I would like to take this opportunity of reminding all stewards that unless you have been authorised by me that no material should be handed out on the coaches especially material that is not of CAFC origin. If you are approached by anyone outside of CAFC please seek advice from me and I will authorise accordingly.
This reminds me of 12 months ago when Richard Murray and the Trust informed i wasn't allowed to write about their City q+a meeting on here :-)
Joking aside, all seems a bit petty of the club and fair play to the trust for investigating and trying to get a sense of feeling. The club seem to have a backs to the wall mentality that everyone is against them when it is pertinantly clear that everyone wants to work WITH them to improve things and make it a better club.
the Fans Forum raising an issue with the club and KM and as a result the club and KM has considered the issue in more depth and issued a reassuring statement to stewards which they expect to be passed on to users.
So all good, comms via the FF do work and VEX (just saying that to annoy AFKA) is safe. It may always have been safe but it is even more so.
The discussion on here may also have helped to sway thinking so again by raising concerns those concerns have been addressed.
It was expressed as such in the FF minutes because that was the initial discussion and the club came to this decision after the consultation with the FF.
On the other hand you could look at this as...
This wasn't what was conveyed in the FF minutes so perhaps those minutes, especially as they are public documents, need to be better or more fully written to include more information on what was discussed.
This is reactive and the statement itself has only been sent to stewards with no instruction to pass it on to others and so far it has had no wider official audience.
The statement doesn't protect any particular routes, stops or rule out price increases.
The only purpose of the statement to stewards was to head off the survey for which the club hasn't give any approval. Lack of dissent does not equal consent as I think M'learned friends say.
The club doesn't like others carrying on survey's on services it runs
The club doesn't like/trust some supporters' groups.
From the FF minutes KM wants it to make a profit, otherwise she should have said we are looking at ways to reduce the loss.
You don't have to be a finance expert to know that any assessment of the profitability of Valley Express is only valid if it incorporates the consequent income from tickets, food and merchandising sales.
If she wants to run a bus service that's profitable in its own right then I suggest she looks into running a daily return express service between Lewisham and Holborn - I'd be eternally grateful for the opportunity to not use South Eastern Trains to get to work and wouldn't moan at all even if all the bus drivers were Belgians with no previous experience of driving in the UK.
As my Dad would have said, 'Bugger this for a game of soldiers'. I have done quizzes and a survey, the club, at that time, even thanked us for the information provided. Am I allowed to pass round humbugs?
I am confused a little bit. On the one hand Valley Express seems to be getting the thumbs up from the club. On the other hand the club want to control information and suchlike that may be passed around the bus. I can only take this to mean the club would feel threatened by something. Are they worried that supporters of other clubs would disseminate material to entice Charlton fans to switch allegiance? Or a rival coach company would leaflet and tout for business? Or maybe Valley Café flyers that would threaten the pulled pork? I reckon it can only mean Voice of the Valley, and dare I say much more surprisingly Trust News (the rag that had the interview with Katrien), and of course the survey. I really wonder what this refers to, and what the commercial or other threat it could be on about:
I would like to take this opportunity of reminding all stewards that unless you have been authorised by me that no material should be handed out on the coaches especially material that is not of CAFC origin. If you are approached by anyone outside of CAFC please seek advice from me and I will authorise accordingly.
Maybe the concept of 'material' could be expanded upon for the benefit of the stewards.
It's quite obvious to me that the purpose of Dhiran's letter was to try to deter any supporter survey of the Valley Express survey. The preamble about the Roland liking the idea when he first came on board is very nostalgic and the reassurance that there are "no impending plans" to cut it are clearly designed to smooth the ground for the ultimate message. The fact is the survey was organised to try and help build a case against Katrien Meire's push to cut losses in providing the service. So, my guess is that she will not simply cut all or part of the service without first putting the prices up. That way she can argue the supporters didn't value it enough to continue to pay the increased costs and has no alternative to cut all or parts of it. The only way to better understand this argument is follow and prove the logic that there is a significant pull-through revenue which will also be lost in addition to simple bums on seats, which is going to become a far bigger issue for Madame Meire than the affordability of Valley Express.
It's quite obvious to me that the purpose of Dhiran's letter was to try to deter any supporter survey of the Valley Express survey. The preamble about the Roland liking the idea when he first came on board is very nostalgic and the reassurance that there are "no impending plans" to cut it are clearly designed to smooth the ground for the ultimate message. The fact is the survey was organised to try and help build a case against Katrien Meire's push to cut losses in providing the service. So, my guess is that she will not simply cut all or part of the service without first putting the prices up. That way she can argue the supporters didn't value it enough to continue to pay the increased costs and has no alternative to cut all or parts of it. The only way to better understand this argument is follow and prove the logic that there is a significant pull-through revenue which will also be lost in addition to simple bums on seats, which is going to become a far bigger issue for Madame Meire than the affordability of Valley Express.
My understanding is that whilst the club were aware of the survey and supportive, a small number of stewards were 'concerned' at being asked to hand them out on the coaches. This created an unexpected workload for Dhiran on a matchday, and this message was the result. Nothing sinister, although a bit unhelpful in its wording. It might have said, this one's ok boys but moving forward...
The statement that the survey was organised to build a case against cuts is simply untrue though and I must challenge it. The Supporters' Trust is trying to help the club improve its supporter engagement, and this is one where they will benefit from an independent survey. The information will be shared with the club and they will use it to inform their decision making regarding the Valley Express service. It's the Supporters' Trust helping the club to consult their customers.
Better to go to the actual users than those at the FF who may never have used or relied upon the service. Personally speaking, the wording of their minutes was of concern. It suggested that cost centres that weren't profitable were being targeted, and it was easy to infer that the wider business case might not be understood or taken into consideration. Whether they understand the business case - or can quantify it - is a different question though.
It's quite obvious to me that the purpose of Dhiran's letter was to try to deter any supporter survey of the Valley Express survey. The preamble about the Roland liking the idea when he first came on board is very nostalgic and the reassurance that there are "no impending plans" to cut it are clearly designed to smooth the ground for the ultimate message. The fact is the survey was organised to try and help build a case against Katrien Meire's push to cut losses in providing the service. So, my guess is that she will not simply cut all or part of the service without first putting the prices up. That way she can argue the supporters didn't value it enough to continue to pay the increased costs and has no alternative to cut all or parts of it. The only way to better understand this argument is follow and prove the logic that there is a significant pull-through revenue which will also be lost in addition to simple bums on seats, which is going to become a far bigger issue for Madame Meire than the affordability of Valley Express.
My understanding is that whilst the club were aware of the survey and supportive, a small number of stewards were 'concerned' at being asked to hand them out on the coaches. This created an unexpected workload for Dhiran on a matchday, and this message was the result. Nothing sinister, although a bit unhelpful in its wording. It might have said, this one's ok boys but moving forward...
The statement that the survey was organised to build a case against cuts is simply untrue though and I must challenge it. The Supporters' Trust is trying to help the club improve its supporter engagement, and this is one where they will benefit from an independent survey. The information will be shared with the club and they will use it to inform their decision making regarding the Valley Express service. It's the Supporters' Trust helping the club to consult their customers.
Better to go to the actual users than those at the FF who may never have used or relied upon the service. Personally speaking, the wording of their minutes was of concern. It suggested that cost centres that weren't profitable were being targeted, and it was easy to infer that the wider business case might not be understood or taken into consideration. Whether they understand the business case - or can quantify it - is a different question though.
Sounds like @rikofold actually knows what their talking about rather than offering rumour
Comments
Joking aside, all seems a bit petty of the club and fair play to the trust for investigating and trying to get a sense of feeling. The club seem to have a backs to the wall mentality that everyone is against them when it is pertinantly clear that everyone wants to work WITH them to improve things and make it a better club.
the Fans Forum raising an issue with the club and KM and as a result the club and KM has considered the issue in more depth and issued a reassuring statement to stewards which they expect to be passed on to users.
So all good, comms via the FF do work and VEX (just saying that to annoy AFKA) is safe. It may always have been safe but it is even more so.
The discussion on here may also have helped to sway thinking so again by raising concerns those concerns have been addressed.
It was expressed as such in the FF minutes because that was the initial discussion and the club came to this decision after the consultation with the FF.
On the other hand you could look at this as...
This wasn't what was conveyed in the FF minutes so perhaps those minutes, especially as they are public documents, need to be better or more fully written to include more information on what was discussed.
This is reactive and the statement itself has only been sent to stewards with no instruction to pass it on to others and so far it has had no wider official audience.
The statement doesn't protect any particular routes, stops or rule out price increases.
The only purpose of the statement to stewards was to head off the survey for which the club hasn't give any approval. Lack of dissent does not equal consent as I think M'learned friends say.
The club doesn't like others carrying on survey's on services it runs
The club doesn't like/trust some supporters' groups.
If she wants to run a bus service that's profitable in its own right then I suggest she looks into running a daily return express service between Lewisham and Holborn - I'd be eternally grateful for the opportunity to not use South Eastern Trains to get to work and wouldn't moan at all even if all the bus drivers were Belgians with no previous experience of driving in the UK.
On the one hand Valley Express seems to be getting the thumbs up from the club.
On the other hand the club want to control information and suchlike that may be passed around the bus.
I can only take this to mean the club would feel threatened by something. Are they worried that supporters of other clubs would disseminate material to entice Charlton fans to switch allegiance? Or a rival coach company would leaflet and tout for business? Or maybe Valley Café flyers that would threaten the pulled pork?
I reckon it can only mean Voice of the Valley, and dare I say much more surprisingly Trust News (the rag that had the interview with Katrien), and of course the survey.
I really wonder what this refers to, and what the commercial or other threat it could be on about:
I would like to take this opportunity of reminding all stewards that unless you have been authorised by me that no material should be handed out on the coaches especially material that is not of CAFC origin. If you are approached by anyone outside of CAFC please seek advice from me and I will authorise accordingly.
Maybe the concept of 'material' could be expanded upon for the benefit of the stewards.
The statement that the survey was organised to build a case against cuts is simply untrue though and I must challenge it. The Supporters' Trust is trying to help the club improve its supporter engagement, and this is one where they will benefit from an independent survey. The information will be shared with the club and they will use it to inform their decision making regarding the Valley Express service. It's the Supporters' Trust helping the club to consult their customers.
Better to go to the actual users than those at the FF who may never have used or relied upon the service. Personally speaking, the wording of their minutes was of concern. It suggested that cost centres that weren't profitable were being targeted, and it was easy to infer that the wider business case might not be understood or taken into consideration. Whether they understand the business case - or can quantify it - is a different question though.
Here's a picture of The Hastings addicks making their journey for the Rotherham match on Saturday..........
Good question, but could be worse. Any sign of any Jihadists ?