Rangers fans forum – Report (Season ticket, Sports Bar, Copland stand, Albion Car park update)

*** Note form ***

Rangers fans forum

Tuesday 16th April, New Edmiston House

In attendance –

David Milburn Head of customer service

Greg Marshall Supporters Liaison Officer, Head of Fan Engagement

James Bisgrove Chief Executive Officer

Natalie Nairn Director of Retail growth

Creag Robertson Director of football operations

James Taylor Chief Financial Officer

Karim Virani Head of Commercial

Dan Schofield Director of stadium operations

John Brown, Mark Hateley Legends

Nick Thomson Head of Communications (Host)

Welcomes everyone, passes to James Bisgrove who further welcomes everyone.

Everyone on stage introduces themselves

James Bisgrove speaks on Dundee situation –

‘Ongoing disciplinary action from the league, fans have been messed around and now the teams third attempt to get this game on. We now have clarity on the fixture and have to get three points’

CR – ‘Sick of driving up and down that road! We’ve strongly made position clear to the league, doesn’t reflect well on our game at all. They are Positive game will go ahead’

Old Firm allocation –

JB – ‘5% from next season, club position is should always be away fans. Zero couldn’t continue, dialogue with Police, Sky, League, we are satisfied with outcome, unfortunate consequence for the fans moving but key focus to ensure they have a number of options’

‘Will be a positive for the spectacle. But we will never go beyond 5%, if we hadn’t engaged another number higher could have been imposed on us which wouldn’t have been acceptable’

GM ‘Fan advisory board were involved in those discussions purely due to time, if we had more time we would have spoken to more fans but we had to move fast’

‘Fan moves are going well, lots of choices. Protecting the full Broomloan was vital to protect the fans’

Season ticket renewals

KV ‘Huge for the club, bigger project this season especially with new ticket platform, start of a journey and to launch the platform is huge’

‘So far 35,000 renewals and the quickest renewal speed ever for the club. Day one we had matched last year within 2hrs’

‘We want to improve this service and will continue to try and improve, seatgeek is a step in right direction with that’

Sports bar update

KV ‘Going very well, still on course to launch this summer, some council stuff to get through with licences etc but designs and everything is on point’

‘Have spoken to fan advisory board to help make sure this is the best for the fans’

‘The Sports bar isn’t the end of our plans’

Summer plans

CR ‘Recruitment is front and centre of plans, Nils Koppen working hard and very active in the market right now. Succession planning, player contracts and player recruitment is vital for us.

‘Nils has changed structure and set up of the recruitment and that is going very well’

‘A number of targets have already been identified and our intention to bring in players’

Financial update

JT ‘10.5m pre player trading loss has to ‘go away’, we are working hard on doing that as an executive board. We look from Revenue, high level shape and we are improving significantly already’

‘Fans are massive in doing that from a match day and commercial perspective which is already stronger. Revenue performance is really strong’

‘Aim is to make sure that the aforementioned loss is break even in the very near future’

Update on copland stand work

DS – ‘With fixtures announced now we can quicken the experience and have picked up the pace. The impact on supporters will be positive, all systems go’

Fan liason match day workers

GM ‘Delighted to have them on board, giving the fans the ability to bring concerns directly to us. This has given us a voice straight to the fans, creating more touch points for the fans’

Generational supporters engagement

NN ‘Lot of experiences are tailored for the young fans, open training sessions for example a huge exciting moments for young fans and their introduction to Ibrox’

‘The League cup pictures brought in hundreds of generations to come and get their pictures and create memories’

‘Fan-zones and NEH match day experience has been a huge success as has the museum’

‘Soccer academy project and Charity foundation bring so much and we are focused on doing more’

Customer service season ticket news

DM ‘Very busy time, 7000 emails received, higher than monthly numbers in four days, 4500 responses already and clearing what’s left’

‘Hopefully up to date by end of the week’

Opens questions to the floor

Questions from the floor –

Q – Travel Partner update please? Not fit for purpose

KV ‘Has not been satisfactory, categorically. All I can do is reassure fans we are speaking to them to work for better for fans. Some of the trips are problematic because fans are at risk so we don’t offer. We don’t think that is ok so we will keep working for better opportunities for the fans’

Can we take it in house?

KV ‘Beneficial to use experts, we need it to be what fans expect and are hopeful next year will be better offerings’

GM ‘We don’t want a sub standard performance for the fans’

Have we approached sports options?!

GM ‘We have a good relationship with them, important we allow fans officially or not, so relationship is there. It’s definitely worth a conversation’

KV ‘Nothing is off the table’

Q – Update on Albion Car Park

JB – ‘Great question, we were going to sell part of car park to merchant homes but then they have went into liquidation. Still talks ongoing with other firms so other opportunities may be there’

‘We are working on other things for fans parking wise, that investment for us is key so we are looking to sell for that reason’

‘Then we can reinvest that money’

CR ‘Hopefully very close on sale of part of the car park’

Q – What considerations given to selling and creating more neighbours for the club?

JT – ‘Strong relationship with the council in relation to any potential issues around any increasing population around the stadium so we will continue to build on this’

JB – ‘Long term lease for Ibrox complex is part of our commitment to maximise the area, we have been approached about things like hotels as we look to move forward’

Q – Castore update only a year left?

KV – ‘Record breaking year for the club with revenue from them, we are focused on the relationship and quality has made vast improvements so we are currently focused on that’

‘We are into double digit million revenue so we are very happy with that relationship’

Q – MyGers update, how can you move tiers as it’s unattainable? Money over loyalty (Applause)

NN ‘90% of points that moves people is through watching first team, People do move quickly so I understand that. Gold is hard to get into but it should be as we want to reward fans who go everywhere’

‘Ticket allocation is so hard so I sympathise with everyone who doesn’t manage for things like semi final games’

Catering is too expensive inside stadium, toilets are better in the louden, what are we doing to fix this?

JT ‘Food and Beverage, work with Levy in daily meetings to ensure things are as affordable as possible, we review what is selling and what isn’t to keep options variable. We want fans to have options here at the stadium’

GM ‘Toilets are coming up consistently on match surveys. Let’s speak after to see what else we can do’

Q – Old firm allocation. How will we be treated when we go there

NN ‘Allocation, Gold only but open to debate if we carve opportunities for others on other tiers’

GM ‘Fan advisory board will get wider feedback on that’

DS ‘High level review with Police with Ibrox and Parkhead being key, we know there is challenges to getting our fans in and out but we are reviewing all this’

JB ‘Both clubs have to make stadium adjustments, Police have been part of this. We will change our turnstiles for example’

Q – What is Euro away game planning because our away fans getting treated really bad, someone will get hurt. How do we make it safe?

DS -‘(opposition clubs) We tell them what we need and our expectations, Police Scotland speaks with them and then we meet with them and check all security measures’

‘We take a delegation everywhere including our own security’

CR – ‘Key discussion points in UEFA working groups and this is front and centre for potential changes, we are big on this’

Q – Any plans for ‘Everyone anyone’ refresh? (Ibrox Pride)

NT – ‘Plans to refresh are there, is certainly in the offing’

Q – Police charges rising, are we challenging this?

DS – ‘Whole of Scottish football is challenging this, looking to increase security and stewards to minimise the amount of police we need. High level revue with Police (mentioned before) will definitely focus on that’

Q – How to stop MyGers fans using names for tickets but not travelling to European games?

NN ‘So hard to get tickets and always open to ideas and feedback, we try and keep issued tickets to the named person for safety, can definitely hear you on that’

Q – Can we make representations to League board at games on the use of VAR, no idea what is going on in match day fan experience

JB – ‘We have met SFA and had these conversations especially when VAR has failed’

CR – ‘VAR has been raised at SPFL level, we have asked for a review in VAR and its strategy. We need to see that and have asked to be involved in that including spectator involvement, ongoing conversation’

‘We are pushing the league to improve this to make sure the fans know what is going on’

Final Question – Tickets, how much dialogue with other clubs who are cutting allocation everywhere

JB ‘Worrying trend and when we see empty seats it’s disappointing, what we are seeing is they are under pressure from their own fans to do that. We continue to dialogue with teams and the league. We will continue to make strong representation on that’

Q – Why do supporters clubs get two bites at that cherry on some ticket distribution?!

GM -‘Essentially supporters club offer a service, fans couldn’t come to Ibrox without them in some circumstances. Without the away tickets they are struggling to keep afloat so we try and help where we can’

Final question (Maybe) – Seat sub credit, Doesn’t seem fair how it is calculated

DM ‘Previously it was 50%, we have changed that to 75% now, we calculate by the cost of season ticket divided by 19 home games. We feel that’s fairest and feedback has been great. Seat sub is hugely important. In the thousands of people who don’t turn up and now 85% of those thousands are being sold thanks to seat sub’

Q (may be last, maybe not) – Communication with Police and SPT, can we come to an arrangement for underground, becoming unbearable on travel and it’s dangerous on the trains

GM – ‘In terms if SPT, I’ve been in contact with them including this’

DS – ‘Answer is yes, we will definitely try to improve this’

ENDS

James Bisgrove on John Brown and Mark Hateley.

‘Vitally important to get feedback from two legends, delighted they are here’

John Brown – ‘Remember coming here as a boy, to be here now having played with the club is a joy. This club is massive, we are getting back to where we should be’

‘We’ve got six cup finals to win this league’

Mark Hateley – ‘We are the old legends in the room tonight! This football club is growing, we will only get bigger. These guys are doing their best to keep everyone happy. I’ve been here since 1990, some great memories’

‘We keep positive. We keep fighting, that’s why everyone doesn’t like us’