Enhacing the supporter experinece

[silent majority]

OK, a bit of a pompous title, but we are looking for people who feel they can contribute to all or any of the issues that affect supporters;

https://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/news/2018/january/enhancing-the-supporter-experience/

[since-1969]

What is driving this initiative , is there a genuine attempt to speak to people or just subdivided them into various lobbies or groups. Example .... virtually after every home game the amount of complaints about  Centreplate that goes on without anyone actually being listened to or feed back from them , so why do we complain if nothing changes., or no one even acknowledges the views of paying customers .
Forums are established ways of venting your feeling , views or frustrations but no one expects,  like  Centrepoint where  nothing changes , only that someone has perhaps similar opinions to you .
What is behind this idea and who is it that thinks ,  picking people’s brains for initiatives on matters that concern them or vex them would provide a better experience. Perceptions are how people see things and those who want to see change are never listen too . Gift horses seldom have good teeth.

[Alan Southstand]

Major problem with predictive text? 

[Chris Black come back]

Can we have some goals please, sir...

[wesisback]

Surprisingly, despite giving it up and it killing my passion for Rovers, I think this is a great idea.
since1969 - the best part about these meetings is getting the whites of the eyes conversations that simply cannot happen otherwise. If there was a question that couldn't be answered they wouldn't just go away and get them for next time, in most cases they'd get the person who was responsible for that area within the club to explain it. During my time I learnt loads about barriers that the football clubs get from councils and the police and the barriers they put up themselves (which SM would normally out).
Centreplate remains my biggest bug bear as it did raise its head, as I've no doubt it has since numerous times but between the third party and the club they don't believe they're failing as much as anyone who's used that circus on match day. As has been bottomed out on here pretty quickly, They run a mean hospitality area that will take considerably more on the concourses and money talks.
The forums are (or certainly were) used. We'd glean off Facebook and Martin would take from here so items were being covered. However that doesn't cover all demographics. There's still a chunk who don't use either forum, some who don't have the internet and some that only use the official site. Their voices are needed. When we moved the South Stand to unreserved, the general consensus on both here and Facebook was despite a few people badly affected it was all fine and dandy. It soon emerged that we'd worked in an echo chamber in that scenario and there were a few more disgruntled than we'd given credit.
It's an incredibly tough role to complete, like I admit, the beurocracy killed my love of going to a game and enjoying the football without psychoanalysing every pie I was eating and every move a steward made. If you can maintain that status quo its a great thing to get into and despite your concerns, you can make beneficial changes to how the club operates.

[since-1969]

Ask for recommendations and if practicable and value for money is proven then implemented them . But ask what improvements everyone would like to see first instead of just side stepping concerns .

[Jonathan]

What is driving this initiative , is there a genuine attempt to speak to people or just subdivided them into various lobbies or groups. Example .... virtually after every home game the amount of complaints about  Centreplate that goes on without anyone actually being listened to or feed back from them , so why do we complain if nothing changes., or no one even acknowledges the views of paying customers .
Forums are established ways of venting your feeling , views or frustrations but no one expects,  like  Centrepoint where  nothing changes , only that someone has perhaps similar opinions to you .
What is behind this idea and who is it that thinks ,  picking people’s brains for initiatives on matters that concern them or vex them would provide a better experience. Perceptions are how people see things and those who want to see change are never listen too . Gift horses seldom have good teeth.

I know you will criticise anything and everything that the current ownership does or tries to do, but the evidence suggests the club listens and acts far more these days than it has done in the past. I think this is a great idea.

Cast your mind back over the decades if you will to sitting in the old Belle Vue bar as part of the fans focus group. I was there. The intentions were certainly good, and the drive and purpose amongst the fans was clear. The link was there through Andy Liney but back then the club did not really want to know.

Don’t get me wrong, they were great days on the pitch. JR swept everyone up in his enthusiasm, invested significantly in the team and they were some of the most exciting times to be a Rovers fan. I’ll always love JR for that. But there was a sense that he surrounded himself with ‘yes men’ at the club and the messages around what needed to improve to engage and retain the fanbase (beyond success on the pitch) never really got back to him other than Andy’s relentless efforts.

Remember the work fans put into researching the CRM system? I do. But nothing ever changed as there was a vacuum of apathy inbetween JR and the supporters. If apathy is too far then it was definitely all too comfortable.

I think we’ve improved immeasurably in that area in more recent years and there is accountability throughout the club. Yes, we may be locked into a long and inflexible contract with Centreplate and not everything is right. But I do genuinely feel that the supporters are listened to and action is taken. I have my own good experiences of that in practice lately. And look beyond that - they’ve tried things to encourage atmosphere through supporting the Black Bank, ticket allocations, family initiatives, cash on turnstiles. There is more to do and more that can be done. But I think it’s great that there’s an effort to refresh and re-engage. Trust you to jump straight onto it negatively.

To clarify, this is not a criticism of JR, Andy or any of the community work that went before. But I think JR was let down by not receiving (or asking for) enough challenge through his management team. We have come forward leaps and bounds in that area since then and I applaud it.

[silent majority]

Can I add to the above with a little more explanation?

For some time now we have had an established Supporters Board at DRFC. In addition to the Meet The Owners evenings fans have had an opportunity to meet with all officials on a regular, usually monthly basis, which has worked well. This gives fans the opportunity to question the club on a strategic level (catering may get mentioned sometimes although its not strategic!) and a large portion of that would be the financial health of the club, governance issues and so forth. Its not a forum for customer care issues as such.

However what we are looking for at the moment are individuals who can contribute in certain areas to operate in smaller work groups to push forward and set the club targets and improvements were we feel that's needed. If you read the article it does state that we want to build on the achievements of In Rovers We Trust which oversaw a multitude of small improvements in areas. Some of that was easy to do and obvious, changing the name of the bar from the 'Lakeside' to the Belle Vue Bar for example. Some of those changes however took a long time to achieve and had to be accomplished in small steps. The changes in the South Stand, unreserved seating and cash turnstiles took years to achieve as it had many facets to it, not least the thoughts and regulation imposed by the local council run Safety Advisory Group. Ticket pricing is always a classic, we've spent a long time discussing these issues with the club and do so every year which is why we feel that our prices are open and honest. We removed match categories, we removed charges on credit and debit cards, we've introduced different pricing in certain age groups. None of this happens without it being raised and discussed in some detail.

To quote the article;

The club are now looking for fans who are interested in further enhancing the experience of supporting the club to come forward to discuss ideas around the following topic areas

    The stadium experience (including atmosphere and fan parks )
    Developing a Rovers presence across the borough
    Building loyalty and attracting new supporters


If fans feel they have something to offer then put your name forward, it is that simple!

[Al4475]

Having sat on the supporters board for this last two years and been a VSC board member for several - I can only reiterate what martin says - these are great initiatives and folks are listened to but there are always obstacles that need jumping.

I am not involved anymore due to a bit of a mid-life crisis that will right itself eventually - but the supporters board and VSC board have my full backing.

Have a look at the great stuff liam Scully is doing in his role at Lincoln and understand that what he is doing there is based on the Drfc model - the club do listen and do try to alleviate as many concerns as poss - sadly the centreplate issue won't/cant (while under contract) go away - but Drfc do things 90 percent right now which even in our halcyon days of so'd in the championship and JR as the public face was not always the case.