In this month’s newsletter there are updates on: THST’s summer party, the results of our VAR survey, the Fan Advisory Board, ticketing and concessions campaign, the success of the U21s, Fair Game’s Annual Conference, advice on Trust renewals and a media log for this month…..
Trust summer party
The much-loved end of season Summer Party will run from 12 – 7pm on Sunday 7th July at the Antwerp Arms. In what is always a great event, we have an afternoon jam-packed with entertainment including live music, DJ, food and a charity raffle as well as a Spurs special guest.
All monies raised in the raffle and from ticket sales will go to Prostate Cancer UK.
Tickets are £5 and to purchase please use this link.
We’d love to see you for what promises to be a cracking afternoon of Spurs filled entertainment.
VAR Survey
A poll of almost 2,000 people by the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust revealed huge concerns with the Video Assistant Referee officiating system.
A total of 92 per cent voted in favour of scrapping VAR as it is currently used in the Premier League. However, 56 per cent of those Spurs fans voting would be happy to support the use of VAR if it was restricted to semi-automated offside decisions and nothing else. Adopting semi-automated offside technology is clearly seen as a step forward with 71 per cent voting in favour of its introduction if VAR stays. We
You can read the full article here.
We have shared the poll results with the Club who responded by thanking the Trust and adding the survey has been shared with and read by Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy ahead of the Premier League’s AGM in June.
Members should keep an eye on their mailboxes as our end of season survey will be sent out in early June.
Fan Advisory Board
The Fan Advisory Board met on 22 May. You can read the minutes here to see what was discussed. We mention a few specifically below.
The meeting received a presentation on the work so far on the Club’s brand refresh strategy and confirmation that neither the Club crest nor the Club motto would be affected. The FAB will be consulted further as the project progresses.
FAB fan representatives raised the forthcoming Premier League shareholders vote on VAR and shared the results of the THST survey, which the Club confirmed they would take into consideration ahead of the Premier League shareholders meeting.
The FAB also expressed its concern at reports that FIFA would permit domestic league or cup games being played in the UK and asked the Club to vote against it should it come to a vote in a Premier League shareholders meeting.
Ticket pricing and concessions
THST continues its campaign opposing the increase in Season Ticket prices and the attacks on senior concession season tickets.
As part of our campaign, we liaised with Channel 4 to set up an interview with Swindon Spurs Chair Roman Piotrowski to highlight the impact of the Club’s changes to the Senior Concession season ticket changes. Channel 4 interviewed Roman and Trust Chair, Martin Buhagiar, before the home game against Manchester City. You can see that interview in the media log below.
THST will continue to raise this issue with the Club and to urge the Club to reverse the decision. The FAB, including THST representatives, requested that the Club withdraw the proposed removal of new senior concessions and instead share the overall outcome that it is seeking to achieve in relation to the number and/or financial impact of senior concessions and consult on ways of achieving that. THST fully endorses that approach and will continue to press the Club to do the right thing.
At the FAB meeting, the Club raised the issue of pricing of individual matchday ticket pricing for the season 2024/25. The FAB stated its opposition to any increases in matchday ticket prices and THST is also strongly opposed. THST is meeting the Club to discuss and will work closely with the FAB.
Under 21s team – update and feedback
You may remember that we wrote to the Club after the Under 21s PL2 match with feedback from Trust members and Board members who attend these games. We were delighted that there were opportunities to see the team play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, at affordable prices: it’s a great chance to bring the family, to see the stars of the future and of course, as it turned out, to watch Spurs lift a trophy or two.
Although staff holidays mean we haven’t had a full response to all our points yet, we were pleased to see that some have already been addressed. As an example, as we suggested, the players’ names are now being displayed on the big screen alongside their numbers so newcomers know who they are watching.
The full fixture list is also available as a diary download from the Club website.
The Under 21s have had a fantastic season in both the PL2 Cup and the league and we hope that it will become increasingly easy to watch them both live and on Spurs PLAY.
For those of us who went to Fulham for the PL2 Cup Final – we’d say that their pricing of £3 general, £1 concessions would take some beating. Though certainly the provision of refreshments etc is hugely better at the Spurs stadium.
We will keep you posted as we hear more responses to the suggestions we made.
Fair Game Annual Conference
THST Chair, Martin Buhagiar, attended Fair Game’s Annual Conference at AFC Wimbledon’s stadium in Plough Lane on May 24. Martin spoke during the ‘Spectre of the Super League’ talk outlining the part supporters’ trusts and football fans played in stopping the European Super League in 2021.
He was joined on stage by Natalie Alaphilippe of CDES Limoges, Alex Muzio from the Union of European Clubs and Maryan Broadbent from Luton Town Supporters’ Trust.
Martyn Henderson, the Independent Football Regulator’s Interim Chief Operating Officer, updated supporters on the progress made on The Football Governance Bill and former Reading striker Dave Kitson spoke about the threat of poor football owners.
Trust subscription renewals
It has been brought to our attention that some members are experiencing issues when renewing their membership, in particular with the payment processing webpage. Our providers haven’t been able to offer us a suitable solution and THST are exploring other options but in the meantime our recommendation is to instruct a Bank Transfer rather than Pay by Card.
A single Bank Transfer can be created, or a recurring Direct Debit which would be our preference as it minimises admin for both volunteers at the Trust but also for you.
When logging into your LoveAdmin account click on the Payment tab, then select the checkbox under Pay now and select the checkbox next to Bank Transfer. This will enable the option to send funds by bank transfer through our provider GoCardless. If you want you can also select the checkbox next to Pre-authorise future payments which will then turn the Bank Transfer option to a Direct Debit. Then click on Pay Here.
See screenshot below.
This will take you through to GoCardless who have a much friendlier and smoother payment process, and we hope that you do not experience any inconvenience with this provider.
We wholeheartedly apologise for any frustrations that members may have experienced with the renewal process and we will keep you updated with any major changes to the process. Please do consider renewing your full membership if you have allowed your membership to convert to associate. Details of membership benefits can be found on our website here.
Media log
Fans join forces for a show of unity at our stadium – News – AFC Wimbledon
They are turning against their own fans: Fans react to football clubs increasing season ticket prices – YouTube
What Premier League fans think about scrapping VAR (inews.co.uk)