Queen's Park 2019/20

[The man with no name]

16 minutes ago, Mick1867 said:

Since when did you have to be a member of the club to get an explanation for anything? Thankfully recent meetings have been open to all. Whoever runs our club is the business of ALL our supporters who pay money to watch us. As a member I am always encouraging non-members to join however I understand people's circumstances are different. You ever thought that he might not be able to afford the extra money?

  

I'm merely pointing out the legal distinction between a member and a season ticket holder. A season ticket holder is a customer of the Club. A member is an owner of the Club. A member has the right to attend general meetings of the Club and ask questions of Committee. A season ticket holder doesn't. In my experience, if a supporter (no matter their status) approached a Committee Member and asked them question, it is generally answered. That is why I suggested it to Dooflick.

It is very encouraging that Committee are engaging with all of our support. If a vote is required it will only the Members that will take part. I appreciate everyone's circumstances are different. It might be worth exploring making Membership fees the same as season ticket prices and other ways to help people become Members.

[Mick1867]

1 minute ago, The man with no name said:

It might be worth exploring making Membership fees the same as season ticket prices and other ways to help people become Members.

If we reduced the cost then would a members ticket still get you into all the games?  

I think there definitely should  be reduced cost for membership for unemployed, OAPs, and students. Maybe set up a monthly direct debit scheme to spread the cost over a season....or if this currently exists then perhaps advertise it more. I don't see anything obvious on our website about how to become a member. There should be a link on the front page with the ability to do this online. It seems that we're now making it harder., I found out last month when proposing a new member that we now also have to send a separate letter rather than just sign the form and add a comment . Do something constructively to get younger members and then we won't need Mackay on the club committee for 100 years   

[an86]

Thirteen years, today. One of the best days/nights ever watching Queen's. Amazing performance and amazing scenes. Derek Soutar's big freak arm stopping us winning in Extra Time as well. Time flies. 

[Bring Your Own Socks]

4 hours ago, Boris the Spider said:

If nothing else it may end all the interminable debate on here about making sure we go through due process (some hope).

And move the debate along to a bigger issue. How will the club be run post-Quexit? So much focus on minutiae - let's see what the big picture looks like.

[Bring Your Own Socks]

4 hours ago, The man with no name said:

Hopefully the Spider can attend and ask his questions.

No reason not to. Plenty of notice to get the diary sorted. Although it should be noted the invite specifically mentions no votes. I sense about 300 words coming, clarifying what exactly a "vote" means. Or doesn't.

[an86]

41 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

And move the debate along to a bigger issue. How will the club be run post-Quexit? So much focus on minutiae - let's see what the big picture looks like.

As long as the President can refrain from using the term "sweating our assets" on multiple occasions, I'll be quite content. Makes me feel quite queasy. 

[The Spider]

7 hours ago, The man with no name said:

Hopefully the Spider can attend and ask his questions.

No need TMWNN as I'm happy to confirm that the Secretary has now "intimated a response" (see, it's not just me that talks funny) from the President to me, so unless something changes before the next meeting I'll be quite content to forego the pleasure of your company.

[Boris the Spider]

35 minutes ago, The Spider said:

No need TMWNN as I'm happy to confirm that the Secretary has now "intimated a response" (see, it's not just me that talks funny) from the President to me, so unless something changes before the next meeting I'll be quite content to forego the pleasure of your company.

Glad the President satisfactorily answered all your questions. Will help if we can all move forward together.

[The Spider]

10 minutes ago, Boris the Spider said:

Glad the President satisfactorily answered all your questions. Will help if we can all move forward together.

Agreed Boris and hopefully we all can now. Remember, the route we take is just as important as the destination, and the secretary's excellently worded invite was a great start.

[Bring Your Own Socks]

I'm merely pointing out the legal distinction between a member and a season ticket holder. A season ticket holder is a customer of the Club. A member is an owner of the Club. A member has the right to attend general meetings of the Club and ask questions of Committee. A season ticket holder doesn't. In my experience, if a supporter (no matter their status) approached a Committee Member and asked them question, it is generally answered. That is why I suggested it to Dooflick.
It is very encouraging that Committee are engaging with all of our support. If a vote is required it will only the Members that will take part. I appreciate everyone's circumstances are different. It might be worth exploring making Membership fees the same as season ticket prices and other ways to help people become Members.

There's a value-added proposition being missed here which in many ways typifies the closed-shop mentality that has been prominent. This is my 50th full season as a fan but had some real hurdles to jump to become a member a few years back.

How many non-members, even those with season tickets, would know the price difference and what financial benefits there are of being a member to offset the additional cost? Unless you become a member, or a friendly member shares the info, it's impossible to find the info to make that judgement. So rather than drop the price, make aware the better value. Let people choose.

But I'd also advocate that being a Member should still be seen as having a responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of the club first and foremost. In any entertainment venue, the better the seat the higher the price. Membership should be valued.

As I've mentioned before, there's still a disconnect between the new all-embracing culture and the old skool mentality displayed by some committee members. Membership is a prime example.

[The man with no name]

10 hours ago, The Spider said:

No need TMWNN as I'm happy to confirm that the Secretary has now "intimated a response" (see, it's not just me that talks funny) from the President to me, so unless something changes before the next meeting I'll be quite content to forego the pleasure of your company.

Glad you got your answer. It's a monumental year ahead and it is important that we all go forward as one Club.

[Mick1867]

16 hours ago, an86 said:

As long as the President can refrain from using the term "sweating our assets" on multiple occasions, I'll be quite content. Makes me feel quite queasy. 

I see you've got a new stalker.  Larry might be jealous but he's probably not a VL

[Mick1867]

17 hours ago, an86 said:

Thirteen years, today. One of the best days/nights ever watching Queen's. Amazing performance and amazing scenes. Derek Soutar's big freak arm stopping us winning in Extra Time as well. Time flies. 

One of my favourite ever photos. The utter joy on those faces. Didn't think that night would be topped that season but then we only went and won promotion. The performance in the play off final ( and at the same venue) was majestic 

[QPSpider1867]

Interesting in the final paragraph. Something I’ve thought for a while. We have a good, vocal support that’s wasted in Hampden. Hopefully Lesser can be similar to our away days.

[Francesc Fabregas]

9 hours ago, Mick1867 said:

One of my favourite ever photos. The utter joy on those faces. Didn't think that night would be topped that season but then we only went and won promotion. The performance in the play off final ( and at the same venue) was majestic 

If you want to read the definitive account of the 2006/07 season, I've got just the thing for you!

CLICK

You might want to check out older episodes of the Pelé Podcasts too - interviews with superstars like Stevie Canning, Mick Dunlop, Alan Trouten and David Weatherston all speak very highly of the promotion-winning season and their time at the club.

[an86]

11 hours ago, QPSpider1867 said:

Interesting in the final paragraph. Something I’ve thought for a while. We have a good, vocal support that’s wasted in Hampden. Hopefully Lesser can be similar to our away days.

If Lesser is similar to away days, the average life expectancy of the support will plummet within a couple of years. 

[an86]

On 23/08/2019 at 07:56, Bring Your Own Socks said:

There's a value-added proposition being missed here which in many ways typifies the closed-shop mentality that has been prominent. This is my 50th full season as a fan but had some real hurdles to jump to become a member a few years back.

How many non-members, even those with season tickets, would know the price difference and what financial benefits there are of being a member to offset the additional cost? Unless you become a member, or a friendly member shares the info, it's impossible to find the info to make that judgement. So rather than drop the price, make aware the better value. Let people choose.

But I'd also advocate that being a Member should still be seen as having a responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of the club first and foremost. In any entertainment venue, the better the seat the higher the price. Membership should be valued.

As I've mentioned before, there's still a disconnect between the new all-embracing culture and the old skool mentality displayed by some committee members. Membership is a prime example.

Agree with all of this. To any new party, the having to be seconded and have your name on display etc. has a real foosty bowling/masonic club feel to it. The categorisation of people as "members" and "supporters" doesn't sit well with me either. We should be one unit and need to find a way of making that more of a reality if and when the new structure comes in. 

The membership ticket is £50 more than a season ticket. I wouldn't be against something like scrapping it and having a flat rate season ticket, but having something, for example, like "The QP Club" on the side where fans could set up a direct debit payment into the club every month and gain benefits from it. Take away all this sign up, closed shop stuff. If someone has parted with a couple of hundred quid, they don't need an idiot like me to sign a letter to indicate that they care about the club. 

It's possible that the club would make more money. I'd pay £50 more for the membership ticket just now, but would probably stick a £20 per month DD into the club if a structure similar to the one I mentioned existed. I know Motherwell and Hearts have similar setups. We're obviously not going to be raising massive amounts from such an initiative, but anything extra going into a club of our size is a bonus. 

[Bring Your Own Socks]

Agree with all of this. To any new party, the having to be seconded and have your name on display etc. has a real foosty bowling/masonic club feel to it. The categorisation of people as "members" and "supporters" doesn't sit well with me either. We should be one unit and need to find a way of making that more of a reality if and when the new structure comes in. 
The membership ticket is £50 more than a season ticket. I wouldn't be against something like scrapping it and having a flat rate season ticket, but having something, for example, like "The QP Club" on the side where fans could set up a direct debit payment into the club every month and gain benefits from it. Take away all this sign up, closed shop stuff. If someone has parted with a couple of hundred quid, they don't need an idiot like me to sign a letter to indicate that they care about the club. 
It's possible that the club would make more money. I'd pay £50 more for the membership ticket just now, but would probably stick a £20 per month DD into the club if a structure similar to the one I mentioned existed. I know Motherwell and Hearts have similar setups. We're obviously not going to be raising massive amounts from such an initiative, but anything extra going into a club of our size is a bonus. 

The members ticket has access to all home games including cup games whereas the season ticket is just league games so for fans who go to every game there's little in it.

With regard to payments, the season ticket, at all clubs, offers slightly reduced cost over the length of a season for the fan although only of value if you go to every home game. The incentive for the club is that it puts a year's money in the bank before a ball's kicked which greatly helps with cashflow. Paying DD monthly is no greater commercial advantage than paying at the gate most months. Maybe split it over June-September might be a compromise.

The other big benefit of a single payment is no debt-chasing which is an unwanted admin cost. I've heard tell that even the 60 Club which is just a fiver per month struggles to get the cash in. It's tricky for the club. If a "member" takes ill or unemployed for example, struggles financially and can't make their DD would the club be expected to let them in for free when other fans pay at the gate? Would stewards be tasked with stopping the Member and having tickets removed? Could get messy.

[an86]

20 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

The members ticket has access to all home games including cup games whereas the season ticket is just league games so for fans who go to every game there's little in it.

With regard to payments, the season ticket, at all clubs, offers slightly reduced cost over the length of a season for the fan although only of value if you go to every home game. The incentive for the club is that it puts a year's money in the bank before a ball's kicked which greatly helps with cashflow. Paying DD monthly is no greater commercial advantage than paying at the gate most months. Maybe split it over June-September might be a compromise.

The other big benefit of a single payment is no debt-chasing which is an unwanted admin cost. I've heard tell that even the 60 Club which is just a fiver per month struggles to get the cash in. It's tricky for the club. If a "member" takes ill or unemployed for example, struggles financially and can't make their DD would the club be expected to let them in for free when other fans pay at the gate? Would stewards be tasked with stopping the Member and having tickets removed? Could get messy.

I'd have them as separate entities. The season ticket would already be paid for. A club card, or whatever it'd be called, would be paid for by lump sum or monthly DD that season ticket holders could access.

It'd obviously have to have some benefit. A say in the running of the club, depending on the model. Maybe discounts in the club shop, link up with local businesses for deals etc. Basically like membership, but with less barriers and less of a two tier feel. Pretty much just a reworking and rebranding exercise. We could open it up to non-season ticket holders as well with some of the benefits, but no say in the club. We could also look more at how we could maximise use of the social club in terms of attracting more local punters in.

In what'd probably prove an initially deeply unpopular move, I'd scrap cup games on the tickets in order to gain a bit more revenue. We're not going to be in the same financial position in the coming years. Every penny will count. Folk will still want to attend most cup games, whether paying or not imo. I think most fans will recognise where we're going to be financially, and will be willing to give just a small amount more. Most clubs don't offer any sort of 'on the ticket' entry to these games. 

What might be good for the clubs might not be good for fans. If you're comfortably off, of course a one off payment should remain an option . A lot of people aren't and are juggling finances. We need to be opening up avenues financially, as well as breaking down the door of what looks like an old bowling club mentality. I realise that might sound contradictory given what I've said about scrapping free cup ties, but it's obviously easier to find a spare one off £12/15 than it is to find a spare one off £200.

This is all just off the cuff musing, of course. There will be plenty of good ideas and shite ones in the coming months. 

[The Spider]

What the above would do, in additional to turning professional, is to remove a lot of the uniqueness of the club and bring it far more into alignment with most other clubs at our level. Some will argue that's a good thing and would open up the club to newcomers. The unknown factor however is what % of our support were attracted to it by it's special status and would feel less of a connection in future.

Historically the club has evolved rather than changed, so would all these changes simply be a speeding up of the evolution process, or be taking the club in an entirely new direction altogether?