This is the thing isn't it, a sign can go a long way. I worked in retail for 10 years so I know the benefits of open communication, sometimes at the drop of a hat (if the tills/chip and pin suddenly went down, or there was a leak and we had to close part of the store, or someone fell down the escalators (I'm not exaggerating!)), people need to be made aware and they appreciate being kept informed.
Exactly. A prime example was the open day. People went expecting a funfair and got there to see something off phoenix nights instead. The club kept quiet. The insults and abuse towards the unprofessionalism came flying from all quarters. Fans were pissed off, they'd travelled with kids and found that shitshow. Still the club kept quiet. Then after the day concluded VOLUNTEERS from the supporters trust were the only ones (and to my knowledge still are the only ones) who cared enough to actually explain that there was a funfair but it had left half an hour before the day started due to some issue. If the club had cared enough about its supporters to put out a statement on twitter, on Facebook and on its website at half 10 that morning apologising and explaining then a lot of people would have understood and been able to make an informed decision whether to still attend or not. Instead they refused to do so and just sat back while fans drive to the ground and got disappointed. In my opinion the club's communication is appalling. We put out lovely videos at times but when it comes to keeping supporters informed of things we really do seem to either not care or not be competent.
There is definitely an issue at the food kiosks - I rarely get anything at half time but did yesterday as my daughter wanted a drink. I sit in the family area of the east upper. It is pretty sparsely populated up there and yet the queue was ridiculous. There were two young girls in there, one serving at the till and grabbing drinks, the other getting the food and other stuff folk ordered. Serving only one person at a time, and the lass at the till wouldn’t take the next order until the other lass had got everything for the previous person, so after queueing for 15 minutes and only wanting a bottle of pop (well a capri sun actually), I still had to wait a couple more minutes when I got to the front whilst the lass getting the food got the fella in front two pies, a burger and a hotdog, whilst the girl at the till stood doing nowt and doing anything she could to avoid eye contact with me until the other girl had done. It’s a minor annoyance compared to the football and it isn’t a new issue but it has always been put down to the food kiosks on the concourses being run by an external company in the past - yet this isn’t the case now, I believe it is all in-house, and it is still really bad. I appreciate they will be struggling to get staff numbers in, so not everything will Be able to be open and there will be some delays - but there could at least be an observation from someone more senior as to how things run at half time and some training given to make the staff we can get at least be more efficient.
It's a good example and I think they absolutely do care, but it's general comms sometimes that could be improved. Just a tweet even to say 'unfortunately the anticipated funfair had to be withdrawn this morning due to unforeseen circumstances' etc. People would be much more understanding. Not an easy job, but sometimes i fear it is made harder through their own doing. Some things can be easily rectified or at least explained, and often they are not.
The best thing they could do would be to pay a member of the local showman's guild to come down on a matchday, watch what happens in each of the kids and then come back to the club with a simple explanation of what they're doing wrong. The first thing they're doing wrong is exactly what you said. One person stood operating the till and one being the gopher just doesn't work. There's a reason that busy bars don't have one reason stood hugging the till and one pouring pints yet it's exactly what the club have decided is the best policy. It just isn't.