Minutes from Supporter Experience Group

The attendees, agenda and minutes from the meeting can be read below.

AFC Bournemouth

Neill Blake, Chief Executive

Jim Frevola, President of Business

Elizabeth Finney, Operations Director

Paul Fudge, Head of Catering Operations

Matt Payne, Head of Brand and Creative

Ash Lord – Head of Media and Communications

Meredith Hack, Head of Safeguarding

Hannah Powis, EDI Manager

Karen Veal, Operations Assistant

Apologies:

Rob Mitchell, Commercial Director

Jazmine Spurling, Ticketing Manager

Supporters:

Steve Tollerfield

Dan King

Baylie Hart

Ellie Mackin

Mason Wallace

Paul Westcott

Mia Allum

Jeff Craft

Katie Warren

Apologies:

John Wood

Helen Doe

Frankie Lemen

Introductions 

EF welcomed the group.

• Seeking representation across the ground for SEG.
  • Points holders
  • Protected characteristics
  • Season ticket holders
• SEG formed to exchange views, engage on supporter matchday touchpoints.
• Club has benefited from various supporter groups in the past.
• Encouraged supporters to speak their mind, and respect that some points may be confidential.
• Will share minutes of the meeting in due course for approval.
• Three further meetings to be scheduled.
• Terms of reference introduced at last SEG and distributed for review by the SEG.
• Non-disclosure agreement, to deal specifically with sensitive information discussed.
• EF and NB will bring in other members of staff as per the agenda moving forward.

New Stadium/Club Council relationship

• Paul W asked about relationship between club and council.
• NB praised communication between both parties on the training ground development.
• Bill has come in and been vocal about his aspirations.
• Bill will have the opportunity to introduce himself to the leader of the council at West Ham game, relations are good.
• JF asked for supporter feedback on stadium development, whether fans want it or not.
• Dan said fans are excited at the prospect and have been encouraged by the new training ground development.
• NB agreed, Canford must be first to allow stadium development on current site.
• Bill's track record in Vegas is fantastic, infrastructure so important to growth.
• 20,000 seats are about the right number.
• Dan asked whether that would include space for expansion, NB said it's under discussion but definitely a possibility.
• Four possible architects are lined up and it would be remiss not to allow for expansion (Brighton example of expanding over a summer)
• Mason said fans want something with character and good for supporter experience.
• PF says the new stadium must be a destination venue, must create all-round offering.
• Ellie highlighted Bristol City as a fantastic pre-match experience, Ashton Gate

Matchday Experience

• Mia wants to keep the family-orientated feel to the stadium/club.
• NB acknowledged Bill's previous quotes on community focus, plan to embrace that.
• EF spoke of other clubs having a greater distance between club and community arm - not AFCB.
• Community department a huge part of matchday at Vitality Stadium, won't change. We want to maintain that link.
• PF said as much as community engagement is great, offering opportunity for more to attend matches is important.
• Dan suggested we try to grow the footprint of that community aspect, highlighting corner of the country without any PL clubs.
• Jeff recalled how club used to put buses on from Dorset, spoke of the huge catchment area.
• Jeff said important to make sure it remains a difficult place to come to for away teams and beat us.
• NB said away team support would be placed strategically.
• Jeff asked for safe standing in the new stadium, NB said it's under consideration for this stadium but warned it would also need to be installed for away fans too.
• Dan asked for local beers, PF said the dynamic is that Heineken have a partnership agreement.
• Heineken up for tender now, PF said he would like to support local businesses and likes the idea.
• EF returned to discussion on bringing young fans into the ground, spoke of the Junior Cherries memberships and providing ballot opportunity for them to come and watch a match, keen to bring in new fans, reaching EDI targets.
• EF says we do have data that highlights women visit alone, happy that they feel safe enough to do so, acknowledges that there is always more that can be done.

Ticketing

• Mia asked about e-ticketing and where we're at with avoiding waste on matchday ticketing.
• EF advised that we are introducing new proximity-readers which should help us on the path to a mobile approach.
• Steve praised club for introducing a match point for bringing Junior Cherries members to the women's game.
• EF said we had 1600 ticket sales for last year's match, we're almost at 3000 for this year's match.
• PF and MP encouraged fans to attend development squad and women's matches.
• Jeff said it would be wise to allow STHs to come for free, doesn't feel a connection to the non-first team sides.
• NB advised of the current academy setup that means there's little structure to under-18 or development squad fixture schedule, and that this would improve naturally if last week's audit sees us awarded Category 2 status
• EF said the numbers of STHs that take up cup tickets is generally very low, had 2,227 take up Everton CC match.
• EF spoke in general of attendance levels at PL Cup matches, and how the seating blocks are opened up one-by-one.
• EF said the £10 Executive seats sold very well for the upcoming women's match, with access to 1910 Bar.
• EF spoke of parity across girl's, women's, development squad and men's first teams in terms of marketing.

Miscellaneous

• Mason praised the club for the retro shirt range, MP said it was time to do it, retro kit phase at its peak.
• Mason praised the club for big screen developments, showing replays, Ellie asked for clock to be bigger.
• Paul asked for improvement on signal while at the stadium.
• Mia said the music during the warm-up is too loud. NB advised it's mainly for the players, they want it.
• JF said it's different depending on where you sit in the stadium, suggested the levels are inconsistent.
• JF asked Jeff whether it was too loud before recent matches, Jeff said no, fans may now decide to stay in bar.
• Discussion on walkout music, MP said previous examples haven't worked and still finding the best way forward – looking for unique track.
• General chat on trying to improve the atmosphere pre-match, Jeff said we should ask the supporters.
• NB encouraged fans in the group to reach out to fellow supporters and to engage with us away from the meetings. EF echoed these sentiments and suggested fans in the group set up a communication channel between them.