In attendance from the Club were, Marco Townson (MT) - Lead Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) and Alex Pyrah (AP) – Fan Engagement Officer FEO).
Representing the Trust was, Manny Dominguez (MD) - Chair, Justin Brett (JB) - Vice Chair and Matthew Pickles (MP).
Bantams Supporters Trust met with the Club on Monday 5th August.
The last meeting with the Club had been the 26th February, 6 months ago. As expected so much that has happened since then, so this was a much-needed catch up.
Much of our discussion was about how the Trust can be involved in some way with the various developments within the Club that improves supporter and community cohesion within the City. So, without further ado lets dive into it.
Season tickets
The Trust felt it is commendable that the Club had frozen matchday ticket prices considering the temptation to put prices up as seen at many other Clubs.
Also The Trust felt that it is amazing there is a tremendous amount of support in terms of so many, over 13,500 buying season tickets at the ‘Early-bird’ price, despite it going up a by £50.
Our view was that there will be many who would be happy to pay more than £249. The Club agreed, as they have many paying more after the ‘Early-bird’ deadline. In total, nearly 14,000 have bought season tickets so far. There will be many who have bought additional costs to get into the suites and bars, and so on as well.
It was pointed out also that there are some Trusts that work with their Clubs to provide a hardship fund whereby from those that like to pay over and above for a season ticket, that excess, can be put in a pot to subsidise those that can’t pay those sums of money – a hardship fund. It was said the Club and Community Foundation are already doing something like this – similar to what Yorkshire Water do.
Ticketmaster
We asked about the Ticketmaster and telephone service situation a few months ago when Ticketmaster had signed a deal with the Club. It was explained that the older ticketing system, Talent, was not without its flaws, the plastic cards were no longer working and they had to bring in a whole new telephone system. A complete overhaul was needed.
Atmosphere and the move to the lower tier of the Kop
The Club said the move was for safety reasons, and that all QR codes would be scanned to ensure all fans in the Kop would be at their seats.
Club Business Strategy for the coming season
It was explained that there were strategies for a wide range of things at the Club but the business strategy for fan engagement at least covered:
· Family Excellence – The Club have received bronze for this EFL award this year, its third consecutive year and wants to achieve gold.
· Ticketing
· Food and drink
· Website and first impressions
· Outside the stadium
· Merchandise
· Travel and last mile (to Valley Parade) – e.g. road signs / artwork
· Stadium facilities – Disability access around the ground has now been completed.
· Supporters after the game
· Fans feeling valued
Improving our Structured Dialogue and the Club promotion of our work with the trust and Supporters Board (SB).
Fan-Engagement Plan
The Trust welcomed the fact that the Club had recently put it’s Fan-Engagement Plan on the Club website. The Fan Engagement Plan (FEP) is something all EFL Clubs are required to have published following a recent EFL AGM in early June where Clubs voted to approve regulation changes. You can find out more about how and why fan engagement has become of vital necessity for the whole of football in our Trust article here.
We mentioned and discussed the Stoke City example of a FEP, which we all agreed was very good and Club said that they had used as a template.
We picked up on the fact that the Clubs’ FEP has a quote from the SB’s Chair and dates of when they meet throughout the year and it was suggested that we have the same, a quote from the Chair and 4 dates in the calendar year. It already says that the dates of meetings can change. This seemed like a reasonable suggestion from the Club.
Restorative Justice, Environmental Sustainability, Diversity and Community
We have also been vocal and had meetings/emails with Paula Watson (PW) – Director of Operations about restorative Justice and crime reduction, environmental sustainability, Diversity campaigns, building community links with the Club and Community Foundation but they haven’t continued.
There was a suggestion from the Club that we could have a person on the appeals panel with regards to restorative justice as MP works for the Probation Service, and the Club already have a representative from the SB on it.
We have also asked about being involved in a ‘Community Day’ or ‘Open Day’ event, this is usually held ahead of a new season where Junior Bantams get autographs from players and there are different activities being run for the community at the Club. There is an intention for this to happen for the 2025/26 season.
We asked about the solar panels intended for the roof of the stadium and it was said that they are now in place situated above the ‘Bradford End’ and Midland Road. On the Club website, Leanne Hunter, Watt Utilities Operations Director said of the project, “In an effort to create a sustainable and environmentally conscious future for the team, the community and the environment, Bradford City AFC and Watt Utilities collaborated to design and implement the enormous solar panel project, which took eight weeks to build and install after a year of planning.”
Staying with environmental sustainability, we also asked about the First Bradford sponsorship deal, and about any plans for running services for evening kick Off’s and it was said that any special offers were to be looked into.
On the Club website it says there is a matchday saver scheme that if you download the First bus app you can use the code: BANTAMSMATCH to secure unlimited travel all day for just £3 on matchdays.
Together in Sound
There was an idea suggested regarding bringing fans together by encouraging supporters to vocalize `We are the Bantams’ and by using technology, bring the voices together to create the voice of a crowd. It was agreed it was a possibility.
Ownership
We explained about how the Asset of Community Value had to be triggered into action; the owner of the stadium would have to declare their intention to sell. The community group that nominated the ground to be an Asset of Community Value, in this case, the Trust, would have 6 weeks to decide if we want to bid. If we wanted to bid we would get 6 months to come up with a bid. Stefan Rup could bid and other interested parties. Ultimately it would be up to the owner to choose the bid.
It was noted that the T&A piece earlier in the summer got it wrong. It missed out the fact that there is a 6 week period for the Trust to decide to put a bid in, and we may not decide to put a bid in at all.
Any Other Business
The Trust raised the possible idea of a fan exchange, of City fans going to watch Hertha Berlin, and Hertha Berlin supporters traveling to watch Bradford City.
Date for the next meeting
November.