Question From SUFC --- Do you feel loved and Engaged ?

[McNasty]

I have just returned after Chairing a meeting between the Southend Supporter's Groups and Danny Macklin, the Commercial Director of Southend United.

Danny asked me, and the other group representatives, to ask our members, on a scale of 1-10, how engaged and loved by SUFC people feel.

Please answer this poll honestly and leave reasons for your score in this thread. All comments will be forwarded on to the club.

 

[Liam AAS]

I voted 5. I live away from Southend and feel that the club's presence on Facebook and Twitter is generally a decent substitute for attending games so I feel reasonably well engaged. On the OS, it would be nice to see interviews with some of the people behind the scenes rather than more puff pieces from players.

That said, with ticket prices as they are I can't consider myself 'loved' by the club. I'd like to see matchday prices drop to around £15. Fill the stands!

P.S. the pre-match music and post-goal music spoils the atmosphere, please please please get rid of it.

 

[mrsblue]

I began watching pretty soon after Tilly took charge,I was mesmerised when crowds just grew and grew whilst watching great football.

My love affair had started,I was hooked.

Rarely missing a home game and travelling to a few away too,Cardiff finals were good fun,watching Freddy score wonder goals,Gower maurading down the line,it was a blast and super value.

Suddenly Tilly and Brush were gone,harshly treated in my view.

The club losing what £20,000 EVERY SINGLE WEEK is truly mad.

Nowadays I hardly attend games.........spivsrule

 

[Tampa Blue]

I voted 3. I love the club but the communication from the top is non existent. As a mere supporter I feel like I am living just for today and will try and enjoy every minute it of it. The lack of communication, the silence re our finances, the silence re our future plans, the constant battles with HMRC etc scares the whatsit out of me.

If the vote was solely about the Team then I would give it an 8 or 9 as the players are engaged with the fans and even PB has got better at that too.

i still have no idea what Brain Horton does though.

 

[Dubai]

As someone that doesn't pay TOO much interest to the finances and stadium etc...as I genuinely believe SUFC is a business and I am JUST a customer ....I love my match day experience when I am
home....I feel engaged enough from the UAE to keep entertained and I truely feel we are moving I the right direction. I like the football we play and I like the players. I'm lucky enough in my job and my company to get to watch the majority of matches ....but think the engagement when I am not is enough....wouldn't mind a bit more insight on a matchday but never mind


Under the a
Sturrock/end of Tilson era when I feel the whole
heart of the club was ripped out...I stopped attending and couldn't be bothered. Now I wish I could make every game...



Up the blues

 

[Magnum PI]

I'd be there in the Ryman South. I don't need to be bought or loved. Unconditional love .... good times and bad times.

 

[buffalowolf]

I feel its hard for me to give a true vote so i gave a 5 , living where i do i never get to see them play unless its streamed,people here keep me updated on whats going on within the club and your threads how we played,would like it just once a month if EL PRESIDENTE was to do what he used too and write about the internal goings on ,which we dont really know about ,but my blood bleeds SUFC ,always will always has.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

P.S. the pre-match music and post-goal music spoils the atmosphere, please please please get rid of it.

Speakers were not working in the West Stand again on Saturday so it was nice not to be blasted with the music, but did miss not having the team line ups read out.

As for engagement quite low from me mainly due to the lack of info regarding the new ground. The Exhibition thing was over a year ago now and not a word since then. Come on Ron a yearly update would be nice!

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

voted 7
We are a small club with still a small fan base - should have been at least a thousand more for the Coventry game IMO.
I think the club do a decent enough job in the circumstances and like Magnum, would still be supporting whatever division.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I voted a 9, I suppose I'm in a pretty privileged position in that I know and work with a lot of people at the club on the Junior Blues and as a part of the Trust Board. Only reason it's not a full 10 for me is the lack of information from the man at the top, but that's not necessarily a criticism as he can't win either way - I just wish there was a bit more transparency.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

I feel that the supporters engage with each other far better than the club engages with its fans. SZ a great example - thanks guys.
Work to be done at Roots Hall.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I see Ron Martin as a benevolent Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il authority figure and feel the love every time I look at the photos of Ron and Roots Hall on my bedside table.

 

[TTS]

I voted 8.

As Magnum said, better or worse for me. Southend have been my team since my first game , October 10th 1986, with my father when I was 8. I've been left disappointed , frustrated but also entertained and elated at differing times over that 30 year period, but at the end of the day they are my team. Not like my mates that "support" Man U , or Liverpool or other teams they never get to watch.

Could the club do more, of course. I'm not going to turn this into a RM/FF thread, but of course I'd like to know more , but I also understand the world we live in now. However , it's the small things. Things liked signed shirts and other things that the Club have helped before with, even last week, a kind lady arranged a free space for me in the Car Park for the Oxford match . They do what they can.

Southend I love you , you give me time with my father and have done for 30 years and counting and now my nephew and also now my daughter is showing interest !

 

[MilkeySUFC]

I don't expect, or want, to be "loved or engaged" by the club. I love my club through thick and thin and I am worried about the future but there is precious little I can about that - barring buying a lottery ticket!

I don't want constant emails or letters from the club/players/PB/Ron/etc telling me how wonderful things are off the field. Not interested. Make it work on the field. 100% effort for the shirt on a match day is all I ask - I'll even forego entertainment value, when things are getting tough, as long as there are 11 players giving their all.

 

[Supernaut]

Voted 7. I think the club have been doing a really good job of engaging with the fans via social media this season, and Kay's stellar work with Junior Blues really makes the kids feel part of the club, and they're the future after all. Undoubtedly the club could be more forthcoming with info about the new stadium and financial issues, but I suppose it's hardly surprising that they're not. As others have already said, I'm here for the long haul regardless of how loved or engaged I feel.

 

[RHB]

No doubt social media has made it easier for me find out things instantly about SUFC. Well done to the Blues for using those channels, but it doesn't make me feel loved or engaged. On the pitch, that's a different matter. Times are good for me on the playing side, the team always acknowledge the fans, Ben does his Coker dance before kick off (I'm missing that Ben hurry back) and that makes me feel appreciated by the players. It wouldn't hurt Phil to walk round to the West before a game and acknowledge the fact that we are there and rooting for the team. I don't need emails telling me that tickets are available for the next home game almost immediately after I have just bought mine, but I do like the fact that the club get involved at community level. That was a bit of an unstructured brain dump!

So what does that all mean to me? It means that Southend do their best to engage, sometimes it works, sometimes not, but I don't mind all that much. Just keep doing well on the pitch and most other things I will forgive. I deliberately haven't mentioned the future. That's in Ron's hands alone. Overall I feel like an 8.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I voted 7. I believe communication and engagement has improved greatly over the last 10 years or so; the majority of staff are very good, pleasant and reasonable.
My medium score is given, in the main, as I am "in the dark", 100% about FF/stadium/council/club's progress (off field) etc ;(and a ST holder, share holder, lottery member) I would like to know that there are changes happening.

 

[Jai]

A 5 from me. I think the club could do more but generally do a decent job on limited resources. The stadium situation grates upon me, the fans are generally treated with contempt on this issue and not deemed worthy of an update. Ticket prices are also expensive but I understand why, given it is so hard to make money at Roots Hall.

 

[Barling Magna]

I voted 8 because I'm SE Essex born and bred and Southend United are my team. I've followed them for nearly sixty years. I can't be bothered with the overpaid world of the Premiership, dominated by four or five clubs (although well done Leicester). Leagues One and Two provide real football. I'll only be interested in the Premiership when Southend do a Bournemouth..........

I now live away from Essex so Blues Player is very important to me. I get over whenever I can to visit relatives and see maybe five or six matches per year (including away fixtures near to where I live). I'm happy enough with the club's website as a means of keeping up with events - and Shrimperzone, of course.

 

[Firestorm]

4

The current attendances are a reflection on the football being played, a dislike , in certain quarters, for Brown, and for Ron and frustration at the new stadium (or lack of) . Address the new stadium issue , this is one area where communication could be dramatically improved, anything else at this current stage is just condescending lip service.