Open Letter to Man City and newspaper further coverage proposed

[edinburgh123]

Lobbying the club internally and attacking UEFA on multiple channels (not the tabloids) is the best policy. We also have some MPs on our side. The club have been poor with their Comms again.

I agree with this statement but.... how and who is doing it? It seems to me (and I am more than happy to be proven wrong, in fact hope I am) - there is nothing organised other than multiple opinions in a forum. (For info - if we got MEN advert then Sky will run with it - I know because I have a mate there who said it makes a good story for the Sky Sports News, but as you intimate - this is an option, there are many options I just know the one option that doesn't work in a 120 page thread on bluemoon ! :-) )

 

[Corky]

The last time theclub collected info it was via a club statement on the website:

Manchester City is cognisant of the fact that fans will be affected by this unforeseen turn of events and encourage all supporters who have made non-refundable travel arrangements to email proof of such arrangements to mcfc@mcfc.co.uk, referencing the supporter numbers of all impacted fans, by 5pm on Tuesday 7 October.

Not heard back yet, but it was only 2014. It just seemed like a measure to placate fans until tensions died down.

 

[Ellenbrook_blue]

I agree with this statement but.... how and who is doing it? It seems to me (and I am more than happy to be proven wrong, in fact hope I am) - there is nothing organised other than multiple opinions in a forum. (For info - if we got MEN advert then Sky will run with it - I know because I have a mate there who said it makes a good story for the Sky Sports News, but as you intimate - this is an option, there are many options I just know the one option that doesn't work in a 120 page thread on bluemoon ! :-) )

Alex from City Matters is doing it right now for us in between his full time work compiling the report with content gleaned from the thread on Bluemoon. Personally think this a good approach, it will leave the club in no doubt as to what the fans have suffered. I don’t expect anything back now as too much time as passed.

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

I have set this up away from the main Istanbul thread to get thought and traction so hope that is ok
I spoke to the Manchester Evening News and they are willing to publish an open letter from the fans to the club asking them for comment on how fans were treated in Istanbul. The cost of the advert (incl. VAT) is £480 for a half page advert. However... more importantly if the "letter" is agreed then they also want to follow up with interviews etc which in turn will make the item more newsworthy and take up far more space in the paper. Some people may now of course may just be thinking 'let sleeping dogs lie'
Anyway - I said I would get back to them but my thoughts are this : -
We could set up 'crowdfunding' for the 480quid and get the letter sent but it is better not coming from me but a more 'official' Man City supporters area (1894 etc) and also I had it 'bad' but nowhere near as bad as others (at least I got the metro to the ground and got in the ground early so only got the shit coming back)
Anyway...... :-
I have the contact - I have agreement that if the letter passes legal (we obviously can't be libellous:-) then MEN also want to give it more publicity but I think it needs someone (1894 group / Gary James etc) with more clout than me to move this forward (please no tribalism about what you think of MEN - that isn't the point)
I would appreciate whether there is any demand for this and also whether any official group (who would be better sourcing the right people interviewed) were interested in pursuing this and I will 'hand over the contact' etc.
cheers

(For info - my fourpenneth at the open letter below - but again, there are better wordsmiths than me (although there are also a few shitter ones.. :-) )


Dear Manchester City
This is an open letter from many of the fans who went to Istanbul for the culmination of possibly the greatest season in the history of the club. Whilst we would all like to thank the owners, the manager, players and all who contributed in creating wonderful indelible memories of the season, it is very disappointing how badly so many fans were treated at the Champions League final and how (it appears) the club appear somewhat disinterested in even commenting, never mind looking into what happened?
Last year in Paris, Liverpool fans were treated (admittedly) worse and understandably there was uproar across all media as a result, resulting in compensation for all fans, but whilst there has been considerable press coverage this year, the difference between Liverpool FC and their very public vocal support of their fans and Manchester City FC is markedly and disappointingly different
As most people are aware the way the fans were treated was somewhere between poor and almost inhumane. Some (but not all) of the key issues which have been well reported included : -

• City fans were told to use a bus to and from the venue which took on average of 3+ hours, including not leaving the car park for an average of 2 hours and many fans either ended up walking or struggled (due to disabilities) in even getting across the gravel car park in the dark to find a bus
• Failure at the ground (and fanpark) to provide appropriate places for food and drink meant queues of over an hour with only one concession stand in the ground for 20,000 fans
• Water being charged (illegally) at 5 euros for 225ml especially when a number of retailers in the ground demanded ‘cash’ even though it was a no cash venue
• Toilet blocks only for 20 to 30 people
• Horrendous queues into the ground whilst still having 2 hours before kick off

There are many more horror stories and even the Uefa president made the following statement :-
"We are well aware that in Istanbul not everything was perfect…..I'm thinking in particular transport links to and from stadium, the hosting of the stadium supporters and access to water and toilets for everyone." which somewhat reminds the older fan of the Monty Python sketch “what have the Romans ever done for us” given pretty much all the necessities of hosting a game other than the match itself were called out as failures

However, despite all this, there appears to have been complete silence from the club. We appreciate Manchester City do not pick the venue and have limited (if any) liability over what happened in Istanbul, but despite that, the fans expected at least some form of public comment of support, as we do not have any clue whether you are looking into this and supporting us or simply dismissing us as ‘legacy fans’.
Therefore all that we are asking is – please will you comment on what happened to give us an indication if you are looking into it or simply ignoring it
This is not about compensation it is about feeling valued as a fanbase, Pep often asks us to contribute and provide more noise and support the team, can we see some back please?

booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Son of Merv]

I wrote to the Club about a fiasco with the Club Shop that also included a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Still waiting for a reply.

Then you should raise a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office. They do, and will, respond to your issue.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I agree with this statement but.... how and who is doing it? It seems to me (and I am more than happy to be proven wrong, in fact hope I am) - there is nothing organised other than multiple opinions in a forum. (For info - if we got MEN advert then Sky will run with it - I know because I have a mate there who said it makes a good story for the Sky Sports News, but as you intimate - this is an option, there are many options I just know the one option that doesn't work in a 120 page thread on bluemoon ! :-) )

I don't know how many City fans are on Twitter (I am not); Facebook; Youtube, Instagram etc. We also have over 300 supporters clubs globally with their own social media accounts. There are more than 70,000 members on this site last time I looked. A simple message cascaded out and re-tweeted would be seen by a lot more people than in the MEN. You could ask local MPs, and other Manchester figures like the Gallaghers to endorse the message. Perhaps some ex players (and even current ones) would support us. Let's face it, apart from a few journalists, the local and national media have treated us like shit for years. The tabloid press in particular act in bad faith and can't be trusted. They have zero credibility and influence these days. The simpler the campaign message the better and more effective it will be. Would the FSA not help?

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Then you should raise a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office. They do, and will, respond to your issue.

With City's track record on data breaches I would expect them to reply more promptly.

 

[Blue Mist]

With City's track record on data breaches I would expect them to reply more promptly.

They did, unfortunately to the wrong person :-)

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

They did, unfortunately to the wrong person :-)

It's shocking really. An email bungle cost Garry Cook his job, then there was the LFC data hack, and then Pinto. We never seem to learn our lessons and it has cost us a fortune over the years. When you couple that with the constant ticketing and website cock-ups it suggests we don't really have reliable people in charge of tech/comms/IT. The Pinto stuff was amazing really when we had our most senior Directors holding confidential financial discussions by email. A sacking offence in any major organisation. That said in my experience it is often the most senior Directors in a business who behave in the most cavalier fashion with data.

 

[edinburgh123]

Why write an “open letter” to City that they may or may not see and reply to for £400, when you can sent them the letter direct for nothing?

Because at best they will reply to me and that is not what this is about
You (and a number of others, so this isn't personal, I just randomly picked one to reply) clearly don't understand the logic. It isn't gonna happen anyway because the letter can not come from me but must come from an official part of Man City supporters or it looks like 'bitter blue from Edinburgh' and is not newsworthy

Writing a letter/email using other forms of media has happened with a number of people and it is a personal transaction with the club with (what appears from most people) no/limited response where as right now as a fanbase we have seen nothing official from the club. This is about coordination of discussion

> Man City official supporters (remember it can NOT come from an individual) physically pay for an advert and the reason is because of the radio silence of the club so this is a 'desperate attempt' to ask them to speak to us
>This is followed by MEN undertaking interviews/reports etc especially with those disabled who were affected most. Remember if the MEN simply do this with no 'paid for letter' (which is the newsworthy bit) this goes nowhere other than a local paper reporting on a local incident
Then..
> All national newspapers/journalists etc become aware. The key part of the story remember is Man City fans pay for their own advert because of lack of response. This is what grabs the national news. Man City are asked to comment, it also becomes questions at press conferences etc. And this isn't about 'having a go' at City this is about having a go at Uefa but getting City to support.

Anyway - as I said in the initial posting it is pointless being tribal and having a go an MEN or anything else it is just a proposal to get City to properly comment

But instead as 1894 (and other groups) haven't picked up on this then fine. It was just an idea that would 100% have got the club to comment/support us in public, but if there are other ways of doing this fine, I look forward to seeing the club respond imminently