**So, the start of a new season is upon us and, as ever, for many footy fans that brings a chance to breathe in the warm August air, and inhale the optimism created by promising new signings, shiny new replica shirts, and even a freshly grassed pitch.**
For Sunderland AFC and our supporters, that’s as true as it’s ever been. Our rise over the last two years has been phenomenal and here we are with European travels to look forward to - as well as hopefully cementing our place as an established top-ten Premier League team - just a few short years after typing Morecombe and Cheltenham into our Satnavs.
Brilliant. So, all is good, then? Well, no, not quite.
Given the feelgood factor, an easy way to lose the reader here might be to mention off-the-field issues, and that is fair enough. As long as on-field performance is strong and the marketing meaningful, who gives a flying toss about the boring business stuff? Why worry as long as we’re seeing great football from highly-capable & ambitious players?
Well, Tom Burwell thinks a lot about the off-field stuff & he’s now our permanent CEO. And if you’ve read his LinkedIn posts or listened to the podcasts he’s featured on, you’ll know he’s not shy about talking of us as a business. A business that has high aspirations, built upon the rock of our existing passionate and loyal supporter base. He talks about ‘optimising’ this further, something he repeatedly calls ‘fandom’.
Burwell throws around extraordinary numbers that show the deep ties SAFC has with its core fanbase, & he makes it very clear how this is our strength and must never be lost. In his ‘Business of Sport’ podcast in April he re-enforces time and time again how the connection between club and community gives us a special selling point when taking ‘the brand’ out to the world.
Make no mistake, anyone listening or watching will have no doubt where our CEO believes the clubs main focus needs to be and who could argue with that as a strategy?
So, given all this, what on earth are we to make of some of the difficulties our fans have had in the most basic of transactions with the club since Burwell was appointed? Back-office issues, affecting thousands of fans in one way or another, mean his fine words are ringing very hollow right now.
To some, not only do his utterances sound like cringey cliches, they feel like a proper kick in the teeth given their direct experiences with the club - absurd ticketing-related decisions often at the heart of things.
These aren’t incidentals about pink seats or the strength of the draft lager, either. These issues rip apart Burwell’s talk of our existing fanbase being central to their decision making – in fact, some of the operational problems & ‘customer-facing’ issues are, frankly, embarrassing for any business of our size.
Those problems are already well documented elsewhere but here’s just some of them:
• The farce of last week with thousands being unable to get back onto on-line ticketing accounts after a merging of digital platforms; and a ticket office unable to deal with the resulting chaos. (Burwell wants us to go ‘more digital’ yet even straight-forward change repeatedly proves to be stupidly problematic)
• A membership scheme which, at best, looks hastily cobbled-together (and merely copies unpopular schemes already in place at other PL clubs). Some of the supposed benefits are vague to say the least, whilst a large proportion of fans seem to see it as something of a scam – a large outlay for their family for something they used to have for free, and which guarantees nothing of consequence to them.
• One of our most loyal & hard-working fans being given a long-term ban for his running of a supporter’s branch (thus disbanding the branch), despite the club asking the same guy to help them move tickets on in the Championship and L1 seasons. Over 200 fans are worse off as a result.
• Long-term fans, signed-up in recent seasons to ‘premium’ offerings, being told they’d go to the back of a very long queue should they wish to downgrade back to a conventional season ticket.
• 65 fans having their Derby-day tickets in April removed without communication or explanation.
• It also appears that the club have reduced the support previously given to the Bradley Lowery Trust and children affected by cancer.
This isn’t exhaustive and, of course, it isn’t Tom Burwell’s job to serve ticket office queries, or to manage general operational processes. But he IS head-honcho and it’s the fact that he so emphasises the importance of fan engagement that has left many of us scratching our heads in confusion by what has happened since he took that role.
Was all that podcast blather just bullshit for the business fraternity – the same tripe that has been used at other clubs before us? Have we lost David Bruce and found David Brent? Or is he genuine in his words, but has seriously underestimated the task of business operations in the Premier League, meaning his priorities have been shifted elsewhere?
OR, it might be that his vison is clear to him - but totally lost on the people beneath him, who are chasing deadlines to deliver new initiatives without thinking them through properly. Maybe it is they who believe that the collateral damage to some fan relationships isn’t that important given there’s plenty of others willing to come to the SoL if the current crop decide they’ve been let down once too often?
Of course, we are a business and PSR (or its replacement, SCR) demands that we increase revenue if we are to be competitive in the transfer market. Our fans get that but, needless to say, they also know that football is not a conventional business, especially not in the north east of England. If your club shows utter disregard for your custom you’re not going to simply move onto to another local PL provider (perish the thought).
We’re more than just a business - and we’re not Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester Utd, although we’ve seen the same problems play out for fans at those clubs. I’d argue it’s important to us all that we share our experiences watching Sunderland with genuine, dye-in-the-wool SAFC fans next to us, not tourists.
(NB: if these issues haven’t affected you yet then fair enough. But that doesn’t mean they won’t in future, either to you or those you want to go to games with. )
The Echo reports that daily concerns are being raised with them over issues such as loyalty points, being unable to take U14’s to matches, disabled access, corporate, and communication. It’s not just the issues themselves causing consternation – it’s the lack of a response or an escalation process. When the message boards see far more words written about the ticket office rather potential signings, or pre-season form, then you know something is amiss.
By pushing existing loyal fans to the brink of walking away forever, the club are risking breaking the link that passes a love of SAFC down through families… in other words the very passion and belonging that Burwell tells us is so important and secures future generations of support, too.
It’s been said before but the money men and their underlings are only custodians of a football club such as ours – the real owners are the fans.
In his defence Burwell always comes across as authentic and determined, and, of course, he’s still fairly new to the job. But let’s not forget we’ve been here before.
Some of his predecessors such as Bain, Rodwell and Byrne made similar noises before vacating their desks, whilst a certain C. Methven (heavily involved in the ‘Business of Sport’ podcast TB appeared on) also followed a path of flattering the fanbase initially - before talking down to us as unrealistic and unreasonable plebs once unpleasant truths were aired. If Burwell is to be any different, he has some urgent work to do behind the scenes.
What he has on his side is that the heights achieved on the pitch at the culmination of last season masked some fundamental failings happening off it. But as any experienced Sunderland fan knows, life isn’t always like this. Pre-season optimism can’t last forever.
If results drop-off and crowds reduce (though we hope beyond hope it doesn’t) he might find off-field inadequacies come back into focus and be viewed as symptomatic of disjointed management. He might find the disenfranchised old-guard – having seen their loyalty proven to mean nothing – choose against returning to their seats or buying the club’s merchandise. Repeated apologies, or blame-shifting, soon lose credibility.
Tom Burwell will know the old cliché in business – the one that says you need to walk-the-walk as well as talk-the-talk.
He is certainly a great talker… but he needs reminding of another old cliché: Actions - now, in regards to these off-field issues - will speak much louder than any words.