FANS FORUM AND STOKE CITY MEETING
MONDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2008 - 3.30PM

PRESENT
Terry Hughes (Fans Forum Chairman)
Tony Tams (Stoke City Supporters Club)
Paul Edwards (SCWIM)
Mike Twist (Fans Forum)
Della Birchall (Stoke City Football Club)
Steve Buxton (Stoke City Football Club)

ADGENDA ITEMS

1. APOLOGIES:

Tony Scholes (Stoke City Football Club)
Bryan Shaw (Stoke City Supporters Club)
Malcolm Clarke (Manchester & Northern Supporters Club)
Laurence King (Stoke City Supporters Club)

Prior to the start of the meeting a brief "chat" took place regarding the way forward between the FF and SCFC.

Both were in one mind as to the need for more people who would be "active" within the forum and at the same time provide directly information to the club with regards to the Match Day Experience.

2. MATTERS ARISING:

Getting information in a timely fashion out to the supporters at large was also a high priority.

Parking and Traffic Control:

This is a bane for many supporters who have written and suggested various possible directions to pursue.

The Club are, and have been, very much aware and are actively in discussion with the Police on how to make this a smoother operation.

Many things are being considered - traffic flow, access, parking facilities and improving the use of public transport.

Some are not aware but a great deal of land around the stadium complex does not belong to the club and therefore the club cannot just "make a call".

As more people move into the Industrial sections of the Trentham Lakes area there are also more companies that the Club have to satisfy. In the meantime - gradual improvement is the expectation.

Some supporters have asked for the club to get the council to "ease off" ticketing when illegally parked around the area during match days.

The Club have no say on that whatsoever and are unable to influence the council on such things.

Underpass (Harvester to "Delilah's"):

The Chairman mentioned this at his "Meet The Chairman" night.

This is a very exciting project and opportunity for the Club, however it is only at the planning stage and time scales are, at this stage, impossible to specify.

John Ritchie tribute:

A great tribute is now in place outside Block 23 of the Boothen End.

Ticket allocation for (play offs &) next season:

Many supporters have expressed concern that those "regular" supporters who have seen their team by paying for each game as it comes will possibly miss out on seats at games (home or away) to the "new" season ticket holders that joining the Premier League will attract.

The Club correctly say that they "have to" recognise the season ticket holder primarily, however, but the Club also recognise that there are a significant number of supporters that regularly attend away matches, that are not season ticket holders but importantly are quite rightly considered as part of the 'hard core support' that attend away games.

The Club genuinely realise that these supporters should be also be included in the primary ticket allocation for 'play off' matches should the situation arise.

The Club are also actively pursuing numerous ways of making the purchasing of season tickets much more 'customer friendly' to maximise the opportunities for supporters to become season ticket holders and hopefully encourage many more supporters to become season ticket holders.

The Club expect to make announcements about these new initiatives before the end of March.

South Stand allocation for Home supporters:

It is likely that this process will be seen again this season though this is also subject to Police agreement.

For next season the same will apply.

Would "home season tickets" be sold for the South Stand? This is very unlikely unless the other areas within the ground were sold out to "season ticket holders."

Away Coaches for "under 17's":

Currently the allocation of such a facility is the subject of a positive review, possibly to be introduced next season.