On the 27th September 2021, The Railwaymen Supporters Society held our first Members Forum of the season at the Mornflake Stadium.
It was great to be able to meet the members face to face and give people an opportunity to listen to what the Supporters Society had been up to over the recent months and the chance to ask any questions they had.
Chairman Update:
Chairman of the Society, Mark Beavan opened the meeting and provided everyone with an update from the boardroom. This included a reminder about building on our Society mission statement and the need to provide a platform for fans to communicate with the football club. We want to strengthen the bond between the football club and the communities which it serves
We welcome any new ideas along with support for our own initiatives.
We continue to look forward to exploring ways we can increase the fan base by engaging with local schools and businesses.
Secretary Update:
Society Secretary, Scott Kynnersley then provided an update on all of the good work that has been completed this summer off the back of the members survey that had previously been conducted.
- New scoreboard has been purchased and installed.
- New TV’s in the bars and concourse
- Improved food quality
- New tills in the concourse, whilst acknowledging the teething issues.
- Negotiated 10% off selected drinks before the game on matchdays.
All of these things were what the fans said they wanted in the survey and the new board have listened to the fans.
Railwaymen Board Member Updates:
Richard Benson explained how he had become in the excellent new Crewe Alexandra monthly magazine. Working closely alongside Peter Morse, The Railwaymen have been given two pages in the magazine to fill for as long as we can. We’ll use it to bring you updates from the Society but we also want your experiences. This can be anything from a matchday review to memories and experiences that you want to share. We don’t just want a match review though, we want to know about your matchday experience. How did you get there, where did you go pre-match, what did you think of the away ground and fan end?
If you have anything you’d like to submit or discuss, please contact richard.benson@railwaymen.co.uk
Tim Tantram then provided a short update on the media side of the Society. Whilst the website and social media channels have been quiet over the past few months, we are hoping that as activities start to pick up pace again, more content will be pushed out to the fans.
As with the Magazine, if you have something that you want our members to be aware of or a story you want to tell, please get in touch and we can see if it is suitable for the website under our Blogs section.
Matt Owen detailed how we are investigating how we can improve diversity within the fans at the club. We are reaching out to the Polish and Romanian communities around Crewe to see how we can involve them more and what would make the club more accessible to them. Also how can we reach out to the local community teams and get them involved.
Dave Slack updated that the new membership packages are being worked on and we hope to provide further updates on this soon.
Events are already being planned for 2022 as well. Ian Affleck told us all about the plans for an Ex-Player Association Six/6 Cricket Tournament next summer and plans for a Sportsman’s evening towards the end of next year.
Prior to that we will also have our AGM later this year and plan on hosting future Members Forums 2 to 3 times a year and if possible, invite an current or ex-player to attend similar to when Luke Murphy joined us back in 2019.
Other things we are pushing is for the special guest in the legends lounge to come to the Railwaymen Bar and Lounge and do a 20/30 min Q&A at 12 noon on match days.
Sub Committees:
In order to progress with some of the projects that the Society want to work on, there is a need to form Sub Committees made up of both board members, society members and fan volunteers. One of these such projects was the Junior Railwaymen project that Andy Newton is taking a lead on.
This is focused on seeing what we can do to inspire the next generation of fans and encourage them to support Crewe Alexandra. Plenty of ideas are being discussed and further updates will be provided soon.
If you can volunteer any time towards projects, please get in touch with scott.kynnersley@railwaymen.co.uk and we can see how you can get involved.
Fans Q&A:
As we stated earlier, we only operate to act as that link between the fans and the club. We gave all of the members attendance the chance to pose their questions to us no matter how big or small. What was evident was that everyone has their own opinions and some things that people take for granted are very important for others. It was great to hear all these views and we’ll try to take the relevant action on as many as possible. Some of the examples included:
- How can we involve the Soccer Centre more and get our players to attend sessions there? Mark replied that it is in the players contracts to do community work and although the soccer centre is a separate business, we do need to have more interactions with them.
- Concern raised over the shooting warm ups on a match day and the fans in the Rhino Safety stand not having a net to protect them from any shots that go astray.
- Team sheets being priced at 50p on a match day. Not all fans have access to social media and the price is felt to be excessive.
- Concern over rising match day costs including tickets, food and drink. Mark agreed to take this point to the next board meeting for discussion.
- Question about safeguarding at the club. Mark detailed how the safeguarding at Crewe Alexandra is now recognised to be setting a high standard and one of the best in the country and is used as an example to many clubs.
- What type of memberships will there be for the society, could there be a lifetime option? This is being looked and will be considered.
- Displeasure voiced at the lack of notice given by the club for the match-day price increases for recent away games. Mark will raise this at the next board meeting.
Will there be a Crewe Badge on the main stand to go next to the Mornflake stadium sign which looks brilliant! I Just feel the club has Mornflake written everywhere and it seems to be more advertised than the actual football club itself. I understand they sponsor the stadium but I think it would look great next to the Mornflake sign. Thanks in advance
How were members informed about the fans forum? If it was via email, then I did not receive one.
To encourage younger fans to games,why not allocate seats in the end blocks of the main stand. An adult and child under 11 entry for a set price ( I am aware that they could sit in any seat in the main stand but it’s the principle of getting the youngsters to attend games ) . Free tickets in the railway end has helped but you need to give the youngsters a sample of the best view to understand the tactics of the game. This way you are likely to retain their support. The main stand is under used and we need to look at any ways to increase footfall into it. Even if children get in free they will spend money on drinks/ food etc so the club will still make money.
Can we look at getting our ball boys to be of an older age , the current ones look as if they should be at primary school and do not read the game quickly enough to get the ball back to the players.