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Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - Licence To Stand
- Thread starter Jordinho
- Start date
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Alright, mate, alright. The club's conduct has been flawless. Nobody is upset, not a single fan (many of whom have paid thousands for season tickets) is outraged and taking to social media/forums to complain about it, every fan is applauding the club's steadfast commitment to apologizing to the NFL before giving a damn about informing the worthless plebs lining up to attend the games, and the club's handling of this has enhanced its unparalleled sheen of professionalism across the media and in the public eye.
In the end, THFC has been trying its very hardest to become a pure corporate business for a while now. And, funnily enough, businesses are judged on occurrences like this - they are the reasons public relations is an industry, and one I'm actually quite familiar with.
And, in the PR world, this is a significant f*ckup - however it happened, and whatever the justifications, because the bottom line is all that matters.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Forget your feed (good deal of self-selection bias, I'm sure you'd agree), look at the feed under the actual announcement.
That's a big red flag that something went badly wrong in terms of PR, *even accounting for* the transitory nature of Twitter.
And many of those angry at the tweet have season tickets, and go to games, just like your mates.
Damage control was the order of the day on that front, not sticking it out believing that nothing's wrong. And I'm still not sure the club's handling it at all well, even with the subsequent update (delayed by a full day) that finally focused on the fans more than the damn NFL.
Edit: look at the reaction to the update - again, from those demanding refunds.
Communications fudge up, all-round.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Right, but *paying* macarons. They pay for season tickets, and they are angry.
The club doesn't care about supporters' opinions either - hasn't done for a very long time, and they *especially* don't now. But these are unhappy *customers* - and if your customers are unhappy, something's gone wrong, PR-wise.
Edit: I mentioned earlier that r/coys is generally full of happy-clappers that idolize the club for sending automated tweets about July 4th.
R/coys is upset too, although less so than Twitter.
I'm spending far too long defending a subsidiary point of my initial post, but this was a f*ck-up - no two ways about it. The delay, however, is unavoidable, and the club can't be blamed for it. Just for how they handled it.
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imcallingbullsh*t
Steven Caulker
You can hate or criticise Levy, but even you must surely know that as a "foreign fan" that you probably aren't in a position to speak on behalf of any season ticket holders?
Yeah because a leak allowed a journalist to break the news before the club had a chance to put out a proper statement - unfortunate yes but anyone with a bit of sense or perspective should be able to understand the situation there.
The club could have done all the right things in a PR sense and still have faced outcry on social media because there is outcry over *everything* on social media, such is the way of the modern world.
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DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
I'm not. I'm telling you what the result is from a PR perspective, based on the words of those season ticket-holders *themselves*. Many of whom are on those feeds I linked, telling you in their own words how unhappy they are about all this.
Unless every fan too poor or too far away to buy a season ticket is verboten from discussing what happens at the club, I'd say that's a reasonable approach to take.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Not necessarily, I'd say. There are elementary things that could have been handled better that would have *mitigated* the response.
Training frontline staff manning phone lines about what to say and do in the event of a delay - which was likely from the outset in a project like this.
Keeping fans updated earlier about encountering issues related to the build that could potentially impact on the stadium opening date, and mentioning that the club would be working on ticketing arrangements in case that happens.
At the very least, issuing a statement after the leak that wasn't literally 50% about apologizing to the NFL, not your own fans.
In the end, as I've shown, paying customers are unhappy at the way the club's handled this, that's all. It's a f*ck-up, regardless of whatever unfortunate eventuality led to it. And, as the club seems to want to be just a business and nothing more, it's worth pointing out that the customer is always right - saying customers should have 'perspective' on something that negatively impacts their purchase is a no-no, public relations-wise.
My point was *customers* (the type who respond to a clubs twitter feed anyway) would be unhappy and complaining at a delay regardless of the steps the club took to mitigate/soften any such occurance and so you using the reaction on social media as evidence to support your view that they approached it poorly doesnt hold any weight afaic
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Also, it's worth noting that, in the end, the Twitter crowd will increasingly be the crowd at games going forward. Just the way demographics and the societal shift will work.
If I'm right, this forum and most other anonymous forums for Spurs-related stuff tend to swing towards an older demographic, which tends to be more forgiving of club foibles and more accepting of their role as silent onlookers of whatever it is the club does.
In the future, our crowd will likely be a lot more like Arsenal's, and a lot more online - which means the fanbase will come to resemble Twitter more than here. It's just utterly inevitable, however horrifying that prospect may be.
So, funnily enough, the Twitter crowd will be the crowd the club has to pander to in the future - not the folks here. So bear in mind that while you think the club might have done nothing wrong, your opinion as a consumer is of...decreasing significance compared to the loudmouths on Twitter.
Just from a PR and business perspective, of course.
If I'm right, this forum and most other anonymous forums for Spurs-related stuff tend to swing towards an older demographic, which tends to be more forgiving of club foibles and more accepting of their role as silent onlookers of whatever it is the club does.
In the future, our crowd will likely be a lot more like Arsenal's, and a lot more online - which means the fanbase will come to resemble Twitter more than here. It's just utterly inevitable, however horrifying that prospect may be.
So, funnily enough, the Twitter crowd will be the crowd the club has to pander to in the future - not the folks here. So bear in mind that while you think the club might have done nothing wrong, your opinion as a consumer is of...decreasing significance compared to the loudmouths on Twitter.
Just from a PR and business perspective, of course.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
Do not let the facts get in the way of a rant from someone we all know has a thing about Levy and the way the club is run.
Indeed.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
See above. Also, companies aren't banking on some offline 'silent majority' anymore - the folks complaining on Twitter are, increasingly, the folks companies are using as bellweathers for how they're doing in the public eye. Opinion polling and focus group testing actually matters less now in an age where a good narrative can radically alter public perceptions.
So, again, those folks matter, and their unhappiness matters. And will matter more going forward - more than the happiness or unhappiness of folks here, I'd argue.
You've kinda proved my point with the post regarding going the way of Arsenals fanbase - which is widely known and mocked for the entitled nature of their online presence.
These same people would be complaining had the club approached this in the hypothetical manner you propose and are the same types that post on the clubs feed when a player doesn't sign for us or any other thing they *want* to have happened - they want it all and they want yesterday.
These same people would be complaining had the club approached this in the hypothetical manner you propose and are the same types that post on the clubs feed when a player doesn't sign for us or any other thing they *want* to have happened - they want it all and they want yesterday.
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Rorschach
Ricky Villa
Sissoko was praying for something like this. Maybe he sabotaged the sprinklers it as a distraction.I'm actually relieved and a tad cheerful about it...at least the whingers can take their burning ire off the transfer window!
(to be clear, I am talking in general about the external hub-bub NOT specifically about this forum whatsoever)
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Bullet
Colin Calderwood
So just before 4pm Matthew Collecott posted on here saying the September 15th Spurs v Liverpool game would be at NWHL
And just before 8pm the club announced we may not be in until November
And there was a leak around lunchtime.
And a board meeting at some point.
Does this timeline make sense? Why did MC post what he did?
And just before 8pm the club announced we may not be in until November
And there was a leak around lunchtime.
And a board meeting at some point.
Does this timeline make sense? Why did MC post what he did?
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Right, we've gone far enough on this path that my biggest fan here has now logged on to have his say, so I'll say one more thing about this.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the 'fair and balanced' people think, if it's even accurate. The club wants to be a 100% business - businesses don't depend on the views of 'fair and balanced' people, but on whatever it is the critical mass of people think about their product at any given time.
Consequently, PR is about making sure that said critical mass of people think positively of you and your brand.
In the future, Twitter folk will be our demographic, much like they are already Arsenal's demographic. Ergo, they will be the critical mass that needs appeasing, not the older, more 'fair and balanced' folk here and elsewhere.
Thus, the club needs to keep them onside, and it has failed to do so if that reaction is any indicator. Thus, I suggested that it had fudged up, comms wise - although it could (and should) do nothing about the delays, it could definitely have been handled a lot better.
That's all - I'm not coming at it from some moral abstract about what our fanbase 'should be' (fair and balanced or otherwise), but what it will be, and thus what the club has to deal with. Not what it would *like* to deal with.
And, as I mentioned in my initial post, there's nothing that can be done about the delay itself. Suck it up, cut the club some slack and move on when it comes to that - I'm in full agreement on that point. But the rest of it could definitely have been handled better.
Glenda's Legs
Paul Walsh
I absolutely believe communication is not one of our club’s strongest points and is certainly something that they could improve on.
But in this instance they had to react super fast to yesterday’s news being leaked ahead of their own official statement being issued. Maybe it wasn’t perfect but I think it’s understandable given the circumstances.
As for the special mentions of NFL - this is a partner/customer who has agreed to pay us mega-bucks (no, I can’t remember the actual amount) and with whom we have a contract/binding commitment in place. Keeping the NFL sweet is exactly what the club should be doing. Not to the extent of ignoring ST holders/fans - but they haven’t ignored us. Imagine the outcry if the delay lost us the NFL money?
Twitter outrage has been mainly about paying for a ST for NWHL and then having to attend Wembley. Well the club have dealt with that by offering refunds rather than (or as an alternative to) credits.
We are still getting our new stadium. It’s not as if that’s been pulled from under us. I wouldn’t even have been able to go to the Liverpool game, the delay has worked in my favour,yet I still feel very really disappointed at the delay. But it’s only temporary.
So why all the anger, @DubaiSpur ?
But in this instance they had to react super fast to yesterday’s news being leaked ahead of their own official statement being issued. Maybe it wasn’t perfect but I think it’s understandable given the circumstances.
As for the special mentions of NFL - this is a partner/customer who has agreed to pay us mega-bucks (no, I can’t remember the actual amount) and with whom we have a contract/binding commitment in place. Keeping the NFL sweet is exactly what the club should be doing. Not to the extent of ignoring ST holders/fans - but they haven’t ignored us. Imagine the outcry if the delay lost us the NFL money?
Twitter outrage has been mainly about paying for a ST for NWHL and then having to attend Wembley. Well the club have dealt with that by offering refunds rather than (or as an alternative to) credits.
We are still getting our new stadium. It’s not as if that’s been pulled from under us. I wouldn’t even have been able to go to the Liverpool game, the delay has worked in my favour,yet I still feel very really disappointed at the delay. But it’s only temporary.
So why all the anger, @DubaiSpur ?