Fans Forum/Roverstore/Commercial Chat

[Wheelton Blue]

I used the work 'accountable' in a post elsewhere.

That's the trouble with the club IMO. The people who should be accountable aren't, nor are they being held to account by those who should be doing so.

[JWU-Andy]

like Tom and Simon I used to be on the FF and the original premise of it wasn't to be an overly critical friend to the club, more of a sounding board for idea's floated by the club in terms of improving the general match day experience of fans - it certainly wasn't set-up to hold this car crash of a club to account run by people who choose not to listen or are intent of feathering their own nest at the expense of the club.

 

There were (and still are) good people who work for the football club and it must be soul destroying watching the club mismanaged and shrunk to a point where their jobs are either combined with other roles, or become altogether obsolete.  Likewise the forum was made up of people who had the best interest of the club at heart and although sometimes we needed to ask difficult questions, we either got an 'off the record' reply or an honest answer - I can very rarely recall a time in my years on the FF when the answer was 'we'll get back to you'

 

The only thing I'd be critical of about the forum then and now is that the majority of the people on it, although fans, offer very little in terms of input - go through the minutes as far back as you can and you'll only ever see the same few people asking questions or making a point.  There are too many passive people on it who don't wish to rock the boat for whatever reason and given the current people in charge, that is absolutely perfect for the club who can pay lip service.

 

It is a tough balancing act for the FF as some people have invested a lot of years into it and wouldn't want the plug pulling because someone gets carried away trying to make a point/name for themselves, however they are at the point of appearing to be an invisible set of supporters who just go to have their tummy tickled.

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by JWU-Andy

[Miller11]

On 26/07/2021 at 12:51, JWU-Andy said:

like Tom and Simon I used to be on the FF and the original premise of it wasn't to be an overly critical friend to the club, more of a sounding board for idea's floated by the club in terms of improving the general match day experience of fans - it certainly wasn't set-up to hold this car crash of a club to account run by people who choose not to listen or are intent of feathering their own nest at the expense of the club.

 

There were (and still are) good people who work for the football and it must be soul destroying watching the club mismanaged and shrunk to a point where their jobs are either combined with other roles, or become altogether obsolete.  Likewise the forum was made up of people who had the best interest of the club at heart and although sometimes we needed to ask difficult questions, we either got an 'off the record' reply or an honest answer - I can very rarely recall a time in my years on the FF when the answer was 'we'll get back to you'

 

The only thing I'd be critical of about the forum then and now is that the majority of the people on it, although fans, offer very little in terms of input - go through the minutes as far back as you can and you'll only ever see the same few people asking questions or making a point.  There are too many passive people on it who don't wish to rock the boat for whatever reason and given the current people in charge, that is absolutely perfect for the club who can pay lip service.

 

It is a tough balancing act for the FF as some people have invested a lot of years into it and wouldn't want the plug pulling because someone gets carried away trying to make a point/name for themselves, however they are at the point of appearing to be an invisible set of supporters who just go to have their tummy tickled.

 

The same could be said for the fans consultation meetings, which the Forum seems to have become the de facto replacement for.

The consultation meetings are supposed to be the place to ask the questions a lot of people seem to be wanting from the forum. It’s usually a very passive room and the questions always come from the same people. There is of course the issue that the meetings aren’t fit for purpose and rather than get answers from the owners (ha!) we are regaled with tales of Tony’s youth.

Id like to see a few more posters off here attend the next consultation, whenever that may be.

[JHRover]

I was also hoping there would be a shareholders meeting which is usually an opportunity for the minor shareholders to ask questions of the board.

Waggott is now saying that due to Covid 19 there cannot be a shareholders meeting this year.

I'm not sure why 20-30 people in a room is higher risk than opening up Blues Bar or the Premier Suite on a weekly basis but hey, it gets him off the hook a while longer.

[roversfan99]

Mentioned in the match thread by me and a few others but possibly could get lost in there.

Could the issue of service on the concourses be brought up at the next meeting please? Could solutions such as pre-prepared drinks and use of the bottle bars be mentioned to deal with the terrible service seen yesterday, the wait is far too long and avoidably so.

@only2garners

[arbitro]

I think anybody who was dissatisfied with the service provided by Sodexho should write direct to Waggott or Danny Davis who is the Sodexho manager responsible for Ewood. I was getting some chips for my granddaughter yesterday and a bloke came to the counter for hot drinks. He was told there was an equipment malfunction and there were none. He really sounded off at the young girl so I had a go at him and told him to take it up with the club.

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by arbitro

[chaddyrovers]

22 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Mentioned in the match thread by me and a few others but possibly could get lost in there.

Could the issue of service on the concourses be brought up at the next meeting please? Could solutions such as pre-prepared drinks and use of the bottle bars be mentioned to deal with the terrible service seen yesterday, the wait is far too long and avoidably so.

@only2garners

Could the club not used outside the stadium where the tents are during half time as the concourse area is busy at time? 

How much is it for a pint these days at Ewood?

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Could the club not used outside the stadium where the tents are during half time as the concourse area is busy at time? 

How much is it for a pint these days at Ewood?

That would also be a potentially good idea, the queues all went right back to the toilets and then curved off to the side such were the size of the queues and they weren't going down.

I got one before the game and it was a fiver for a pint of Amstel, so the fact that price is not my main complaint tells you everything!

[chaddyrovers]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I got one before the game and it was a fiver for a pint of Amstel, so the fact that price is not my main complaint tells you everything!

I was just asking as it is years since I bought a pint from Rovers on a match day. 

[Mattyblue]

Noticed after the game that the queues for the club shop were snaking right down Nuttall Street. Never seen that before, even in the good old days.

Kits and Morecambe tickets flying out, obviously … or skeleton staff?

[rigger]

35 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Could the club not used outside the stadium where the tents are during half time as the concourse area is busy at time? 

How much is it for a pint these days at Ewood?

They do

[JHRover]

Are the club not selling Macron training gear i.e. t shirts or tracksuits?

Went on the website but couldn't find anything other than the kits.

[only2garners]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Noticed after the game that the queues for the club shop were snaking right down Nuttall Street. Never seen that before, even in the good old days.

Kits and Morecambe tickets flying out, obviously … or skeleton staff?

More likely trying to control the numbers in the shop for social distancing I would have thought.

[Mattyblue]

Yet the Blackburn End concourse looked anything but…

[MarkBRFC]

Yeah thats what the doorman told us as we were going in yesterday in regards to social distancing.

Poor choice of items though, hardly anything kit wise in stock.

Luckily managed to get the GK top for my lad, only about 7 left all different sizes.

Edited August 8, 2021 by MarkBRFC

[Tom]

5 hours ago, JHRover said:

Are the club not selling Macron training gear i.e. t shirts or tracksuits?

Went on the website but couldn't find anything other than the kits.

They are selling the royal blue with white lines at the top one in store.

I must have dreamt it but I thought I read that was only a temporary one due to the issues that also affected the kits 

[only2garners]

There have been a few posts about issues at the game on Saturday on various threads and I have had a couple of emails to the Forum as well. I thought it best to post on this thread.

People were asking for issues to be raised at the next Forum but that's not scheduled for another 5 weeks so I contacted the club yesterday about three things: -

• The inaudibility of the speakers in the Riverside
• Broken TV screens in the Riverside
• Problems at the concourse kiosks

I have had a reply from the club as below: -

I can confirm that all audio equipment has been serviced during the lockdown period, however, we are aware of certain speakers being unclear on Saturday.   The engineers and PA system operators are currently discussing how these issues will be rectified ahead of the next match.  You are correct that speakers are not able to be turned off for safety reasons.

 

We did experience some staffing issues on the concourse.  Hospitality staff are in short supply across the country due to Covid and this gave us cause for concern ahead of the start of this season.  We did manage to pull together sufficient staff, however,  due to last minute notice of isolations, this did impact the service on the day.  Sodexo are confident the issues will be rectified ahead of the next match.

 

The electricians were pulled away for urgent repairs whilst setting up TV’s, however, we are confident that these were switched on in good time.  One TV did fail in the Riverside Stand despite pre-match checks and this will be replaced in due course.

[roversfan99]

Thanks for chasing these issues up @only2garners much appreciated.

My worry on the concourse issue is that I think it needs a bit more out of the box thinking rather than putting it down to staff, especially as it is unlikely to cause much improvement going forward. Pre-preparing beers and also using the bottle bars could be huge helps however.

[Tom]

I’d like to see us asking the likes of 3 bee’s to come and set up temporary bars either in the fanzone or concourse

Am I misremembering or did Thwaites do similar with Wainwright’s to good reception previously?

[rigger]

Is it an unusual phenomenom for Rovers fans to want a beer at half-time ?

[only2garners]

I think we will have another chat about catering at the September FF, although we have been round these issues regularly for years. One of the issues with pre-pouring beers ready for the half time rush is that lots of fans want a freshly poured p[int rather than one that has been stood for 5-10 minutes (although I'm in the school that says it can't make much difference for the beer they serve).

It would be great to get some more interesting beers on. The problem with real ale is that it needs setting up in advance, you need people who know how to serve it and you need to be sure you can get rid of it all on the day as it won't keep. I guess there is no reason why they can't serve craft beers though. It's quite likely that there are also contractual issues with Sodexho as to what beers they can offer. Anyway, we will ask some questions again.

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, only2garners said:

I think we will have another chat about catering at the September FF, although we have been round these issues regularly for years. One of the issues with pre-pouring beers ready for the half time rush is that lots of fans want a freshly poured p[int rather than one that has been stood for 5-10 minutes (although I'm in the school that says it can't make much difference for the beer they serve).

It would be great to get some more interesting beers on. The problem with real ale is that it needs setting up in advance, you need people who know how to serve it and you need to be sure you can get rid of it all on the day as it won't keep. I guess there is no reason why they can't serve craft beers though. It's quite likely that there are also contractual issues with Sodexho as to what beers they can offer. Anyway, we will ask some questions again.

Do you think they could utilise the bottle bars to help to reduce queues that way?

[DeeCee]

It is a fair reply imo having been in the hospitality trade for 25 years, he's more or less said "shit happens" and it does often in that industry. It's the nature of the business, unfortunately. Sometimes far more spectacularly than the issues raised. Just for a bit of context.

[chaddyrovers]

Went into the club shop this morning and they were few people inside.

think the new setup inside is well set up and plenty of space. 

Shame about the lack of adults home, away and 3rd shirts on sale but I believe its supply issue with Macron. 

 

[chaddyrovers]

Does anyone know the Club Shop opening times for tomorrow please? 

Thanks in advance