FST Notes from Junes meeting with FFC

[Friendsoffulham]

TRUST JUNE MEETING WITH FULHAM FOOTBALL CLUB

On Tuesday 20th. June 2017, Dan Crawford from the Fulham Supporters' Trust Board met with Alistair Mackintosh (AM, Chief executive officer), Casper Stylsvig (CS, Chief Revenue Officer), Carmelo Mifsud (CM, Interim Communications and Media Director), Katy Phillips (KP, Head of Ticketing) and David Daly (DD, non-executive director) from Fulham Football Club at Motspur Park.

END OF SEASON DINNER

AM thanked the Trust for inviting himself, Tony Khan and Huw Jennings to the end of season dinner held at Craven Cottage in May. All three Club representatives greatly enjoyed the evening and felt it was an excellent way to celebrate the season. The Trust thanked AM, TK and HJ for their attendance, the Club for its assistance and organisation and indicated that we would like to hold similar events during the course of the forthcoming season.

PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES

Following several questions from Trust members about the Club's pre-season plans, AM confirmed that Fulham Football Club has finalised the arrangements for a two-match tour of Poland in July. The first team will play Piast Gliwice at the Remes Hotel in Opalenica on Wednesday 5 July (kick off 5pm local time) and FC Zlin on Saturday 8 July at Stadium Groklin (kick off at 5pm local time). The first team will then play two behind-closed-doors friendlies at Motspur Park as well as undertaking another pre-season European tour. The Club will then round off their pre-season preparations with a home friendly at Craven Cottage on Saturday 29 July (kick off 3pm). Further details will be available on the Club's official website in due course.

NEW KIT

CS confirmed that the Club would be launching the new official home kit in mid-July, which the first team will wear during the home friendly at Craven Cottage. AM agreed to give strong consideration to the Trust's suggestion of bringing forward the kit launch dates for future seasons.

SEASON TICKETS, TICKETING MATTERS, AWAY SUPPORT AND LOYALTY POINTS

AM reported that the Club was very pleased with the strong season ticket sales over the course of the summer months. KP and AM confirmed that memberships were being advertised with the incentive of discounted home league tickets so supporters who did not want to pay extra on the day of these fixtures should opt for either a season ticket or membership.

The Club had conducted an internal review of their ticketing policies and discussed with Ticketmaster some of the issues that had arisen over the course of the season. KP and AM confirmed that it was the Club's intention to continue to allocate limited away tickets through loyalty points for the forthcoming season, but recognised the Trust's concerns about a lack of awareness about how supporters earned loyalty points and how many loyalty points were available for each purchase. It was agreed that the Club would seek to highlight the loyalty points system more prominently on the ticketing section of its website and investigate the possibility of displaying the number of loyalty points available when supporters book individual match tickets.

AM, CS, CM and KP all commented on the noticeable increase in away support that Fulham had attracted during last season. This was something that had also been acknowledged by the players and Slavisa Jokanovic. The Club is exploring options to increase the number of Fulham fans travelling to away matches and the Trust will be assisting in this effort. The Trust also informed the Club that we would be forwarding our concerns on ticket pricing in the Championship, that has penalised severely travelling Fulham fans over the past few seasons, to the EFL as part of a national campaign on this issue.

SUMMER TRANSFER ACTIVITY AND RECRUITMENT

AM reiterated his words, and those of Tony Khan and Huw Jennings at the Trust's end of season dinner, that the Club are confident of retaining all their key first-team players for the forthcoming season. AM also stated that Ryan Sessegnon remains registered with Fulham as a youth scholar, so he is not in the out of contract situation that the Club experienced with Moussa Dembele last summer. The Club is keen to strengthen the playing squad and is working hard towards that end: AM suggested that one signing might be announced very shortly. AM indicated that all of the players who had been on loan with the Club during the 2016-2017 season would like to remain, but that deals to retain or purchase them would be pursued only at the instigation of Slavisa Jokanovic. He further revealed that the completion of deals at this stage in the transfer window is largely dictated by the pace of the market, which is very quiet at the moment, and a number of targets are waiting to see if there is interest from Premier League clubs before committing to a move. AM also asserted that he felt Fulham were now a much more attractive proposition for potential signings than at the start of last season and the Club would be doing everything possible to support Slavisa Jokanovic's push for promotion.

FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY

AM confirmed that the Club had not received any further word on the status of Leicester City's and Queens Park Rangers' challenges to the Football League's Financial Fair Play rules, although it was still expecting a decision in the near future. He also confirmed that Fulham were in a much better position themselves under the FFP regulations and would not, therefore, be under any financial pressure to sell any of their players.

OPEN TRAINING SESSION

CS and AM expressed regret that the planned open training session for season ticket holders at Motspur Park was not able to scheduled as planned during the final weeks of last season, due to fixture congestion and the need to prepare the first team for their promotion run-in. The Trust was pleased to hear that several such events would be re-scheduled during the forthcoming campaign.

FIXTURE SCHEDULING

Ahead of the release of the Championship fixture list, the Trust had been contacted by several members and Fulham supporters to raise their frustration at the lack of a Boxing Day home fixture for the fifth season in a row, due to the prioritisation of Chelsea's home fixtures by the football authorities and the Metropolitan Police. AM, DD and CM expressed sympathy with these complaints and the Trust will be writing to the FA and the EFL to voice these frustrations further.

CRAVEN COTTAGE AND THE RIVERSIDE STAND

AM stated that, while progress was still being made on the final plans for the redevelopment of the Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage, the Club was not yet able to go into specific details about the final nature of the plans. Both AM and DD reinforced the comments made by AM and TK at the Trust's end of season dinner about how pivotal the stand redevelopment was to the Club's future and they appreciated the patience of the Fulham fans.

AM also revealed that major pitch improvement works had begun at Craven Cottage almost as soon as the season had ended, which included the installation of a new SIS pitch to compliment the ones that had recently been installed at Motspur Park.

MOTSPUR PARK

AM confirmed the recent announcement that the Club had acquired the BBC Sports Ground opposite their Motspur Park training ground. Initial plans have been drawn up regarding how the Club would use the site, but these were subject to further internal Club discussion prior to them being released publicly. AM reflected that the acquisition of this site further indicated Shahid Khan's commitment both to the Club and the development of the Academy.

FULHAM FC TV

In response to a question from the Trust, CM stated that the Club was happy with the number of sign-ups they received for Fulham FC TV last season, having introduced the service in response to EFL rules last October. The Club had recruited several new members of their media and communications team to deliver greater content for the service over the coming months and two members of the team are currently in Norway filming a segment with former Fulham favourites Brede Hangeland and Fulham Supporters' Trust patron Erik Nevland. The Club is developing several potential pre-season features and are hoping to offer live streaming of this season's league fixtures for international subscribers.

http://fulhamsupporterstrust.com/

[BedsFFC]

Thanks very much.

For the record, I'm happy with this

[Riversider]

Thanks very much.

For the record, I'm happy with this

You are happy with what exactly ?
What has anybody learnt from those notes ?
Hell of a lot of words and no content it seems to me.

[dhowells21]

Thanks very much.

For the record, I'm happy with this

Yeah, me too.

Everything seems good and pulling in the right direction.

Thanks for relaying back to us also!

[westcliff white]

i am with you Statto on all of that, the only thing I can think of re Motspuirm is that they have not finalised the design as yet and that it needs to go via the council, not sure its correct but htinking thats the only reasosn surely.

Re the stadium, if they have not finalised it yet are the choosing from 2o ro 3 designs? surely that sort of thing they could tell.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

From the Official web site a fortnight ago:


Motspur Park Site Acquired

Tuesday 13 June 2017 12:00

We are pleased to announce that the Club has recently completed the acquisition of the former BBC Sports Ground located in Motspur Park.

The site is situated opposite the Fulham Football Club Training Ground which, last season in particular, received significant funds by the Chairman to upgrade facilities.

Further news regarding the ground will be communicated during the coming months.

Shahid Khan, Fulham Chairman, said: "The purchase of the site gives our Club additional and much-needed flexibility at Motspur Park and reinforces our commitment to providing first-class resources and one of the best training environments in all of football.

"We haven't yet determined exactly how we will use the property, but one thing I can guarantee is we will be respectful owners and excellent neighbours.

"I'm very appreciative to everyone who helped make this happen. It's great news for the continued progress of our First Team and a huge boost as well for all of our squads and our renowned Academy."

[westcliff white]

I had read that at the time Aprentice, but I would have thought you had a plan and ideas prior to acquiring a piece of land for a substantial amount of money.

Dont get me wrong ion TJ, SK and SJ i trust but would have thought there was more info they could share.

[BedsFFC]

Thanks very much.

For the record, I'm happy with this

You are happy with what exactly ?
What has anybody learnt from those notes ?
Hell of a lot of words and no content it seems to me.

There seems to be a culture of complaint and moan everywhere at the moment. Its my football club. It seems to be running quite well at the moment.
I have no desire or need to complain.

I'm happy that someone has gone to the trouble of arranging a meeting. I'm happy that the club have gone to the trouble f attending.
I'm happy that someone I don't know has gone to the trouble of giving me an update.
I'm happy that the club have plans for Motspur park and have invested heavily in it
I'm happy that the club say that we are not restricted by FFP at the moment
I'm happy we don't need to sell players
I'm happy the suns out
I'm happy I support Fulham
I'm genuinely a happy chappy

I'm not happy I have to justify all this to a bloke who is a miserable git

[Woolly Mammoth]

Thanks very much.

For the record, I'm happy with this

You are happy with what exactly ?
What has anybody learnt from those notes ?
Hell of a lot of words and no content it seems to me.

There seems to be a culture of complaint and moan everywhere at the moment. Its my football club. It seems to be running quite well at the moment.
I have no desire or need to complain.

I'm happy that someone has gone to the trouble of arranging a meeting. I'm happy that the club have gone to the trouble f attending.
I'm happy that someone I don't know has gone to the trouble of giving me an update.
I'm happy that the club have plans for Motspur park and have invested heavily in it
I'm happy that the club say that we are not restricted by FFP at the moment
I'm happy we don't need to sell players
I'm happy the suns out
I'm happy I support Fulham
I'm genuinely a happy chappy

I'm not happy I have to justify all this to a bloke who is a miserable git

Funny you should say that, because I have just past a very old man sitting outside his house looking happy. I asked him what makes you so happy.
He said he hasn't a care in the world. He said I eat fatty foods, never exercise, drink a couple of bottles of whisky a day and smoke like a chimney on 40 fags a day.
Blimey I said, how old are you ?
28 he replied.

But to get back to the subject, it is Happy days compared to last year. The club is clearly beavering away to bring in players to strengthen and beef up an already talented squad, still another 6 weeks to go, and the sun is out, and I am in my garden polishing my Garden Gnome and topping up my tan.
Not a bad life. 😎☀️

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

I had read that at the time Aprentice, but I would have thought you had a plan and ideas prior to acquiring a piece of land for a substantial amount of money.

Dont get me wrong ion TJ, SK and SJ i trust but would have thought there was more info they could share.

The announcement says . . .

"Shahid Khan, Fulham Chairman, said: "The purchase of the site gives our Club additional and much-needed flexibility at Motspur Park and reinforces our commitment to providing first-class resources and one of the best training environments in all of football.

"We haven't yet determined exactly how we will use the property, but one thing I can guarantee is we will be respectful owners and excellent neighbours."


I am not having a go at you but I am at a loss to understand why some feel affronted that they are not personally kept up to date with every design decision.

What is really of interest here let alone vital for supporters to know? It's will be a training ground. It will have changing rooms and pitches and possibly a gym and medical facilities. Do posters want to be consulted on the colour of the tiles in the showers and the number of car parking spaces?

[westcliff white]

I had read that at the time Aprentice, but I would have thought you had a plan and ideas prior to acquiring a piece of land for a substantial amount of money.

Dont get me wrong ion TJ, SK and SJ i trust but would have thought there was more info they could share.

The announcement says . . .

"Shahid Khan, Fulham Chairman, said: "The purchase of the site gives our Club additional and much-needed flexibility at Motspur Park and reinforces our commitment to providing first-class resources and one of the best training environments in all of football.

"We haven't yet determined exactly how we will use the property, but one thing I can guarantee is we will be respectful owners and excellent neighbours."


I am not having a go at you but I am at a loss to understand why some feel affronted that they are not personally kept up to date with every design decision.

What is really of interest here let alone vital for supporters to know? It's will be a training ground. It will have changing rooms and pitches and possibly a gym and medical facilities. Do posters want to be consulted on the colour of the tiles in the showers and the number of car parking spaces?

I have not taken it that way, and I far from expect to club to keep me up to date so to speak, in fact I defend the club on most fronts. However, such an expense to me at leats means they had plan fo rit, so maybe jusy maybe ther eis more to say. However as I said in my earlier post in those that run the club I trust.

[Woolly Mammoth]

I had read that at the time Aprentice, but I would have thought you had a plan and ideas prior to acquiring a piece of land for a substantial amount of money.

Dont get me wrong ion TJ, SK and SJ i trust but would have thought there was more info they could share.

The announcement says . . .

"Shahid Khan, Fulham Chairman, said: "The purchase of the site gives our Club additional and much-needed flexibility at Motspur Park and reinforces our commitment to providing first-class resources and one of the best training environments in all of football.

"We haven't yet determined exactly how we will use the property, but one thing I can guarantee is we will be respectful owners and excellent neighbours."


I am not having a go at you but I am at a loss to understand why some feel affronted that they are not personally kept up to date with every design decision.

What is really of interest here let alone vital for supporters to know? It's will be a training ground. It will have changing rooms and pitches and possibly a gym and medical facilities. Do posters want to be consulted on the colour of the tiles in the showers and the number of car parking spaces?

As long as the colour of the tiles are not blue or red or green or yellow, I don't mind. ⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️⬜️⬛️

[Southcoastffc]

Thanks very much.

For the record, I'm happy with this

You are happy with what exactly ?
What has anybody learnt from those notes ?
Hell of a lot of words and no content it seems to me.

There seems to be a culture of complaint and moan everywhere at the moment. Its my football club. It seems to be running quite well at the moment.
I have no desire or need to complain.

I'm happy that someone has gone to the trouble of arranging a meeting. I'm happy that the club have gone to the trouble f attending.
I'm happy that someone I don't know has gone to the trouble of giving me an update.
I'm happy that the club have plans for Motspur park and have invested heavily in it
I'm happy that the club say that we are not restricted by FFP at the moment
I'm happy we don't need to sell players
I'm happy the suns out
I'm happy I support Fulham
I'm genuinely a happy chappy

I'm not happy I have to justify all this to a bloke who is a miserable git

:plus one: 

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

I had read that at the time Aprentice, but I would have thought you had a plan and ideas prior to acquiring a piece of land for a substantial amount of money.

Dont get me wrong ion TJ, SK and SJ i trust but would have thought there was more info they could share.

The announcement says . . .

"Shahid Khan, Fulham Chairman, said: "The purchase of the site gives our Club additional and much-needed flexibility at Motspur Park and reinforces our commitment to providing first-class resources and one of the best training environments in all of football.

"We haven't yet determined exactly how we will use the property, but one thing I can guarantee is we will be respectful owners and excellent neighbours."


I am not having a go at you but I am at a loss to understand why some feel affronted that they are not personally kept up to date with every design decision.

What is really of interest here let alone vital for supporters to know? It's will be a training ground. It will have changing rooms and pitches and possibly a gym and medical facilities. Do posters want to be consulted on the colour of the tiles in the showers and the number of car parking spaces?

I have not taken it that way, and I far from expect to club to keep me up to date so to speak, in fact I defend the club on most fronts. However, such an expense to me at leats means they had plan fo rit, so maybe jusy maybe ther eis more to say. However as I said in my earlier post in those that run the club I trust.

I doubt that it cost that much because the land was categorised as a sports field and not for housing.

Again, the official announcement says that they haven't determined exactly how they will use the property. That may be as simple as what teams and facilities they keep over the road and which they move. Another reason may be that they will have to apply for planning permission for buildings, roadways and parking so that it is best to get the plans drawn up fully and consult with the council before announcing anything publically that might stir up the neighbours.

[aaronmcguigan]

come on, was there actually a meeting or did you just piece together the first few pages of news on the official site ? I could have told you all that info with a google search apart from the "the club has noted " and "the club are looking into" 
Just kidding, good work !

[St. Andrews White]

Thanks for the update, feeling very positive now! They have targets, we're not selling players, Sessegnon won't go for nothing if he does go, and whilst they won't confirm the details the rhetoric is still that the riverside will at some stage go ahead.
Not to mention other issues being acknowledged and addressed by the club such as ticketing etc.

What's not to be happy about from this?

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

[Riversider]

Thanks for the update, feeling very positive now! They have targets, we're not selling players, Sessegnon won't go for nothing if he does go, and whilst they won't confirm the details the rhetoric is still that the riverside will at some stage go ahead.
Not to mention other issues being acknowledged and addressed by the club such as ticketing etc.

What's not to be happy about from this?

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

According to a strong source on TIFF we are on the verge of selling Scott Malone to Huddersfield, so the bit about not selling players is a load of cobblers to start with.

[Scrumpy]

Thanks for this Dan. As a member of FST I am especially pleased that you are writing to EFL regarding the bloody Boxing Day debacle and some of the away pricing in the Championship.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

I am not having a go at you but I am at a loss to understand why some feel affronted that they are not personally kept up to date with every design decision.

What is really of interest here let alone vital for supporters to know? It's will be a training ground. It will have changing rooms and pitches and possibly a gym and medical facilities. Do posters want to be consulted on the colour of the tiles in the showers and the number of car parking spaces?

You know, you'll command a lot more respect in life if you accept challenge here and there. I'm sure at least half the design of your posts is to wind me up, which in fairness you do achieve, but it causes the collateral damage of making you look a very bitter lemon.

Surely even you accept it's nigh on unfathomable that the club went through the process of buying this land without knowing what they'd use it for. And we can be equally confident it should advance the facilities in some way so just to say it will have more "changing rooms" and other duplicates of things we already have doesn't really reveal anything.

Again surely, you can see why this is important news to supporters. The club's own announcement heralds it as "great news".

So I am at a loss to understand why  you feel affronted (personally it seems, strangely) by me simply pointing out that there doesn't seem to be any good commercial or other reason not for the club not to share that info.

I am hardly asking to be kept personally up to date. But if the club is going to sit on important info that it has no reason not to share, then what's the bloody point of these FST meetings at all?

I am just trying to be helpful in pointing out what is obvious to most posters on here but which you, and a few others, constantly perversely choose to see as some kind of conspiracy or major failing by the owner, the administrators or some other part of the club.

The club have told you why they have bought the land: for training facilities. Really, what about that do you not understand?

I refer you to my previous answer as to why the club may not give further details. Again those are simple ideas that almost all other FoFs will have worked out for themselves.

The club is owned by a private individual. He and the club that he owns don't have to tell you anything. The club is a business. You are their customer/sucker. They give out what news they want to when they see fit.

Where are we being hard done by for news and details? What details do you want about the new training ground and how does not having those details affect your life and future decisions? Where are these clubs giving running commentaries on transfer targets, budgets or ground improvements? What companies have you worked for that give out that sort of information?

You spend your life on here complaining about the owner, the club's staff and FST. And then when they make a statement you don't believe any information they give out anyway. Your whole attitude towards the club is unrealistic and so you wind yourself up. It doesn't take other posters to do it for you. When someone simply points out the reality of the situation and practicalities you just repeat your same complaint and throw a tantrum.

I am not trying to wind anyone up, just pointing out the obvious everyday reality and normality of the situation in contrast to your unrealistic expectations and negative interpretations of events.

[e4b]

 This is nearly as much fun as the transfer thread  :005: