Meeting with Premier League Reps 24.02.2015

[QPR Richard]

The night before last I attended a meeting at Loftus Road between representatives from the Premier League and reps from QPR. In attendance from the Premier League were Kathy Long who is Head of their Supporters Services and Bill Bush who is Director of PL policy. In attendance from QPR were Andy Rees, who is Head of Customer Services for QPR, and a member of his staff who has recently been recruited as a Fans Liaison Officer.

Attending on behalf of various fans groups were Bill Cox from the Loyal Supporters Association (LSA); Jeremy Gardner from QPR 1st Supporters Trust (QPR 1st); Ron Norris from fans website QPRNet.com; and myself from this website Wearetherangersboys.com (WATRB).

The meeting kicked off promptly at 6pm and was held in one of the boxes where a view of the Loftus Road pitch could be seen in all its glory. Andy chaired the meeting explaining that in view of the recent announcement of the deal between the Premier League and TV broadcasters, PL reps were going around the various clubs meeting with fans informal chats. He then asked everyone in attendance to introduce themselves, explaining a little of each other’s backgrounds and then Cathy introduced herself, informing us that she has now been the Head of Supporters Services at the PL for 14 years, and that before then she had been a prominent member of the football supporters association. She said that Bill Bush would be joining us shortly as he had been caught in traffic.

Andy resumed by throwing the meeting open and as expected the first point that came up was kick off times. It was explained how frustrating, from a fans view attending games, the seemingly changing of kick off times effected many and it was at this point that Bill Bush joined everyone. He said that all votes changing anything regarding rule changes, change of policy etc took place in the close season and that so long as 14 votes were carried from the 20 voting Chairmen from all PL clubs, any such changes become effective from that June.

Cathy went on to say that when the fixtures are announced talks then take place between the TV Broadcasters and clubs and the first batch of Live games are then announced up to around November/December time. It was asked can clubs decline any live games to enable them a bit of power as to which games can be changed and or switched and Bill Bush said that the contract is between the club and tv, effectively meaning that clubs have signed the contracts agreeing to the terms and conditions. In other words, no signing contract means no money which no club would do as it would be effectively professional suicide.

From the PL perspective the whole thing should be a balance between attending fans and those that do not/cannot attend. The point was raised that there seems to be a lack of traditional 3pm kick off’s on Saturdays, thus leading many supporters to feel a little disenchanted from the game they fell in love with and the PL reps did agree that this was a point that was a bone of contention with many and that a guarantee of so many Saturday games (for each club) is something the various people involved are looking at towards for the future.

One of the biggest bugbears raised was the issue of change of dates/kick off times being changed (timeframes) when supporters have often already purchased their train tickets weeks (sometimes months) in advance in order to get a good deal/discount on prices. At this moment in time there seems there is no refund policy for those that have purchased tickets in advance for their travel and the lack of redress is most unfair, especially when it seems there are millions (soon to be billions) floating around within the Broadcasters/PL coffers and could there not be a pot of money put aside for such instances? Cathy did acknowledge it was a problem and that they are going to try to redress this with both Broadcasters (regarding good notice for fans) and are looking to engage with train aggregators in the future with regard to some form of refund policy. She did not however give any guarantees, saying it was something they were going to try their best with.

The subject of potential Live games on Friday nights was raised (as has been reported regarding the new TV rights deal) and Bill Bush explained that due to so many permutations involving games including the Champions League, Europa League, FA and Capital Cup competitions games, there could well be live PL games broadcast on Friday nights when the new deal starts which is in 2016. This being a case of finding broadcasting slots due to the above reasons. There were respective groans regarding this especially travel arrangements etc.

Cathy then went on to explain about the away fans initiative that was brought in by the PL a year or two ago now. Basically it’s an initiative for away fans on helping to soften the blow regarding travel expenses. For instance the recent free travel that was provided for QPR fans going up to Sunderland on a Tuesday night, and of course, the most recent example of the Hull game. There is a pot of £200,000 for clubs to take advantage of this subsidy and Bill Bush commented on how a club like Stoke are grateful for it because the majority of their fanbase live within a 10 mile radius of the Britannia Stadium, thus making it easy for them to assemble and arrive back there courtesy of the free coach travel. It was agreed it was a great initiative and when the new deal starts it is hoped this will carry on.

Bill Cox (LSA) did mention that whilst it’s a great scheme, for organisations such as the one he is aligned to (a big part of which is providing away travel to their members) it’s a shame that there isn’t a little subsidy available to such organisations, a point that was noted.

The issue of games being changed with short notice was touched upon (for instance our game against Chelsea in which many fans feel they have been left in limbo) and Bill Bush said that as the season progresses, the broadcasters have to give notice of 6 weeks regarding any game that they wish to show live (hence time/date changes).

By now time was getting on (we’d been scheduled an hour) and the poor security guard had started whistling outside in the corridor and so the last couple of points were touched upon. Firstly, from 2016, with all the millions that each PL club will be getting from the deal, the question was asked what will the clubs do with the money? The PL reps did agree that clubs spending such sums on players only would be inadvisable and so therefore there will be a proviso that some of the money will go towards community and development issues. It was acknowledged that many supporters do feel disengaged from players that seem to earn big bucks and have no real understanding of what makes supporters tick, and so it is hoped that under this proviso, clubs will use a percentage of the money towards such issues that might help to build certain bridges between players and fans. A suggestion was also made that maybe some of this percentage of money could go towards implementing a living wage for all employees.

The question of official live streaming for games on the internet was raised and Bill Bush commented that there is a facility via Sky Go (games being broadcast) but if we’re talking a case of clubs streaming all games officially, then that is not an option at this moment in time because of the potential of such a thing having a detrimental effect upon attendances, plus also the need to protect grass roots football.

Whilst on the subject of grass roots football the question was asked about regarding money/payments that go from the ‘pot’ down to the FL. Bill Bush said that at the moment around £46m is given to the football league/clubs and that when the new deal takes place the figure will be around £60m (pro rata basis). It was pointed out that surely the figure should be on a percentage rate (which would work out better for the lower league clubs) and this was noted.

The Football Conference also have a ‘pot’ (via the PL) that they can call upon (around £6m) so that clubs which need any stadium improvements etc, especially if they find themselves in a position of potential promotion and need money urgently for any kind of refurb, have this available to them.

By now time was getting on and it was time to finish up. I had not known exactly what to expect beforehand but it turned out to be an interesting and enjoyable hour and a quarter. Thanks to Andy for his hospitality and to the Premier League reps that turned out to meet with QPR fans.

If anyone has any questions then ask away and I hope this has provided for an interesting read.

[QPR Richard]

Thank you.

[Tracy]

Hi Greengrass. Ticket prices were touched upon when the subject came up regarding how clubs will spend the money from the new deal and the PL reps said that some clubs had already given indications that they were going to implement price freezes. I guess at the end of the day it will come down to each club?

And oh my word "that trial"! Bane of my life at that time it turned out to be

Thanks Tracy for your usual full account of everything. You must have an exceptional memory for details. I remember your accounts of the Paladini trial!

One question that seem to be missed was the obvious one on reduced ticket prices in general.

[MYU]

Thank you for attending Tracy, this did seem to be a very interesting meeting. I'm glad that they're listening to clubs and fans, let's hope they do take the points raised onboard and make improvements where they can.