Following the travel meeting (see West Ham story posted by Dave Sugarman) the travel club members were invited to join fellow City fans who had too part in the Canton stand customer survey.
A room with approximately 25 City fans, was addressed by Julian Jenkins, he was assisted by Wayne Nash, a lady from the Compass caterers, Mona from the ticket office and her assistant, Wayne Nash, Ali, Wayne Crichton, and our CEO Gethin Jones.
On a side note myself and Vince attended the FSF Conference last week and a presentation was made about best practice in customer service by a company from Sunderland, Cardiff City football club was the model used as the example during that presentation based on our Family club of the year award and reasons why we won.
Last night was also an example of how far our club has come over the years...Vince made a comment that on return to Ninian at the start of a new season it would be nice to see a bit of fresh paint around the place...that was the heights of our expectations in those days, But the presentation Julian then put to the fans was light years ahead of the old days and we were all very impressed to be honest
I did not make any notes and do not want to make errors in my description of the presentation because it was first class and very encouraging that it is happening at our club....I will summarise it as best as I can though. Please remember this was a survey carried out and concluded based on the answers given by over 250 Canton stand users including non-season ticket holders.
Catering
Too expensive
Not enough vegetarian choice
Queuing system not good enough
Not enough outlets
Nowhere to sit to eat and drink products
Variety of products on sale
All the above was discussed and various results came back from the survey, the girl from Compass took a bit of stick especially with the prices issues and most of the excuses or reasons surrounded the huge advance of monies to build the stadium from Compass and the brewery, hence that had to be paid back through catering profits...but she took on board many recommendations and will go back to her boss to discuss them...including happy hours, queuing issues, variety of food etc.
Seating was discussed and Wayne Nash the rules and guidelines about tables and chairs in concourse areas but also agreed that something had to be done...there will be more seating added to the walls around the concourses...this will happen throughout the season.
Club shop
This had a varying degree of good and bad comments from fans with the majority unhappy or not totally satisfied...this was all taken very seriously by the club and they have already made changes and will continue to listen to the fans concerns and ideas to improve further...a new line of Retro shirts was displayed and talk of new products was also mentioned.
Team kits will be in stock before start of season...printing machines are to increase capacity to print numbers and names.
Atmosphere.
The club believe this has to be fan lead but are very willing to assist in any way they can...they want to see the Canton stand a sea of flags, banners etc...leading the singing and chanting to encourage the other three sides of the stadium to reciprocate. Stewards are most definitely more tolerable in this area and some suggestions included having fans at each end of the stand start of the chanting...get the left to challenge the right etc...maybe drums, anything really that will keep the atmosphere going...all ideas will be considered even getting up to 500 fans down the club on the terrace chanting ten of our favourite match day chants...they can be replayed over the big screen before games etc....some ideas do sound cheesy on paper but the idea is to generate a great atmosphere.
The Canton stands experience.
The club are trying to ensure that three quarters of the stadium can sit comfortably throughout the game to watch matches...they therefore have encouraged likeminded fans who Predominantly prefer to stand during periods of the game to congregate in the Canton stand...many hundreds have already transferred there from other areas this season. Persistent standing is against the law in UK stadia in the top two levels but the club have come to the conclusion that this is a customer service issue rather than a safety issue, that is based on SAG (Safety advisory group) and evidence from all league clubs and they have risk assessed the Canton stand area as safe, but that still has to be under the guidelines of fans not standing for the full 90 minutes...but the club will not be zero tolerance in the Canton...HOWEVER...they will be zero tolerance in all other parts of the stadium and fans who fail to comply face seeing their season ticket card deactivated and they then have to appear in front of the club to get it back, if they put their view across successfully they will get another chance and the option to move seats.
Before games in the Canton Concourses
A stage is being erected in the concourse and we should see live bands playing pre match probably 2 hours before kick-off ( they will have to play music to suit the masses but will be allowed to play one or original tracks) following that we hope to see a new and old player addressing the fans from the stage pre match...a question and answer session...all geared to make the pre match experience more enjoyable in that area of the stadium...for those thinking they are missing out, a survey will soon take place in the Grand stands and Ninian stands so you will have your chance then
I hope I have done the presentation justice there was even more to it but I have done the best off the top of my head...I suggested at the end that it was great that us 25 fans seen this but could the club show these ideas to a greater fan base and to my surprise they are already planning just that, but better still Malky Mackay will also be taking part in the road shows the first of which should be in the Pontypridd area soon catering for up to 250 fans...Bridgend, Blackwood, Newport, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff and other areas will also be considered over time and it is hoped the message will get to thousands of fans that the club are willing to listen to the fans and any ideas they have to improve the match day experience.
Well done to the club for doing this, they really are leading the field in communicating with supporters.