Shrewsbury Town's supporter liaison officers (SLOs) Roger Groves and Mike Davis have penned this brief summary of questions and answers from Tuesday night's Supporters' Parliament meeting.
The following are just a sample of the questions raised by you.
Q: Is the Sovereign Club card payment only on a matchday?
A: No, you can pay with cash or card
Q: Who benefits from the income from Smithy’s Bar and the FanZone, the club or the foundation?
A. It is the football club that receives any income from these areas.
Q: Are the club aware that the signage on the approach to the stadium is poor and confusing?
A. Yes Brian is and has been in discussions with the local authorities with a view to removing unwanted signage and making improvements with some of the directional signs on the approach to the stadium. This is not something the football club can do themselves. This point was also raised at the recent Safety Advisory Group meeting held in June.
Q: Can the Ticket Office be open to accommodate fans who work full-time and cannot get to the stadium in normal working hours?
A. This is being looked into with a view to providing some late night opening hours.
Q: What is the new Community Club and is it to replace the Super Blues?
A. It costs £5 a month to join, you will receive a pin badge and exclusive access to events organised through the Foundation. It is not to replace the Super Blues, who continue to provide much-needed support to the football club by way of funding for particular projects. Membership costs just £1 a week to join and every member is entered into the monthly draw with a chance to win a number of cash prizes. Top prizes range from £200 to £500 through to a bumper draw at Christmas of £1000.
Q: Can the club look at running some promotions to attract more supporters into the stadium?
A: Any promotion in respect of matchday discounts has to take into account what our season ticket holders have paid on a match-by-match basis over a season. It also has to be offered to the visiting team who must agree to whatever type of promotion is on offer. The football club and the foundation work closely on such matters and we are fortunate to be in a position where we as SLOs are included in those discussions so that the best interests of supporters are always considered.
Q: Are there plans for further Umbro Retro kits?
A: This is a question back to all our supporters. What kit would you like to see as a retro kit? You can email us at slo@shrewsburytown.co.uk and we will collate your suggestions and discuss this with the club and Umbro.
Supporters only SP meeting
We have had some requests to hold an SP meeting without any representation from the football club. We are going to look into this as we did commit to this at the meeting last week. Our initial thoughts are we hold a meeting after a home game with Smithy’s bar as one option to host the meeting. Look out for an announcement on this soon, once we have had a chance to look at some dates and sort out the venue.
Away Match Tickets
We have recently been asked to clarify a couple of points on away match tickets. It is the club we are visiting who will decide which stand we are situated in and also the number of tickets we are initially allocated. They will look at such things as the safety of supporters, previous attendances and get a view from our club on how many supporters we estimate will travel however they do have the final decision in this matter.
Return of an Open Day
Again we have had a number of questions on this topic and it is something we have already begun to discuss with the club and those conversations will continue. There are a lot of factors to consider and also a lot more people to be brought into the discussion such as the manager and the foundation for example. Jamie Edwards, the CEO of the Shrewsbury Town Foundation, and his team at the foundation would be pivotal in this so we will continue to discuss and will update everyone on those discussions when we can.
Even if you could not make the meeting, you can contact us with any queries, suggestions or general feedback on your own experiences. We are here to listen and to help in any way we can in making sure every supporter has a positive experience when they visit Montgomery Waters Meadow.
The recording from the latest Supporter Parliament meeting will be published on the club’s website in due course.
You can contact us at slo@shrewsburytown.co.uk or on Twitter @shrews_SLO or with Rich Pulford our Disabled Supporter Liaison Officer by email at dslo@shrewsburytown.co.uk
You can also catch up with us on matchdays at various locations around the stadium.
COYB
Roger & Mike
