I think this is a fairly written article on a few matters at the moment.
https://t.co/Eq45DPSiQE
Newcastle United Supporters Services – serving who?
Newcastle United has something of a chequered history in its formal engagement with supporters but probably reached its nadir under Ashley’s ownership when Charnley banned the Supporters Trust from the generally pointless Fans Liaison Committee and refused to explain why.
Like so much at United now, things have changed for the better. I understand there are good relations between the club and the Trust which can only be positive news in the long term.
In the short term, there is a mountain of work to do and let’s be honest the stuff with tickets last week for the first away game of the season at Man City is nothing like a good start. That the ticket arrangements caused so much anxiety, insult and inconvenience for supporters last Saturday is well-documented.
That there has been no public acknowledgement of all of that from United makes me wonder what is going on and hints at poor Ashley-style ways of working persisting at St James’ Park. I sincerely hope I’m wrong in that regard.
I’m not going to go over old ground with tickets but only to mention there are secondary ticket sale sites with advertisements for this Sunday’s game v Liverpool on sale at eye-watering prices. They make a mockery of the membership scheme.
A cursory look at social media and anyone can see how angry this makes fans, particularly those who have applied for tickets for this game but who failed to get them. Tickets have fallen into the hands of touts but as of yet, the club has announced zero action to tackle this and as a consequence spivs are exploiting supporters desperate to get into see our team play. This has to be stopped but there is a perfectly legitimate question to ask where this has started?
I find it difficult to work out how a season ticket holder could pass on their ticket on to a secondary site given the digital arrangements, though I’ll add the caveat I’m not the most tech savvy and accept there may be methods.
I do wonder if United hasn’t made tickets vulnerable to being bought by touts by offering unlimited memberships and if they are going to repeat the error with a similar approach to international supporters?
The club will make some money from selling memberships but as the numbers increase they become less desirable as the odds of getting a ticket get longer.
This whole exercise I suspect is driven by a desire to collect data for marketing purposes and I must say, having recently learned the Box Office is managed by the Marketing Manager (Yvette Thompson) as opposed to a ticketing specialist, strikes me as an uncomfortable organisational fit. I’ll await to be corrected on the structure at SJP if that’s not the case.
The Box Office should be making decisions on the management of ticketing, developing its own policies and strategies to manage the supporter experience in this area rather than as an adjunct to marketing interests.
It needs autonomy and support to achieve that as well as develop its own experience and expertise. It likely has the ingredients for that but if its work is being made a lesser priority to data collection for example then it is not going to be fully sighted on the core business of getting people into football matches.
I’ll be honest I was disappointed at the manner in which the Head of Supporters Services was appointed. There was no advertisement for the vacancy and it appears the person who now occupies the role (Sarah Medcalf) was posted into the vacancy from the Newcastle United Foundation without any fair and open competition.
My hope had been for a supporters representative(s) (NUST, NUDSA, United with Pride) to have played a part in that selection and appointment but that wasn’t to be.
I’ll disabuse anyone of the notion I had any personal interest in the role. My patience with the psycho-drama of Newcastle United’s support ran out a long time ago and I could fill the internet with accounts of why working in those posts is a bed of nails I can do well without lying upon.
There was a vacancy filling process for the Supporters Liaison Officer to which Matt Willis was appointed only four months ago. Matt was the only person from Newcastle United I am aware of who had his boots on the ground outside the away end. I’d suggest that was wholly inadequate given the club was implementing the biggest change to away fan arrangements in living memory. I don’t know any business which would not have had key people from the decision making process right there, hearing and seeing the impact of their policies upon their customers (sic). But not for this? If I’m wrong, I’ll happily correct this.
None of this is meant to represent any sleight against the individuals mentioned here. I am certain all of the people referred to have a great many skills and qualities that add significant value to the new version of Newcastle United.
Let’s move on from ticketing …
Most match-going supporters are aware of an incident at the Black Bull (Black & White Bull) at the corner of Stanhope St and Barrack Rd last season after the Chelsea game. All I know of the incident is what I’ve seen on some very grainy footage which involved a fight of some sort between rival supporters.
As I understand it, arrests were made of Newcastle United supporters involved but subsequently dropped. They have not been found guilty of any offence. However, understandably while Police action was underway, United suspended the season tickets of two lads I believe. I don’t know either of them.
I would have thought it was the obvious thing to do when it was clear the lads were guilty of no offence, any suspension would have been lifted and they would have been allowed to go to matches at SJP as they had previously.
But the suspension has not been lifted and as I understand it all attempts to reach out to the club (and it is a clear Supporters Service matter) have been ignored. At present I believe solicitors have written to United and thus far have not received a response to the understandable consternation of the two supporters involved.
Indeed, Newcastle United has breached its own commitments under the Newcastle United Supporter Charter – see enclosed – under Customer Service (towards the foot of the page). The two lads have not received a response from the club and nor have they had any correspondence to advise how long it will take the club to respond.
This is really poor and it is something Sarah Medcalf (Head of Supporter Services) and her line manager, Peter Silverstone (Chief Commercial Officer) should be accountable for. Unfortunately, it does not appear there is any penalty for not responding as per the commitment the club makes itself. Yoiu might conclude then the warm words in the Supporters Charter have been rendered meaningless by those who you would expect to be key in upholding them.
This has gone on long enough. I would hope both lads have contacted the Football Supporters Association – click here – who are funded to support football fans in this and similar situations. If they are members of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust then I’d imagine their case would be raised with the club too.
Not that the lads should have to go to these lengths. If there is an unknown reason why the club is rebuffing all attempts to resolve this matter then the two lads deserve a full explanation. Newcastle United has benefitted from their support for many years and it is a huge part of their lives.
Newcastle United is the huge beneficiary of our support and goodwill right now. I have zero doubt all of the stuff I’ve outlined above with regards to away game ticketing, touting and the treatment of two individual supporters is well under the radar of directors and senior members of the executive team.
However, the longer these issues go unaddressed then the more likely they will have this land on their desks.
It shouldn’t get to that but it is down to people appointed to key positions to do the right things. It’s not too late to do that.
