Helpline

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Don't worry. We have Ticketmaster!

We have replaced genuine friendly faces, who try to do their best for the club, with "professional" rent-a-mob organisations. Tickets, stewards and sales teams etc.

I doubt if any Gasheads would say their match day experience has improved by any of the new lot compared to the loyal people that were there before.

Its just a good job that Wael is throwing his money to support Joey by providing him with a huge (in Rovers terms) budget, so the team is good, cos apart from Pete in the shop and the fanzone most things are going downhill.

Echo these comments. In the past I dealt with Kate who was always amazingly helpful. Yes, things change, not always for the better. For someone like me, who flies into the UK principally to watch the Gas, it is the friendship of my fellow London Gas that makes the experience, be it the great equaliser at Weds or the disappointing result at Derby, both were special days for me. Hopefully Tom realises that the Claire's & Pete's of their team are so important.

It really isn’t, it’s just being replaced by the younger generation, actually employed by the club as well as the community trust having a much greater involvement.

That’s the point that’s being missed in all of this.

The older generation arranged lots of things independently. They had a spirit of togetherness. As those ones have gotten older, some of them have lost their energy to do things, the younger gasheads don’t want to do the things that were previously a hit as times have moved on, they haven’t invited the younger generation in to maintain their good work and as a result it’s just become a splinter group of a very small proportion of gasheads which doesn’t align with how the club is now being run.

When that’s pointed out, especially by a young CEO, the line of “we don’t recognise the club” anymore is trotted out and perhaps that is true, but it’s because no one recognised the value in broadening the horizons of their little club to encompass a new and fresh approach as the years went by.

Helpline served a purpose for what we were at Twerton and back at the Mem at the turn of the century.

Now we live in different times, have a different operation, need different revenue streams and have a much broader model to accomplish that.

There are also some cracking people behind the scenes that are serving the club very well that don’t want to be put on a pedestal, don’t need to be put on a pedestal and are quite happy not to have any known fanfare around them.

I’m finding it quite refreshing.

Perfectly put.

Sounds a bit ageist to me.

And there's nothing wrong with exploring different revenue streams - I think most Gas would embrace that - but it's not binary, it doesn't mean that you lift up the ladder on generations that got the club to where it is now (invariably no further forward on the pitch) as to when current CEO took director ship, or alienation of a fanbase because their consumption is with cash, or invoke tribunals of hard working servants to the club that were unfairly dismissed and settled out of court.

There's a way to do things.

And the way some of how the club has conducted it's business, is something I truly do not recognise...

It's not ageist whatsoever, its called succession planning and its why the supporters club failed previously, for example.  Many people held on to certain positions far too long, isolated many people, kept its own demographic and as a result it imploded in on itself.  

I'm not saying helpline went the same way as the old SC but where was the succession planning to keep it going?  Where was the diversification of revenue and fresh ideas to keep it promoted and actually something beneficial to the club?  

There seems to be an absolute obsession with keeping legacy at this club, but not the legacy of what people created, but the people themselves.  Whilst they are a very large part of history and very generous with their free time, there seems to be a desire for these ones almost to be immortalised in some way. Creating a legacy is really about being able to pass something on not a continuous receiving of plaudits for what you have done.

As regards the rest of your post about tribunals and employment, I can't comment on it because I know nothing about it.  All I will say is sometimes there needs to be a separation of parties and its never a pleasant experiences, regardless of whatever company or industry you are apart of, but to progress, sometimes these things need to be done, regardless of how harsh or "unrecognisable" it may be.

Take your point 100%.

However there are some not so "Fluffy" little clubs that do have plans that are playing at Toolstation Prem and 1st Div and both Southern Leagues that could be on the cusp with a investor or they come into some money.

It wouldn't take millions and millions of pounds to achieve National League and Nat South to suddenly wake people up to say where the F**k did they come from. Just Saying dont right them off.

Although I take your point, and I am a massive Wael Fan. But if a club like ours starts to distance its self from our core values and core generational fan base, we do that at our peril.

Like I said.... I don't recognise.

There's huge sentiment in football, it's based on community values and sharing of times and occasions. It's partly what draws our loyalty back to the same venue every fortnight, and away too.

If we become as cold as your post suggests the times are a changin..... someone sang that once..... But I know we're not there yet because a few of all ages, sexes, races etc some even not from or living in Bristol are "old school" and you know what?
Their penny is worth exactly the same as everyone else's....or contactless card, if you prefer.