The Championship Chronicles - The Jetstream's review of the 2007/08 season. www.newcastlefootball.net/chronicles
That's the thing, though. If selected it's not simply about what Gaz, or whoever, want's to do. It's about that personrepresenting the collective voice of the members. It's about canvassing the members for ideas and presenting them for consideration as the members representative.
It's also not soley about making sure things get done by the club, but also that they keep doing things we like about being a member, for example, low season ticket prices.
If the people selected only go in for themself and ignore what others, it will not succeed.
The Championship Chronicles - The Jetstream's review of the 2007/08 season. www.newcastlefootball.net/chronicles
Well said.
I've got a few ideas I'd like to put to the club largely about involvement in schools and respecting the history of the "top flight" football representation in the region (something i think they are getting better at), but these are my issues and if they arent reflected in what other members are interested in, or value, then its a waste of time to bring them up. self-interest would see the committee design a camel when trying to build a horse.
I'm more interested in the fans being able to put ideas forward to the club and feel that hey have been heard. I feel too many times in the past the clubs response to many ideas have been flipant or dismissive because the forum in which they have been brought up has not allowed for detailed and passionate discussion or explaination. Communication structures in the past have also allowed good ideas to fall by the wayside, be forgotten about or ignored. sometimes this is due to club personel, us as fans ourselves or the structure of such communications.
I'd love to simply see an idea come forward - the club listen and provide a reasoned response within a timeframe, AND the club be held to that timeframe and the explaination of the reasons be open for discussion so that fans can start to maybe feel some sense of the club listening. I know Tinkler pays the bills (horrible assumption given the history of national football competition representation in newcastle) but for the club and football to progress further we need more people to feel like they belong as part of this club, I feely strongly that this starts with the club listening to, and becoming respresentative of its fans.
the club belongs to the fans.... and Id actually like to see the commitee be open to more than just those who are members. buying a season ticket doesnt make anyone more of a fan, or deserving to be listened to anymore than any other perosn who supports the club. I hate to use word "stakeholder" but the blokes who come to every home game they can, be it 1 or all 13, or those who cant get to any but support the club from afar, or who work weekends, are just as much a part of this thing as those of us luvky enough to able to afford a season ticket and and can get to all the matches.
The Championship Chronicles - The Jetstream's review of the 2007/08 season. www.newcastlefootball.net/chronicles
So true. It's when the club starts having supporters in other cities in Australia and other places in the world that you know that you are doing something right, or representing an ideal that people outside a parochial city can relate to.
That's why I am so keen that the club reach out to mid-western nsw, nnsw beyond the hunter. Make them feel that the club values their support, even if they can't get to games. A lot of the money comes from Foxtel subscriptions anyway.
Well said overall Gaz. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, opening communication and being taken seriously is the most important thing at this point.
Last edited by hausmann; 04-09-2014 at 11:16 AM.
And that's a fair point - and you will if you get feedback on the suggestions you put forward.
I think it should be judged by how seriously the club take the suggestions the representatives raise, as well as how that representative gathers and presents the suggestions and feeds back what the outcome or decision was.
The Championship Chronicles - The Jetstream's review of the 2007/08 season. www.newcastlefootball.net/chronicles
1.
Better links with schools - football oriented PDHPE and HSIE units, it's the world game, we preach respect in football - there's direct links that can be made.
2.
Facilitating school gala days - in high school rugby league has a large presence, football needs the same.... A Jets Cup based on gala days not knockouts..... For yr3/4/5/6/7/8. Much of this happens for other sports because other sports get into schools better than football can afford to do.... But more can be done.
3.
Kit manufacturer - I'm yet to get a kooga/blk shirt, but the isc kit was so bloody uncomfortable, seek shirts people might want to actually wear.
4.
Keep E&C in our away kit permemantly.... I fear reading the current stufff that it might have not been a two season thing.
5.
Increase communication about major decisions...... The eastern stand was shut, not reason other than "operations" was given..... If it's too expensive to staff it and clean it, just be honest and say so.
6.
I'd love to see the club increase merchandising targeted for families and kids such as cheap pencil cases, lunch boxes etc the nrl corner this market and football needs to get in on the act.
7.
Do more to lobby the FFA regarding active support restrictions.
8.
Make the stadium (in know state venues run it) more "newcastle" the new stands feel very much like concrete buildings, I'd love to see the concourses behind the stands be covered with images of past newcastle glories, football and rugby league. There's lot of grey brick that could be red/blue, green/brown.
But in all seriousness, they're all moot points if they aren't really the views of a wider base.
I think the structure of the communication process and ensuring the committee openly and without bias represent the views of as many fans as possible is far more important than any issue I think the club should be made aware of.
Likely to fail? Depends on people's expectations. If we are expecting this to drive change immediately, then yes, it will fail.
If we expect it to be a long term relationship building lines of communication where fans can hold the club to account on important issues, whether we agree with their decisions or not, then yes, I do believe strongly that it can be a success.
The Committee and club needs to be proactive, have a clear vision, prioritise long term goals towards that vision, actively seek out supporters views and listen, create situations everyone gets value from, and work with the strengths of everyone then it can be a pivotal key in the club's success.
Last edited by GazFish35; 04-09-2014 at 01:50 PM.
Probably, but how do we know that the curent admin arent flat out and understaffed already?
i see this as a means for the club to possibley give greater explanantion of why some things dont happen as much as it can be a way to encourage mores to happen.
at the momement its easy to assume the worst.
if you are right though, having these sugegstions minuted and the club responses minuted also, perhaps it will be easier for such ideas to gnot get lost in the ether.
Last edited by GazFish35; 04-09-2014 at 04:28 PM.
I am in huge agreement on this one. I would even go so far as to say that the club should consider that they might need to make a loss on the deal just to have the right kit.
As the saying goes, "clothes maketh the man". To some extent, the Jets have to project an image that they are a truly professional club, and that partly means getting a brand like Puma, Nike, Adidas, etc and partly a truly high quality design, high quality fabric etc. If they go for a lesser brand, the design and quality has to be exceptional.
In this vein, the same goes for a front of shirt sponsor. If I had to choose between a higher amount from a related party like CQP and a lesser amount from a global brand, I would go for the global. This would be a short term strategic decision, not to always accept a lesser amount, but to show global brands that we are in the market for global partners. Thus, hopefully in the long term, the sponsorship value would ultimately be higher.
These are things that are in the long term interest of the club but they also send a message to supporters that they are following a professional club with a professional image.
Last edited by hausmann; 04-09-2014 at 03:06 PM.
I'm with the Member. Let's assume the committee gets up. Cut the horseshit let's get down to real ideas.
1. Cut the entertainment. Football crowds want to see football not failed Aussie Idol contestants. Sync the Youth league/W League to play on same day to give customers 2 games instead of one. This can be done with all parties working together.
2. Mr Fish said it, make the Stadium more Newy. Not an Arsenal but When I went to Emirates wandered around the joint looking and reading about it's history. Was awesome. The fact there is no permanent reminder of '08 (or the Knights '97 and '01) is sad.
3. Take the match entertainment budget and spend it on pop up bars/snackstalls for the pre match and half time rush. It's pathetic I can get a beer/water quicker at Emirates/Anfield/Yokohama stadium than at our place with 10k.
Yes the club will crap on about someone else running the catering but use your leverage as tenant to demand change.
That's my first thoughts.
There is also no reason the reps of the supporters committee couldn't hold a fans forum to gather feedback on what issues supporters want discussed with the club prior to committee meetings taking place.
I know the LFC Supporters Committee does this at least twice a season.
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GAzFish as the club seems to want to deal with some trivial matters with this.JETS owner Nathan Tinkler has declared he "can't wait" to sell Newcastle's A-League franchise and sever ties completely with a city that he says "hasn't done anything but s - - t on me".
But as the struggling tycoon waits impatiently for a buyer so he can discard the team he has owned for almost four years, behind the scenes Newcastle officials are making a concerted effort to strengthen the bond with the fans who will keep the turnstiles clicking long after Tinkler has gone.
The Jets announced this week that they are creating a new six-person members committee that will meet four times each year to discuss issues surrounding the "match-day experience".
And in a further development, Newcastle chief executive Robbie Middleby has invited Football Federation Australia officials to meet with disgruntled members of the Squadron in the hope of resolving the dispute over this season's seating arrangements.
The Squadron have vehemently opposed FFA's plan to introduce compulsory ticketing for "active support" areas in all stadiums, describing this proposal as "absurd and overbearing".
Rather than congregate in FFA's designated Bay 60 zone at Hunter Stadium, the Squadron are threatening to stage a boycott by instead buying general-admission tickets and sitting elsewhere.
Middleby said both parties had valid viewpoints and was hopeful the issue could be resolved before the season kicks off in five weeks.
"I can see both sides of the argument, but it's a situation where we'll keep working towards facilitating a compromise that suits everyone..
"The Squadron is obviously very, very important to our club, and active support is very important for the A-League in general.
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"As a club, we want to work with all parties and for that reason I spoke to the FFA yesterday and asked them to come and meet with the Squadron committee and talk through it.
"Hopefully there will be a meeting in the next couple of weeks and they can resolve some differences."
Middleby said there had been strong interest from potential candidates for the members committee, after the club invited nominations via its website this week.
But he stressed the new body was not intended as a replacement for the now-defunct advisory board, disbanded by Tinkler more than two years ago and never replaced, despite a promise from the Hunter Sports Group that it would be "restructured" so that it "re-emerges with contributors from politics, the community, football and commerce".
"We hope the members committee will play an important role, but not so much with strategic decisions like signing players or coaches or how the team should be playing," Middleby said.
"It will be more about trying to work together so there is a forum to discuss things like membership packages, match-day atmosphere, active support and merchandise.
"Basically, we want to open up the lines of communication with our members so that they can have a bit more input and hopefully enjoy the best possible experience on game day."
The Jets believe they are on track to surpass last season's membership tally of 10,200. Their website said yesterday that they had almost 7200 members, 1000 of whom have joined in the past three weeks.
Can we get the thickness of our cards sorted
Can we also get the oversized magnet reinstalled.
I think this would be a big win for supporters if these wrongs were righted
Middleby still obviously needs to be educated in what supporters think is important. That's okay. It just shows how necessary this committee is.