Who Are You ?

[DerekRocholl]

I believe so.

Have you joined?

No - can you join or do you have to be invited ?

No idea. You gave the impression that you knew?

You can always ask one of the Cttee, I'm fairly sure you know most of them.

I could, or I could just ask the question here and give them a chance to reply so that others knew what the situation is too

[John_c]

Fair point. I tried that myself once upon a time. Got ignored or lied to.

I'm sure you'll get an answer eventually. I feel your pain

[DerekRocholl]

I suppose feeling that you get ignored or lied to is a common experience for conspiracy theorists. It's not a problem I have so I can't claim to know what it feels like. I am sorry to hear it is painful.

[miguelito]

Good morning Derek!

In answer to your question, I'm Michael Hanley. Some Barnet supporters may already follow me on Twitter - I'm @hanlemic.

I live in Barnet, just a few minutes' walk from Underhill.

Next season will be my 30th supporting Barnet FC.

I've been a season ticket holder for 10 years & sit in Block D of the West Stand with my two daughters, Grace & Libby. We are regular shuttle bus users & I am an occasional away coach user.

I served as a BFCSA committee member (2003-2008), responsible for producing the newsletter during this time.

I was also actively involved in the KBA campaign (2002-2006), attending numerous community events & council meetings, campaigning & leafleting across Barnet.

I have made the transition from first attending home matches with school mates during the Fry era & travelling to the occasional away match, then watching proceedings from afar whilst a student at Manchester Uni, returning to London & the turmoil of the early 1990s with the club almost going bust, the Clemence rebuild & Mullery raincoat, sore necks watching the Still era, relegation, Mad Dog #1, Paul Fairclough & the Conference, the club treading water whilst others were able to develop new stadia, the numerous last day escapes, Mad Dog sequels, the Magician, the Pitbull and our return to the FL under Mad Dog #4.

I'm now the last of that original group of school mates still attending matches regularly, however I have made many friends among my fellow supporters along the way.

On that basis I believe I can represent supporters in their dealings with the club.

[DerekRocholl]

Thanks Michael, obviously I know who you are but I'm sure others will find your CV interesting and helpful.

To be honest I wasn't expecting such a comprehensive statement of credentials just a list of the people who are on the group (and possibly their forum names) and some indication on how it is intended that the group is going to operate in terms of obtaining input from the wider supporter base on the issues it discusses with the club.

[John_c]

I suppose feeling that you get ignored or lied to is a common experience for conspiracy theorists. It's not a problem I have so I can't claim to know what it feels like. I am sorry to hear it is painful.

No conspiracy theory. It was factual.

[DerekRocholl]

I suppose feeling that you get ignored or lied to is a common experience for conspiracy theorists. It's not a problem I have so I can't claim to know what it feels like. I am sorry to hear it is painful.

No conspiracy theory. It was factual.

Not sure which of your made up "facts" you are talking about now and I'm not bothered either. Much as I am flattered by the fact that you seem to attribute more meaning to things I post than was ever intended I'm pretty sure that most people on this forum find this sort of debate exceptionally tedious.

Perhaps we can just shut up and let the people who are involved in this Liaison Group to tell us who are they are and how they intend to engage with supporters to make sure they are representing our views, if they want to of course.

[John_c]

Calm down.

Just explaining that there was no conspiracy theory behind what I said as you had alluded to.

[petersperoni]

Hopefully a straightforward opening post to help us understand the group.

Just 2 questions:

1. Who are you ?
2. On what basis do you think you have a mandate to liaise with the club on behalf of Barnet FC's supporters ?

My apologies for the delay in posting this, but a very hectic 10 days didn't leave me with the energy to to dit when getting home in the evening. Rained off today so here it is.

Firstly, those currently forming the group are those previously listed, but, for clarification, they are and in alphabetical order;

John (Village) Adkins, Jeanette Cluff, Stephen Cranfield, Chris Emery, Nik Haidar, Tony (Reckless) Hammond, Michael (Miguelito) Hanley, Alex Jones, Kyle Kelly, Neil Staff, Henry Stevens and Eddie Thompson.

We felt this, initially, to be the maximum needed for this to be workable. We may in time feel the group size is too large or small, we will see. Sure, there will be comings and goings no doubt, and we’ll address whatever arises

Secondly, we haven’t requested for a mandate. We are just a bunch of Barnet FC supporters who, in the absence of a formal organisation, feel there should be some sort of body to represent fans at home and away games. We aren’t a formal group – we don’t have a Chair or particular spokesperson. We are just a wide range of people, young and old, male and female, those who favour a return to Barnet and those who are happy where we are (some just for the moment) people who not only to the vast majority of home games to say the least but also the vast majority (at least, again) of away games as well, including pre-season friendlies and minor competitions. Some mix socially with other members, some don’t. All in all a good mix we feel, and all with a common goal of first and foremost improving the match day experience followed by the key points described in our previous document

To this end we have already suggested things which have the club addressed (perhaps coincidentally as they may have already thought of them but nevertheless they were put forward) such as announcing in advance the times each part of the ground would be open on the last home game (these details were put on the club site), asking stewards to be vigilant in directing people to the correct seats against Gateshead and to continue afterwards (I didn't notice any problems though I had on a number of occasions on previously), for Grazioli's Bar to be open to those who want to watch Saturday lunchtimes televised games (agreed to), suggesting pre-poured dinks and larger glasses, suggesting improvements to the West Stand refreshment kiosk and also the main bar food serving to name but a few.

Lines of communications with supporters; OK, we have a presence now on this forum and we will be opening Facebook and Twitter accounts. We will be setting up our own mailing list open to anyone who wants to join it to be kept informed of what we're doing. This is in addition to all the others lines of communication - the forum, the matchday programme, email, newsletter, a point of presence on match days (both home and away). There will be a page on the club website (agreed to) and also presence in the matchday programme (agreed to). For those not on line, who are as important as those who do have on line access, we are looking at the best way of contacting them. There is personal contact with any of us. (Just for that reason anyone can find me in seat J67 (C block) 20 minutes or so before kick off), in the bars or at away games. Perhaps even a newsletter.

Needless to say we have the club's total backing on this as they can see if we get the match day experience right that will hopefully satisfy existing users and encourage new users to come again bringing friends with them and snowballing from there, in addition to any particular exercises there may be to improve attndance figures.

I hope this answers your questions Derek

[petersperoni]

Hopefully a straightforward opening post to help us understand the group.

Just 2 questions:

1. Who are you ?
2. On what basis do you think you have a mandate to liaise with the club on behalf of Barnet FC's supporters ?

Firstly and just for clarity, those currently forming the group are those previously listed, but, for clarification, they are and in alphabetical order;

John (Village) Adkins, Jeanette Cluff, Stephen Cranfield, Chris Emery, Nik Haidar, Tony (Reckless) Hammond, Michael (Miguelito) Hanley, Alex Jones, Kyle Kelly, Neil Staff, Henry Stevens and Eddie Thompson.

We felt this, initially, to be the maximum needed for this to be workable. We may in time feel the group size is too large or small, we will see. Sure, there will be comings and goings no doubt, and we’ll address whatever arises

Secondly, we haven’t requested for a mandate. We are just a bunch of Barnet FC supporters who, in the absence of a formal organisation, feel there should be some sort of body to represent fans at home and away games. We aren’t a formal group – we don’t have a Chair or particular spokesperson. We are just a wide range of people, young and old, male and female, those who favour a return to Barnet and those who are happy where we are (some just for the moment) people who not only go to the vast majority of home games to say the least but also the vast majority (at least, again) of away games as well, including pre-season friendlies and minor competitions. Some mix socially with other members, some don’t. All in all a good mix we feel, and all with a common goal of first and foremost improving the match day experience followed by the key points described in our previous document

To this end we have already suggested things which have the club addressed (perhaps coincidentally as they may have already thought of them but nevertheless they were put forward) such as announcing in advance the times each part of the ground would be open on the last home game (these details were put on the club site), asking stewards to be vigilant in directing people to the correct seats against Gateshead and to continue afterwards (I didn't notice any problems though I had on a number of occasions on previously), for Grazioli's Bar to be open to those who want to watch Saturday lunchtimes televised games (agreed to), suggesting pre-poured dinks and larger glasses, suggesting improvements to the West Stand refreshment kiosk and also the main bar food serving to name but a few.

Lines of communications with supporters; OK, we have a presence now on this forum and we will be opening Facebook and Twitter accounts. We will be setting up our own mailing list open to anyone who wants to join it to be kept informed of what we're doing. This is in addition to all the others lines of communication - the forum, the matchday programme, email, newsletter, a point of presence on match days (both home and away). There will be a page on the club website (agreed to) and also presence in the matchday programme (agreed to). For those not on line, who are as important as those who do have on line access, we are looking at the best way of contacting them. There is personal contact with any of us. (Just for that reason anyone can find me in seat J67 (C block) 20 minutes or so before kick off), in the bars or at away games. Perhaps even a newsletter.

Needless to say we have the club's total backing on this as they can see if we get the match day experience right that will hopefully satisfy existing users and encourage new users to come again bringing friends with them and snowballing from there, in addition to any particular exercises there may be to improve attndance figures.

I hope this answers your questions Derek

[DerekRocholl]

Apologies for the slow acknowledgement Peter. I didn't realise you had made a new post.

Yes thanks, it does answer my questions.