RTK meeting with Rick Parry

[RedJedi]

Just got back from the meeting.

Fair play to Parry for turning up.

He was quite evasive and none committal on most things. I'll go through some points brought up. What i can remember that is.

First one lad asked about the big flags at the front of the Kop and how they had been gettin hassle off the stewards.

Parry said there was no club policy saying that they could not be there. One of the bouncer types in the room stepped forward and said he was one of the chief stewards and he would look into this and confirmed that there was no problem with the flags being there.

Next question was about April 15th and can we make sure that we never play on that date. Parry said he can never guarntee this but the club would always do there best to make sure we dont. However if we had a champions league game on that date they would be pretty powerless to do anything about it.

A question was asked how the 96 will be remembered with the new stadium,

The club are considering a few things and are in discussion with the familys. Leaving the monument where it is is one option, having a special place where the kop goal is now for all the ashes that have been spread there.

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

We then got on to Athens and UEFA. People where asking why the club had not come out and defended the fans straight away before UEFA ( WG ) came out with there ****e, the way Man U had after they had trouble.

Parry said they had no way of knowing that WG would come out with such a ludicrous(sp) statment.

People said they felt a bit let down by the club, that they had not defended us as much as they could.

He was asked about the report, the club has not seen the report and do not know whats in it or if it exsists.

We then asked well what are you going to do about it. He was very none commital on this.

I asked if this report does not exsist then why dont the club take legal action over it. Again he never really answerd the question.

This debate lead on to tickets and allocation.

Usual stuff on that one, all of what you have read before. Most people said the club should take every game into consideration and not just CL games. Again the usual they were the rules at the start of the season.

He was then asked if them rules are going to be changed. Again no commitment but its something to think about.

A question was asked about the club having a fans liasion person as its felt the communication with the fans is ****e.
Again something to think about.

Someone asked why we have so many 12 45 kick offs and are we a soft touch. He denied we are a soft touch and said its totaly down to the Prem Lge.
Someone then pointed out that Man U kicked up a stink the other season about having too many 12 45 KO's and they only had 2 last season compared to our 7. People said it would be nice if the club made there views on this public even if it didnt get no where, it would be nice to know they are behind us.

That is as much as i can remember at the mo, im sure someone with more memory than me will write up a proper and more detailed report but just thought id let ya know what went on.

[Kaip]

[Craig_H]

[Fagan]

From a post on RAWK:

I attended the RTK Q&A session tonight with the aim of asking about the new stadium, but understandably the evening was dominated by events in Athens, the clubs response, the Final ticket issue & genrally loyalty.

Hence, I didn't get to ask my question. I did manage to speak with Rick Parry at the end and he confirmed the following;

The Revised design requires a fresh planning application, to by pass the majority of the delays and objections, the capacity will remain the same, ie 61k, however Parry said the KOP was stunning and it will be around 19k in capacity. The reason why the 61k is the same, is because all the transport infrastructure issues & objections have been looked at & from what I can gather this will allow us to get approval to start building ASAP.

Not wanting to give ammunition to people who object to the ground, Parry went onto say the club may or may not (IMO we will) then put in another application to upgrade the capacity to 66k, while the work is in progress, with a view to completing the stadium on time with 66k capacity, in the same amount of time that they would have completed it with 61k.

I then asked about a upper limit & it appears that the figure mooted was 76k, but this would be dependant on a number of things, including the reopening of the Bootle Branch line & the reserection of the tram scheme, but who knows, maybe with the Yanks help?

Other notable figures from the evening;

Currently 60k on the season ticket waiting list & currently 166k fan card holders.

Can't post anything else as i have to spend some time with her in doors, please don't ask about the general Q&A session in general, as I'm sure the RTK lads will start updating there thread when the get back from the Albert.

[theriotact]

Thanks boys thats great work

[Jayesh87]

So are we signing Henry or not?

[Liverpool]

So are we signing Henry or not?

He's at Melwood

[Kenneth]

Parry said the KOP was stunning and it will be around 19k in capacity.

[RedJedi]

Just remeberd, someone asked will Rafa get his frst choice players and not his 3rd or 4th choice as in the past seasons.

Parry said he hopes so but you never know what happens in the transfare market.

He was then asked bluntly have we got money to spend, have the yanks got the money.

He said Yes we have money but he will not say how much for odvious reasons.

So it sound like Rafa has got the backing to go for top players.

Someone then asked why didnt we freeze prices for one season as a gesture to fans. He mulled this over before saying its because we loose money every year. We expect to loose 5 mill this year and we got to the CL final.

He expects to loose a lot more next year and this is mainly down to wages.

Reading betwwen the lines some BIG earners may be coming into the club

[Roboklopp]

Cheers- stadium not quite as bright as I had hoped for initally, but at least they are looking ahead.

[andyinswinton]

60,000 on the waiting list!

I'm never getting one!!!

[Roboklopp]

Just remeberd, someone asked will Rafa get his frst choice players and not his 3rd or 4th choice as in the past seasons.

Parry said he hopes so but you never know what happens in the transfare market.

He was then asked bluntly have we got money to spend, have the yanks got the money.

He said Yes we have money but he will not say how much for odvious reasons.

So it sound like Rafa has got the backing to go for top players.

Someone then asked why didnt we freeze prices for one season as a gesture to fans. He mulled this over before saying its because we loose money every year. We expect to loose 5 mill this year and we got to the CL final.

He expects to loose a lot more next year and this is mainly down to wages.

Reading betwwen the lines some BIG earners may be coming into the club

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Cheers for that mate.

Some interseting stuff there.

Apparently Kop season tickets will be £600 this year by the way.

[rushscored4]

Now for the most important question. What was his tie like?

[The Glove]

First one lad asked about the big flags at the front of the Kop and how they had been gettin hassle off the stewards.

Parry said there was no club policy saying that they could not be there. One of the bouncer types in the room stepped forward and said he was one of the chief stewards and he would look into this and confirmed that there was no problem with the flags being there.

What happens is that there are about 3-4 big flags. They wave them at the front and for league games and domestic cup games there isnt really any problem. The only problem is that they wave them at the front behind the goal, now that is were all the disabled fans are so the flags can block thier view.

Now the only time there has ever been any hassle that I have seen is on European nights.

No one is allowed along the front during these games because its full of TV wires and photographers etc. The first 2 rows are blocked off so all that happens is the stewards, me included, let down the front the boys who own th flags and let them do their thing. Problems arise when all their mates try to get down there as well. It doesnt take 5/6/7 lads to wave one flag. Thats when hassle starts. If we let them all down there, then we get a bollocking so if there is hassle, its because gangs of lads just want to go down the front, not that the flags are being stopped.