RTK meeting with Rick Parry

[RedJedi]

Some fella who was quite vocal all night, kept goin on about arses on seats, ie its ok buying a ticket for a game but does that person actualy go. They get a credit but they dont go the games.

Any Parry said that there were 166k fan cards and this fella pipes up. " i know a fella with 93 fans cards, now your not tellin me he's got 93 arses"

Even Rick laffed

[Imy]

CLICKY

Bloomin eck, thats one impressive stadium, almost as good as the Mestalla.

If they've changed/amended our stadiums design too more like the Cowboys i'll be well impressed, the current stadium is certainly not unique (looks like many other new stadiums including the Emirates)

[PTP]

Some fella who was quite vocal all night, kept goin on about arses on seats, ie its ok buying a ticket for a game but does that person actualy go. They get a credit but they dont go the games.

Any Parry said that there were 166k fan cards and this fella pipes up. " i know a fella with 93 fans cards, now your not tellin me he's got 93 arses"

Even Rick laffed

- that is ****ing ridiclous tho - they should never have issued 166k fan cards, what a joke, i have one but one of my mates has 5 registered in random members of his family names - he just applies for everything possible on all five and does quite well.

they should have had a limit on this, say 25k or something.

[bazza76]

- that is ****ing ridiclous tho - they should never have issued 166k fan cards, what a joke, i have one but one of my mates has 5 registered in random members of his family names - he just applies for everything possible on all five and does quite well.

they should have had a limit on this, say 25k or something.

wouldnt make much of a difference mate.
I think the new setup seems fair enough, unfortunately it will mean we cant look after as many people as we would like, if you have to produce your fan card with the ticket at the stadium.

[Maestro]

Interesting stuff - thanks for posting that Dougie - you've earned yourself a sausage dinner

[hockin_monster]

CLICKY

Now that's a stadium!!

[RedJedi]

Interesting stuff - thanks for posting that Dougie - you've earned yourself a sausage dinner

Cheers mate, Friday is sausage dinner day

[Yozza]

Cheers mate, Friday is sausage dinner day

[Dero]

Someone asked if the club would consider leaving 96 seats empty in the new stadium. He said its something to think about.

I like that idea.

[IrishPaul]

Nice One RedJedi, cheers for posting the info

Keep up the good work

[lfc_michael]

Any idea as to whether RTK will be sending out an e-mail update or posting some sort of comprehensive summary of the questions and answers on their own website?

[Revo]

with all due respect, 96 empty seats is a joke and if the 96 victims were still with us i suspect they would feel the same. The memorial and the rememberance day is not sufficient enough for justice but empty seats is not the answer to remind us our history. dads and lads filling 96 seats in celebration and honour of our lost ones is the answer
btw id also have no problem with lifetime rights to home games for the 96 families instead of 96 empty seats

[IrishPaul]

with all due respect, 96 empty seats is a joke and if the 96 victims were still with us i suspect they would feel the same. The memorial and the rememberance day is not sufficient enough for justice but empty seats is not the answer to remind us our history. dads and lads filling 96 seats in celebration and honour of our lost ones is the answer
btw id also have no problem with lifetime rights to home games for the 96 families instead of 96 empty seats

Well said Kev

[lfc_michael]

Any idea as to whether RTK will be sending out an e-mail update or posting some sort of comprehensive summary of the questions and answers on their own website?

If anyone's interested, I've asked someone who's involved with RTK and they are planning to put out an update regarding the Q&A session.

[Fagan]

13/06/07 - Rick Parry Q&A summary


Several months ago the RTK group highlighted to Rick Parry the concerns from many supporters regarding the lack of two way club-fan communication at Liverpool Football Club. He acknowledged this and it was proposed that a question and answer session should be held so that supporters could pose questions to the clubs Chief Executive on a face to face basis.

We were asked to arrange this. We advertised across several online forums for people to submit questions to us as well as asking people in several 'offline' circles for theirs. We ended up with a wide range of issues from a good cross section of Liverpool fans. Season ticket holders, fan card holders, young people, older people, locals and out of towners. The evening was loosely compared with a free flowing debate ensuing on most of the issues and held in Anfield last Thursday.

At no point prior to the meeting did anyone at the club see the questions or had any warning or knowledge of the issues that were to be raised. Most of the major points were covered. However due to time limits, and a few particular aspects taking longer to cover than others, some were unfortunately but inevitably missed out.

A brief summary of the main points covered during the evening is documented below.


Lack of Athens reaction

It was highlighted early on in the Q&A session that there was some unrest towards the lack of reaction from the club post Athens to defend the vast majority of fans who acted responsibly. The situation was compared to Manchester United at Lille earlier this year. There were reports there of forged tickets, bunking in, drunken behaviour and trouble between fans. United reacted early and turned the focus on the inadequate ground and policing. Whilst no-one was suggesting that we disregard the problems caused and exacerbated by a minority of our fans, the believe held by many in the audience was that Liverpool should have done more to highlight the flawless attitude from tens of thousands of reds, and in turn focus some of the attention on the obvious concerns with the failings of the organisers.

Rick Parry drew attention to the behind the scenes role the club played before and after the European Cup Final. A dossier was produced by the club alerting UEFA to problem areas stating everything they "predicted would go wrong did go wrong". The club believed UEFA would react in a "rational manner" and couldn't have predicted Galliard coming out with his comments and for these reasons they never came out with their own statement. The club have asked UEFA repeatedly for the report containing the apparent 25 incidents but are yet to obtain it. They also liaised with Sports Minister Richard Caborn during this time to ensure their feelings were aired in his meeting with Platini.

Perhaps next time with the benefit of hindsight, and the feelings aired on this issue from subsequent points the club have a clear message that they need to do more in the future to defend the ordinary fans. Unfortunately this time it's probably too late and our names are all tarred, the smear worked.


Stewarding at European aways

The role of LFC stewards at European aways was brought up. It had been noted that official LFC stewards were gathered at an empty entrance to the Olympic stadium in Athens at a time when there was a serious crowd build up at the main entrance where fans were being guided from the Metro station. The stewards at the time were quoted as saying they have "no authority".

The "authority of initiative" was then questioned but nothing was done. Both Rick Parry and a senior steward categorically stated that in most grounds across Europe the offers of assistance to the local authorities are rejected, they are met with the "We know what we're doing" attitude by most authorities abroad. The problems that occurred outside the PSV away leg in April when LFC fans were caged in outside the ground, leading to a bottle neck situation, were also mentioned. Again, here the offer of assistance from Liverpool was refused.


Tickets

Rick Parry confirmed that, along with 26,000 season ticket holders, there are approximately 160,000 fan card holders. There were several passionate words exchanged over season ticket loyalty, but just as heated was the issue of cross competition loyalty. The consensus from everyone present seemed to be that issuing European Cup final tickets to people who may have only been to six games was not good enough. The argument was that fan card loyalty should at least be taking into account the attendance of matches in other competitions as we support "Liverpool in all matches not just the European ones".

There was even a suggestion of bringing in a supermarket style loyalty scheme in, where the less attractive games would score more points than the likes of Everton at home. Rick Parry admitted that the current system may not be the best but it is still fairly new, and they are open to ideas in the future.

A point was raised over season tickets that have been handed down over the years, person to person. The club recognise that this happens, and although it does offer some form of updating a name and address on a season ticket it would look into perhaps a season ticket amnesty to allow people to officially transfer ownership.

The possibility of European away loyalty not being carried over this year, as in previous years was brought up with the obvious concern that several thousand people, with no intention of going the game, could apply for the first away creating chaos. It was promised that this would be looked in to.

At the minute loyalty is taken from the previous years attendance for each competition. 13 league aways from last year for a ticket for Goodison, last year's FA Cup ties to entitle you to a ticket for this year's 3rd round game. A rule that doesn't apply in Europe, a rule that could result in mass application for tickets for the first European away game. An issue that really does need addressing.


15th April

The notion of LFC making a stand against playing on the 15th April was brought up, if anything to avoid a repeat of the scenario surrounding the Blackburn away fixture last year. Rick Parry made it clear that it is Liverpool's intention to never play on this date and as far as he's concerned "we won't" but it could not be guaranteed. He said that it would be easier not to play a domestic game but UEFA have "very little sympathy, understanding and knowledge" and can force teams to play.

A question was asked about what plans the club has to remember and pay respect to the victims of Hillsborough in the new ground. It was said that the club are open to ideas, including whether or not to leave the memorial as it stands now or incorporate it into a prominent position in the new stadium. The club will be consulting the Hillsborough families on this issue.


Early Kick Offs

The grievance with the amount of early kick offs we seem to get was given significant air time. This season we had far more than any other team. A question was posed querying LFC's role in accepting change of kick offs from Sky and whether we are an "easy touch". The evidence presented was that a few years ago Manchester United fans and Alex Ferguson spoke out against the amount of 12.45pm starts they were being handed. This season they have only had two at home, compared to our seven.

Rick Parry was insistent that the club "do not have a choice" when it comes to allocated slots and the money that sides get for playing in such fixtures is less than other kick off times. The role of catering for the Asian TV market was also played down as Sky are not involved in selling TV rights to any other broadcasters.

It was said that Merseyside Police have always refused 5.15 kick offs since the Everton-Manchester United FA Cup match a few years back. It was pointed out we have played Arsenal at this time since and Everton have also played a later kick off.

It's a contentious issue that many fans will be keeping an eye on when the Sky changes are announced. Parry was unequivocally told by one fan to stand up to Sky, "put the pressure on" and tell them "we're not inconveniencing our support more than anyone else no longer".

These kick off times seriously affect the atmosphere at the game, and that reflects on the team and at times the result. This was also pointed out to Rick Parry as something we feel strongly about.


Children

A 12 year old posed the question of how can he expect to go and watch his local team every week and will he ever get a season ticket? The simple answer was hopefully the new stadium. With a greater capacity it was said that there would be more scope to introduce new schemes. Pay on the gate was suggested by one person, and Rick Parry mentioned the possibility of a reintroduction of a boys pen. Just an example of what could happen with more seats.


Window Sales

The possibility of bringing back sales at the ticket office in the weeks leading up to home league games was brought up. The suggestion was not to replace telephone or internet sales but to give people a third option. It was pointed out that Liverpool is still a working class city and many people who want to go the match can't necessarily spend several hours hitting redial on a phone nor do they have internet access in work. Yet they may be able to spare an hour before or after work to get down to the ground. Much like the setup for the sale of all away matches and home cup games.

Rick Parry highlighted the problems of too many people queuing, and the possibility of increased touting (which may be eliminated with the introduction of a fan card swipe entry system at turnstiles) but will look into it.


The new Kop block next year

As some people will be aware Liverpool are moving adult/child tickets from the back of The Kop as of next season. This is due to a variety of reasons and has been planned for several years. Earlier this year the RTK group were approached about helping to fill it. The club were moving the block regardless and had other potential groups ready to take up the seats but their first choice was to try and fill it with likeminded people who may be interested in helping create an atmosphere.

Rick Parry confirmed this was still going ahead, and the offer to move is open to any Anfield season ticket holder. Current adult and child season ticket holders are being given the option of staying in their current seat, moving slightly lower down or moving to the Anfield Road. There is more information available on this section on our site.

We are expecting further details in the next few days, but are asking any season ticket holder that would like to move, to mail [email protected] with their current season ticket details (stand, row and seat number) with their contact name and address, and we'll be back in touch once we get more information of how the process will work from the ticket office.







Some may question the role of the RTK group in these matters. We simply highlighted to the club the lack of input from supporters from all walks of life. They responded by giving us the opportunity of hosting this night. Particularly in the current climate it would have been easy for the plug to be pulled on this event, so those concerned at Liverpool must be applauded for letting it go ahead.

It can only be good for both the fans and the club alike that supporters are able to sit in a room with the Chief Executive and ask questions. There are not many other groups of fans at other clubs that can say this. We will see what will come out of the points raised but hopefully this will be the start, in one shape of another, of a more open dialogue between everyone at Liverpool Football Club.