corporate ticket (they said that they can take suitcases as they might be on the way to the airport) and that their stance was that if I couldn't attend due to a rule change, that had only just been drawn to my attention, then that was tough luck and not their problem - they would not refund my season card if they made it so that I couldn't attend.
I threatened them with the ombudsman and they folded and refunded my seasoncard - after attending games (with flask and butties) from the age of 12 in 1972, I was finally stopped from attending games after 46 solid years and at the age of 58. . . by the club I'd happily poured my wages into all my life.

Ok, that was a long drawn out 'sounding sorry for myself' narrative, but it's true and I wondered if other supporters have had similar issues / if other supporters have received calls from Sam and his colleagues, trying to draw back in previously lost support because they've lost too many / if this heralds a new dawn where supporter services are going to actually start being a service for supporters rather than a service design to force supporters to buy from the franchises or if the initiative is about building up a head of steam prior to an expansion?
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Sam probably did have a genuine reason / question to call you but maybe he forgot what the point if his call was after listening to the story ..
A4 size bag you say !! So that is what the overlarge wash kit thing they sent out with this years season tickets is for...
I’ve been taking a JD size type bag in for over 5 years since moving to the family stand with the lad.. always full of sweets fruit juice crisps a flask , sometimes covering a hip fkask tooked at the bottom on a cold night..
The bloke in front of us brings home made pies for half the row in a keep warm bag with flasks the lot.. always searched never a eye lid batted... did you try to go in with your normal bag and butties after you got the info or did you just jack it in after telling them you wanted to take a bigger bag in.. if not why didn’t you just carry on as normal until you was stoped then make your complaint and get a refund ..
 
blingy said:
Sam probably did have a genuine reason / question to call you but maybe he forgot what the point if his call was after listening to the story ..
A4 size bag you say !! So that is what the overlarge wash kit thing they sent out with this years season tickets is for...
I’ve been taking a JD size type bag in for over 5 years since moving to the family stand with the lad.. always full of sweets fruit juice crisps a flask , sometimes covering a hip fkask tooked at the bottom on a cold night..
The bloke in front of us brings home made pies for half the row in a keep warm bag with flasks the lot.. always searched never a eye lid batted... did you try to go in with your normal bag and butties after you got the info or did you just jack it in after telling them you wanted to take a bigger bag in.. if not why didn’t you just carry on as normal until you was stoped then make your complaint and get a refund ..
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When I first spoke to them I wasn't making a complaint, I was just being honest in telling them that I couldn't get the things that I need for a matchday into a bag as small as the maximum dimensions of the one they had emailed to warn me about. In discussion with them I mentioned sandwiches & flask and they went off like a bunch of pantomime dames about how that wasn't allowed and how important it was to respect the profitability of their sales points and how the security on my gate would be spoken to so that it wasn't allowed to happen again.
I think that I would've carried on and chanced my luck, but they'd told me that they'd make sure that the security on my gate wouldn't allow it again. I knew that everyone did it (I'd always done it and thought it was perfectly acceptable because it had always been pefectly accepted), so the sudden knowledge of the ban, made very personal to me, felt like a threat targetting me specifically because it was said to me in a manner specifically about me and particular to my gate of entry.
You need to give them your supporter number, and ergo seat number & gate of entry, to be able to speak to them. They made a point of refering to my gate and my seat so often in discussions such that it felt like they were making a point of it.
I'd always loved the build up to home games especially but I could just imagine going through my matchday routine; pack the flask & sandwiches, pack the 2 lucky scarves & hat, ride the bike up to the stadium in the pissing rain, lock the bike up, struggle out of the high viz waterproofs & stuff them in my bag, queue up for 20 minutes or more - all excited about the game . . . . and then find out that they'd acted on their very clear threat and I get refused at the gate . . or even worse, be sat in my seat having a brew or eating a butty and then I get turfed out by a steward who's been sent to my seat (walking past many others using flasks, eating homemade cake etc.) to deal with me specifically - as they said they would.
Nah, there comes a point when you've had your fill so you wipe your mouth and leave the table - I'd had my fill of 'supporter services', they'd broadsided my matchday experience by making it something that I'd anticipate with dread rather than keen anticipation. . . so I sacked it. It wasn't a nice experience but it wasn't a major life trauma and I'm happy that I gave my card back and wrestled a refund back off them under the circumstances. It's not even a matter that I'd usually dwell on, so long after the fact, but I got the call from City, related it to their guy and then, being reminded of it and being intrigued by the call from City, I put it up on here as an example to coax other peoples experiences out of them.
Lot's of kind people have suggested solutions to my histoic situation, and I thank them dearly for being so lovely, but I wasn't ever looking for a solution to that situation because I solved the matter to my own satisfaction by walking away from it some considerable time ago, and I'm still happy with that decision.
 
Gorton_Tubster said:
We take soup, bread, coffee flasks. Our bags get checked, they see the flasks they say nothing. Usually we're in 104/5/6
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Forgive me for tagging your post but it is the first I have read that says what I want to address. Is this No flask issues meant for this season as, like you, I always take a flask and sarnies/fruit and have always got through security checks with no issues at all.
 
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