CCFC Trust members meet New City Chief Exec

Members of your Supporters' Trust Board have held a meeting with the new Chief Executive of Cardiff City Football Club to put your questions directly to him. Gethin Jenkins and his team, Julian Jenkins and Wayne Nash, expressed their desire to work with the Trust to improve communication with the fans and the club and we also got some very good news on a number of the issues you raised. Gethin has worked with a trust at his previous job with Newport rugby understands the importance of the club listening to what the fans have to say. He wants us to meet on a regular basis to ensure that your voice is heard within the club. Here are the main points from the meeting. Fred Keenor statue appeal The club is fully behind this appeal and has agreed to donate £1 from every ticket sold for our pre season friendly against Deportivo on 31 July to the appeal. With a gate of at least 8,000 expected for this game this is a fantastic gesture by the club and will truly kick start the fund raising appeal. The club has also agreed to organise a dinner at the stadium with proceeds going to statue fund. They will sell the 8" figurines of the statue which we are having made at the club shop and we will also have another bucket collection at a prime home game before Christmas. Memorial garden There have been environmental issues associated with completing the memorial garden which was part of the original design for the new stadium. The club hopes to have the necessary environmental certificate soon and the garden should be completed by Armistice weekend this year. The garden will comprise a fenced off green, a patio area with new lighting and benches and will be situated on the right hand side of the stadium as you look towards the main entrance from the retail park. Gethin also wants a war memorial to form part of the garden as so many people associated with the City have died serving their country over the years. We as a Trust have agreed to offer whatever help we can in terms of supplies and labour, so come on, what skills can you offer to help build the garden? Please email us at: members@ccfctrust.org Environmental enhancement around the stadium Improving the look of the stadium and its environs was also part of the building plan. A tree planting project will be undertaken to smarten up the area but this of course is a one of a number of competing financial priorities for the club. Atmosphere and standing at CCS Wayne Nash expressed his personal view that standing at all seater football stadiums is more of a service issue rather than a safety issue for clubs. Most people do not want to stand for the duration of a match and the Safety Advisory Group (which includes the police and the council) will not allow it. To accommodate fans Cardiff City created a singing section in the Canton stand where the rules would be interpreted liberally. But there is a zero tolerance policy to standing anywhere else in the ground. Wayne and his team will help relocate any season ticket holders who are not happy with people standing around them so that fans sit in the most appropriate areas for them. Fans buying shares in the club You asked whether there would be an opportunity for fans to buy new shares in the club. Gethin said that existing shareholders would be given the opportunity first but there were no plans at the moment for a share issue to fans. With a further possible share issue the problem is a legal one in that the last one offered to existing shareholders had an expiry date of 25 May 2010. A further share issue will need to comply with company law and Gethin suggested that this would therefore be a matter for Alan Whiteley to look at as the qualified lawyer on the board (and the person who organised the previous share issue). Relocating the Family Stand This matter has been raised more than once so let's get the club's thinking clear once and for all. The new stadium offered the club a one-off opportunity to 'engineer' out some of the problems associated with Ninian Park. It was not a nice place for visiting fans and there had been problems particularly when away fans were exiting the stadium. Seating the Family Stand next to the away section has improved matters and incidents of poor behaviour at CCS have decreased. If the Family Stand were to be relocated to the Canton then there would be additional costs for policing the fence between the away section and the Family Stand before and after the game. The club says the new layout works extremely well and does not intend to change it. The club carried out some research among families attending matches in March of this year. Of the 250 families which replied, 98% said they would recommend a friend to visit the stadium. Only three people wanted to move to the other side of the stadium. The club must be praised for the way it has improved facilities for families. The whole area is branded 'City Kids,' and it has a Play Station area and Astroturf areas on the concourse so that the kids can be entertained. It has taken on board suggestion from children themselves that they would like child sized crisps and chocs to be sold in the shops rather than the big bags. (Come to think of it, I would like them too under the Ninian!) These efforts by the club have been recognised by the Football League. 'Mystery' families judge all the different grounds and this year Cardiff won the 'Family Club of the Year.' Meeting the Trust Gethin said he had a good record at Newport of being open to meeting fans representatives. He understands that the profile and interest in the club here at Cardiff is so much higher but he still wants to hear what we as supporters have to say. We agreed that we would hold a joint meeting with the supporters club and the Chief Executive every other month to discuss any issues you want to raise. Away ticketing We related the concerns voiced by some fans as to the way away tickets have been allocated. The club says it must offer tangible benefits to those willing to invest in the club in advance and restated the away ticketing policy: Platinum Ambassadors who have been to X number of away games will get priority. Next come Ambassadors with X number of away games and then away travel club members. Wayne Nash said there had been disagreement within the club over the way the Chelsea allocation had operated and that it was unlikely that way of distributing the tickets would be used again. Away membership Trust members who do not live near Cardiff have told us that they feel they are not getting very much for their away membership. Historically this membership was created so that the club could work with police to ensure only law abiding fans got tickets. It was obvious that a football banning order in itself was not going to stop some from attending away matches once or twice a year and making trouble. The money raised from away membership goes directly towards stewarding at away matches. We take between 5 and 7 stewards away as well as an additional safety officer. The away membership guarantees tickets to away matches but the club has agreed to look at what ancillary benefits could be offered to this kind of membership. Similarly, the club will look at what else it can offer Ambassadors for their loyalty. An example of this is the reduced price for the pre season friendly against Deportivo for season ticket holders. The Club shop We received some complaints about the club shop and the club recognises that there have been problems. Gethin said the staff do a good job but that the club needs to review operations, look at what stock they get in and then make improvements. There are however problems with delivering kits and the like on time which are sometimes beyond the control of the club shop itself. Next season's kit You asked if the new kit could be redesigned. I guess this one really is matter of personal taste, but the club says it will not be redesigned! Club help for the Trust We asked that the club offer some material help to the Trust when it goes out into the community. This could include some promotional material or raffle prizes being made available. We also discussed the possibility of the Trust selling club shop stock on behalf of the club. We agreed that a list of our activities and what we might want from the club be sent to them. Removal of supporters books from the club shop You asked us to find out why books written by supporters had been removed from the club shop. The book had actually sold out and the club decided that it did not want to restock this book as it did not feel it appropriate for a club shop. Income to the club We asked the club what the main source of income would be now that the season ticket money for the 2010-2011 season had been spent. Gethin told us that the traditional streams of income, commercial operations and league and TV payments etc. were still available and that we have new investors who are looking at what options are available. State of the pitch Trust members have expressed concern at the state of the pitch and asked why we cannot have artificial lights which are rolled on after the final whistle to improve the playing surface. Wayne Nash agreed that the pitch was below average for the football league, that until Christmas the pitch had stood up well but that the terrible winter had taken its toll. When the sun came out the pitch improved dramatically and it is hoped that it will be rejuvenated following the reseeding this summer. They would love to be able to use the artificial lights but they come at a cost and it is a matter of competing priorities at the moment. New players and Jenkins as a negotiator You wanted to know if Gethin Jenkins would be directly involved in buying players, particularly from overseas. Gethin had a reputation at Newport for being a shrewd negotiator. He told us that he was now the senior manager responsible for budgets at the City and would therefore have a role in negotiating contracts. His first priority is to bring together a team which stands the test of time. However, he will not be selecting the team! We have already signed one new player and the rebuilding goes on. All in all I think it was a productive meeting. Many thanks for all your questions. I think we have started to build a relationship with Gethin and his team. One of the last things he told us was that he hopes to build stability at the club and leave us in a stronger position than he found us. Roll on the new season! ** Just to let you know that members of the Trust's community group will have a stall at the Grangetown Festival at Grange Gardens off Corporation Road this Saturday afternoon. Come along from one o'clock and help recruit more members to the Trust. Tim Hartley Chairman http://www.ccfctrust.org