City Matters thread

I applaud the efforts of City Matters and the progress they have made. It is especially heartening that their existence is now codified. On the other hand I can understand why the club would not want that statement to be issued. Can you imagine what the gutter press would have done with it. Another stick to beat our club with at a particularly sensitive time. I wonder what (if any) the repercussions would have been if it had been published as on balance it painted a negative story. I wonder what other club statements say. Where can they be read?

Keep up the good fight CM as you now have a great deal more power because of the codifications. I can see your influence growing and growing in the coming years.
 
Glad to see the recruitment of three new representatives posted already.

Very happy to answer any questions that prospective candidates may have.

In my view, I think it is critical that we gain three vocal advocates for supporters (not to say Mark and Simon have not been, quite the contrary) - especially on the matchday membership point, who have been really hit by poor decisions with sales.
halfcenturyup said:
Just out of interest, shouldn't City Matters be announcing and co-ordinating this, rather than the club? Is CM supposed to be independent or an organ of the club?
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Good point. And in short, yes I agree. I proposed as much in a recent paper on reforms to City Matters in May.

Currently, the main sticking point with City Matters recruitment and independence is the shortlisting phase which ahs been controlled by the Club and behind closed doors.

As it happened, not surprisingly, the Club were not in favour of City Matters taking over recruitment. They did agree that I would be able to sit on the shortlisting panel and have voting rights, which whilst a long way from perfect, is a step in the right direction.

Part of the difficulty with City Matters' governance is that the group was constituted by the Club and fans invited to join - rather than there being a period of negotiation. This latter point is the reason why West Ham have struggled to form a Fan Advisory Board, as colleagues have taken a firm line with the club in negotiations. This isn't a slight on any of the earlier members of City Matters, as they weren't in a position to do something similar with the group already created. As such, it has been a journey from change within, which is sometimes difficult when the Club hold an advantageous position on things like recruitment.

I've attached the paper below.

 
Alex.

Any news of when the next North stand meeting is going to be with the club?

Keep up the good work.
 
Tim of the Oak said:
I can’t stand UEFA so I would have welcomed City having a pop. I can understand City not wanting to upset UEFA but there’s clearly something more to it than that. I’ve no idea what it’s but our Club could have been embarrassed if loads of people claimed compensation who were the legitimate ticket owners. It might be nothing to do with that of course.
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There was, and never will be, any excuse for the lack of club condemnation of the shambles of Istanbul. Thousands of SUPPORTERS spent thousands of pounds SUPPORTING City win the trophy the club said they wanted most. The least we could have expected was a bit of SUPPORT from the club after what unfolded. Alex did a fantastic, thorough and professional job compiling a comprehensive report of that shitshow, and what happened - nothing. I have every respect for the reps who give their time and energy to City Matters but for me the Istanbul debacle shows how little credence the club pay them.
 
It’s not a complaint, as if truth be told, I couldn’t really care less.

But I still found it a bit odd that it appears any Tom, Dick or Harry who’s created a free supporter number can vote in all the rep. categories bar one.

But the disabled rep. votes are exclusively for members of the Disability Supporters Association.
 
Alex - City Matters said:
Glad to see the recruitment of three new representatives posted already.

Very happy to answer any questions that prospective candidates may have.

In my view, I think it is critical that we gain three vocal advocates for supporters (not to say Mark and Simon have not been, quite the contrary) - especially on the matchday membership point, who have been really hit by poor decisions with sales.

Good point. And in short, yes I agree. I proposed as much in a recent paper on reforms to City Matters in May.

Currently, the main sticking point with City Matters recruitment and independence is the shortlisting phase which ahs been controlled by the Club and behind closed doors.

As it happened, not surprisingly, the Club were not in favour of City Matters taking over recruitment. They did agree that I would be able to sit on the shortlisting panel and have voting rights, which whilst a long way from perfect, is a step in the right direction.

Part of the difficulty with City Matters' governance is that the group was constituted by the Club and fans invited to join - rather than there being a period of negotiation. This latter point is the reason why West Ham have struggled to form a Fan Advisory Board, as colleagues have taken a firm line with the club in negotiations. This isn't a slight on any of the earlier members of City Matters, as they weren't in a position to do something similar with the group already created. As such, it has been a journey from change within, which is sometimes difficult when the Club hold an advantageous position on things like recruitment.

I've attached the paper below.

Click to expand...

It's why we need an Independent Supporters Trust - democratically controlled by and for the fans - and with the coming government intervention, would have to be taken seriously by the club
 
shnaghaicityfish said:
There was, and never will be, any excuse for the lack of club condemnation of the shambles of Istanbul. Thousands of SUPPORTERS spent thousands of pounds SUPPORTING City win the trophy the club said they wanted most. The least we could have expected was a bit of SUPPORT from the club after what unfolded. Alex did a fantastic, thorough and professional job compiling a comprehensive report of that shitshow, and what happened - nothing. I have every respect for the reps who give their time and energy to City Matters but for me the Istanbul debacle shows how little credence the club pay them.
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I despise UEFA so I made the sacrifice of not going to the Final. Maybe you should have too if you found it such a terrible occasion.

I’ve got a lot of sympathy for the peole in wheelchairs, injured etc. for everyone else, surely winning the Cup was incredible and outweighed getting stuck on a hot minibus.

FWIW, I probably should have gone to Istanbul be use I broke my foot during the celebrations in my local.

All credit to Alex for shining a spotlight on the problems. I’m glad City took the trophies to the worst affected families.
 
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GrumpyLegacyFan said:
It's why we need an Independent Supporters Trust - democratically controlled by and for the fans - and with the coming government intervention, would have to be taken seriously by the club
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Agreed. Not a slight on the existing structures, but there needs to be a truly independent fan organisation that is free to criticise the club publicly when it is needed.
 
halfcenturyup said:
Agreed. Not a slight on the existing structures, but there needs to be a truly independent fan organisation that is free to criticise the club publicly when it is needed.
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There’s many legitimate critiques to be made of City Matters, but I’d like to think that being free to publicly criticise the Club isn’t one of them - at least in recent times.

As I tried to set out in my foreword, Fan Advisory Boards are here to stay - the Premier League and Club are fully signed up to the idea. So, in my view, the Club wouldn’t have much impetus to engage with any new group as the main outlet for fan feedback. That’s not to say that new supporter groups wouldn’t be a valued addition - for example, the guys at the foodbank group do a great job and I try to work closely with them. But it is to say that trying to reform City Matters as much from the inside, and setting the group up to be as successful as possible, is in all of our interests.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
Got the Club email email about applying to join City Matters. Clicked the link out of curiosity.

Apparently before applying it's vital the club know
Your ethnicity,
Your Sexual preference,
Your non-binary status,
Your disability,

Yeh- not a tick box exercise - no sirree
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Yes but most forms you fill in nowadays ask those questions, sometimes I answer them sometimes I don't. :-)
 
GaudinoMotors said:
Got the Club email email about applying to join City Matters. Clicked the link out of curiosity.

Apparently, before applying, it's vital the club know:-
your ethnicity,
your sexual preference,
your non-binary status,
your disability,

Yeah- not a tick box exercise - no sirree.
Click to expand...

-Welsh
-Sheep
-Prefer not to say
-Welsh
 
GaudinoMotors said:
Got the Club email email about applying to join City Matters. Clicked the link out of curiosity.

Apparently, before applying, it's vital the club know:-
your ethnicity,
your sexual preference,
your non-binary status,
your disability,

Yeah - not a tick box exercise - no Sirree.
Click to expand...

I know it’s not quite as good a story but there is a ‘prefer not to say’ option to all those questions.
 
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