The latest meeting of the Fans Consultative Forum took place at Ashton Gate on May 29th.

Managing director of Ashton Gate Doug Harman (DH) hosted the meeting. Head of commercial Kerry Price (KP), head of operations Keith Draisey (KD), head of media and marketing Ed Furniss (EF) and fans liaison officer David Lloyd (DL) were also in attendance.

CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Ed Furniss talked through a proposal for a club membership scheme for next season.

The meeting was broadly supportive of the proposal and pleased that the scheme would reflect supporter loyalty.

Like season ticket holders, from 2008/09 members would also be able to use smart cards instead of tickets to gain entry to the ground.These cards could also be used at away grounds where the technology was in place. Cards would also enable members to book their seat online.

A concern was raised that more memberships would be sold than seats available. EF explained that a membership was not intended to be a secondary season ticket. Members would not be guaranteed a seat but instead offered tickets on a priority first-come, first-served basis ahead of non-members. While season ticket holders would continue to receive priority for cup and away games, for in-demand home matches - such as play-offs or big cup ties - the new system would enable the club to give priority to those supporters who had attended on a regular basis, something that fans had been asking for.

There was discussion on whether to award loyalty points on a match-by-match basis. It was generally felt that the scheme should be given a chance to "walk before it could run". Loyalty points could be brought in over time, and phased in alongside an e-purse scheme if this proved suitable. 

WEMBLEY SALES

A member raised the issue of ticketing for the above game and suggested that priority groups had been "bypassed" in the sales process. There was also concern that fans had been unable to buy seats from Ticketmaster in specific blocks and that there was no control over where fans could sit within each price band.

KD said Ticketmaster had been asked by Wembley to sell from the halfway line back, and were unable to sell by block. This had not been a club decision and the same requirement had been made by the Millennium Stadium four years ago.

DL said the club had received "two dozen letters" regarding the sales process, mainly written following the general sale of tickets on the Sunday, which had sold out in 20 minutes. The club had latterly made further tickets available to priority groups and general sale at the ground, and a quick survey of those present found that no members had any experience of any regular supporter who had been unable to purchase a ticket for Wembley. He added the club was collating any concerns about the sales process and would be talking to Ticketmaster about these.

DH said that, in hindsight, if the club had to make the decision over again it would have made the same decision to use Ticketmaster. Just under 38,000 tickets had been sold and distributed in under a week.

He added Ticketmaster were unable to identify priority groups by phone or online so the club knew it would have to go straight to general sale after season ticket holders and City Foundation members. The introduction of a membership scheme would alleviate the latter concern going forward as priority could be given to a second tranche of supporters - eg members, with the possibility of taking into account games attended - before going on general sale.

SEASON REVIEW

The meeting wished to send their collective thanks to Gary Johnson and the players for a "fantastic season, which had provided great entertainment". The fans were "more than happy" with the progress that had been made on the pitch.

NEXT MEETING

To be held, following a summer break, in September - date to be advised.