Off-the-pitch club improvements

[Tinks]

Many years ago if you was a ST holder it gained you free entry to reserve games -something like that would be good

 

[RobM]

Many years ago if you was a ST holder it gained you free entry to reserve games -something like that would be good

I like that idea - I'll soon have a bus pass - free football!

 

[Ricey]

Restart "Meet the Blues" Day with the following

* New kit available to buy
* Players available to meet the kids / fans
* Legends match, local kids matches
* Local singers (not Phil) / dancers / kids entertainment
* Food stalls
* Something to entertain the non football loving members of the family..?

Other ideas
More school freebie tickets
Better food
Local beers (Leigh on Sea Brewery??)
Somewhere for away fans to drink
Maybe include a few U21 games into the season ticket price (and play the games at RH)
Onions (obviously)

The old Meet the Blues days we used to have at Boots and Laces were great. And I always found it shocking that they’d announce a new kit at the latest ones and it not be available to buy! Hopefully now we are Hummel this might make it different.

Loved the legends games.

It made it feel like a family club and I always enjoyed going, my kids would love it.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

Many years ago if you was a ST holder it gained you free entry to reserve games -something like that would be good

Pre-pandemic that was still the case, it's just that the matches take place at Boots & Laces rather than Roots Hall and the Reserves are now the U23s. But it is free to watch.

 

[ItsMichaelBlack]

Will the kids care about the club Anymore now it’s a non league ? My worry is they all go west ham

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

A single twitter account is not the same as a primary social media presence? What about facebook, Official website, Echo (although they have been better this season). It's poor.

I'll start by mentioning that I'm the person responsible for the club's Academy content, so I'm really interested in your (and anyone else's) views on this. I've been doing this on a voluntary basis for about 12 years now, having previously (and currently) contributed to the official matchday programme for the previous 5-6 seasons. As I'm not an employee of the club, I don't have any direct control over what shape that takes, but I can take suggestions on-board about how it can be improved.

As things stand, we use the Twitter account as the primary social media source. It allows us to provide live updates from fixtures, as well as promoting pictures from the games. The club's main Twitter account usually re-tweets the line-ups, half-time and full-time scores; that's more than quite a few league clubs manage to do.

Match reports are provided to the club, and archived here: 2020/21 U18s News Archive and here: 2020/21 U23s News Archive, as well as the Southend Echo. There was a report from every competitive U18s match this season, as well as a few friendlies, and most U23s games. When it wasn't possible to directly cover fixtures this season due to the pandemic, those reports were in the form of interviews with the coaches responsible for the teams.

There are updates provided in every matchday programme from the Academy, and we've made a conscious effort this season to feature some additional information on the website or Twitter, such as when the U16s played Chelsea at Boots & Laces and the U18s played Manchester City away, to showcase the good work the Academy is doing across the board and not just on the U18s and U23s where the main focus is naturally attracted.

Of the things listed, the one area we haven't got a presence is Facebook, and you can add Instagram to that. They could be something we look to utilise in the future, if it's going to promote the Academy. If there are other areas where you think we could improve publicising the work undertaken by a vast amount of full- and part-time staff, then it would be great to hear.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Local beers (Leigh on Sea Brewery??)

I like this idea. Embrace the local identity instead of serving the same generic stuff of the big suppliers.

Many years ago if you was a ST holder it gained you free entry to reserve games -something like that would be good

Or a modern twist, provide free video coverage of reserve/academy games to season ticket holders.

These are already filmed so it's just a matter of streaming it using the existing equipment and software.

It will increase interest in these aspects of the club, provide an extra freebie for season card holders and all at minimal cost and expense to the club.

 

[sunnydays66]

How about introduce walking football teams or even a league, seeing as we have an ageing fan base. Could even have SUFC bowls, netball, basketball teams using boots and laces as the meeting / muster point.

 

[gpd]

I'll start by mentioning that I'm the person responsible for the club's Academy content, so I'm really interested in your (and anyone else's) views on this. I've been doing this on a voluntary basis for about 12 years now, having previously (and currently) contributed to the official matchday programme for the previous 5-6 seasons. As I'm not an employee of the club, I don't have any direct control over what shape that takes, but I can take suggestions on-board about how it can be improved.

As things stand, we use the Twitter account as the primary social media source. It allows us to provide live updates from fixtures, as well as promoting pictures from the games. The club's main Twitter account usually re-tweets the line-ups, half-time and full-time scores; that's more than quite a few league clubs manage to do.

Match reports are provided to the club, and archived here: 2020/21 U18s News Archive and here: 2020/21 U23s News Archive, as well as the Southend Echo. There was a report from every competitive U18s match this season, as well as a few friendlies, and most U23s games. When it wasn't possible to directly cover fixtures this season due to the pandemic, those reports were in the form of interviews with the coaches responsible for the teams.

There are updates provided in every matchday programme from the Academy, and we've made a conscious effort this season to feature some additional information on the website or Twitter, such as when the U16s played Chelsea at Boots & Laces and the U18s played Manchester City away, to showcase the good work the Academy is doing across the board and not just on the U18s and U23s where the main focus is naturally attracted.

Of the things listed, the one area we haven't got a presence is Facebook, and you can add Instagram to that. They could be something we look to utilise in the future, if it's going to promote the Academy. If there are other areas where you think we could improve publicising the work undertaken by a vast amount of full- and part-time staff, then it would be great to hear.

Huge thanks for all you do. Not the easiest of jobs. There was one game that our youngsters won...an incredible result...away somewhere...and there was no facebook mention at all even by the main club FB page, nor was there any mention on the official website. I did raise this at the time. I'm sure it was during this past season. Such a shame as the lads had obtained a fantastic result and deserved the publicity it should have got. The more the fans know about how well we are doing it brings a lift. Let's face it....we needed one. Some articles on the backroom staff, the coaches and trainers...all the different posts in the club. For all our challenges on the pitch...they deserve mention and profile...make us aware and appreciative of their work. Help the fans feel more a part of the whole club, and help ALL the staff feel supported and valued. That is vital for good vibe and loyalty. Keep up the good work.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

...Or a modern twist, provide free video coverage of reserve/academy games to season ticket holders.

These are already filmed so it's just a matter of streaming it using the existing equipment and software...

I like this idea. I'm not sure if it necessarily needs to be the entire match, but certainly some form of extended highlights would be good to provide to supporters. I'm not sure personally whether streaming would incur any additional cost for the club; that probably needs to be factored into any decision.

The matches aren't necessarily all filmed by Southend United, with away matches sometimes filmed by the home club, but the footage is then generally provided as it can then be used as a development tool by the players. It's definitely worth investigating for next season.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

Huge thanks for all you do. Not the easiest of jobs. There was one game that our youngsters won...an incredible result...away somewhere...and there was no facebook mention at all even by the main club FB page, nor was there any mention on the official website. I did raise this at the time. I'm sure it was during this past season. Such a shame as the lads had obtained a fantastic result and deserved the publicity it should have got. The more the fans know about how well we are doing it brings a lift. Let's face it....we needed one. Some articles on the backroom staff, the coaches and trainers...all the different posts in the club. For all our challenges on the pitch...they deserve mention and profile...make us aware and appreciative of their work. Help the fans feel more a part of the whole club, and help ALL the staff feel supported and valued. That is vital for good vibe and loyalty. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It is actually quite an easy job to do; watching football and reporting on it is no great hardship in the grand scale of things, and both the club and Echo are very appreciative of it.

I think the match you may be referring to was an U23s friendly away to Watford that we won 3-0; a few supporters raised this afterwards; it was a game during lockdown that I couldn't attend and by the time I had any details of it, the Echo had already produced a report. We did report on it in the matchday programme but, probably more importantly, matches after that were covered.

I like the idea of doing some features on the backroom staff; it's something that's been done previously with interviews with the likes of Ricky Duncan, Luke Hobbs and David Johnson, but you're right that the full- and part-time staff deserve more of a mention. I'll investigate whether we can run some sort of weekly/fortnightly feature on those staff throughout the season to bring their stories to life.

 

[danbowen]

Get the players doing what Stan done last night on here where we can ask questions about anything and have a bit of interaction even if it is one player per week.

Get the players out and about in the local community ie walking around Adventure Island speaking to fans etc during the summer holidays.

Get the Meet the Blues day going again when restrictions allow.

Have players that are injured or not in the matchday squad outside speaking to fans before the games even if this is pitchside ie photo opportunities for kids etc.

Possibly get players, managers and board members doing an hour per week calling out to fans to engage and see how people are getting on etc (this could go a long way especially for fans who live on their own and have had limited contact with people due to COVID).

All of the above wont cost much, if anything, however this will hopefully go a long way to starting repairing bridges between the club and the fan base.

 

[Tinks]

I'll start by mentioning that I'm the person responsible for the club's Academy content, so I'm really interested in your (and anyone else's) views on this. I've been doing this on a voluntary basis for about 12 years now, having previously (and currently) contributed to the official matchday programme for the previous 5-6 seasons. As I'm not an employee of the club, I don't have any direct control over what shape that takes, but I can take suggestions on-board about how it can be improved.

As things stand, we use the Twitter account as the primary social media source. It allows us to provide live updates from fixtures, as well as promoting pictures from the games. The club's main Twitter account usually re-tweets the line-ups, half-time and full-time scores; that's more than quite a few league clubs manage to do.

Match reports are provided to the club, and archived here: 2020/21 U18s News Archive and here: 2020/21 U23s News Archive, as well as the Southend Echo. There was a report from every competitive U18s match this season, as well as a few friendlies, and most U23s games. When it wasn't possible to directly cover fixtures this season due to the pandemic, those reports were in the form of interviews with the coaches responsible for the teams.

There are updates provided in every matchday programme from the Academy, and we've made a conscious effort this season to feature some additional information on the website or Twitter, such as when the U16s played Chelsea at Boots & Laces and the U18s played Manchester City away, to showcase the good work the Academy is doing across the board and not just on the U18s and U23s where the main focus is naturally attracted.

Of the things listed, the one area we haven't got a presence is Facebook, and you can add Instagram to that. They could be something we look to utilise in the future, if it's going to promote the Academy. If there are other areas where you think we could improve publicising the work undertaken by a vast amount of full- and part-time staff, then it would be great to hear.

Oh wow - well done you and it must be quite satisfying especially if it is something that you get enjoyment from.

I particularly would be really interested to see and read more and it would be good to do some in-depth features on some of the backroom staff including the groundsmen, catering etc, etc.