Could all of Brenda's meeting notes be amalgamated into one post once done so that it easier to read the whole lot in one go? Rather than having to trawl through posts....
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value all your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
John C: After the QPR game the fans were very upset. I have received many many complaints about the season tickets and the Valley Express customers didn't even know if they had a coach to get on.
Top Table guest: The transferring over of the database went wrong.
RichP: I understand the updating of the database. Most supporters would expect some issues but season tickets went missing and no offers [missed a bit sorry rich].
RM: What would you have done?
Rich P: I want the club to answer.
Top table guest: That's a good topic for the fans forum.
John C: The Valley Express is completely disorganised. The ex VIPs now feel disenfranchised. People that had helped the club previously. They would like the club to involve them. There is bad feeling there.
KM: Lets invite them in to see what we can do properly.
RM: A vacuum has been created which has created this negativity. I should do more about this.
John C: Many complaints about the failure of the communication by the Club. This doesn't comply with the Club Charter.
KM: When I receive an email I forward it on to the relevant department to deal with it. The fans should write directly to the relevant department. I don't always reply to emails. I am aware of the opinions that people have of me.
John C: Who is head of communications?
KM: We are recruiting. I know I ask a lot of Olly. The new comms guy is coming in the New year.
Fan: RE the comms. Why is it that we heard about the new of CF coming here from elsewhere.
KM: We cant control what gets put out by the press. This happens.
That's fair chaps, and as I say they're doing their job and dragging people to their channels and their advertisers. It was no doubt a naive decision borne of our insistence on no info embargo.
The key observation I'd make is that the context was lost in 140 characters, and it made it sound as if the fans were motionless whilst KM wheeled out some bullshit. The meeting really wasn't like that, although as usual words might have been chosen more carefully. We didn't let her views on the protest go unchallenged, for example, and I felt she did listen to Craig Norris and others making very strong points. The £9m transfer spend didn't go unchallenged. Her managers comment didn't go unchallenged. The question about JJ's goal was a joke and the reporter knew that.
The downside of it is that it will be the Twitter feed that's remembered, when there was more to the meeting - and that's really only given a skewed flavour of it.
But you reap what you sow, and if discontent and disharmony is the result then the club only have themselves to blame.
I have one question on the evening that hopefully you can answer.
Did it sound like she is going to change anything about how the club is run?
As I said in an earlier comment, after reading yours, Curb it's and Seths reports, it sounds like that while fans did challenge her, she still believes in the nonsense she is sprouting, and nothing will actually change except maybe a few more meetings with a carefully picked bunch of people.
Look forward to hearing what you think may come of it.
I don't think I'd be confident of a sea change no, although we asked for that. She did commit to some actions of various significance, the most important of which was Target 20k that I think could be an opportunity to influence all aspects of the club if they commit to the right type of committee (and to avoid the usual nonsense from the Trust's biggest fans, no I don't mean the Trust should take over).
There's a commonly held view among fans that a change of leadership is the only solution, and the only way she can head that pressure off is to commit to visible change in action-and its not as if she'll be afforded years by the fans to achieve that.
Just reading the comments from @Curb_It (thank you for your posts BTW), it seems the press present tweeted a lot of stuff out of context & failed to expand on what they'd tweeted - very poor on their part & probably caused a lot of the meltdown last night, I await the video with interest
Charlton Athletic FCVerified account @CAFCofficial 12 mins12 minutes ago This will be available on YouTube this afternoon. In the meantime, last night's presentation will be online at midday #cafc
FANS' MEETING | Due to the length of last night's meeting, the full, unedited video is taking a long time to process #cafc
Fan: Remind us of the motivation of Roland Duchatelet? What's the timescale of premiership?
KM: Our strategy is a sustainable business from a mix of player's sales and [I cant flipping read this bit]. I think she said something along the lines that RD will review in January if we were doing well. [snigger].
Fan: I think this was the guy that said he wasn't renewing or hadn't renewed after years. I saw the quote in the press. It was a great quote:
"How can you get 20k fans in. A sofa wont work Nor a DJ!"
KM: I want to reach out to fans with different tastes. WE have launched Target 20k. We want input from the fans.
Fan: There are fans in this room that have an awful lot of club knowledge. Unfortunately the previous owners removed most of the staff that had all the knowledge. There is a tradition at this club to engage with fans. We want you to understand this.
KM: The fans forum will be used for this.
Right meeting now... back in a bit but only a little bit more
Interesting to compare the reaction to the tweet about her hatred of older fans versus what was actually said.
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
Given the event was stage-managed by the club and featured only invited guests, why didn't they simply live stream it on YouTube? Easy to do. That way we could have all made up our minds based on the full facts from the outset?
Instead it was left to fans to follow an important moment in club/fan relations through the medium of Twitter, which isn't ideal. Although I don't think the press warped anything to fit an agenda, all the quotes from various media sources there seemed to tally with one another, and I doubt the reporters were taking the time to get their stories lined up with each other before tweeting.
Interesting to compare the reaction to the tweet about her hatred of older fans versus what was actually said.
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
What was 'actually' said according to KM you mean.
Interesting to compare the reaction to the tweet about her hatred of older fans versus what was actually said.
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
What was 'actually' said according to KM you mean.
Fan: Remind us of the motivation of Roland Duchatelet? What's the timescale of premiership?
KM: Our strategy is a sustainable business from a mix of player's sales and [I cant flipping read this bit]. I think she said something along the lines that RD will review in January if we were doing well. [snigger].
Fan: I think this was the guy that said he wasn't renewing or hadn't renewed after years. I saw the quote in the press. It was a great quote:
"How can you get 20k fans in. A sofa wont work Nor a DJ!"
KM: I want to reach out to fans with different tastes. WE have launched Target 20k. We want input from the fans.
Fan: There are fans in this room that have an awful lot of club knowledge. Unfortunately the previous owners removed most of the staff that had all the knowledge. There is a tradition at this club to engage with fans. We want you to understand this.
KM: The fans forum will be used for this.
Right meeting now... back in a bit but only a little bit more
STAND UP!
Do we have to stand up until your meeting finishes? :-) Like others I'm grateful to you going to the trouble to do this!
Just reading the comments from @Curb_It (thank you for your posts BTW), it seems the press present tweeted a lot of stuff out of context & failed to expand on what they'd tweeted - very poor on their part & probably caused a lot of the meltdown last night, I await the video with interest
Don't think you can blame the press. They used twitter to report sound bites from the meeting and CL, including myself, collectively forgot the limitations of twitter as a reporting tool and spent several hours over reacting to those tweets.
Thanks to all those present who have taken time to present the main talking points with some context.
Interesting to compare the reaction to the tweet about her hatred of older fans versus what was actually said.
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
What was 'actually' said according to KM you mean.
Charlton Athletic FCVerified account @CAFCofficial 12 mins12 minutes ago This will be available on YouTube this afternoon. In the meantime, last night's presentation will be online at midday #cafc
FANS' MEETING | Due to the length of last night's meeting, the full, unedited video is taking a long time to hack up and edit to try and bullshit the fans even more #cafc
Interesting to compare the reaction to the tweet about her hatred of older fans versus what was actually said.
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
What was 'actually' said according to KM you mean.
No, according to Curb it
via KM, yes.
Both Curb it and the journo heard the same thing but have presented it quite differently
Just reading the comments from @Curb_It (thank you for your posts BTW), it seems the press present tweeted a lot of stuff out of context & failed to expand on what they'd tweeted - very poor on their part & probably caused a lot of the meltdown last night, I await the video with interest
Don't think you can blame the press. They used twitter to report sound bites from the meeting and CL, including myself, collectively forgot the limitations of twitter as a reporting tool and spent several hours over reacting to those tweets
Thing is the press tweeted about the older fans comment last night & I made a stupid remark about the House DJ in crossbars, but at no point did the NS or anyone else tweet that KM said that she wasn't discriminating against the elderly or the fact that it's bad business if you don't value your customers.
By not tweeting that, it completely changes the tone/context of what was said
Interesting to compare the reaction to the tweet about her hatred of older fans versus what was actually said.
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
What was 'actually' said according to KM you mean.
No, according to Curb it
via KM, yes.
Both Curb it and the journo heard the same thing but have presented it quite differently
I meant as opposed to the original interview which KM claims to have been lost in translation.
Just reading the comments from @Curb_It (thank you for your posts BTW), it seems the press present tweeted a lot of stuff out of context & failed to expand on what they'd tweeted - very poor on their part & probably caused a lot of the meltdown last night, I await the video with interest
Don't think you can blame the press. They used twitter to report sound bites from the meeting and CL, including myself, collectively forgot the limitations of twitter as a reporting tool and spent several hours over reacting to those tweets
Thing is the press tweeted about the older fans comment last night & I made a stupid remark about the House DJ in crossbars, but at no point did the NS or anyone else tweet that KM said that she wasn't discriminating against the elderly or the fact that it's bad business if you don't value your customers.
By not tweeting that, it completely changes the tone/context of what was said
But that is the point. You cannot convey tone/context on twitter. It was a salutary lesson about the limitations of twitter.
Just reading the comments from @Curb_It (thank you for your posts BTW), it seems the press present tweeted a lot of stuff out of context & failed to expand on what they'd tweeted - very poor on their part & probably caused a lot of the meltdown last night, I await the video with interest
Don't think you can blame the press. They used twitter to report sound bites from the meeting and CL, including myself, collectively forgot the limitations of twitter as a reporting tool and spent several hours over reacting to those tweets
Thing is the press tweeted about the older fans comment last night & I made a stupid remark about the House DJ in crossbars, but at no point did the NS or anyone else tweet that KM said that she wasn't discriminating against the elderly or the fact that it's bad business if you don't value your customers.
By not tweeting that, it completely changes the tone/context of what was said
But that is the point. You cannot convey tone/context on twitter. It was a salutary lesson about the limitations of twitter.
Just reading the comments from @Curb_It (thank you for your posts BTW), it seems the press present tweeted a lot of stuff out of context & failed to expand on what they'd tweeted - very poor on their part & probably caused a lot of the meltdown last night, I await the video with interest
Don't think you can blame the press. They used twitter to report sound bites from the meeting and CL, including myself, collectively forgot the limitations of twitter as a reporting tool and spent several hours over reacting to those tweets
Thing is the press tweeted about the older fans comment last night & I made a stupid remark about the House DJ in crossbars, but at no point did the NS or anyone else tweet that KM said that she wasn't discriminating against the elderly or the fact that it's bad business if you don't value your customers.
By not tweeting that, it completely changes the tone/context of what was said
But that is the point. You cannot convey tone/context on twitter. It was a salutary lesson about the limitations of twitter.
Interesting to compare the reaction to the tweet about her hatred of older fans versus what was actually said.
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
What was 'actually' said according to KM you mean.
No, according to Curb it
via KM, yes.
Both Curb it and the journo heard the same thing but have presented it quite differently
I meant as opposed to the original interview which KM claims to have been lost in translation.
Maybe, ...but it's the reporting of the response to the enquiry about the translation that we're talking about. Curb_it says KM said 'didn't mean to offend, most of our fans are over 50' but my (and many others) first impression of the journo's tweet last night was 'we've got too many over 50's'
I really have not been able to trawl through everything, but I have seen some of the re-posted twitter stuff, it is not absolutely in context which ought to be a bit of a health warning, but I would say 99.9% of what was tweeted as verbatim is true. Isolating the answers from the overall context has created a specific storm of controversy, but the journalists who were there have not lied, just been selective.
Richard Murray has not come out of this with any credit, on a couple of occasions a difficult question is asked and he tries to deflect by saying "what would you do" this is very odd behaviour and almost shows a bit of arrogance.
I was not at the meeting and am just reading a view snippets so it may be I am taking it the wrong way so will I suppose wait until the video.
Richard Murray has not come out of this with any credit, on a couple of occasions a difficult question is asked and he tries to deflect by saying "what would you do" this is very odd behaviour and almost shows a bit of arrogance.
I was not at the meeting and am just reading a view snippets so it may be I am taking it the wrong way so will I suppose wait until the video.
It's not the first time that RM has come back with 'what would you do' at supporters Q&A meetings
Comments
Could all of Brenda's meeting notes be amalgamated into one post once done so that it easier to read the whole lot in one go? Rather than having to trawl through posts....
Inbox me your home address and I'll have a transcript delivered with an almond Danish and a cappuccino by 11.30 if that would be preferred :-)
I'll try and almagamate later today, but they'll be too big for one post
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value all your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
John C: After the QPR game the fans were very upset. I have received many many complaints about the season tickets and the Valley Express customers didn't even know if they had a coach to get on.
Top Table guest: The transferring over of the database went wrong.
RichP: I understand the updating of the database. Most supporters would expect some issues but season tickets went missing and no offers [missed a bit sorry rich].
RM: What would you have done?
Rich P: I want the club to answer.
Top table guest: That's a good topic for the fans forum.
John C: The Valley Express is completely disorganised. The ex VIPs now feel disenfranchised. People that had helped the club previously. They would like the club to involve them. There is bad feeling there.
KM: Lets invite them in to see what we can do properly.
RM: A vacuum has been created which has created this negativity. I should do more about this.
John C: Many complaints about the failure of the communication by the Club. This doesn't comply with the Club Charter.
KM: When I receive an email I forward it on to the relevant department to deal with it. The fans should write directly to the relevant department. I don't always reply to emails. I am aware of the opinions that people have of me.
John C: Who is head of communications?
KM: We are recruiting. I know I ask a lot of Olly. The new comms guy is coming in the New year.
Fan: RE the comms. Why is it that we heard about the new of CF coming here from elsewhere.
KM: We cant control what gets put out by the press. This happens.
There's a commonly held view among fans that a change of leadership is the only solution, and the only way she can head that pressure off is to commit to visible change in action-and its not as if she'll be afforded years by the fans to achieve that.
No sh!t.
This will be available on YouTube this afternoon. In the meantime, last night's presentation will be online at midday #cafc
FANS' MEETING | Due to the length of last night's meeting, the full, unedited video is taking a long time to process #cafc
KM: Our strategy is a sustainable business from a mix of player's sales and [I cant flipping read this bit]. I think she said something along the lines that RD will review in January if we were doing well. [snigger].
Fan: I think this was the guy that said he wasn't renewing or hadn't renewed after years. I saw the quote in the press. It was a great quote:
"How can you get 20k fans in. A sofa wont work Nor a DJ!"
KM: I want to reach out to fans with different tastes. WE have launched Target 20k. We want input from the fans.
Fan: There are fans in this room that have an awful lot of club knowledge. Unfortunately the previous owners removed most of the staff that had all the knowledge. There is a tradition at this club to engage with fans. We want you to understand this.
KM: The fans forum will be used for this.
Right meeting now... back in a bit but only a little bit more
STAND UP!
KM: Yes I know the interview was translated twice and badly. I was talking about bringing in different things for the younger fans, like family zone etc. Older fans are upset but I wasn't discriminating against the elderly. It is bad business if you don't value your customers, a [%] of our fans are over 50.
Instead it was left to fans to follow an important moment in club/fan relations through the medium of Twitter, which isn't ideal. Although I don't think the press warped anything to fit an agenda, all the quotes from various media sources there seemed to tally with one another, and I doubt the reporters were taking the time to get their stories lined up with each other before tweeting.
http://www.watford.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=96724
:-)
Like others I'm grateful to you going to the trouble to do this!
Thanks to all those present who have taken time to present the main talking points with some context.
By not tweeting that, it completely changes the tone/context of what was said
Isolating the answers from the overall context has created a specific storm of controversy, but the journalists who were there have not lied, just been selective.
I was not at the meeting and am just reading a view snippets so it may be I am taking it the wrong way so will I suppose wait until the video.