AISA, as one of the standing members of the Fans’ Forum, met the club, along with representatives from other supporters’ groups, on Monday September 27th. We will report in bitesize chunks over the coming days what was discussed and outcomes.
ITEM 9 SOCIOS Fan Tokens
Some members of the forum expressed their concern regarding ‘fan tokens’. The club’s response was:
“The AFC fan token launch, which happened in August, was incredibly successful with us selling out our initial offering (2m tokens) in less than two hours. Socios.com saw the most people they had ever seen take part in a fan token offering and saw a record number of people using their app at one time. There has been a very good redemption rate of free tokens from paid members and this was shown by the high engagement in the first poll. Our first poll, which ran in conjunction with the fan token offering, saw the highest amount of people vote on a poll on the Socios.com app.
“The results indicate that the tokens have been well received by the Arsenal fan base. .Socios.com have been very supportive in answering any questions that fans had when we launched the token and we will continue to answer any
questions going forward. He said we will continue to gauge and learn from fan feedback as the partnership develops.
More AFC fan tokens will be available soon. We will be running regular polls (binding and non-binding) for fans to engage with throughout the season. There will also be lots of opportunities for fan token holders to win Arsenal prizes and experiences, such as match tickets, signed shirts and merchandise, messages from players and the opportunity to play on the pitch at Emirates Stadium.
“The Club doesn’t hold any tokens or the Chiliz crypto-currency.”
7/10/21
Item 8 Amazon Prime filming
The production team is one that worked on ‘All or Nothing’, the Sp*rs and City series.We are told they keep intrusion to a minimum (whatever that means) and they will be telling the story of the season. That means key themes and characters are not fully established. (In other words, they’re still on the lookout for heroes and fall-guys.)
6/10/21
ITEM 7 The Stadium’s Exterior
The club acknowledges that the outside of the stadium is looking tired and it is committed to revitalising it before the end of the season – aiming for early spring. It will not be like-for-like replacements, and the design briefing process is under way. Ideas and plans will be shared with supporters.
5/10/21
ITEM 6 Problems faced by disabled members
The club recognises there are areas it needs to address. All supporters should have the same systems and functionality, they say. They are working through changes to the content of the website and have welcomed to the club Khali Parsons who is Senior Manager in the Venue department. She has a wealth of experience, having been a Disability Access Officer at another Premier League club.
The club will be conducting a review of its approach to disability as a priority, and will work in collaboration with the Arsenal Disabled Supporters’ Association to address as many of these challenges as soon as possible.
4/10/21
ITEM 5 Contacting the Box Office
The club recognises that there have been huge frustrations for supporters getting through to the Box Office. They apologise that we’re not getting the level of service we would expect. The explanation was that the start of the season resulted in huge increase in direct contact compared to what would normally be expected, particularly with the introduction of My Arsenal Rewards.,and the need to send out over 100,000 new membership cards.
The size of the Fans Services Team has been increased, and they are looking for additional ways – including advances in technology, to serve better supporters.
The Box Office in Drayton Park is closed as all match day ticketing services are served centrally from the Box Office by the Armoury. This will continue to be reviewed.
As Box Office failings have been high on the list of issues raised with AISA, we would ask members to continue to feedback on the response – and time it takes to get a response – when contacting it.
2/10/21
ITEM 4 Away Scheme changes
It’s early stages but the club says it’s pleased so far with the changes to the Away Ticketing Scheme. On average, more than 200 tickets are being made available to supporters who would not otherwise have been able to buy them.
It’s too early to say if the change to award Cup Final tickets based on home attendance is having an impact, but the very high attendance at the Wimbledon Caribao Cup match (56,000) is a positive indicator.
The club will continue to monitor this and report back.
1/10/21
ITEM 3 Safe standing
The club maintains it is looking seriously, at it, though it has been delayed by the pandemic. Extra work is needed now to understand fully the options.
Vinai suggested a working group consisting of staff and members of the forum be formed to take this forward.
30/9/21
ITEM 2 What has happened to the Manager’s notes in the match day programme?
This was asked in response to an AISA member’s question. The answer is that arsenal.com has in depth Q&As and full reports of press conferences with Mike Arteta on arsenal.com. It has been decided to give other voices an opportunity to be heard. So the Manager’s section in the match day programe is being replaced by others around the club.
This is the plan for the season. If it’s not liked or successful, it will be reviewed.
29/9/21
ITEM 1 Vinai Venkatesham’s report
At the outset, Vinai Venkatesham, Arsenal MD, talked about the transfer window, and the club’s vision. He made clear that they are aiming to build with exciting young talent that can develop as a group. He emphasised that, despite age, the playing staff already had great experience group, and cited Martin Odegaard captaining Norway and Sambi Lokonga captaining Anderlecht as particular examples.
On Europe, Vinai said that recent rumours about playing PL games abroad were untrue and unfounded. Discussions had taken place about matches expanding interest in the Premier League’s abroad during pre-season had taken place, but that the ESL was dead and would remain so. He is pleased to have been re-appointed to the Executive Board of the European Club Association following the ESL debacle – a sign of the respect given to the Arsenal across Europe.
Looking at the future of the Champions’ League, Vinai said there were discussions on there being 36 teams (four more than at present). Two new teams would be chosen to enhance access across European leagues (so not a fifth or sixth from the PL) and two from teams who had not qualified in their own leagues but had been the most successful over the past five years.
28/9/21
