Gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth saving'
Then you better start swimming'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changing'
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
Keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
Don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's naming'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they, they are a-changing'
yes folks as Bob Dylan says, the times they are changing, it appears that the goodwill built up by the owners since they have walked into the club is disappearing and many of the fans are starting to question the way the club is being run. To try and say what has brought this change in the fans mindset is not that hard as since they walked into the club little by little they have managed to alienate fans, but the big tipping point broke after the Man City game with the publication of a Photograph showing a hand-full of tickets bearing the name Community Trust & showing the price of only £5. I'm sure I don't need to point out to everyone that the face value price of those ticket's were £52, or £47 if you are a member, yet the club saw fit to dispose of over 2,000 tickets at under 10% of the price people sitting next to them paid.
Naturally outrage followed across the WHU forums and on twitter, some of it un-savoury, but many from fans who when looking to come to this game had decided that the price was just not worth paying or was out of their raech due to the cost, all were West ham fans that would of loved to attend especially at £5 a ticket & bearing in mind a child ticket was £29 as well, how many parents had purchased their tickets for £52 and then their kids at £29 to sit next to or near the lucky owners of the £5 tickets. The Club monitor all the main sites so they knew the groundswell of opinion regarding this matter and the reponse they put out on the official website frankly was poor in my opinion, totally ignoring the main complaint of fans, i.e the price, they just told us how in their eyes the community trust was a success. As a SAB member I wrote to the club
“sorry to bother you but i hope you dont mind me contacting yourselves regarding the Ticket issue matter that has arisen after this weekends game.
The club has IMO many questions to answer over the misguided issuing of tickets at a discounted rate for a category A game and the clubs release yesterday im afraid will not stop the questioning as there is no official fan group that the club meets with apart from the SAB so i would ask you to consider calling a meeting of the SAB to allow at-least some dialogue from the club to the fans. Many fans are feeling alienated from the club and i feel that if you ignore the situation it will only damage the club as whole.
also by calling a SAB meeting and allowing members to feedback with no provisos then it could be away of showing the critics of the SAB, of which i admit to being one, that we do have a part to play in the club. If you read the forums, which i know you do, then youwill notice the apathy that the SAB is held in, not just from outsiders but some members as well. While i am a critical of the regime there comes a time when we all must realise we have to work together for the club to benefit. at this moment in time unless something is done to reverse this trend then i can only see the club fracturing even more its core fan base.
i implore you to start engaging with your core support more than you do and allow those you engage with to feedback to the wider fanbase and there is no better way to start than with all the SAB members.
looking forward to your response,
many thanks
Nigel Kahn
part of the response was that the club had previously done the same at the Wigan game last year, naturally I checked and yes the club had, but the difference was the club had advertised in advance that the game was a designated Community Trust, we all knew in advance that their would be people in the ground that hadn't paid or had paid significantly less than they had, also Wigan as we all know is probably the least attractive game in the football calender coupled with the fact that wigan themselves probably only bring around 500 fans to the Boleyn which leaves over 1000 tickets normally that would be taken by the away support available for home fans yet check whufc.com and you find no mention what so ever of any community trust involvemnt or ticket distribution for the Man City Game. Somewhere out there is the truth over the reason why the club decided to sell tickets for £5 to people who may never have attended or thought about attending the ground while neglecting to offer the same tickets to members, who have paid £30 already for the honour, or fans on the database which they claim to have hit a million, with that many people you would of thought they could of outed those tickets without discounting, then again. The club have said they will call a SAB meeting where we will discuss ticketing and other issues, personaly the longer they leave it the more they will run the risk of alienating the very fans they need in the future.
Once the ticket scandal was starting to dampen then it came to light about a young boy who it had been claimed that he had been banned by the club for life, fined £1,100 and had his ST confiscated, all this after being arrested at the ground and then to top it all he had spent 16 hours in a police cell all for the crime of having a u-16 ST when he was 18.
#unbansam was the cry and rightly so in my eyes, as it appeared the club had treated him harshly, after all is not the east end way to pull astroke, beat the system, scam, no big crime is it. Bearing in mind the way some view the SAB I decided to see if as an SAB member could I help the kid out, I dont know him but I just felt he needed help, so again I emailed the club. The response was interesting to say the least, it apears there was more to this story to meet the eye, as it wasnt a club led investigation but a police investigation that brought him to the attention of the club, he wasnt banned for life, but until all outstanding monies owed to the club, yes the £1,100, due to the fact the club claim he defrauded out of them that amount, roughly abot £300 difference for the home ST and then the rest in away tickets etc etc.
Why the police came looking is not for me to divulge, 1. is that the police are still investigating him & 2. what he done was foolish but I wouldnt want him to be hung out to dry or have the sanctimonious fans having a pop at him. Ive offered to help him once the old bill have finished with him, I still think the £1,100 seems extreme and maybe the club could cut him some slack there, but the one thing both theses sagas have shown is that there is a need for a Fans supporters association/union, somewhere where fans with problems can go for help and advice and then that assosiciation could then speak with the club. It is quite clear that the SAB has not got the teeth to do that, it needs an independent fans body that with strength in numbers can do that. I look forward to that day, which will be soon, for people as bob dylan sang “ The times, they are a changing” VIVA Revolution.
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