# FAB Meeting Minutes - 17 July 2024 Date: 2024-07-17 Location: Microsoft Teams PDF: https://images.gc.barnsleyfcservices.co.uk/573e3070-9d2c-11ef-8591-b3f04a7be303.pdf Barnsley FC Fan Advisory Group Meeting Minutes Date of Meeting Wednesday 17th July 2024 Location Microsoft Teams Time 6pm Meeting Objective(s) Attendance Present Apologies Jon Flatman - JF Phil Hall - PH Robin Harris - RH John Bird - JB Martin Wilson - MW Steve Brain - SB Curtis Ledger - CL Dominic Wood - DW Heather Linney - HL Kelly Drury - KD Paul Gallagher - PG Agenda, Discussions, Issues Topic / Discussion Notes Discussion led by 1. Welcome JF welcomed everyone to the meeting. JF 2. Previous minutes The minutes from the previous meeting on the 9th May 2024 were proposed by Kelly Drury, seconded by Paul Gallagher and agreed unanimously. JF 3. Remaining positions on the committee and responsibilities On the terms of reference, it was stated that the committee would have 12 members. We currently have 9 members so it was decided that we would need 3 more members in the following categories. • Matchday ticket purchasers • Content Creators • Women and girls HL would step into the Women and girls’ position until a new person has been appointed. Once the group has been announced online, a story would be published asking supporters to apply for the available positions. Supporters who put their names forward for a position will have the opportunity to be interviewed by the committee. Following this, the committee will elect candidates to the available roles. ALL 4. Electing a chairperson for the committee JF asked the group to discuss the chair position. The group agreed that the chairperson should be a standalone role but will be elected alongside an existing role while the group is established. The group will re-evaluate in the coming months to see if the dual role is too much work for the individual. KD and SB put their names forward to become the chair. PG proposed for KD to become Chair and MW seconded. KD appointed as the chair of the Fan Advisory Board and SB is appointed the vice chair. JF handed the chair of the meeting across to KD. ALL 5. Communication of the committee to the wider fan base SB to draft a press release announcing the group to the wider fan base. Photographs of the KD and SB to included in this press release. There will be an email address for the group and there will be individual mails for each position. There will be a WhatsApp group set up by PG for the supporters to contact the group with any questions. There will also be an X account set up for the group. Barnsleyfc.co.uk webpage to have a dedicated page for the group with pictures on there of the committee members. ALL 6. Club update Stadium cap ex update • Structural survey of the stadium has been completed • We have selected a QS and Architect. • Waiting on the tender for the primary contractor. • New fire alarm system to be installed Season ticket numbers are around 8,300 with a promotional push due before the start of the season. Football activity is picking up pace, this usually accelerates during the last week of the window. We are communicating more with the Barnsley Chronicle and the Yorkshire Post on club matters. JF 7. Fanzone for the 2024/25 season Work on a new fan zone will be within the cap ex project for the stadium. The new site identified is in the South Stand Car park where the current disabled parking spaces are. These spaces will be moved but remain in the South Car park and will be the nearest spaces to the stadium. This is all subject to the site surveys and consultation. New Fan Zone will require its own power source and connectivity for entertainment. We are looking at January as the earliest for any fan zone to begin construction, subject to any planning permission required. JF/HL 8. Parking and road closures around Oakwell on matchdays Club close Grove Street on matchdays. This is 30 minutes before the match and then for a similar time at the end of the match. The time at the end of the match might change due to what is happening on the pitch. Will usually be from 80 minutes onwards. We need to have the road closures in place for safety as the SAG might look to reduce the capacity of the stadium should there be an incident. Beever Court is the emergency route and not Grove Street. Rapid response has just secured the road closure contract for the coming season. DW is the MD of Rapid Response, and he said that there will be better communication to the residents in the coming weeks. JF/HL 9. Horsham outcome Credits have been applied to supporters’ accounts. The credit has been applied to the ticket holder and not that of the lead purchaser. JF 10. 2024/25 ticket prices Ticket prices have been increased by £2 on all tickets categories. Ticket prices are in line with other clubs who are challenging at the top of the league. Season tickets are the best value option for supporters to watch Barnsley FC. Ticket prices will need to be more than the seasonal prices so that they are the best value. ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ quote from the Bolton playoff fixture. This is a all buy game where everyone had to buy a ticket. The revenue from these fixtures is split between the 4 clubs so the fixture was made as cheap as possible, as did two of the other playoff clubs. JF/JB/PG Discussion around the Mansfield Town fixture being selected as a CAT A fixture with the match being aired on TV. This was selected to be a CAT A fixture due to the anticipated away crowd and additional costs along with this being the first home league game of the season. Currently we have 5 CAT A fixtures planned with remaining being CAT B. Within the CAT B fixtures, we also have two fixtures where season ticket holders can bring a friend for £10 and two Kids for a Quid fixtures. There is also a family day planned with reduced ticket pricing across the stadium. We have several different community projects running, my home debut and flag bearing which is bringing in the fans of the future and promoting fan growth. 11. Flexi-tickets Discussion around the club offering a flexi-ticket for the first half of the season. Group agreed this was a good idea. JB to look at pricing and system setup to launch a flexi- season ticket. Will initially look at a 5-game flexi-ticket and a 10-game flexi-ticket. JB 12. Away match information for supporters Supporter has asked for more information to be published for away games like that which is published for our home games. JB to speak to SLO’s at the club to request more information from the away clubs before a match. PG/JB 13. Digital away ticketing JB explained that digital away ticketing is a possibility with other Ticketmaster clubs in the league. Tickets will be sold in the normal ways but delivered as either a digital ticket or a print at home ticket. All the group agreed that it was a good idea and that most tickets purchased now in other sectors are digital. Thought needs to be given about supporters who don’t have access to digital tickets. JB 14. Accessibility of the new website and accessible tickets online New club website has poor accessibility features. MW has spoken to the EFL and JB about the issues and they are looking into the problems. Purchasing accessible tickets online is currently in progress. A lot of work in the background needs to happen before we can make this live. Commentary headsets for disabled supporters were also mentioned, in this section with the club going to look alternatives to the current solution. MW/JB 15. Loyalty points scheme JB wanted to know what the group think about the current points system. Happy with the way it currently works and wouldn’t want to remove the system of selling away tickets. Discussion around expiring points so that supporters have a 3-year rolling total. Mixed feedback on this option. JB to look at different options to feedback to the group for discussion. JB 16. 2024/25 kit designs Should fans be included in the design process and then vote for the selection. Why don’t we have white shorts with the kit? JF – kit designs always divides opinions. Third kits are clearly different across all clubs. Probably can’t vote on a kit as this will lose the big reveal factor and the vote could get highjacked by other clubs’ supporters but the club will consider this further. Shirt sponsor to be announced shortly, these can be retrospectively added to the shirts bought by supporters. HL/JF 17. AOB 18. Close – 8.15pm Action Items Action Responsible Due Date Complete the minutes and send to KD and SB. JB 19.07.24 Flexi-tickets pricing JB ASAP Photos of chair and vice chair JB/KD/SB 22.07.24 Announcing of the Horsham credits JF/JB Before 09.08.24 Accessible ticketing online JB Ongoing Next Meeting Date: 21.08.2024 Time: 6pm Location: TBC Objective(s): Source: https://fab.barnsleyfc.co.uk/meetings/2024-07-17