City back down on charging for disabled parking (P6)

[Manchester33]

Because City Matters is a pointless organisation that the club ignore entirely, setup due to meet a regulatory requirement, and the people who are still there are legitimising this fake organisation and fake consultancy for the purposes of their own ego or status.

They are useless, we can rely on them for nothing, and they do active harm by keeping up this pretence

That's your view. I disagree, but that's life, right? This probably isn't the thread to discuss it though.

There are probably people in CityMatters who do it for their ego or status, but that couldn't be further from the truth for the poster you're replying to. He's spent countless hours doing the work, supporting City fans, and donating his money to such causes. He's done more for City fans than 99% of us ever will.

Only on Bluemoon could a person who's gone out of their way to start a fundraiser for some of our most vulnerable fans and raised thousands within 48 hours be told, 'You've achieved absolutely nothing'. LOL

 

[Eccles Blue]

I know some extremely influential connected and successful people that were "invited" to join City Matters. Only to then be ignored and excluded from a process they hadn't been fore warned about. Not a one made it onto the voting shortlist of well meaning but lightweight applicants. Some very front of house lip service being paid to fans. They clearly only want people they can control.
Ultimately, I suppose, every organisation does.

If 23 people apply to be considered for City Matters who then chooses the short list? Surely it should be an independent group? Or shouldn't everyone who has put their name forward be considered by the 'electorate'?

The numbers could be broken down in a similar way to an ordinary election. Or broken down rather like the opposition party are doing at the moment narrowing down their numbers .

Sorry I am not trying to derail the thread it was that sentence that I have highlighted and bolded (is that a word?) that struck me. Who decides on the shortlist?

 

[Damocles]

That's your view. I disagree, but that's life, right? This probably isn't the thread to discuss it though.

There are probably people in CityMatters who do it for their ego or status, but that couldn't be further from the truth for the poster you're replying to. He's spent countless hours doing the work, supporting City fans, and donating his money to such causes. He's done more for City fans than 99% of us ever will.

Only on Bluemoon could a person who's gone out of their way to start a fundraiser for some of our most vulnerable fans and raised thousands within 48 hours be told, 'You've achieved absolutely nothing'. LOL

Oh I didn't know he personally setup this fundraiser and his role at CityMatters was the key to it all. I thought this was a joint effort from a few people/groups but primarily led by the DSA and Nick Clarke at the MCFC Foodbank.

And I'd love to hear the list of CityMatters accomplishments in the last few years. We can put them up against the times they failed to influence, for balance.

 

[Manchester33]

Oh I didn't know he personally setup this fundraiser and his role at CityMatters was the key to it all. I thought this was a joint effort from a few people/groups but primarily led by the DSA and Nick Clarke at the MCFC Foodbank.

And I'd love to hear the list of CityMatters accomplishments in the last few years. We can put them up against the times they failed to influence, for balance.

If you had clicked on the link to the fundraiser, you would have seen CityMatters right at the top.

I think Alex would have had a hard time getting every member of the club's official fan representation to agree to cosign a protest fundraiser if he wasn't the chair...

That will be in the papers later this week. It will attract more media attention, which will hopefully help us drive more donations and reverse this stupid decision to charge disabled fans to park.

 

[cyberblue]

If people want to debate City Matters or slag people of
Please start your own thread
This one is to raise money for car parking for our disabled fans & to publicise the insane policy our club has adopted
Well done Alex from.City Matters for helping steering this approach

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

And I'd love to hear the list of CityMatters accomplishments in the last few years. We can put them up against the times they failed to influence, for balance.

I'll answer this, although I've not been actively involved since I stood down 2 years ago. The first thing to say is that the club can do whatever it wants, based on its commercial and operational interests, and there's nothing City Matters can do to force them to adopt an alternative. So while we continually badgered them about ticket pricing strategy, they largely ignored us. But we did have some successes as well.

• The independent food stalls around the campus were our suggestion, as was the introduction of a better selection of beers (although Asahi seem to have put an end to that).
• We asked for a covered fan zone as part of the North Stand extension, which we're getting.
• We've had input into numerous operational issues, including an agreed policy on enforcement of ground regulations and punishments for infringement of these.
• A lot of work has been done in the working groups on Ticketing, Catering & DE&I. I was part of the Ticketing group and we did a lot of work on how to minimise no-shows (and the Flexi Gold was a suggestion that came from City Matters), getting plastic seasoncards for those who needed them, looking at how we could change the loyalty points system (which is obviously contentious and complex, and still ongoing), plus the 18-25 allocation and a ticket amnesty, so people could transfer tickets they'd been using in other names to their own. We also got involved in planning the renewals process.
• The other groups have done work on food & beverage quality (including getting more healthy options), availability, queuing and signage, and taking action on discriminatory behaviour.
• We've highlighted issues with retailing and problems with the previous merchandise supplier, leading to a change.
• We've made progress (or thought we had until recent events) in the treatment of fans with disabilities
• We've worked on sustainability issues, including a series of meetings I was involved with around the Co-Op Live logistics.
• We had effective input into redesign of the membership schemes. In fact a lot of our input generally has been focused on toning down some club suggestions that we felt were well wide of the mark.

And then there's all the things I and others did for individual fans who had varying problems, which probably gave me the most satisfaction, including fans who thought they'd auto-renewed their season tickets but the process had failed, they'd lost their seats and couldn't get anywhere with Supporter Services. CM gave me the platform and ability to sort these things out quickly and effectively.

We could never stop the club putting in a new hospitality facility that meant people had to move from their seats, but we got them to manage the communication and resolution better.

I've never hidden the fact that there were often deep frustrations and even anger at club actions that we couldn't influence, or where our input was ignored. I'msure @Alex - City Matters will echo that, and the recent decision to charge disabled fans for parking without any sort of consultation, is one of the most infuriating and there are plenty more like that.

So, lots of frustrations but also achievements. On the whole it's better to be at the table than not.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

If 23 people apply to be considered for City Matters who then chooses the short list? Surely it should be an independent group? Or shouldn't everyone who has put their name forward be considered by the 'electorate'?

The numbers could be broken down in a similar way to an ordinary election. Or broken down rather like the opposition party are doing at the moment narrowing down their numbers .

Sorry I am not trying to derail the thread it was that sentence that I have highlighted and bolded (is that a word?) that struck me. Who decides on the shortlist?

Exactly - it's a stunt to look like it's all encompasssing - but really it's a filter.

 

[Manchester33]

Well, back to the positive stuff... we're £12 off £1.5k. That's 250 parking charges covered for fans. Amazing amazing support from everyone. Thanks to everyone who's donated.

 

[cyberblue]

Well, back to the positive stuff... we're £12 off £1.5k. That's 250 parking charges covered for fans. Amazing amazing support from everyone. Thanks to everyone who's donated.

What is wrong with some on here
The post is being hijacked with people having a dig about
City Matters
We are trying to raise awareness & money for a good cause
Please stick to the thread
Well done everyone who has donated
Nearly £1.500 already great effort

 

[blueparrot]

Oh I didn't know he personally setup this fundraiser and his role at CityMatters was the key to it all. I thought this was a joint effort from a few people/groups but primarily led by the DSA and Nick Clarke at the MCFC Foodbank.

And I'd love to hear the list of CityMatters accomplishments in the last few years. We can put them up against the times they failed to influence, for balance.

Why would you want to do that? The accompishments are enough by themselves. Making a list to try and negate them is pointless and a bit daft.