Blackpool FC board discuss safe standing, training ground, anniversary dinner, ticket prices and more during meeting with fan groups

Chief executive Ben Mansford, director Brett Gerrity and chief commercial officer Linton Brown were among the club’s panel.

Here’s some of the key points included in the minutes that was released earlier today:

Safe standing

Karen McGuiness (BASIL) raised the issue of safe standing. It was confirmed that this had been raised previously and Ben Mansford has indicated that he was against this.

Karen wanted to raise the issue again to see if he had had more time to think about it.

Ben confirmed that his thoughts were that at the moment there are better places for capital to be spent, ie training ground.

Safe standing is perhaps something that could be considered as part of the East Stand development. He doesn’t see any justification for ripping out seats in the current stands but it will perhaps be something that is considered, with research being done.

The Board have received invites to look at other stadiums where safe standing has been installed and they will possibly go to look at those as part of the research.

Karen indicated that she was surprised at Ben’s opinion that he was against safe standing. Ben indicated that that was a personal view, it was not a definite no.

Club shop and ticket office

Linton Brown confirmed that one of the problems is that there are too many people in the shop/ticket office on match days, so need to look at ideas for maximising retail sales and make it less busy.

Linton confirmed that he wants to make the experience for fans the best possible, that is his job role.

It’s not a finished article, we have a long way to go. However, he has made notes of all the points raised.

Karen indicated that because it used to be the Seasiders Bar that people use it as a meeting place, need to have somewhere else for fans to meet.

Linton also confirmed that due to the congestion in the shop he arranged for a Collection Booth to be outside Main Reception on match days for ticket collections which has helped massively.

Karen indicated that the Seasiders Bar was always full.

Enquiry made regarding old café at the Coach Station to see if that could be used as a ticket office/shop.

Ben indicated that enquiries will be made with the Council regarding this building.

Congestion in concourse areas

Mike Coole (non-aligned) raised congestion in the concourse bar areas. He feels it gets very congested in the North and West areas. There is a long corridor between the North and West concourses where stewards do not allow anyone to stand.

Steve Rowland (SLO) and Brett Gerrity both confirmed that this area is now open for supporters to enter and are able to stand and drink/eat in that area.

MSG brought up the issue of supporters being allowed out into the smoking area with drinks but this would be something that would need to be discussed with the Ground Safety Officer.

The issue of bottle bars was also brought up as a way of reducing queues at the concourse bars.

Linton confirmed that we will be having a full review of what we are selling before next season.

There was also an enquiry as to whether the kiosks could be moved back slightly to gain more room in the concourse. However, thought that this would probably be an expenditure that we would not be looking at for the foreseeable future but it is something to consider.

It was commented that the West Stand concourse area now seems to be a lot better than it was in relation to crowds.

Ten-year anniversary dinner for 2009/10 promotion-winning side

Ben mentioned that the 10-year anniversary for the Premier League is coming up and feel it would be right for the club to commemorate this in some way and felt that perhaps a dinner would be appropriate.

John Cross (FPA) confirmed that the FPA have arranged a 50th anniversary to celebrate the club’s promotion at Preston which also relegated them. Hoping for former players to come to the game the next day and to get them to stay in the hotel.

Ben feels that perhaps the 10-year anniversary is something that the FPA could assist with and maybe have a separate meeting regarding this.

BST confirmed that they organised a 5th anniversary dinner in relation to the Premier League promotion and had 420 people attending. Former players were there and BST would also be happy to assist with a 10-year anniversary event.

Brett asked if John could assist with this and if we can get players to attend then the club would be happy to put this on. BSA indicated that this needs to be priced sensibly in order that ordinary fans will be able to afford to attend. The 5-year anniversary dinner was priced at £25 per head.

Obviously this is something that needs to be looked at in relation to the type of event that would be put on.

Neil Critchley’s involvement in the recruitment process

Raised the issue of the recruitment process and how much input the Head Coach will have in selecting players. Ben indicated that he wants to dispel any myths that the Head Coach will not have any input into player recruitment.

Ben confirmed that the situation has evolved since the day the Receivers had been appointed and the end of the last transfer window. Recruitment of players is a collective effort.

We now have a Head of Football Recruitment along with an Analyst and Head of Technical Scouting. We have more systems in place and more data is being compiled. Players will be filtered down according to that data and that information will then be passed through to the Head Coach.

There will then be liaisons between players and their agents and everything will eventually all be taken to Simon Sadler for his final approval in relation to costs. No player will turn up without the approval of the Head Coach.

Ben feels it is very important to take away that recruitment of players is a joint effort.

Plans for new training ground

Ben confirmed that a preferred architect had been chosen and we would have planning permissions in place hopefully within weeks. He was not, however, able to comment at the moment on location.

Ticket prices

Fiona Martin (BSA) asked if there will be a focus group set up to discuss ticket pricing for next season.

Their main issues from this season were M Block and childrens’ prices. Feel that childrens’ prices were largely increased to facilitate 15-17 year olds being given cheaper price tickets. A section of M Block had also been taken off sale for the players use.

Ben indicated that having checked other club’s pricing, BFC was a modestly priced tickets compared to other clubs.

The Panel confirmed that they are now starting to compile a lot of data regarding ticket prices for next season and feel that there is not sufficient time now to set up a focus group.

Ben asked for clarification on the children ticket issues.

The main issue is that childrens’ ticket prices fluctuate around the ground with the cheaper prices being in the Family Stand. However, there are issues with adults who have specific seats that they have had for years who do not want to move to the Family Stand.

The Panel confirmed that their main objective is to get as many 5-7 year olds into the Stadium as they are the future spectators of the Club.

We have a current initiative whereby tickets are being issued to local youth football teams, however BSA felt that this may have an impact on children who are already attending games and are paying to come into the Ground.

It was generally felt, however, that this was a good initiative and was hoped that it would encourage children to want to come to more games.

Ben feels that we must work on sustainable prices for the Football Club as it is currently not self-sustainable.

He does, however, want to avoid having to backtrack on any decisions that are made with regard to ticket pricing and this is why a lot of research and discussions will be had before prices are finalised.

It was also indicated that there are a lot of 15-17 year olds who are not able to afford season tickets and when it comes to high priority fixtures it is mainly season ticket holders who get the first chance to purchase tickets. Asked if a small amount of tickets could be put to one side before they go on general sale.

Both Ben and Linton feel that this is something that is difficult to do.

Linton confirmed that there will be finance options in place for next season which will hopefully make payments for season tickets more manageable.

The Panel confirmed that it is very difficult to please everybody, however Linton had made notes of all the suggestions raised. He felt that they had dealt with the sale of Fleetwood tickets in the best way they could.

It was raised that there will most likely be an issue at the Fleetwood game with a lot of Blackpool fans purchasing tickets in the home end, however the Panel indicated that this is something that Fleetwood will have to manage and have plans in place to deal with.

Whatever happens, we all obviously just want Neil and the Team to win!

Linton confirmed that again the way decisions were made on the sale of Fleetwood tickets was via data collated.

The incentive going forward is to change the mindset of people who tend to pay on the gate to now purchase directly from the club in advance.

Long term the club will probably come up with an incentive for people to purchase prior to match day to keep shop free for people to use the shop for retail purchases on the day of the game.