CPST meets with club
Members of the CPST Board met with various representatives of CPFC last week to run through a variety of issues. You can read the summary of the meeting below:
- the Trust raised the issue of what has been seen as preferential treatment of away fans at Selhurst with ‘legend’ t-shirts distributed to them, as opposed to the much plainer Palace ones for home fans, and the playing of ‘special’ music. The Club indicated that it wanted every fan to have a reasonable experience when visiting and wanted to draw away fans from the ‘fan zone’ area and get away fans off the street and in the ground, with the lack of away pubs also a problem. In future they were likely to provide a range of t-shirts for home fans. Although the away fan area has a separate loop, there is no individual or special play-list for each team and they were certainly not wanting to bolster away fans support. Whether a Cantona t shirt was distributed versus Man. U remains unclear.
- the Club recognise the poor service regarding press conferences. The Trust having identified that the links often do no work or cut out. The Club confirmed there are technical issues with so many press and tv outlets using internet links, especially at the training ground. However they are aiming to address this in the near future, and recognise the interest of fans in these press conferences and want them to be readily available with no problems or interference. The Club could include the later one on one part of the press conferences in future.
- the Club confirmed that ‘on the day’ sales of away tickets was a matter for the home club to decide. The Trust had indicated that in respect of Stoke away the Club had indicated that there would be no sale of away tickets on the day but there was. This was Stoke’s decision and made late in the day. It has previously been confirmed that tickets for away games could be picked up from the Palace box office and did not need to be posted out, so a late decision on going to a game was not prevented.
- the short notice of the re-arranged venue of the Cardiff Under 23 game was raised by the Trust which meant that, as it was at the Beckenham training ground, supporters were excluded. This was caused by Dulwich having a game at the same time. It is the first such change this season, and it happened once last year. The Club could give no guarantee that a similar change would not take place in the future. It had publicised the altered venue as soon as it was known and the Trust confirmed this was much better than last time where no notification was given.
- the Trust raised some issues with the Clarkes coaches, however a separate meeting with Coach One users is to take place which will go into details. It was however confirmed that in future all coaches would be clearly numbered, to avoid the problems that arose for the Stoke travel where fans were unsure which was which.
- the Club confirmed that they do not close the Sainsbury’s car park unless it is full. Two rows are reserved for disabled parking but all other spaces are available. If a car leaves one will be let in to take its place. However, they could not allow parking in the aisles etc.
- the Club could not provide any specific information regarding the proposed Selhurst redevelopment or in regard to a potential new training ground. The Club will, however, be taking over the ‘Crystals’ venue for general use by supporters pre and post match. Details of bars, food and any entertainment have yet to be worked out.
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