A Terrier's Tale.....

My friends at the FFA have had a meeting with Sean Jarvis today. Its excellent that SJ is taking the time to listen to what they have to say, a positive move to have this line of dialogue between supporters and the club.

"...Several of our group met with Sean Jarvis earlier today to discuss a number of supporter issues, and to try and establish a line of communication between the club and its fans.We felt that the meeting was productive, and we are hopeful that things can develop over the subsequent months, and a regular meeting can be arranged.

This will need a unified supporters group/body, and this is something SJ would like to see happen. SJ should hopefully report back to the rest of the board about the ideas we suggested and discussed.

We will look to press ahead with a unified supporters group. We are currently working on a set of ideas that a dynamic supporters group should be able to present to the fans. Also the fact we are continually working to improve contact between club and fans goes hand in hand with other initiatives we are hoping to present in the near future.

The main points discussed were:

1) Ticket Pricing: The club is looking at this as we speak. They have discussed 4 scenarios and will be making an announcement on 12th April. Apparently, the fans "should not be disappointed".We pointed out that the club needed to do something special to entice fans back, and to maintain the current numbers. A significant price drop should be considered, especially as this may entice people to buy extra merchandise if the match costs weren't as high.

2) Centenary Season: The club apparently has things in hand. Again an announcement is due in April which will highlight their plans. It is centered on the Arsenal game, but they realise they need to deliver, as things seem to have gone quiet with regard to the Centenary 'celebrations'. The winner of the new shirt poll will be revealed in due course, but he did say the red one hadn't won.

3) South Stand: We stressed that this was a priority for many fans and, if successful, it should create a better atmosphere, which may in turn result in better results. We pointed out that, although the police may have misgivings, the South Stand has previously been occupied (in part) by Town fans and as such it should be possible again (even if this is only whilst the club is in League One and the number of away fans was generally small). SJ said that Ken Davy would welcome Town fans in that stand. SJ has promised to look into it further, and see whether it is logistically possible.

4) Catering: It was agreed that the standard is not acceptable, especially at the prices being charged. The quality is poor, and the service has been deplorable. SJ suggests that if anyone has any comments they should email himself and/or Gareth Hardcastle who is in charge of the catering company’s performance.

5) Smoking: SJ has agreed to look into the current situation where the stewards in different parts of the ground are applying differing levels of enforcement. We asked that he looks at creating designated smoking areas near the turnstiles, to be used at half time only, which if used properly should reduce the friction between smokers and stewards...."

*****

I await with interest what the club has planned for the Centenary, and the pricing for Season Tickets. No way can prices stay as they are, with what fare we are presently served up. It will be good PR if Davy can see his way clear to lowering prices. Also, for what it is worth I think the South Stand thing is a non-starter. I don't necessarily agree with Towns / WYPs stance about logistics, but they will always give that as the reason, as they always have, so it is not worth fighting for in my opinion.