the season against West
Ham. There will be an
installation ceremony on
the day of the game itself.
FROM...
46
45
TICKETING ISSUES
Issues concerning away ticket
allocations have been raised with the
club previously through a number
of sources including Fans United.
The club has not always taken full
allocations due to clubs having to
reimburse the home club for unsold
tickets. The club has pressed the
Premier League to change this
ruling and has obtained support
from a number of other clubs. This
has resulted in the Premier League
changing the allocation rules to
allow away clubs to take up the full
allocation without being charged
for unsold allocations, which is at
present being ratified.
A number of ticketing issues from
the floor were raised with Lee, in
particular problems experienced
as to how tickets are linked (with
regards to applying for away games
with friends/family members),
and also the fact that though
season ticket prices are frozen the
compulsory membership fees are still
rising year on year.
These are issues that Lee will feed
back to the club on.
STEWARDING
Questions were raised with Lee
regarding the possibility of allowing
fans to bring in flags, banners
and surfers. It was noted that on
occasions the club and or sponsors
have had large scale banners and
surfers in the ground, yet fans have
not been allowed to bring their own
on the grounds of health and safety.
Lee agreed that if this is the case,
it needs to be looked at. He stated
that fans wishing to bring flags and
banners should contact the club,
to meet with the security team for
advice. It was raised from the floor
that fans had already done that were
generally fobbed off with health and
safety commonly being used as an
excuse. Lee invited any fans who
would like to work with him on this
issue to contact him.
After a point raised from the floor,
re flares and smoke bombs, Lee
explained that prior to the Man
City game all away fans were not
routinely searched on entering SJP.
Following the flare incident at that
game, NUFC changed their policy
and ALL away fans are routinely
searched. Steve Hastie added that it
might seem hypocritical to outsiders
that we complain about away fans
bringing flares into the ground when
our away support routinely let off
flares and smoke bombs during our
Europa Cup campaign. Wendy Taylor
(NUFC Head of Media) confirmed
that NUFC were fined heavily for
both flares and streakers by UEFA
last season.
Points from Twitter included “why
is the stewarding in the Strawberry
Corner so aggressive and OTT?” and
“even after Man City, flares are still a
problem at SJP”
SINGING SECTION
Calls for the return of a singing
section have been brought up
with Lee previously and the issue
continues to be brought up with Fans
United. Lee was asked if he had any
further progress on the issue. Lee
has fed this back to the club and
the matter is being discussed within
t he club, though he does not have
any specific updates or information
at this time. NUFC Fans United will
continue to press the Club on this
matter. The consensus from Twitter
was if the singing section is to be
reinstated can it be located in The
Strawberry Corner.
JOE HARVEY
Steve talked about the recent Joe
Harvey tribute night.. The organisers
have raised £10,000 for a plaque
which will be installed at St James’
Park. NUFC Fans United extent their
congratulations to the Fairs Club for
their sterling work in ensuring that
the Joe Harvey Memorial Plaque will
be installed.
NUMBER 9 PLATFORM
A new online fanzine, The Number
9 launches in August and hopes
to become a platform to promote
various NUFC related angles online.
The fanzine and Fans United hope to
establish a regular #NUFCHour on
Twitter to help in this.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Lee was asked if there was an update
on the issue of the club providing/
running its own travel club for away
games. No update as yet.
It was also suggested that the club
set up regular ‘Footballers Dinners’
events at St James’ to allow fans and
players to engage with one another.
WENDY TAYLOR
At the end of the evening Wendy
Taylor stood up and explained that
although she and Lee might appear
to be relatively junior members
of staff, they do work at the Club
and there aren’t “twenty layers of
management” between themselves
and Mike Ashley. She meets Mr
Ashley “every few weeks” and feeds
back what she hears from the fans;
“he does get the message”.
The meeting took place on the
fourth anniversary of Sir Bobby
Robson’s death. It was suggested that
in the future a regular pre-season
tournament could be established
involving Sir Bobby’s previous clubs.
This suggestion proved to be popular
with those in attendance.
The meeting ended with a minute’s
applause in memory of Sir Bobby.
To find out more about NUFC Fans
United then log onto these pages:
Website: http://www.nufcfansutd.com
FACEBOOK: HTTP://
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/
GROUPS/NUFCFANSUTD/
TWITTER:
@NUFCFANSUTD
EMAIL: NUFCFANSUTD@
GMAIL.COM