City Matters thread

[Jesus H Gabz]

Hopefully Danny will get back to us with the answers to the questions he’s been asked by a few posters and turn the negative tide a bit.

The club really aren’t helping the City Matters Reps, which is true, as the last minutes were posted a year ago, even though the City Matters Reps have continually asked the club to post the minutes on the OS. That along with the continual confidential discussions, which can’t be mentioned outside the meetings. As it stands little or nothing is coming out of the meetings, and what is coming out of the meetings is heavily vetted by the club.

For City Matters to really work the club needs to change how they manage it and the City Matters Reps. I’m not holding my breath.

The minutes issue is a strange one given we’re backing the government white paper, aren’t we in breach of the PL charter or something, Or am I making that up ? Sure I’ve read it somewhere, might be in the new proposals

 

[Lavinda Past]

It’s this level of “auditing” how these people get brought in in the first place.

If I say I play for Real Madrid and I’m on 500k a week it doesn’t mean I do.

You are Karim Benzema and I claim my £5.

 

[M18CTID]

I take your point on a pile on but CSB have not done that. They have posted nothing personal. They are not accountable for the actions of others either.

You don't know how she got the CM position . Or how many fans if any supported her. Your just guessing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

What isnt guessing is deducing that she wasn't trueful when she applied. Do you think she would have got the job if she had said she also supported Chelsea in a similar role and liked to post publicly about it and did photo shoots for them?

Out of interest who do you think is mainly at fault here? You seem to have more of an issue with the CSB and the fact that that said they weren't happy with her representing them publicly compared to placing blame at her door.

So how else would she have gotten the position then? I don't know the full process but I highly doubt that some randomer off the street could rock up without any back up from anyone and land the post.

As for CSB not posting anything personal, well if you can't see that tweet was a personal attack on a very public platform then I can't help you. That's out of order whichever way you look at it and going off many of the replies to the tweet, it seems I'm far from alone in that. Are you a fan of public pile-ons?

 

[jrb]

The problem is, when you post personal information on social media platforms, be it written on picture, you leave your self open to scrutiny.

As a rule I don’t do social media sites like Face Book or Twitter. I do have accounts on both platforms, but I don’t post personal information or pictures of myself. BM is a different matter all together. As we all know, even though it isn’t tolerated by Ric and the Mods, and it’s in the terms and conditions of using BM, personal attacks do happen on BM on a regular basis, especially on the match day forum. :-) Social media in every disguise and format is a cesspit in one way or another. Best to stay off it and not put yourself out there, as there’s always somebody ready to take advantage of you.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

So how else would she have gotten the position then? I don't know the full process but I highly doubt that some randomer off the street could rock up without any back up from anyone and land the post.

As for CSB not posting anything personal, well if you can't see that tweet was a personal attack on a very public platform then I can't help you. That's out of order whichever way you look at it and going off many of the replies to the tweet, it seems I'm far from alone in that. Are you a fan of public pile-ons?

All they said was they were disappointed. That's not an attack, its an expression of how they feel let down by her actions. She let herself down with her deception and lies , no one else did it to her. You appear to be implying that people who do wrong should not be called out for their actions. That's not piling on in my book.

 

[urban genie]

Weird situation, just read the replies and it is mainly chelsea fans defending her rather than blues laying into her, and the strange idea you can support city and also support chelsea, because it's different teams (mens/womens)That is a nonsense imho.

Lot of them citing publishing a pic without permission, but it is a pic from her social media so unless a private account already in the public domaim, so quite vague on whether allowed.

Anyway there is obviously a confict of interest so she should step down or be removed from her position

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

You’d have to be a total moron to not see it for what it is.

People like you & Prophet of Doom come over as right whingers to be brutally honest. Happy to knock anyone going above and beyond for their fellow fans, from the comfort of your armchairs. Get off your arse and do it yourself. I put a lot of my time and effort into City Matters, as do all the current committee. And that includes Fran Lever.

Having said that and got it off my chest, the problem is that we have a CEO who doesn't give a fuck about us, and who is just interested in squeezing every last penny out of the fans. If that means historically loyal fans are displaced in favour of someone paying a single visit then he's fine with that. He's never made any attempt to understand us, communicate with us. or be visible in any way. He's far more interested in his self-aggrandising vision for CFG, which brings in minimal benefit to City as far as I can see, but sucks in a load of cash. I know for a fact that a few seasons ago, price increases were discussed at a board meeting and there was no appetite for them. The board felt fans were paying as much as they could stand. Yet Soriano's view is that we should expect to pay more for watching the football we watch, despite the minimal impact on revenue and the negative outcome on our pockets. That sums him up for me.

They call us"customers" but don't treat us as customers and there's always been a faction at the club who aren't interested in what fans want, or wouldn't take even a minimal risk on doing something that might not work out. I'd certainly exclude Danny Wilson from that criticism, who's always been really constructive. But I know there have been times where a suggestion or outcome we thought had been agreed was vetoed by those above him.

The new COO instituted a major programme to look at and improve all aspects of fan experience but, as far as I know, no fans are actually involved in that. How the hell can you have do that without involving your key stakeholders? My employer is at the start of a major transformation programme and our customers will be involved in that, because they're the people who need to be happy with the outcome, not the people in the back-office.

The issue over publishing minutes is just fucking ridiculous. If CM is representing fans, then the fans have the right to know what's being discussed, subject to commercial and other matters of confidentiality. If I was still on CM, I'd be pushing hard for us to publish our own.

But having said all that, with all the frustrations I'd still much rather have a channel of communication open with the club than not. We have achieved things and we've got them to move more towards our way of thinking in some areas. Ultimately, they will do what they want but at least there'll be a group there chipping away at them.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

Weird situation, just read the replies and it is mainly chelsea fans defending her rather than blues laying into her, and the strange idea you can support city and also support chelsea, because it's different teams (mens/womens)That is a nonsense imho.

Lot of them citing publishing a pic without permission, but it is a pic from her social media so unles a private account already in the public domaim, so quite vague on whetger allowed.

Anyway there is obviously a confict of interest so she should step down or be removed from her position

Ah come on, we’ve all been there.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

People like you & Prophet of Doom come over as right whingers to be brutally honest. Happy to knock anyone going above and beyond for their fellow fans, from the comfort of your armchairs. Get off your arse and do it yourself. I put a lot of my time and effort into City Matters, as do all the current committee. And that includes Fran Lever.

Having said that and got it off my chest, the problem is that we have a CEO who doesn't give a fuck about us, and who is just interested in squeezing every last penny out of the fans. If that means historically loyal fans are displaced in favour of someone paying a single visit then he's fine with that. He's never made any attempt to understand us, communicate with us. or be visible in any way. He's far more interested in his self-aggrandising vision for CFG, which brings in minimal benefit to City as far as I can see, but sucks in a load of cash. I know for a fact that a few seasons ago, price increases were discussed at a board meeting and there was no appetite for them. The board felt fans were paying as much as they could stand. Yet Soriano's view is that we should expect to pay more for watching the football we watch, despite the minimal impact on revenue and the negative outcome on our pockets. That sums him up for me.

They call us"customers" but don't treat us as customers and there's always been a faction at the club who aren't interested in what fans want, or wouldn't take even a minimal risk on doing something that might not work out. I'd certainly exclude Danny Wilson from that criticism, who's always been really constructive. But I know there have been times where a suggestion or outcome we thought had been agreed was vetoed by those above him.

The new COO instituted a major programme to look at and improve all aspects of fan experience but, as far as I know, no fans are actually involved in that. How the hell can you have do that without involving your key stakeholders? My employer is at the start of a major transformation programme and our customers will be involved in that, because they're the people who need to be happy with the outcome, not the people in the back-office.

The issue over publishing minutes is just fucking ridiculous. If CM is representing fans, then the fans have the right to know what's being discussed, subject to commercial and other matters of confidentiality. If I was still on CM, I'd be pushing hard for us to publish our own.

But having said all that, with all the frustrations I'd still much rather have a channel of communication open with the club than not. We have achieved things and we've got them to move more towards our way of thinking in some areas. Ultimately, they will do what they want but at least there'll be a group there chipping away at them.

Whinger? Oh get off your high horse.

City Matters has always been nothing but a box ticker and if you’ve been conned into thinking it’s something more than that because they invited you to a few meetings and gave you a little badge, well that’s not my problem is it.

I don’t doubt your good intentions but they’ve wasted yours and other members time. It’s a shame but that’s the reality of it.

It’s obvious Sorriano couldn’t give a fuck.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Whinger? Oh get off your high horse.

City Matters has always been nothing but a box ticker and if you’ve been conned into thinking it’s something more than that because they invited you to a few meetings and gave you a little badge, well that’s not my problem is it.

I don’t doubt your good intentions but they’ve wasted yours and other members time.

I made my thoughts clear in my post. It's been frustrating. But I've "been conned into thinking it's something more than a box-ticking exercise" because, unlike you and your fellow whingers, I spent four years doing it, so I know how much we did, individually and as a group, behind the scenes.

 

[mexico1970]

I made my thoughts clear in my post. It's been frustrating. But I've "been conned into thinking it's something more than a box-ticking exercise" because, unlike you and your fellow whingers, I spent four years doing it, so I know how much we did, individually and as a group, behind the scenes.

Do you support Chelsea ;)

 

[M18CTID]

All they said was they were disappointed. That's not an attack, its an expression of how they feel let down by her actions. She let herself down with her deception and lies , no one else did it to her. You appear to be implying that people who do wrong should not be called out for their actions. That's not piling on in my book.

Seriously, you'd have to be pretty clueless not to see what a public tweet on a toxic social media platform could lead to. By your logic, all the gutter rags spewing their hate-filled bile aren't responsible for any of their dickhead readers who decide to embark on a campaign of personal abuse against the target(s). Do you not give a shit about the likes of Caroline Flack who was hounded into taking her own life?

Give me one good reason why this had to be played out in public when it could've easily been resolved in private.

 

[bluesmith]

People like you & Prophet of Doom come over as right whingers to be brutally honest. Happy to knock anyone going above and beyond for their fellow fans, from the comfort of your armchairs. Get off your arse and do it yourself. I put a lot of my time and effort into City Matters, as do all the current committee. And that includes Fran Lever.

Having said that and got it off my chest, the problem is that we have a CEO who doesn't give a fuck about us, and who is just interested in squeezing every last penny out of the fans. If that means historically loyal fans are displaced in favour of someone paying a single visit then he's fine with that. He's never made any attempt to understand us, communicate with us. or be visible in any way. He's far more interested in his self-aggrandising vision for CFG, which brings in minimal benefit to City as far as I can see, but sucks in a load of cash. I know for a fact that a few seasons ago, price increases were discussed at a board meeting and there was no appetite for them. The board felt fans were paying as much as they could stand. Yet Soriano's view is that we should expect to pay more for watching the football we watch, despite the minimal impact on revenue and the negative outcome on our pockets. That sums him up for me.

They call us"customers" but don't treat us as customers and there's always been a faction at the club who aren't interested in what fans want, or wouldn't take even a minimal risk on doing something that might not work out. I'd certainly exclude Danny Wilson from that criticism, who's always been really constructive. But I know there have been times where a suggestion or outcome we thought had been agreed was vetoed by those above him.

The new COO instituted a major programme to look at and improve all aspects of fan experience but, as far as I know, no fans are actually involved in that. How the hell can you have do that without involving your key stakeholders? My employer is at the start of a major transformation programme and our customers will be involved in that, because they're the people who need to be happy with the outcome, not the people in the back-office.

The issue over publishing minutes is just fucking ridiculous. If CM is representing fans, then the fans have the right to know what's being discussed, subject to commercial and other matters of confidentiality. If I was still on CM, I'd be pushing hard for us to publish our own.

But having said all that, with all the frustrations I'd still much rather have a channel of communication open with the club than not. We have achieved things and we've got them to move more towards our way of thinking in some areas. Ultimately, they will do what they want but at least there'll be a group there chipping away at them.

Do you think Fran is City fan?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Do you support Chelsea ;)

Don't we all?

 

[mexico1970]

Don't we all?

Yer 'avin a laff guvnor ;O

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Do you think Fran is City fan?

Certainly of the Men's team. Which I also support, although I have relatively little interest in any other team within the group.

 

[mexico1970]

I know someone very well who was a rag then became a dipper and is now a tarquin and claims to "Not mind" City.

Lying bastard ;)

 

[Mon Autre]

Because of where the women's game is at in terms of development and public profile, it's not uncommon for fans to get behind other teams to some extent depending on who plays for them and what the wider community is like around the club. This is especially true when you support a club that hasn't yet put any meaningful resource into developing their women's team (although you can't really say that about City). There's also a wider social aspect around it for LGBTQ fans.

That said, she seems to have fully thrown her lot in with Chelsea now and that obvs conflicts with her position on the City Matters committee. So she probably should step down.

However, I don't think there was any really need for CSB to post her photo and tag her twitter handle. Football twitter can be a pretty brutal place and even more so for women and LGBTQ fans. I think they could have just said that they were aware of information that brought the suitability of the LGBTQ rep into question and that they would like a new person to be appointed to role. That tweet just looks like it's designed to instigate a pile on and they should know better really. She should be able to post whatever she wants on her own social media (if it's not hurting anyone) without someone else publicly weaponising that against her. It's all a bit needless.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

People like you & Prophet of Doom come over as right whingers to be brutally honest. Happy to knock anyone going above and beyond for their fellow fans, from the comfort of your armchairs. Get off your arse and do it yourself. I put a lot of my time and effort into City Matters, as do all the current committee. And that includes Fran Lever.

Having said that and got it off my chest, the problem is that we have a CEO who doesn't give a fuck about us, and who is just interested in squeezing every last penny out of the fans. If that means historically loyal fans are displaced in favour of someone paying a single visit then he's fine with that. He's never made any attempt to understand us, communicate with us. or be visible in any way. He's far more interested in his self-aggrandising vision for CFG, which brings in minimal benefit to City as far as I can see, but sucks in a load of cash. I know for a fact that a few seasons ago, price increases were discussed at a board meeting and there was no appetite for them. The board felt fans were paying as much as they could stand. Yet Soriano's view is that we should expect to pay more for watching the football we watch, despite the minimal impact on revenue and the negative outcome on our pockets. That sums him up for me.

They call us"customers" but don't treat us as customers and there's always been a faction at the club who aren't interested in what fans want, or wouldn't take even a minimal risk on doing something that might not work out. I'd certainly exclude Danny Wilson from that criticism, who's always been really constructive. But I know there have been times where a suggestion or outcome we thought had been agreed was vetoed by those above him.

The new COO instituted a major programme to look at and improve all aspects of fan experience but, as far as I know, no fans are actually involved in that. How the hell can you have do that without involving your key stakeholders? My employer is at the start of a major transformation programme and our customers will be involved in that, because they're the people who need to be happy with the outcome, not the people in the back-office.

The issue over publishing minutes is just fucking ridiculous. If CM is representing fans, then the fans have the right to know what's being discussed, subject to commercial and other matters of confidentiality. If I was still on CM, I'd be pushing hard for us to publish our own.

But having said all that, with all the frustrations I'd still much rather have a channel of communication open with the club than not. We have achieved things and we've got them to move more towards our way of thinking in some areas. Ultimately, they will do what they want but at least there'll be a group there chipping away at them.

The club do need to be careful with their pricing, not the greatest comparison but I remember Wigan doing season tickets dirt cheap when in the PL, they got relegated and the club wanted to raise prices, all those turning up to watch PL football (I knew a few) disappeared, and their gates/ST sales plummeted.
Obviously that won’t happen to us, but Guardiola & Haaland won’t be around forever, and all those priced out at City will be doing other things with their pennies, if there’s ever a drop off and the tourists move on. There’s no guarantees in football, and it does seem those at the top are basing everything on being ultra successful on the pitch with big stars plying their trade on the hallowed turf, All great if it’s going to plan I suppose

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Seriously, you'd have to be pretty clueless not to see what a public tweet on a toxic social media platform could lead to. By your logic, all the gutter rags spewing their hate-filled bile aren't responsible for any of their dickhead readers who decide to embark on a campaign of personal abuse against the target(s). Do you not give a shit about the likes of Caroline Flack who was hounded into taking her own life?

Give me one good reason why this had to be played out in public when it could've easily been resolved in private.

You are putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 8. I repeat, they didn't attack or vilify her, they expressed their own disappointment and asked her to stand down. You are also labelling twitter toxic as its suits your argument.

Anyway I think it's time for me to bow out of this conversation as rather ironically you appear to now be getting angry and personal. People are not clueless just because they don't agree with you!