Those present: Steve Tovey (Chair), Bill Gillon (Minutes), Carl Paddon, Sue Maskell, Vern Rickman, Mike Fulcher, Nigel Tressider, Andy Gaffney, Pam Wilkins, Mick Williams, Johnny Moore
It was stated that the Fans Conference would now bear the name of Tony Goodall, in honour of his memory and of the fact he was central to the Conference, being its Chairman at the time of his passing.
Johnny Moore explained Trevor Birch's absence. When the Conference was first arranged, two or three weeks ago, there was only one bidder (the Trust) involved with the club, so the picture and information to be discussed was clearer. However, of course, this isn't the case any more, so Trevor did not want to put himself into a position where something he said could be misconstrued or quoted at such a sensitive time.
Tickets
There is a new ticket manager, Fawaz 'Fred' Almumen, and the Conference wishes to put on record formal congratulations to Fred, the club and Trevor Birch for listening to fans and acting on tickets and pricing. Just short of 8,000 season tickets have been sold as of the current time.
It was stated that the club has tried everything it can to get tickets out to fans, the club and Trevor Birch doing all they could to ensure tickets are available to supporters who wish to purchase. Fans are also encouraged to buy tickets, if possible, in the days before the game to ensure that queues for tickets at the booths on match days are kept to an absolute minimum.
Carl Paddon stated that he knows people who are holding back on buying tickets because of Portpin's presence around the club. Will the club be able to make season tickets available to fans on a pro-rata basis once the ownership situation at the club is sorted? Johnny and Mick Williams answered that this hadn't been considered, but could be an idea. An opinion from others was that, if the Trust took over, woudl people really care about reduced prices for season tickets?
Community Mascots
As things stand, we cannot do what we did last season with community mascots because of the lack of kit availability, and the fact the players helped with sponsorship last season whilst no players in the current squad, for obvious reasons, have been approached as yet. The Conference still aims to have a sponsorship scheme for this season. Johnny Moore suggested that somebody go to the training ground to speak to Michael Appleton, and Pam Wilkins has volunteered to take this forward as a result.
Catering
The pricing of food and drinks from the kiosk had been up for discussion, with the Conference suggestion of a pound for hot drinks taken to Lindleys, the Caterers, by Steve Jones, the Sales Manager. Lindleys had rejected the idea, but the club will keep pushing the proposal.
A meeting had been held with the club about the overall catering, with the corporate membership catering for the first game of the season against Bournemouth discussed. For the fans, Alan Taylor, Steve Tovey and two representatives from the Chimes bar had attended. Corporate catering for the first game was thought of as under par, with no chilled wine, poor air conditioning and poor quality of food. Overall, it was thought to be very poor value for money, and the quality of catering from Lindleys is an ongoing one. It was pointed out by Mike Fulcher that Lindleys held the justice licence to sell alcohol at Fratton Park, which explains the ongoing contract for catering at the club, but that licence ends in October. It was noted that, if the Trust took over the club, that existing contracts, many of which are thought to be detrimental to the club, will be looked at.
Betting Licence
A report on Twitter had mentioned that the club had not renewed their betting licence for the stadium. Nobody at the meeting was aware if the licence had not been renewed, Johnny will make further checks as regards the situation.
Stewarding
Steve Tovey had made Derek Stone aware of an incident at the previous home game as regards a fan and a drinks bottle.
It was thought to be an idea that representatives from Conference should meet with Derek to gauge comments from matches, and to raise any comments and concerns with him directly. Pam Wilkins and Sue Maskell to take this forward.
A discussion about standards of stewarding at Pompey and other clubs took place. It was noted that, at Colchester, a certain section of Portsmouth fans had purposely antagonised home stewards who, it was felt, had done nothing but made Pompey fans more than welcome at the ground.
Any other business
Steve Tovey and Johnny Moore will look at the Conference email listing in order to tidy it up, update email contacts and remove anybody who no longer comes to Conference.
It is recognised that Conference meetings are not open public meetings, so journalistic attendance, for example, is not encouraged. Any requests for attendance should go through the chairman of the Conference at the time.
Update from Mick Williams, Pompey Supporters Trust
Mick gave an update to Conference on the position of the PST bid for the club. It is recognised that only so many details, for reason of confidentiality and sensitivity of the situation, can be made public at this time.
The Trust have revised their bid for the club, and have matched Portpin's figure of £8.4 million for player compromises.
The Trust are working with Stuart Robinson as regards his potential purchase of Fratton Park and the surrounding land, although he isn't the only option and the Trust are also talking to others.
The option is still there for the Trust to buy the ground outright themselves, but more pledges are required and the Trust urges fans to pledge as much as they can, with pledges coming into the Trust all the time.
Date of next meeting
To be arranged |  |
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