Notes from the Trust's February meeting with Fulham FC

[Friendsoffulham]

Notes from the Trust's February meeting with Fulham FC

Tom Greatrex and Dan Crawford of the Fulham Supporters' Trust met with Alistair Mackintosh (AM, chief executive officer), Casper Sylsvig (CS, chief revenue officer), Carmelo Mifsud (CM, communications media relations manager), Sean O'Loughlin (SOL, finance director), Tony Khan (TK, vice-chairman and director of football operations), Huw Jennings (HJ, academy director), Mike McKinsey (MM, Fulham Foundation chief executive), Katy Brecht (KB, head of ticketing) and David Daly (DD, non-executive director) of Fulham Football Club at Motspur Park on Thursday 15 February

AM welcomed everybody to the meeting and explained that several Club representatives were in attendance at this meeting as they wanted to receive feedback and answer questions from the Trust and the Fulham fanbase around a number of issues.

CRAVEN COTTAGE REDEVELOPMENT PLANS

SOL confirmed that the extension to the public consultation period for Fulham Football Club's planning application to redevelop the Riverside Stand had come about following a request for further information to be provided by the Port of London Authority. He confirmed that the extension in the public consultation would not materially affect the determination date scheduled for the planning application with Hammersmith and Fulham Council still confident that a decision would be reached prior to the purdah period ahead of the 2018 local council elections.

In response to questions from the Trust, SOL confirmed that, in the event of the planning application being successful, the Club would like to begin work on redeveloping the Riverside Stand next spring. The precise timetable for the works would be dependent on the detailed preparatory work carried out by a contractor and SOL said that there had been a number of expressions of interests from particular contractors to earn the tender. He hoped that the Club would be in a position to formally appoint a preferred contractor by July.
Both SOL and AM reaffirmed, in response to questioning from the Trust, that the plans were intended to proceed regardless of which division Fulham would be playing in next season.

SOL reiterated that there was no intention to leave Craven Cottage whilst this work was being carried out and initial indications were that the capacity of the ground would be around 17,000 seats whilst the work was undertaken. Both SOL and AM confirmed that the Club were looking at what improvements could be made to the Hammersmith and Putney Ends of the ground, although the extent of what work would be possible would become clearer when the Club's preferred contractor had specified their building plans for the Riverside Stand in event that the planning application was successful.

CM thanked the Trust for their help in putting together the Riverside Stand frequently asked questions that are now available on the Club's website. Both SOL and AM confirmed that the Club were still in discussions with local residents as well as the various residents' groups and associations and Trust representatives repeated the Trust's commitment to try and secure support for the proposals from Fulham supporters, especially those fans who lived in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. AM, SOL and CS said that the Club were keen to discuss the precise plans for those supporters who currently hold season tickets in the Riverside Stand as soon as possible and the Trust agreed to be part of that engagement.

TICKETING MATTERS

KB confirmed that the Club were still discussing Ticketmaster's scheduled improvements to the official website's ticketing platform. In response to several queries from Trust members regarding the continued presence of a booking fee for coach tickets booked through the Club website, she confirmed that the Club had asked Ticketmaster to remove this and that she would ensure there was done as swiftly as possible. KB further commented that the Club were continually working to improve the coach service to away fixtures for Fulham fans. AM also invited the Trust's comments about season ticket pricing for the  2018/2019 as had been provided in previous seasons and the Trust representatives would offer their feedback following consultation with Trust members and supporters.

KB and AM were pleased with the strong ticket sales for recent home matches, especially the Aston Villa fixture. In response to a question from the Trust surrounding the number of away tickets provided for fixtures towards the end of the season – especially the local derby against Brentford – AM confirmed that it remained his desire to sell as many tickets as possible to home supporters and that additional away tickets would be offered in the Putney End only if they remained available closer to the game.

On the broader question of the continued adoption of the neutral section within the Putney End, AM felt that the neutral end had worked work as an opportunity to introduce football fans to Fulham and Craven Cottage, with many supporters who had attended games there going on to come to further fixtures and even purchase memberships and season tickets. AM and KB said that the neutral end is reviewed as a matter of course every season and AM recognised that there could be a higher demand for tickets should the club win promotion.

FULHAM FOUNDATION

MM said he had wanted to attend this meeting to personally thank the Trust for their support of the Fulham Foundation's activities and explore ways that the Trust and the Foundation could work together. He thanked Trust members for their generous donations to the Foundation's charity matchday last November and reported that the Foundation had experienced a significant rise in donations from supporters when purchasing tickets online as well as merchandise at the stadium store in Stevenage Road.
The Trust representatives commented that the Foundation's work was exceptionally well received by Fulham fans and that Trust members would like to see the Foundation's visibility increased so that the good work undertaken by the Foundation in the local community was more widely acknowledged by the supporters. MM, AM and CM replied that the Foundation and the Club were currently discussing how more information about the Foundation's activities could be shared across the Club's media platforms.

TRANSFER WINDOW

TK thanked the Trust representatives for the opportunity to talk about the transfer window, which he felt had served to strengthen Slavisa Jokanovic's squad. He insisted that the Club had never entertained selling any of their key players and that Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon remained pivotal to Club's future prospects.

TK recognised that it would have been more ideal to be able to integrate January signings into the first-team squad from earlier in the month, but that often in this window, the successful completion of deals was often dependent on the selling club signing a replacement. He said that Matt Targett had been on the club's radar for some time as a young, talented English player who was not getting regular games at Southampton. Targett's arrival had strengthened the squad at left back and his successful introduction into the first team had allowed Ryan Sessegnon to operate as a left winger as well.

TK commented that the deadline day signing of Aleksandar Mitrovic on loan was a huge boost to the club. The player had a strong relationship with Slavisa Jokanovic and Fulham moved quickly bring him in from Newcastle once he proposed move to Anderlecht had fallen through. He offered a different option to the strikers already in the first team squad and has an excellent goalscoring record in domestic, European and international football as well as experience of the Championship. TK also commented that Aboubakar Kamara and Rui Fonte have improved as they have adapted to the Championship and gained more first team experience.

TK also said that Fulham were very pleased to have signed Cyrus Christie as he was a strong player with a good Championship pedigree who had only moved clubs relatively recently. He said that AM had secured a very good financial deal for Christie and that the player provided additional depth at right back as well as real competition for Ryan Fredericks.

TK felt the transfer window had helped to provide much-needed strength in depth in three crucial positions and believed that the club now had a genuine chance of promotion. Both TK and AM confirmed that two plans were in place for the summer already depending on which division Fulham would be competing in and they had hoped for a strong end to the season.

MATCHDAY EXPERIENCE

The Trust representatives raised feedback from supporters about the difficulty of gaining refreshments and poor levels of service on matchdays in the Johnny Haynes Stand and the Hammersmith End. CS asked for details of this and assured the Trust that all reports of poor service are investigated. CM confirmed that, following correspondence between the Trust and the Club, that extensive testing of the public-address system was underway at Craven Cottage after complaints that supporters could not hear a number of the announcements and the recent half time interview with Brede Hangeland. The Trust and the Club are keen to work together to improve the matchday experience at Craven Cottage and will be planning to hold further meetings to facilitate this.

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

The Trust representatives congratulated the Club on winning the Programme Monthly's Championship programme of the year award for the second time in the last three seasons. CM thanked the Trust on behalf of the Club's media for their kind words as well as the positive feedback from the Fulham fans.
In response to questions from the Trust about Fulham FC TV, CM said that the Club were pleased with the product to date, although they were always seeking ways to improve their output. The Trust put forward a number of suggestions gleaned from our members about potential future content. CM, SOL and AM said that the Club were very pleased with the success of the match pass and season pass options for overseas fans, revealing that the Club's sales levels were the second highest in the Championship. CM felt it had been right decision to decide to implement the Club's own subscription service instead of adopting the EFL's IFollow System and confirmed that there would be a full review at the end of the season.

FULHAM ACADEMY

HJ thanked the Trust and the Fulham fans for their continued support of the Club's academy programme and the interest in the progress of the age group sides. He was delighted by the Under 18s FA Youth Cup quarter final victory at Plymouth, highlighting the contributions of Steven Sessegnon, who played at centre back, Nicolas Santos-Clase and Fabio Carvahlo. The Under 18s will now face Chelsea in the quarter final, which will be played at Craven Cottage on Tuesday 27 February, kicking off at 7.05pm. HJ stressed that whilst the Club were delighted with the achievements of the Under 18 side in the FA Youth Cup this year, he still saw the Club's key role as helping to develop players – and was very pleased with the progress of so many young players along the pathway to Slavisa Jokanovic's first team this season.

HJ commended the achievements of several Fulham young players currently out on loan, in particular the progression of Marek Rodak at Rotherham, which has been reflected by his recent signing of a contract extension, Elijah Adebayo with Cheltenham Town and Mattias Kait's impressive start at Ross County. HJ admitted it was sometimes difficult to judge exactly when to loan out a player but said that the Club work extremely hard to source the right development opportunities for their players.

HJ said he was indebted to the work of the Club's staff right across the academy and their commitment to excellence as well as the generous support of the chairman and AM. He was encouraged by a number of promising players coming through the younger age group ranks as well as Fulham's successful retention of their most talented players.

The meeting finished at 11.58am

[BedsFFC]

Good work guys. Thanks as always for putting your personal time and effort into doing this.

[Riverside]

Quite the turnout from the Club . They are clearly committed to dialogue with the Trust


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[terryr]

Great work guys !
I really appreciate the report and ongoing work involved!
You are our voice at FFC!!!!

[mrmicawbers]

Thanks for the Feedback. I was wondering why there would only be 17000 seats when construction commences.The Riverside currently houses approx 4500.

[toshes mate]

Good to see a full dialogue taking place between the Club and the Trust.

Thanks to all involved in FST for their continued efforts on our behalf.

[e4b]

Thanks for that. Always good to get the feedback.Thanks for your time spent.

[flyingfish]

"Both TK and AM confirmed that two plans were in place for the summer already depending on which division Fulham would be competing in and they had hoped for a strong end to the season."

In Chamionship:

Plan 1 - Sell Sessesgnon
Plan 2 - Sell Cairney

In Prem

Plan 1 - Keep Sessegnon
Plan 2 - Keep Cairney


In all seriousness, nice to see planning ahead. Shad Khan's programme notes on transfers were interesting - basically don't expect any news from any transfers from the club until it happens - the club will do its business quietly.

[Fulham1959]

Good work guys. Thanks as always for putting your personal time and effort into doing this.

:plus one:

[Riversider]

Bloody he'll it must be just me !, nobody else then pi**ed off with this news ? So the work on the Riverside Stand is now due to start NEXT spring and not as we were previously told THIS year !
Why did none of the FST members question this massive moving of the goal posts ? I've lost count of the times now the start date has been moved for various reasons and each time there is never any kind of kick back from the FST , not even a "Oh no , not again ! "
I confidently predicted that this wouldn't start this year as the club hadn't even begun the process of rehousing all the season ticket holders in The Riversider season ticket holders,
So now we've got another delay of at least 13 months before it starts, will it happen next year ? I'm not going to hold my breath, other Clubs like Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea announce either a complete stadium rebuild or a total new stadium and work starts soon after, we announce plans to rebuild one stand and it takes 5 times longer.
Is there not anybody on The FST that's prepared to make themselves unpopular and ask the tough questions ? If not then I just don't see the point of this monthly process. 👎

[alfie]

To be perfectly honest I would rather wait and get it right, it's not going to change my life.

[Peabody]

Bloody he'll it must be just me !, nobody else then pi**ed off with this news ? So the work on the Riverside Stand is now due to start NEXT spring and not as we were previously told THIS year !
Why did none of the FST members question this massive moving of the goal posts ? I've lost count of the times now the start date has been moved for various reasons and each time there is never any kind of kick back from the FST , not even a "Oh no , not again ! "
I confidently predicted that this wouldn't start this year as the club hadn't even begun the process of rehousing all the season ticket holders in The Riversider season ticket holders,
So now we've got another delay of at least 13 months before it starts, will it happen next year ? I'm not going to hold my breath, other Clubs like Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea announce either a complete stadium rebuild or a total new stadium and work starts soon after, we announce plans to rebuild one stand and it takes 5 times longer.
Is there not anybody on The FST that's prepared to make themselves unpopular and ask the tough questions ? If not then I just don't see the point of this monthly process.

The obvious  answer is for you to join the FST, get yourself invited and then you can ask the tough questions. No, you just like criticising the FST

[MJG]

Bloody he'll it must be just me !, nobody else then pi**ed off with this news ? So the work on the Riverside Stand is now due to start NEXT spring and not as we were previously told THIS year !
Why did none of the FST members question this massive moving of the goal posts ? I've lost count of the times now the start date has been moved for various reasons and each time there is never any kind of kick back from the FST , not even a "Oh no , not again ! "
I confidently predicted that this wouldn't start this year as the club hadn't even begun the process of rehousing all the season ticket holders in The Riversider season ticket holders,
So now we've got another delay of at least 13 months before it starts, will it happen next year ? I'm not going to hold my breath, other Clubs like Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea announce either a complete stadium rebuild or a total new stadium and work starts soon after, we announce plans to rebuild one stand and it takes 5 times longer.
Is there not anybody on The FST that's prepared to make themselves unpopular and ask the tough questions ? If not then I just don't see the point of this monthly process. 👎

the plan for the major work has always been next year with these plans. There was no need to look at moving ST holders this summer. But that subject is high on the agenda for us and the club and we have started looking at various options and ideas already.

[cmg]

Thanks to all concerned for keeping us in the picture.
The club certainly rolled out the top brass for the occasion.

[MJG]

Is there not anybody on The FST that's prepared to make themselves unpopular and ask the tough questions ? If not then I just don't see the point of this monthly process. 👎

Yes, although I don't know why asking questions would make me unpopular with the club if they are well reasoned and delivered in the right way.
Also a lot of this is outside the normal monthly meetings. Emails, phone calls and other meetings.
Ask me any question on the stand and what's happening and I'll try and answer. And if I don't know the answer I know people at yhe club or elsewhere I can ask.

[terryr]

Bloody he'll it must be just me !, nobody else then pi**ed off with this news ? So the work on the Riverside Stand is now due to start NEXT spring and not as we were previously told THIS year !
Why did none of the FST members question this massive moving of the goal posts ? I've lost count of the times now the start date has been moved for various reasons and each time there is never any kind of kick back from the FST , not even a "Oh no , not again ! "
I confidently predicted that this wouldn't start this year as the club hadn't even begun the process of rehousing all the season ticket holders in The Riversider season ticket holders,
So now we've got another delay of at least 13 months before it starts, will it happen next year ? I'm not going to hold my breath, other Clubs like Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea announce either a complete stadium rebuild or a total new stadium and work starts soon after, we announce plans to rebuild one stand and it takes 5 times longer.
Is there not anybody on The FST that's prepared to make themselves unpopular and ask the tough questions ? If not then I just don't see the point of this monthly process. 👎

Jeeze man
Take a pill
There are local objections to the design and locals who don't like it have to have their day.
The club nor the FST can change local govt democracy and process.
These folks give up considerable time and energy to participate in FST and I for one am grateful.
So should you be.
Get a little perspective and realise that not everything orbits around your particular sun.
Also a bit of respect wouldn't go amiss

[Holders]

Very interesting, FoF. Thank you for sharing.

[YoungsBitter]

Bloody he'll it must be just me !, nobody else then pi**ed off with this news ? So the work on the Riverside Stand is now due to start NEXT spring and not as we were previously told THIS year !
Why did none of the FST members question this massive moving of the goal posts ? I've lost count of the times now the start date has been moved for various reasons and each time there is never any kind of kick back from the FST , not even a "Oh no , not again ! "
I confidently predicted that this wouldn't start this year as the club hadn't even begun the process of rehousing all the season ticket holders in The Riversider season ticket holders,
So now we've got another delay of at least 13 months before it starts, will it happen next year ? I'm not going to hold my breath, other Clubs like Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea announce either a complete stadium rebuild or a total new stadium and work starts soon after, we announce plans to rebuild one stand and it takes 5 times longer.
Is there not anybody on The FST that's prepared to make themselves unpopular and ask the tough questions ? If not then I just don't see the point of this monthly process. 👎

Jeeze man
Take a pill
There are local objections to the design and locals who don't like it have to have their day.
The club nor the FST can change local govt democracy and process.
These folks give up considerable time and energy to participate in FST and I for one am grateful.
So should you be.
Get a little perspective and realise that not everything orbits around your particular sun.
Also a bit of respect wouldn't go amiss

Well said that man!  082.gif

[b+w geezer]

I'm with the majority, pleased that these regular meetings take place, and aware that they are extremely unusual (verging on unique?) at non-small clubs like ours.

I don't at all share surprise that there is a significant lead time between receiving planning permission and being able to schedule the materials and labour to start work. If anyone (as above) is disappointed (even angry) at the thought of a maybe 9-month lead-time, they may be in for further angst in practice.

It's not just that this would be a major undertaking, a far cry from building a conservatory and laying a patio (materials and labour possibly available within weeks). It's the fact that in the case of a scheme this size, planning permission isn't the green light to get started.

With the scheme that Khan inherited and eventually pulled out of, the planning permission laid down an enormous number of pre-commencement conditions that had to be satisfied before works could begin. There were dozens of hoops that had to be jumped through -- the history is all visible on the borough website -- and it took a good 18 months to jump through them. Hopefully a good number of those actions will not need to be repeated following fresh permission, but if they are, then the currently mooted start-date is actually ambitious.

So, for whatever reason, the club is being if anything bullish about the start date.

[toshes mate]

Jeeze man
Take a pill
There are local objections to the design and locals who don't like it have to have their day.
The club nor the FST can change local govt democracy and process.
These folks give up considerable time and energy to participate in FST and I for one am grateful.
So should you be.
Get a little perspective and realise that not everything orbits around your particular sun.
Also a bit of respect wouldn't go amiss

Echo all that.