Update from FC United's Supporter Liaison Officer
Our Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO), Ryan Williams, looks forward to Droylsden - and back to Ilkeston.
New year, new start. I know it’s February, but with so many missed games, it still feels like the start of the year from a fixtures perspective. For me, it has meant saying goodbye to my role of compere of the Social Club on home match days - meaning I can focus solely on my duties as Supporter Liaison Officer.
I’ll miss the Saturday Social and the loyal band of regulars that endured my quizzes. I like to think we had some laughs.
But, as I said when I took up the role of FC SLO, I’m serious about it.
If I had to sum it up so far, I’d have to say that it’s been a bit "slow...and sometimes intense". But so is most of the Smiths’ back catalogue, so I’m not complaining.
On speaking to members and fans alike, it became clear that they are really supportive of my role and its intentions. The issue seems just to be one of visibility. And it was with that in mind that I decided my pre-match time could be better spent out and about talking to fans (home and away), members, volunteers and anyone else I meet along the way. I’m certainly looking forward to doing so tomorrow. I’m sure there will be a load of Droylsden fans making the trip and I imagine they’ll be coming with a whole mix of perceptions and preconceptions about what FC is and who FC United fans are. Understanding all these opinions is an important part of my role and, actually, it gives me a much richer understanding of how we view FC ourselves, and how others’ do.
So if you see me tomorrow, please stop me for a chat. At the very least, you can tell me which one record you want them to play at the Indie Night, tomorrow evening.
I just hope I get as much out of tomorrow as I did last week. And not just in terms of the result!
Last Saturday was my first away from the Social club and I spent the pre-Ilkeston afternoon firmly in the hands of those fantastic fans and volunteers that make our brand of football club ’happen’. Match day operations is how they’re summed up. And it is an operation. A complex one.
Des Lynch is the Board member with responsibility for volunteers, so it was with him that I started my ’rounds’ on Saturday. I’ve made so many great friends at FC over the years, both from the terraces, and from the various volunteer roles I’ve done. Spending pre-game just being out there as I joined Des meant I could see many of the people I’ve not seen for a while, having been in the Social club previously, pretty much up to kick off.
Watching Des in action was something to behold. He visited the Megacabin, the membership stall, the programme sellers, the ’hospitality and catering’ executives and the social club. And everywhere he went, he greeted the volunteers with his own special blend of motivation and inspiration! And to their credit, each of the volunteers greeted him with the level of respect that you’d only hope would be shown to a member of the board! If you’re picking up any faint whiffs of sarcasm here...that’s on you!
But the value of just checking in with our army of volunteers can’t be understated. It’s so often this brief face time, a quick hello, that allows issues to be raised and for solutions to be found. That’s very much the approach I hope to adopt so if you see me on match days, please stop me for a chat.
Another of Des’s duties on Saturday was showing round a group of students from Abraham Moss. It’s part of our community work and I therefore left Des, along with Robin Pye, to attend to the student tour.
My day wasn’t done. I was due to meet with Alan Hargrave, a founder-member and Board member with responsibilities for match day operations. Alan had kindly agreed to let me shadow him before kick off and we started with a tour of ’Match Control’.
It’s an impressive set up. Manned by the Bury safety officer (of who, there are two, alternating accordingly) and his team. They have overall accountability for match control and all aspects of supporter safety. On certain match days, GMP would also be set up in here. And in the corner, more of the FC faithful, this time the scoreboard crew.
I had an illuminating chat with the safety officer, Dave Brady, touching on a range of topics from smoking and drinking in the stands and banging seats ("do you know how much they cost to replace?"), to smoke bombs. But the most impressive thing to witness is the CCTV operation. I don’t know if any of you have ever been warned by the stewards, along the lines of "you know it’s all on the cameras mate?". Well let me tell you, it is.
They’ve got 360 degree coverage of the stadium, inside and out, all the way through the car parks and up on to Gigg Lane. And the efficiency with which they move from receiving a radio call from a steward, to picking people out in the crowd is really quite impressive. And how much can they see? Well let me just say, they can pick out the number on the back of the seat you’re stood in front of. Some of you really shouldn’t pick your noses at the match! It made such an impact on me that I was nervous about being judged by the ’eye in the sky’ for the amount of digestive biscuits I intended eating in the second half.
Of course, I’m joking. Their role is primarily one of safety. And that’s why it’s hard to knock them for it. No doubt we’ve all been on the wrong end of an over-eager steward at some point (perhaps not at FC), but I do believe most have decent intentions.
What my time with Alan did, more than anything, was to give me a new appreciation of just what goes on, how much these guys have to do, and what an utterly thankless job it is.
Until now that is. Because I’d like to go on record and say, ’thanks guys and girls!’ We really appreciate it, none more so than the fans who don’t even realise you’re there!
I hope to do much more of this kind of thing going forward and I’d be happy to continue sharing my experiences.
In the meantime, if you want to get in touch, please contact me (as below) or before or after the Droylsden game tomorrow.
Email: supporterliaison@fc-utd.co.uk
Mobile: 07805 219393
See you at the game!
Ryan.
New year, new start. I know it’s February, but with so many missed games, it still feels like the start of the year from a fixtures perspective. For me, it has meant saying goodbye to my role of compere of the Social Club on home match days - meaning I can focus solely on my duties as Supporter Liaison Officer.
I’ll miss the Saturday Social and the loyal band of regulars that endured my quizzes. I like to think we had some laughs.
But, as I said when I took up the role of FC SLO, I’m serious about it.
If I had to sum it up so far, I’d have to say that it’s been a bit "slow...and sometimes intense". But so is most of the Smiths’ back catalogue, so I’m not complaining.
On speaking to members and fans alike, it became clear that they are really supportive of my role and its intentions. The issue seems just to be one of visibility. And it was with that in mind that I decided my pre-match time could be better spent out and about talking to fans (home and away), members, volunteers and anyone else I meet along the way. I’m certainly looking forward to doing so tomorrow. I’m sure there will be a load of Droylsden fans making the trip and I imagine they’ll be coming with a whole mix of perceptions and preconceptions about what FC is and who FC United fans are. Understanding all these opinions is an important part of my role and, actually, it gives me a much richer understanding of how we view FC ourselves, and how others’ do.
So if you see me tomorrow, please stop me for a chat. At the very least, you can tell me which one record you want them to play at the Indie Night, tomorrow evening.
I just hope I get as much out of tomorrow as I did last week. And not just in terms of the result!
Last Saturday was my first away from the Social club and I spent the pre-Ilkeston afternoon firmly in the hands of those fantastic fans and volunteers that make our brand of football club ’happen’. Match day operations is how they’re summed up. And it is an operation. A complex one.
Des Lynch is the Board member with responsibility for volunteers, so it was with him that I started my ’rounds’ on Saturday. I’ve made so many great friends at FC over the years, both from the terraces, and from the various volunteer roles I’ve done. Spending pre-game just being out there as I joined Des meant I could see many of the people I’ve not seen for a while, having been in the Social club previously, pretty much up to kick off.
Watching Des in action was something to behold. He visited the Megacabin, the membership stall, the programme sellers, the ’hospitality and catering’ executives and the social club. And everywhere he went, he greeted the volunteers with his own special blend of motivation and inspiration! And to their credit, each of the volunteers greeted him with the level of respect that you’d only hope would be shown to a member of the board! If you’re picking up any faint whiffs of sarcasm here...that’s on you!
But the value of just checking in with our army of volunteers can’t be understated. It’s so often this brief face time, a quick hello, that allows issues to be raised and for solutions to be found. That’s very much the approach I hope to adopt so if you see me on match days, please stop me for a chat.
Another of Des’s duties on Saturday was showing round a group of students from Abraham Moss. It’s part of our community work and I therefore left Des, along with Robin Pye, to attend to the student tour.
My day wasn’t done. I was due to meet with Alan Hargrave, a founder-member and Board member with responsibilities for match day operations. Alan had kindly agreed to let me shadow him before kick off and we started with a tour of ’Match Control’.
It’s an impressive set up. Manned by the Bury safety officer (of who, there are two, alternating accordingly) and his team. They have overall accountability for match control and all aspects of supporter safety. On certain match days, GMP would also be set up in here. And in the corner, more of the FC faithful, this time the scoreboard crew.
I had an illuminating chat with the safety officer, Dave Brady, touching on a range of topics from smoking and drinking in the stands and banging seats ("do you know how much they cost to replace?"), to smoke bombs. But the most impressive thing to witness is the CCTV operation. I don’t know if any of you have ever been warned by the stewards, along the lines of "you know it’s all on the cameras mate?". Well let me tell you, it is.
They’ve got 360 degree coverage of the stadium, inside and out, all the way through the car parks and up on to Gigg Lane. And the efficiency with which they move from receiving a radio call from a steward, to picking people out in the crowd is really quite impressive. And how much can they see? Well let me just say, they can pick out the number on the back of the seat you’re stood in front of. Some of you really shouldn’t pick your noses at the match! It made such an impact on me that I was nervous about being judged by the ’eye in the sky’ for the amount of digestive biscuits I intended eating in the second half.
Of course, I’m joking. Their role is primarily one of safety. And that’s why it’s hard to knock them for it. No doubt we’ve all been on the wrong end of an over-eager steward at some point (perhaps not at FC), but I do believe most have decent intentions.
What my time with Alan did, more than anything, was to give me a new appreciation of just what goes on, how much these guys have to do, and what an utterly thankless job it is.
Until now that is. Because I’d like to go on record and say, ’thanks guys and girls!’ We really appreciate it, none more so than the fans who don’t even realise you’re there!
I hope to do much more of this kind of thing going forward and I’d be happy to continue sharing my experiences.
In the meantime, if you want to get in touch, please contact me (as below) or before or after the Droylsden game tomorrow.
Email: supporterliaison@fc-utd.co.uk
Mobile: 07805 219393
See you at the game!
Ryan.
First Posted ~ 17:42 Fri 28 Feb 2014
News ID ~ 5384
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021