Supporters Board Meetings / Minutes

so do you think if the scheme changes the number travelling will reduce? Not sure how it will reduce?

 

The club needs to start being transparent about this rather than fluffy messaging about surveys inviting feedback on a decision that appears to have already have been made. That messaging needs to be clear and explain what problem is the scheme trying to solve? Originally the loyalty scheme was introduced as a fair way of selling tickets for big games that will be oversubscribed. We've just gone through a prime example of that scheme working perfectly. There was hardly any of the bizarre issues of yesteryear where you have hundreds of fans camping overnight in the ground for tickets.

So what is the problem that "City Points" is trying to solve and are the club really going to benefit from overcomplicating a system that has just worked exactly as originally briefed? Correct me if I'm wrong but did the club not wax lyrical about record shirt sales last summer? That would suggest that the club isn't exactly concerned about selling merchandise at the moment.

Just my opinion even as someone who would benefit from having alternate means of obtaining points as I live away from West Yorks, but the switch to "City Points" suggests it isn't the time, effort, miles that you put in as a supporter that the club values but how many pounds you send its way. And this is a potentially dangerous switch because it starts to undermine the one core value that the club has been built on for the last 15 years - affordable season tickets. The club is mixing its messaging by saying on the one hand, "come to Valley Parade because its so affordable", and then the other is saying "by the way, if you want to follow the team away then you better spend, spend, spend dammit!".

 

This was the first line on the announcement regarding the points scheme.


Bradford City AFC has launched an all-new loyalty scheme, rewarding supporters for their commitment in backing the Bantams - both on and off the field.

So right from the start the club said that rewards would be for both on and off the field

 

Perfect, so long as points gained for buying a scarf in the shop aren’t greater than that of travelling to an away game.

 

to be honest, im not sure points should be reset.

I have a fair number of points admittedly, but still not enough to reach the top 2 brackets. I just think that if someone has run up enough points for those brackets by attending away games, why should they lose them? Imagine someone has gone to 10 or more away games this year, but cannot next year because the club have chopped off a chunk of his points that they have accrued over the years. Can you imagine putting a £1000 year in a bank account and after 5 years you only have £3000 in there because the first two years no longer count.

 

But if you don't have a reset at some point it stops new fans from having a chance, they will never be able to catch up

 

Who knows. Start a new thread and everyone can discuss it?

 

Buy more pies, pints, shirts and cup games. (Cup games especially as our take up is embarrassing)

This is what the club are trying to achieve, but are being hit with resistance.

 

Maybe not immediately, I think it would take at least a season to have a knock-on effect. For example, if by this time next year we are in an away cup tie which is in demand, and someone with no visits to away games gets preference over someone who has travelled all 23 (or most of them) just because they bought a membership and some pies every home math, then the fans would vote with their feet the following season. Just my opinion

Clearly they are changing the scheme purely to make more money. It is a business, and it is expected that they want to maximise profits. But don't do it at the expense of the very people who put you there - without the fans, the club would cease to exist

 

Well get to the stage where fans who live outside the UK have more points than those in the UK because they can follow all the games on ifollow whilst in the UK we have the 3pm blackout. After all they are buying an ifollow pass every week so that 46 x ifollow games they can get points for.

The system is working as intended, and the only people who don't really think it is are those who think they should be front of the queue for tickets to Carlisle etc even though they haven't been to an away game this season but watch all away games on a dodgy firestick.

 

From comments on here I can not see them voting with their feet. I remember when this scheme was first suggested and people moaned about it saying it wouldn't work etc and now people moaning about it getting changed

 

If you don't have points expiring at any point then in 10 years time people who are new to the club or they are children now will have no chance of catching up to fans who have been going to a few games for the last 10 years so they would end up in a ballot. Circumstances change over time so points could reflect that, it should be too hard to set them on a 2 or 3 year rolling basis so others have the chance to catch up and new fans have a chance of the bigger games in a couple of years.

 

Possibly, but those people moaning now will likely be different to those moaning before, as it will affect people with different circumstances perhaps? As I said a few times, the system used this season has worked for the majority of fans, so there has been little moaning/outcry during the season

 

Winning Post

 

They can't keep them up to date on weekly basis, I couldnt imagine the carry on with them trying to delete a years worth of points

 

Absolute no resistance though is there? The queues for the tea bars on a match day are long for the entire half time interval, we announced record shirt sales this season, and the attendance for the Blackburn League Cup game was just shy of 8000, whereas the Harrogate FA Cup game was almost 7000, so pretty bloody decent for first round matches

That doesn't come across as resistance to me

 

The resistance part was aimed at those voting or responding to the survey that they don't want loyalty points to be earned by those means above.

I'd much prefer someone to be able to earn more points by buying more shirts or pies than me, than the club just simply removing 750 of my points

 

You could also interpret that as the rewards for fans would themselves come on and off the field. "On the field" rewards being priority access to tickets and "off the field" rewards coming in the form of merchandise discounts when purchasing the 1903 membership.

There was nothing in the original loyalty scheme announcement beyond the purchasing of tickets or 1903 membership.

 

I get your point but how do “ new” ST owners ever catch up? They can’t if they are never reset, so would never be eligible for Season Ticket holder dibs?

 

Beyond the loyalty points and a scarf what did people get for their "memberships"?

Speaking to someone who got one.

There was never any ticket offers given as promised, plus they had a season ticket anyhow. If there was any deals they were never made aware as the Colchester deal was open to everyone. The claim was 5 games per season at £5 each.
There was a predict the score game that was never updated after week 2.
They once offered a discount in the club shop for crap they couldn't sell.
No women's games details were ever announced.
The exclusive content was laughable, the videos are just full of highlights that are free on youtube.
The downloads gallery has 6 wallpapers.
He's knows of no one who won anything in the competitions.

Maybe they should start putting into place promises about things like membership schemes before coming up with daft ideas about pissing up a loyalty points system which is actually doing what it says on the tin.