Supporters Club: Vale welcome suggestions
The Port Vale Supporters Club have posted the main points from Thursday night’s meeting which includes a request from Norman Smurthwaite for sensible suggestions from supporters.
Here are the main points from last night’s meeting which was attended by the Port Vale FC Chairman Norman Smurthwaite (NS)
- There have been a high number of emails and forum posts about the lack of news coming out of Vale Park recently. Our Chair, Ally Simcock, asked for the fans to keep the faith as there are lots of news items being released over the next few weeks. The Club are working hard in lots of areas at present, but they cannot release things too prematurely. As and when press releases are made, the SC receive them too and will release when they can.
- Ally Simcock now has contact details for the ex-players association and will be working on this over the next few weeks to ascertain what the issues have been and to try to find a positive way of moving forward.
- Season tickets will be credit card type tickets, which will be swiped to gain entry to the ground. Games will be ALL ticket, there will be no cash turnstiles available on a match day. Tickets can be bought in advance online at no extra cost and printed out at home ready for the game. On a match day, there will be two ticket offices open in separate locations and the club are currently looking at trying to purchase an away ticket office also. They are also currently investigating the possibility of having a ‘raffle ticket’ type offer, where you buy a group of tickets in advance. These will be priced cheaper than match day tickets, but not as cheap as season tickets.
- Portly Vale FC are playing in the worldnet tournament on 20th and 21st July in UCLAN in Preston. This is composed of 32 teams who are all made up of supporters of other clubs, including two from France. We wish them luck and a representative of the SC will go and support them.
- NS has suggested he could look at negotiating special rates for hotels and travel for some away fixtures. This is your opportunity to look at the fixture list and tell us which games you would like to make a short trip out of. Obviously, if only a few people reply to show interest, it’s not a viable option and will not be pursued. Please get in touch with your thoughts.
- NS has asked if we can gauge opinion on the current match day food…. Specifically wrights pies sales. He has sourced another pie company which he feels are superior in quality and would like fans to consider how they feel about wrights pie being removed from sale in the ground. He has also been oatcake tasting over the last week, so is still looking at the viability of having oatcakes in the ground on match days. This is still being assessed.
- Tommy Cheadles is becoming a two to three nights per week venue and will be open on match days before and after games …. To home fans only. We have had a few responses and are still looking for local talent who would like to use Tommys to showcase their talent.
- NS is still very interested in people’s wish lists of things to be achieved at the club. These should be sensible and achievable ideas and need to be sent to Ally in the first instance. He did stress when people speak to him in the street, he doesn’t necessarily remember the conversation, so if you go through the SC, we will ensure ideas are collated and passed on. He promised to look at the ladies toilets in the railway, as we have received complaints. If there are any other areas of the ground in need of repair, please let us know.
- The SC is now an official member of the Football Supporters Federation (FSF). The FSF is the democratic organisation representing the rights of fans and arguing the views of football supporters in England and Wales.
- Gary Benson was voted back on to the Committee as the web master. He will be updating and maintaining the Supporters Club website from now on.
Please feel free to get in touch with the Port Vale Supporters Club Chair – Ally Simcock. She can be contacted on email address [email protected]