The second meeting of the Joint Council was held at the Ricoh Arena on Wednesday. In attendance was Paul Fletcher, Managing Director and Ken Sharp, Marketing Director of Coventry City Football Club, Mark Trevorrow, Chairman and Natalie Cox, Media Co-ordinator from the Sky Blue Trust, Jonathon Strange from Coventry City London Supporters Club, and Adam Smith from covcityfc.com who was representing the Fanzines and Websites, John Haddon from Coventry City Supporter Club sent his apologies.
The Joint Council has changed its name to Supporters Consultation Group and also it was thought that representation was needed from disabled supporters and the Asian community to ensure that as many fans as possible are represented at these meetings. The Club is currently working at setting up an Asian Supporters Group and if anyone is interested then please contact Raj Atwal at the Football Club.
It was agreed that having a management team who is focused completely on sorting the Club out rather than having either money or emotions tied into the job was a good thing as it will allow decisions to be taken that are in the best interest of the Football Club.
After a quick introduction the first item discussed was ticket pricing. Paul and Ken are in the process of working on next season’s pricing structure and an announcement will be made within the next couple of months with regard to payment options and prices.
The position of the Away supporters was brought up about and the fact that for 45 minutes we give the opposition an advantage as they are playing towards their own fans, as evident at the Middlesbrough game, a team actually raises their performance when scoring towards their own fans. The Club will discuss with the Police and the Safety Officer to see if the Away fans could be moved into the corner in front of the scoreboard and would report back to the next meeting.
The Football Club is having a meeting with Compass Catering with regard to staffing issues and the time it takes to get served this week, again this will be reported back to the group at the next meeting.
Purchasing tickets at the Football Club is proving to be very difficult for supporters at the moment, the telephone rings for five minutes and then disconnects, Paul Fletcher said this was unacceptable and that he had asked the telephone engineers to re-route the calls to another ‘phone rather than potentially lose the sale. Supporters will see a big improvement to the Ticket Office in the next few weeks and Mr Fletcher asked for all supporters to let him know if they noticed this improvement in the Ticket Office.
The match day experience at the Club is lacking, from the music to the half-time entertainment. The Supporters Consultation Group in conjunction with the Football Club would like your suggestions about what music should be played prior to the match and as fans leave the stadium, and if a seven second clip of music should be played when the Sky Blues score. A poll will be conducted through the local media and websites.
The Club are aware of the many problems faced by supporters of Coventry City Football Club and are trying to plug the holes to stop the Club leaking any more money as well as finding new sources of revenue. They hope that supporters will be patient with them and that by working together, the Board, the Management Team, the Team and the Fans we can achieve our goal of Premiership Football at the Ricoh Arena within three years.
Date of next meeting: Monday 6th March 2006 at 14.00.