Club Suggestions Thread

Yes. But it should be compulsory. Close the stairs and make everyone go the other way.

 

And keep your whisky in another

 

It wouldn't matter if the road was closed... the local indigenous population would ignore the closures and drive like morons at Mach 2 as they do now on Midland Rd.

 

On the water bottle issue the whole country is encouraged to save the planet using reusable water bottles, Maybe a change of ground rules is needed to catch up

 

To much of a job it changes everyday

 

I think there's a separate system for safety announcements but I agree the PA system in the upper Kop has been rubbish for years.

 

It’s been better this year

 

Hi,

I've been through the list today with the various personnel responsible for different parts of the ground and I'll post a full update tomorrow.

 

Thanks Stafford, Glenn and I discussed this thread today and the mechanics of replying/feedback. We will be talking again at the match tomorrow and move forward from there. Finance dictates the Club can't do everything but we are trying to move forward and re-motivate a team in the back office who have been constantly beaten down.

 

I'd have thought Rahic leaving is re-motivating enough. I'll bet they are a lot happier now than when he was here.

 

Why not create a dedicated sales area for potential sponsors etc, The ground tour is great but a dedicated area with audio/visual facilities plus hospitality where the sales team can relax with sponsors putting them in an easy mood to want to be engaged with the club,

 

We have various areas of the ground that offer different forms of relaxation/mingling etc for different peoples budgets on match days.

The 1911 Lounge has a bar, soft seating and live TV, Michael Shackleton meets and greets sponsors along with welcoming people into the corporate boxes.

In the Legends Suite, Laura Hutchinson looks after all of the guests including the Main Match and Associate sponsors working alongside Ian Cooper and Jimmy Cuthbertson. Again this has the game on live TV with 3-course dining, a legends guest speaker and the man of the match presentation.

We also have Ambassadors Malcolm Scott and Mike Smith operating in the other lounges.

From Saturday's game alone, follow up meetings have been arranged with a number of sponsors.

When we invite potential sponsors to the ground we always meet in a box overlooking the pitch with soft seating.

And because I enjoy the game in the boardroom, where appropriate I can invite current or potential sponsors to join me. I have a number of people coming to upcoming games.

 

Yes have seen the various facilities in action and have used some, But instead of been spread about the facilities which is good for match days I was suggesting a dedicated potential private client area purposely fitted out to impress and inform any potential sponsor on non match days where a practiced team can inform and entertain on a professional basis and seal deals,

 

Nice and easy one, maybe get billy bantam to walk around the stands. I always see the kids running to him in the NW corner, but by that time he's also the furthest left main stand and furthest right kop to deal with. Get him in the stands abit more, high fiving the kids or as previousky mentioned have a little goody bag full of treats, keeps the kids entertained while the players warm up

 

Can't go giving kiddies sweets these days for all sorts of reasons....

 

That’s cos most of them want a tenner bag, rather than a party pack of Haribo.

 

Hi all.

Thanks for your patience. This has taken some putting together and including input from Julian, Paula Watson (Head of Operations), Michael Shackleton (Commercial Manager) and Dale Whiting (Head of Retail - including the City Shop).


Fly-tipping (#3)

Unfortunately, this is private land outside of the clubs control.

Paula Watson has now raised this with the environmental health department at Bradford Council and she will monitor the situation. Hopefully, they will clear the site shortly.

Small motif merchandise & hooped socks (#4)

I’ve spoken to Head of Retail Dale Whiting who loves the idea of fans feedback on products. He mentioned that we have previously had polo shirts and some of the other items mentioned. We do currently have hooped socks in stock, type “Luxury Sock” in search on the city shop website to view including Heritage Polos. Currently, the stock on offer is depleted as we get towards the end of the season.

Next season there will be a whole new range of merchandise available. I can’t release details but you can be assured that your comments have been taken on board.

Regarding the suggestion to have a click and collect service, our current e-commerce system doesn’t support this functionality and it creates an additional staffing pressure to check orders against despatch or collect.

Ordinarily, this is fine, but the pressure point is on match days.

All items that are available online are available in the store, so you can simply pay and collect when you come to the ground.

Lister's Mill shirt (#5)

I like the shirt design but as you can imagine there are countless shirt designs reviewed by the club each year.

There is also long lead times involved in kit designs, which means that we cannot consider any new designs for next season at this stage of the year. All playing and training kits have been signed off in December.

There are lots of other considerations that come into the mix as well. Whether CAD designs translate well to actual end product, the extra cost of production and the fact that a major sponsor owns the rights to promote their business exclusively on the shirt. Listers Mills is a commercial redevelopment by Urban Splash.

I have forwarded the design on.

Obviously, I cannot release details for the new kit and I’ve not even seen it myself

Poor toilet facilities (#9)

I have discussed this with Paula Watson and visited all of the toilets in the main stand lower sections today.

They all had running hot water but I’m told that the hot water can run out on match days with continual use. This is a legacy of the original system design which would cost in a considerable sum to remedy.

Regarding the cleaning we employ a cleaning team whose responsibility it is to clear the entire stands, toilets and surrounding areas after each game.

The Community Volunteers are used primarily to support the sweeping of stands post-match, in and amongst the many other vital roles that they carry out.

Paula has taken on board the feedback and will ensure that toilets are prioritised in the future, including jet washing and disinfectant.

Again, whilst not wanting to pass the buck the toilets are largely reflective of the original design. Breeze block walls and concrete floors do not make for a pleasant experience.

They are functional but it’s fair to say that the standards in new stadiums have improved considerably since they were put into the main stand 34 years ago.

If there are any issues relating to the toilets, please feedback directly to paulawatson@bradfordcityfc.co.uk

PA System (#12)

Again, via Paula Watson, the PA system is difficult to adjust in terms of a consistent sound and balance throughout the stadium. They are serviced twice yearly and fully up to the safety requirements for a stadium of this size.

The problem we have is that if we increase the volume in the kop further, it would be too loud in other parts of the ground.

In the event of an emergency, the match controller is able to turn the volume up throughout the ground to ensure that any safety messages are communicated.

Make it more enjoyable/engaging for kids (#14)

We 100% support this idea. We are currently talking to supporters groups, some of whom have done amazing work with the Junior Bantams.

It would be brilliant to get a sponsor on board to promote packs etc. in conjunction with other Junior Bantams work.

This is currently being actively explored.

Fan zone / catering (#15)

The club would love to do this and we have explored this at length. There are a number of considerations. Our current catering and concourse providers have exclusive food/drink supply arrangements and we are tied into supplying Carlsberg products for the alcohol.

Our concourse supplier did look at providing a fan zone but have said that it will not work financially. They’ve previously operated one at Sunderland and this was abandoned because it was not viable.

Bring back 50/50 draw with cash prizes (#20)

The 50/50 was replaced with ‘Shirt off my back’ to reinvigorate sales which were dropping as people lost interest. It has proved much better for the club financially.

We are constantly looking at new ideas to keep the match day experience fresh. With that, we have a number of potential ideas for next season that we are currently considering.

There is also a cash prize of second place for Shirt off my back which is £100.

Problems with seats in lower main stand (#21)

This is a real problem. The seats which were put in a few seasons ago have a smaller gap between seats. The cost of replacement equates to circa £40 per seat. Just replacing 250 is a £10k spend. These matters are simple to address in the Championship, but currently, we have lots of spare capacity for fans to sit in other areas if they want better seating.

Decorating stairways & concourses (#25)

We are happy to explore ways to improve the stairways and concourses.

If there was a supporter or a community group or individual who’d be happy to coordinate a graffiti project we’d be delighted to support this.

General painting and comes down to the harsh realities of cost/benefit decisions. We’d love a painting contractor to get in touch to offer to help out in return for high profile sponsorship.

If you’d like to volunteer for the graffiti project, or your a painting contractor looking to increase your exposure please get in touch with. Simply email paulawatson@bradfordcityfc.co.uk

Look again at issues with exiting via steps by North West corner (#25)

This is a complicated issue which is tied up with the requirements of our safety certificate, the costs of changing the infrastructure to better support the supporter ingress and egress and the limitations caused by the public highway.

We have had no accidents caused by this area in the two seasons while I have been at the club. As part of the risk assessment, we choose to man this area with stewards. Should expected crowds increase or if there are any extraordinary incidents we would review how the north-west corner is managed, and are always open to the continual feedback.

Online Ticket Purchases

We use a third party software provider. Their terms and conditions mean that a £1 per ticket admin fee is charged and retained by them. So if you buy 4 tickets, you’ll be charged £4.

They also have a delivery charged which is applied per transaction. So in the example above, if you buy 4 tickets, only one delivery fee will be applied.

This cost of administration is fully retained by the ticket provider and the club do not receive any revenue. Arguably the admin/delivery could be ‘free’ with the ticket prices increased, but the net cost to fans would be the same and those who prefer to collect would lose out.