# Minutes of the August meeting now published

Published: 2026-09-10

The minutes of the Fan Advisory Board's 4 August meeting are now available. We're sorry they have taken longer than usual: the first draft needed a lot of correcting, and that work coincided with the transfer window. We explain what happened and what we are changing.

The minutes of the Fan Advisory Board meeting held on Tuesday 4 August 2026 at Oakwell have now been published. You can read them on our [Minutes page](/minutes) or on the [official club website](https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/fans/fan-advisory-board/fab-meeting-minutes).

## An apology for the delay

First, an apology. These minutes have taken much longer than usual to reach you, and we know some supporters have been frustrated by that. We share the frustration, and we want to be open about what happened.

The August meeting was held in a hybrid format, with some of us in a meeting room at Oakwell and others joining remotely. The first draft of the minutes is produced from a transcript of the meeting, and with a single room microphone and several people on the call, the transcription struggled to tell speakers apart. As a result the draft contained a significant number of errors, and every set of minutes has to be checked and corrected by the club before it can be published. That correction work landed at the same time as the closing weeks of the transfer window and the start of the season, when the club staff who review the minutes were at their busiest. Getting them right took priority over getting them out quickly, but it should not have taken this long, and we are sorry it did.

Two things change from now on. Our meetings will be held fully on Microsoft Teams, with everyone joining as a video call, so the transcript is reliable from the start. And every set of minutes will carry a note at the bottom giving the date they were approved and the date they were published, so you can always see where any delay has occurred and why.

## What was discussed

It was a full agenda, the first meeting after the close-season break. The highlights:

- **A visit from Daniel Stendel.** The Head Coach joined us for the first half hour, spoke about bringing back passion and belief, asked for patience while the new squad settles, and said he was keen to see more moments like the players going over to the East Stand after the Lincoln friendly.

- **The Independent Football Regulator.** The final licensing guidance was published on 1 July. Our own comparison with the earlier draft found little of substance had changed, and the club expects to be asked for a fan engagement plan once the Regulator issues a template.

- **Your questions.** Supporters asked about home friendlies and a possible pre-season tour, kit release dates, hotel discounts for travelling fans, car parking and post-match road closures, the new club offices (funded by a ring-fenced council grant that cannot be spent on football) and progress on a fanzone.

- **DX Corner Stand top floor.** The most heavily discussed item. Season ticket holders on the top floor of the Corner Stand were moved to make way for a sponsorship arrangement, and those moved down to the Patrick's level were not offered the discount given to those moved up. The club accepted this was a fair criticism, agreed to look at price protection for those supporters, and committed to bringing decisions of this scale to the FAB before they are finalised in future.

- **Accessibility.** Options for Auracast audio for visually impaired and hard-of-hearing supporters, clearer signage for the accessible ticket office counter, a smaller disabled supporter passport card, and recording access needs once rather than every visit.

- **Community and 2027.** New Community Trust funding for themed matchdays through the season, and a working group forming for the club's 2027 anniversary celebrations. Volunteers are wanted.

- **The big screen.** A request supporters have been making for around 20 years. A screen roughly four times the size of the current one has been costed at £55,000 to £60,000 including steelwork and software. Alan Bloore, representing the Supporters' Trust, suggested a fan-led crowdfunding campaign run by the Trust to help pay for it, and the discussion turned to whether funds the Trust already holds could be put towards it. Views in the room differed on whether that money should be committed to a screen or kept back for contingencies. It was agreed in principle that the Trust and the FAB should work more closely on projects like this, and the club will check whether the supplier would accept staged payments. No commitment was made, and the idea will come back to a future meeting.

The minutes also record a plaque being commissioned in memory of Reverend Tiverton Preedy, the club's founder, and confirm that an in-person fans' forum is planned this season.

## Next meeting

The next meeting is being arranged for mid-September. If there is something you would like us to raise with the club, [send it to us](/submit) and we will add it to the fans' questions.

Source: https://fab.barnsleyfc.co.uk/news/august-meeting-minutes-published